WWA: The Revolution
Date: February 24, 2002
Location: Aladdin Casino Center, Las Vegas, Nevada
Attendance: 2,800
Commentators: Jeremy Borash, Mark Madden

Opening sequence, which is basically a video recap of the last show.

Apparently this is indeed live. Ok then.

Nova vs. Low Ki vs. Tony Mamaluke vs. Christopher Daniels vs. Shark Boy vs. Low Ki

Daniels comes in and is immediately thrown out, followed by everyone going to the floor. Daniels dives onto Low Ki so Styles hits a Shooting Star Press to the floor. This camera work is REALLY annoying as it either keeps cutting away or it has awkward shots of everything. Back in the ring, Low Ki loads up a rana on Nova, but Daniels runs the corner and hits a top rope Rock Bottom on Low Ki for the elimination.

The announcers talk a bit, including mentioning that Scott Steiner is returning to the ring tonight.

Alan Funk vs. Reno

Scott Steiner arrives with about six chicks.

Kronik vs. Native Blood

Rating: D-. This was a five minute squash. What in the world are we supposed to get out of something like this? Clark and Adams had a horrible run for about a week in WWE and this is more or less the last time anyone say them. The jobbers were exactly what their names suggest: there to get beaten up. Nothing to see here and it was sloppy on top of that.

Girls dance.

Tio vs. Puppet

Disco Inferno vs. Scott Steiner

Total dominance by Steiner that ends with the Steiner Recliner in about two minutes. Disco got in as much offense as a career comedy character would on a big name power guy.

Cruiserweight Title: Juventud Guerrera vs. Psychosis vs. Eddie Guerrero

Psychosis won the title at a house show since the last PPV. The mic is broken so we hear “ladies and gentlemen” about six times before the entrances get going, and even then they have to go very fast to catch up with the wrestlers. They grab a three way lockup to start and everybody hits everybody else. This is one fall to a finish. Eddie sends Juvy to the floor but Psychosis sends them both out there and hits a big flip dive to take them both out.

Psychosis gets put on top by Eddie but Juvy superplexes Guerrero down. Psychosis legdrops both guys but both challengers save the other. Juvy bulldogs both guys for two each and gets the same on Psychosis off a DDT. Eddie decks Guerrera, shoves Psychosis off the top and hits the Frog Splash on the champ for the pin and the title.

Eddie rips on the fans for chanting WHAT post match. He rants about his personal issues until Jerry Lynn comes out to complain. Lynn would be another guy that has more business in the main event than Christopher by the way. They argue and then brawl. Both guys came off as heels here, with Eddie getting on the fans and Jerry making fun of Eddie for being a drug addict. Lynn survives a beating and takes Eddie out.

More dancing chicks.

Sabu vs. Devon Storm

West Hollywood Blondes vs. Rick Steiner/Ernest Miller

WWA World Title: Brian Christopher vs. Jeff Jarrett

No, instead we had Sabu and Devon Storm using the same spots (count the splashes by Storm) and blown spots all over the place (count the botches in the twenty minute monstrosity) and a minute long match between a random pair of WCW guys with zero history at all and Bret Hart rambling about being a North American and Larry wanting to fight Vince. Eddie coming in was kind of a big deal, but his match SUCKED because Psychosis and Juvy both dogged it all night. NOTHING to see here after the opener and this promotion is in big trouble.

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USWA Championship Wrestling
Date: January 2, 1993
Location: USWA Television Studios, Memphis, Tennessee
Commentator: Dave Brown

So I came across this today and having liked what I’ve seen from the USWA I figured this would be worth checking out. I did a show from February of this year already so I have an idea of what to expect. That show wasn’t all that great but it’s very hard to tell much off one show. Let’s get to it.

Bill Dundee is going to WCW so we get a highlight reel of his career. Dundee comes out and says this is his last week so he’ll be going to all the cities this week and today is his last TV match.

Mike Miller vs. Bill Dundee

Miller pounds him into the corner to start but Dundee pounds him down. Miller comes back but Master of Terror and someone else run in for the DQ.

Master of Terror piledrives Dundee on the floor and the other guy is named Mike Samples. Lawler and Danny Davis (the wrestler, not the referee) run in for the save. Samples manages to get a third piledriver on the concrete on Dundee though.

Lawler talks about how great this crowd is and then talks about how the competition the last few years has been between organizations, not the wrestlers. I believe this is the start of the USWA vs. WWF feud which was actually pretty awesome, as even back in 1993, the USWA acknowledged Vince as the owner of the WWF and had him as the evil Mr. McMahon, leading the war against the USWA. This was never mentioned on WWF TV of course but it was a huge feud. Lawler implies some WWF guys are coming to the USWA and that we’ll get some interpromotional stuff.

