USWA Championship Wrestling (4.21.1990) Review

-Originally aired April 21, 1990.

-Your host is Michael St. John in the control room.

-We go to footage from Clash of the Jeffs at Mid-South Coliseum. Gaylord has the advantage over Jarrett and appears to injure ol’ Double J’s knee on a press slam, but Jarrett hangs in there. Gaylord takes too much time showboating before a top rope move and Jarrett catches him with a shot to the gut. Crowd is dead silent for this big comeback. Ronnie P. Gossett trips Jarrett from the floor, but Jarrett gives him a punch and slides back into the ring. Jarrett goes for a sunset flip, and the referee kicks Gaylord’s arm away from the ropes, allowing Jarrett to get the three-count.

-Heels run out en masses from the dressing room to attack Jarrett. Bill Dundee tries to help but gets punched out to the floor by Gossett, of all people. Jerry Lawler charges the ring in a great moment, as he teases turning face for about ten seconds before immediately unleashing more shots on Dundee and Jarrett. Chris Champion and Nathaniel Whitlock hit the ring too; meanwhile Jeff Jarrett grabs a chair and finally clears the ring.

-As a result of all these guys hitting the ring at once, USWA has signed something called a Texas Tornado Toughman Contest, which Michael St. John is puzzled about because he’s never heard of such a match.

-We go to Jerry Lawler, who objects to the match on the grounds that “Texas” and “Toughman” are contradictory. So here’s the point of the match. It’s 4 vs. 4. Jeff Jarrett, Bill Dundee, Chris Champion, and Mike Awesome vs. Jerry Lawler, Jeff Gaylord, Sweet Daddy Falcone, and Ronnie P. Gossett. Every time a man loses a fall, the winning team gets to choose one opponent and gang up on him, 4 on 1, for one minute, and if that man can’t answer the bell after the minute is up, the match is over. Lawler pretty much spells out the finish of the match in his promo, and if you haven’t figured it out yourself, read the names in that match one more time.

-We go back to last week, when Steve Doll made out with Dirty White Girl. Live in the Memphis studio, Nathaniel Whitmore tries to cut a promo, but Jerry Lawler, in full heel mode, busts on him, and the crowd laughs along with Lawler. Nathaniel, in between kingly insults, demands a match with Ronnie P. Gossett, and Lawler tells Ronnie to go ahead and come out here.

-Ronnie heads out and Nathaniel immediately puts up his dukes. Lawler distracts him just long enough for Gossett to connect with a cheap shot, and Gossett just beats the piss out of Nate until Eddie Marlin storms out to break it up. Marlin says the match isn’t happening right now. It has to be officially signed. AND Jerry Lawler has to put up $1,000 of his own money for that match, and if there’s any outside interference, Lawler forfeits the $1,000.

SWEET DADDY FALCONE (with “Dirty Deeds” Darren Wise) vs. TIM HALL
-Big clothesline by Falcone, and a fireman’s carry slam ends it in seconds.

-Jerry Lawler asks the heels to get over here for a chat. Darren Wise says Bill Dundee didn’t have the guts to show up for this week’s event, and we just cut away in mid-promo to go to the Sportatorium.

“Simply Irresistable” JEFF JARRETT vs. DAVID HINKLE
-Armdrag by Jarrett as Marc Lowrence announces that Terrance Garvin and Jerry Lawler shocked everybody at a house show last night by attacking Billy Joe Travis and leaving him in the middle of the ring. Side headlock by Jarrett as Lowrence goes over the Texas Toughman match rules again.

-Elbow by Jarrett misses, but Hinkle misses his own elbow. Missile dropkick by Jarrett gets three.

-So now Jeff Jarrett gets mike time to explain the rules for a Texas Toughman match.

-Back to Memphis, where Dave Brown politely asks Lawler to get the hell away from the commentary table because he has a match scheduled. Lawler takes the microphone around ringside and does a Don Rickles act, just teeing off on fans one by one. And the crowd is chanting “Jerry! Jerry!” as he goes along because he’s too funny to hate.

JERRY “The King” LAWLER (USWA Champion) vs. BEN JORDAN
-Great start to this, as Lawler kindly hands Jordan the belt and allows him to pose for the camera with it before just Orndorffing him out of his boots. DDT and an fistdrop finish.

DIRTY WHITE BOYS (with Dirty White Girl & Ronnie P. Gossett) vs. T.D. STEELE & KEITH HANES
-DWBs storm the ring Road Warriors-style. Tony Anthony is particularly frosty this week, still mad about last week’s cuckery. Double Russian legsweep finishes quickly.

-Ronnie P. Gossett berates Dirty White Girl after the match and reduces her to tears. She cries better than Elizabeth, too. Tony warns her to stay away from Steve Doll or ELSE.

SOUTHERN ROCKERS (Tag Team Champions) vs. ROCKIN’ RANDY & BIG LOU WINSTON
-Rex King hammers on Rockin’ Randy while Lawler craps on the Rockers for not putting up the belts against the jobbers. Hart Attack finishes quickly.

-Steve Doll says that if Tony Anthony keeps treating his woman like that, Steve’s gonna take her away from him. So that brings out the Dirty White Boys and Ronnie P. Gossett for a 3-on-2 brawl. Eddie Marlin and a jobber brigade hurry out to break it up.

CHRIS CHAMPION vs. KEITH ROBERSON (with Jerry Lawler)
-Lawler is very unpexectedly managing the jobber for this one, and early on it appears to help as he hiptosses Champion. Champion dropkicks him and clotheslines him out to the floor. Lawler gives his man some advice and sends him back in. Roberson gives him a shot to the nuts to turn the tide. Referee gives him a talking-to while Lawler takes some cheap shots. Roberson rolls him up for the pin, but Champion reverses and gets the three. Kind of an abrupt way to end that.

7.2

The final score: review Good

The 411

I'm rather rapidly coming to the conclusion that the more time this show spends in Memphis, the better.