USWA Championship Wrestling – January 26, 1991: Moving On Up

Back to Memphis and the continuing saga of Lawler vs. an old tag team. I’ve got three episodes in a row of this which I’m going to run through before moving on to something else. At the moment that’s all I’ve got but I’m pretty sure more will be coming later on. Things have been going well with this show so far so maybe it’ll stay that way. Let’s get to it.

After the opening video, Brown runs down the card.

Downtown Bruno is now Uptown Bruno and wearing a tuxedo and a top hat. He and Terry Garvin say it’s a new time now when Lawler comes out and rolls his eyes. He gets in a few wise cracks and we’re ready to go.

Jerry Lawler vs. Terry Garvin

Uptown Bruno runs his mouth for awhile on commentary as the stalling is going on. We’re a minute in and there hasn’t been any contact. Ok there’s a lockup so we’re really going now. A right hand puts Garvin on the floor and he yells at the fans a bit. Garvin wants to box and Lawler is fine with it, so Garvin runs again. Back in Garvin charges into a boot in the corner. They’re averaging a strike a minute so far.

Bruno slips Garvin a chain and a pair of shots with it puts Lawler down. Piledriver further kills the King and Bruno chokes a bit. A third chain shot puts him down but Lawler pulls the strap down. He punches Garvin into the ropes and calls for something. Someone throws a pair of scissors in and the chase is on. Garvin runs out for the countout.

Rating: C-. Pretty boring match here as the majority of it was brawling. That’s Memphis 101 though: they’ve very much into a simpler style but it works pretty well as far as a crowd reaction. Stuff like trying to cut someone’s hair is an act of war and a non-existent chain is all you need to send the crowd into a frenzy. It’s the polar opposite of Raw and to an extent it really works.

We see the clip from a few weeks ago where the Fabs turned on Lawler.

We get a clip from the Mid-South Coliseum of the first big match between Lawler/Dundee vs. the Fabulous Ones. Jarrett came in to take out Cornette but it let Keirn hit Lawler with the racket for two. Dundee went off on everyone with the racket for the DQ but the Fabs got it and it was a big beatdown. Jarrett finally got back up and saved them.

Dundee says that the Fabs are Cornette’s puppets and that he’s injured. He’ll be back despite the injuries he got in the tag match we just saw.

Cornette and the Fabs say they’re not here tonight and they’re mad because they didn’t get a dime off Funk (the world champion who hasn’t been on TV in a month, which is normal) for Dundee but if Lawler/Jarrett want to come after the titles, bring it on.

Lawler says Cornette and the Fabs have to win matches with something other than their mouths. He says that everyone from Hogan to Savage to Funk has tried to put him out but he’s still here. Jarrett and Lawler are taking the belts on Monday.

Mid-South show ad, which is going to include a Rumble Royal, which is exactly what it sounds like.

Jarrett says that the Fabs used to be awesome when Fabulous Jackie Fargo groomed them but now they’re controlled by a leech named Jim Cornette. Apparently Lane had a big hand in training Jarrett. Jeff is REALLY bad on the mic here. Lawler was groomed by Fargo as well but he actually did what Fargo said and he’s still around. That’s one of the big points of this match.

Rumble Royal ad.

Freezer Thompson/TD Steel vs. Jeff Gaylord/Brian Lee

Gaylord and Steel start us off. Gaylord is a muscle guy and his team is managed by Bruno. Steel looks to be a karate guy but he gets clotheslined down pretty quickly. Off to Lee who beats up Steel and then beats up Thompson. There isn’t much to talk about here other than how fat Thompson is. The idea here is that Thompson is fat but the heel team can pick him up a lot. Interesting no? Back to Steel and Gaylord sets him for a Sharpshooter but instead of turning him over, Gaylord leans forward for a pin. That’s a new one.

House show ads. Lawler plugs his stretcher match in Arkansas with Garvin.

Cody Michaels/Jerry Lynn vs. Sgt. O’Reilly/Bill Rush

A backdrop pins Rush in 17 seconds. There was even a tag in there too.

The winners go for an interview when Bruno interrupts them. It’s a distraction so that Doug Gilbert and the Dirty White Boy can come in for the double beatdown. They hammer on Lynn/Michaels for a bit until Lawler and the New Kids make the save.

Video of Jarrett.

Mid-South show ad. Gaylord and Lee say they’re looking forward to the Rumble Royal.

Danny Davis talks about Sadaam Hussein and the Patriot Missiles. Oh and he’ll beat up Brian Lee in Arkansas.

Danny Davis vs. Ronnie Leech

How would you like to grow up with the name Ronnie Leech? Davis controls the arm but gets rammed into the corner by some shoulders. Floatover suplex gets two for Danny. Neckbreaker ends this quick.

Sgt. O’Reilly/Doug Gilbert/Dirty White Boy vs. New Kids/Ben Jordan

The Sarge is replacing Downtown Bruno who was supposed to be in there. Bruno says Downtown Bruno is gone because Uptown Bruno is here. Cheap but acceptable I guess. Brian Christopher takes both guys down with dropkicks and the heels have a huddle outside. We get Anthony vs. Tony of the New Kids and the ring is cleared again. Back to Christopher and then off to Jordan vs. Gilbert. A blind tag to Anthony (Tony Anthony is Dirty White Boy) allows the double teaming to begin on Tony Michaels. After a few more minutes of the beating, Lynn and Cody Michaels run in for the DQ.

Rating: D+. Pretty boring match but at least they paid off the angle from earlier in the night. Christopher would turn heel later in the year and finally get to the successful part of his career. Other than that though, there wasn’t much to see here, other than the Dirty White Boy whose name is always worth a chuckle.

A brawl ends the show.

Overall Rating: C-. It wasn’t a great show by any stretch of the imagination, but they set up a major show on Monday night which is the main idea of their TV show. The wrestling left a lot to be desired but there was a lot of action and a lot of angles were advanced, which is really all you can ask for on a show like this. Decent but nothing great.

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