As for Mike Samples, he cost Lawler a battle royal win and $10,000. We get a clip of it and Lawler was knocked out by a foreign object and pinned. Different kind of battle royal I guess. Mike Miller (not Mike Samples) jumps Lawler with a chair and they get in a brawl.

Jeff Jarrett plugs a house show.

Brown tells us that Lawler and Miller had been at a party and Miller had gotten drunk. The host had asked Lawler to take care of it so Lawler punched him out. That’s why Miller jumped him. Simple but effective.

Danny Davis says Dundee is like a brother to him but right now he’s got an ice pack on his neck in the back. Davis wants both Samples and Master of Terror in one on one matches tonight.

Jerry Lawler vs. Mr. Paradise

Total squash until Miller runs in for the DQ at about a minute.

It takes awhile to break up. Miller says that he’s not a bad person. He was at a New Year’s Eve party having a good time when he looked up and saw Lawler having milk and cookies. Lawler came over and asked him to leave. Miller wasn’t ready to leave so he kept talking to the girl he was talking to. Lawler spun him around and knocked him out. Miller is going to come after Lawler every time he sees him, no matter where it is. See how easy it is to have a program you could have running for awhile?

We get a clip from a Jarrett vs. Brian Christopher title match. I’m not sure who the champion is here but Christopher hits him with a chain for two. Then someone throws powder in Jeff’s eyes but that only gets two. Jeff rolls him up for two. It’s clipped between each of these things happening. The ref gets bumped and Christopher misses his top rope legdrop.

Jeff hits his cross body off the top but Brian’s manager hit him with a cane for two. Brian got the chain again but Jeff steals it and hits him from the middle rope with it. THAT gets two and these kickouts are getting ridiculous. The manager trips Jeff with his cane but Jeff rolls through and hooks the tights (giving me more of a shot of Christopher in a thong than I ever wanted to see) for the pin. The manager gets shaved post match as I guess a stipulation. Apparently Jarrett won the Southern Heavyweight Title there. This would have been just before Christmas and Jeff’s sixth title reign.

Bounty Hunter vs. Jeff Jarrett

This is non-title. Bounty Hunter is your generic masked man. Jeff pounds him into the corner to start and after a back elbow, a jumping DDT gets the quick pin.

Brian Christopher in a shirt and tie comes out with something to say. Christopher says his manager hasn’t deserted him and he has a guy named Mr. Clyde with him now too. If Jarrett puts the title up, Clyde’s hair will be on the line. Jeff wants Brian’s hair on the line. Christopher says Clyde’s hair plus $1000. Jeff declines again and does the same with $2000. During a commercial, Christopher says he’ll put it on the line in two weeks. Oh ok next week. This week it’s Clyde’s and $2000. Those matches happen on the next two Tuesdays in Memphis. Ok then.

House show rundown. Lawler vs. Samples in a boxing match. To clarify Brian vs. Jeff, both matches will be Jeff vs. Brian. However, Jeff won’t defend the title unless Christopher’s hair is on the line. In the first one, Jeff gets $2000 and to shave Clyde’s hair if he wins. I think the second match happens no matter what. This is overly complicated.

Lawler talks about the fight with Miller and says Miller was too drunk. Lawler is a legit non-drinker so the line about him drinking milk might have been accurate. We hear about Lawler beating him up at the party and it’s the same stuff we heard earlier.

Mike Samples talks about a mixed tag coming up. Oh and Lawler is full of hot air. He knows how to box so he’ll beat up Lawler on Monday.

Ben Jordan/Man Mountain Miller vs. Bruise Brothers

It’s the Harris Brothers. Powerbomb and we’re done in 20 seconds.

The Harris Brothers keep beating on them until the Moondogs make the save with chairs.

Some guy comes out to yell about Mike Samples. Samples manages the Harris Brothers and I think this guy manages the Moondogs. The two teams meet on Monday for the titles. His name is Richard Lee.

The matchmaker talks about how women and men shouldn’t be fighting and Miss Texas (Jackie Moore) is involved in this feud somehow. Apparently the matchmakes is in the match and threatens to spank Samples’ chick. I’m confused about this story but if Jackie isn’t on my screen it’s good.

The Masters of Terror come out for a tag match but Danny Davis and Bill Dundee run in and jump the Masters for earlier. There are two Masters? That makes more sense….I guess. The brawl goes on for a few minutes.

Post break Dundee says he’ll be in a tag match on Monday. He’s in a tag match here. Apparently he’ll be “an executive” in WCW, which means a manager for William Regal.

We run down the Memphis card again to end the show.

Overall Rating: D. I don’t know how well it came off here but this was a mess. Ok so let me make sure I have this straight: Samples is the manager of pretty much every heel on the roster, Lawler is fighting him on Monday after spending the whole show brawling with and talking about some guy named Mike Miller, and Jarrett has to beat Christopher in a non-title match to be able to defend the title against him?

This was somehow even more confusing on TV because they assume everyone knows who these people are so we have no idea what the history here is or what name goes with what face. Really confusing show and the very limited wrestling we got was bad as well. I likely won’t be doing more USWA from this era.

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USWA Championship Wrestling
Date: February 13, 1993
Location: USWA Television Studios, Memphis, Tennessee
Commentators: Dave Brown, Cory Macklin

So I found almost 30 territorial style shows today, so expect a lot of stuff like this: local TV shows that probably have some big names in their roots. This is the USWA, which had been a merger of the CWA (Memphis) and WCCW (Dallas) in an attempt to fight the WWF. However, WCCW pulled out so this is just the Memphis territory of the day. If my memory is right, there’s also a talent exchange with WWF at the time so you may see some familiar faces. Jerry Lawler is more or less divine here, so expect a lot of him. Other than that I have no idea what to expect as I know next to nothing about the USWA. Let’s get to it.

The commentators welcome us to the show and run down the card. There’s some guy named the Rock and Roll Phantom that gets to get beaten up by Lawler. Also Jeff Jarrett (big pop) against Brian Christopher and the Harris Brothers vs. the Gilberts. Lex Luger will be here too. He’s the Narcissist at this point and is part of the talent exchange.

Here’s Brian Christopher who has two belts. Based on what I could find he was Southern Heavyweight Champion (midcard title) at the time so I have no idea what the other belt is. He says that because he’s a double champion, he’s important. Since he’s important he gets to meet other important people, and this week he met Lex Luger. DANG Christopher looks just like his daddy in the face.

He says he’s been hanging out with the WWF Superstars because they’re the best in the business. He has a highlight reel of Luger’s work which is just Luger’s debut in the WWF where Heenan sounded like he wanted Luger to make sweet love to him. At the end of the tape, Christopher says that Luger is going to be here later but first we need a little etiquette lesson. When Lex gets here, you all better cheer him.

With that he brings out the Narcissist. Oh wait it’s Narcissus. Close enough. Christopher talks about how there’s a guy around here named the King who has been making fun of the WWF. That was the huge story at this time: an interpromotional feud between the companies with Vince (acknowledged as the WWF owner on USWA TV) sending his guys down to fight the Memphis guys. He also talks about Jeff Jarrett barking about the WWF a lot because he’s scared of the WWF and Lex in particular.

Lex says that he’s here to give the USWA a peak at what God created when he created the greatest physique ever. I don’t think he imagined a fanny pack with it. The businessmen want Lex to have some tune-up wins before he goes to Wrestlemania in Las Vegas. Those guys also warned him to avoid the USWA because there are some guys there that are pretty good. That made Lex come here because he wants to prove he’s the best. He’s supposed to be a heel right? There will be one or two opponents he’ll take on here before Mania. Unfortunately this is the only show I have from this era so I don’t know who he picked.

Video on Brian Christopher. Or is this his entrance? It’s set to an Elvis (I think) song. Well the Memphis theme is really setting in.

Brian Christopher vs. Jeff Jarrett

Luger and two other guys that I don’t recognize are here with Christopher. Brian says there’s no need for Lex to be here for this one but then he changes his mind. Ok then. There are no apron curtains. That’s not something I’ve seen outside of a tiny indy company. Lex sits in on commentary for this. There can’t be more than 150 people at this. Ever heard me say someone is stalling like a man from Memphis? Here’s a good example of something like that.

First contact: 63 seconds in. Christopher keeps shouting to Lex how awesome he is but in a sucking up way, not an evil way. Second contact: 100 seconds in. We’re over two minutes in and we’ve had two tieups and that’s it. Ok from what I can find, Christopher is also the Texas Champion. Jeff finally has enough and pops Brian in the face with a right hand. We finally get going as Brian hits a clothesline and stomps a bit. To be fair, Memphis was far more based on egging on the crowd than the in ring action.

A backbreaker gets two for Christopher. He misses an elbow though and Jeff grabs a rollup for two. How weird is it that these two would reach their biggest successes as totally different characters? Christopher as a dancing idiot and Jarrett as a self-obsessed heel. One of the guys that came out with Christopher grabs Jeff’s leg but he manages a DDT to Christopher anyway. Not that it matters as the other guy comes in for the DQ.

Rating: C-. These matches are hard to rate as there isn’t much action in them, but like I said there isn’t supposed to be. These were two fairly big names and two acts that were over as a face and a heel, which is really all you can ask for. At the same time though, there’s barely any wrestling and it was all set up for the ending, which is ok, but it’s still nothing to see.

Jerry Lawler comes out for the post match save. Christopher suggests a tag match with himself/Lex vs. Lawler/Jarrett. Lex declines.

After a break, we have ANOTHER Brian Christopher interview. He says he can be the next Unified World Champion. Christopher says that Lawler is getting old and is going to have to retire soon. When that happens, he’ll be the new king. He never would win that title. Lawler only won it 28 times. That’s mild for him. He won the Southern Heavyweight Title 52 times.

We run down the card for Monday’s big show in the Mid-South Coliseum. There’s a new team there called PG-13 who I’m sure some of you have heard of.

We recap Lawler vs. Christopher which is the main event of that show on Monday. Christopher ran his mouth about how Lawler couldn’t beat him but he never could get a title match. Here’s another video of the same thing happening but Doink the Clown is involved here for no apparent reason. Doink put water on the floor or something so Lawler slips and Christopher beats him up.

Here’s Lawler in the arena who talks about Christopher, saying that Christopher wants to hang out with Lex Luger. Brian runs his mouth about Lawler but that’s all he’s ever done. This time it’s put up or shut up because it’s going to be one on one. Lawler isn’t ready to pass the torch yet. This is going to be the whipping that Christopher needs and all that jazz. This is a wrestling show right?

You would think that would be the segue to Lawler’s match right? Well you would be wrong.

PG-13 says there’s no competition for them here. Everyone else is the Atari and they’re the Super Nintendo. Ok give them a point for a funny line. There’s a music video with them rapping too.

Rock N Roll Phantom vs. Jerry Lawler

The Phantom is Ron Bass’ (remember him? You probably shouldn’t) brother in a mask. He’s rather fat and is from Louisiana. Luger is out for commentary again. The Phantom takes over to start but Lawler gets going and the same guys that came out with Christopher earlier are here with the Phantom. They come in for a DQ at about a minute in. Jarrett and Christopher come out for a huge beatdown. Christopher gets on the mic (fourth or fifth time tonight) and says if Lawler wants to fight him tonight, get Jarrett out of the ring. Christopher tries to run anyway but Lawler catches him and beats him up.

The announcer that hasn’t talked much runs down the upcoming house show schedule.

Jeff Jarrett is here to talk about the Rock N Roll Phantom. We get a clip of some fat guy singing with the Phantom as the Phantom plays guitar. Then Jarrett came out and broke it up and I think they’re going to have a match. One of the two guys that were with Christopher (one is named Mike Samples so that might help things in the future) interferes and Jarrett gets beaten down. Jeff fights all four of them (singer too) off and the match was thrown out.

Back in real time, Jarrett says a lot has been going on and then the Phantom jumped in on top of it. It’s about respect you see.

As he leaves here’s Doug Gilbert but his brother/partner Eddie Gilbert isn’t here. Doug wants to be known as the King of Rock and Roll from now on. It’s Eddie’s fault that they’re not the tag champions at this point because he’s irresponsible. That’s not acceptable for the King of Rock so the next time Eddie is late for something, it’ll be a beating for him. Here’s Eddie who tries to talk sense but Doug cuts him off. Eddie said he wasn’t here because his brother didn’t pick him up at the airport. He offers to take this to the back and talk it out but Doug jumps him and beats him down.

The Harris Brothers are here with Mike Samples (WHO IS THIS GUY???). Samples says his hair is on the line on Monday but it’s really isn’t because the Bruise Brothers (Harrises) wouldn’t let that happen.

J.R. Alzado/Sam Norris vs. Bruise Brothers

I don’t see this lasting long. The announcers aren’t sure who the jobbers are until the names pop up on screen. Total dominance with the Brothers winning in about a minute.

On Monday, the Gilberts will fight instead of having a tag match.

The card for Monday is run down again.

Christopher runs out to say that Lex is going to fight someone next week but the show gets cut off before he could do it.

Overall Rating: D-. If you’re a diehard Brian Christopher fan, RUN, I say RUN, out and find a copy of this show. Or stay at home because it might be more convenient but you get the idea. I don’t ever recall seeing a show that was so dedicated to a single thing more than this one. This show is about an hour long (as in an hour of show, not 45 minutes counting commercials) and about 80% is about Christopher and/or Lawler. There’s about 6 minutes of wrestling in it and none of it is any good. It’s not completely awful, but the Lawler/Lawler’s kid stuff drove me crazy and had me wanting the show to end. Bad sign.

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