Universal Wrestling Federation Championship Wrestling
Date: October 25, 1986
Location: Tulsa Convention Center, Tulsa, Oklahoma
Commentators: Jim Ross, Terry Taylor

It’s the second of two shows I’m looking at from this promotion in this era and that is kind of appealing. The first show was from about four months later so I’m not sure what to expect from this one. The promotion tends to be a pretty entertaining one so hopefully that continues to be the case here. Let’s get to it.

We open with a clip from last week with Devastation Inc. (Skandor Akbar’s group) in a brawl with a bunch of wrestlers.

JR and Terry Taylor welcome us to the show and run down the card, including three title matches and a bunch of recaps.

TV Title: Ken Massey vs. Buddy Jack Roberts

Roberts is defending and JR makes it clear that Massey isn’t very good. Feeling out process to start until Roberts takes him down and ties up the leg. The middle rope elbow misses but Roberts is right back with a neckbreaker into a bulldog to retain at 2:36. Just a squash.

Commentary talks about Savannah Jack being thrown out of Devastation Inc. and we see him being fired last week. This might have been over Jack being African American so the beatdown was on but Jack cleared the ring of Skandor Akbar, One Man Gang and Leroy Brown.

Akbar says he isn’t letting this go and promises to make Jack shine his shoes after everything is over. He doesn’t like these Americans with their backbones.

We look at Terry Taylor and Ted DiBiase beating the Freebirds in a country whipping (street fight) match last week. The Freebirds mauled them after the match, even stealing DiBiase’s famous loaded black glove to knock DiBiase out. JR is in full on Attitude Era mode here with the shouting and emotion and it’s rather awesome.

DiBiase, with a bandage on his head, is of these Freebirds busting him open over and over. Now they stole his glove and he is getting it back. So the good guy is mad that the villains stole his loaded glove. That’s an odd line of thinking.

The Fantastics are ready to defend their Tag Team Titles against anyone, including John Tatum and Jack Victory.

Jeff Raitz/Joe Savoldi vs. One Man Gang/Leroy Brown

Skandor Akbar is with the Gang and Brown. Savoldi can’t circle around the huge Gang, who pounds him into the corner without much effort. Brown comes in for the choke to Savoldi and some pounding to Raitz. Gang and Brown drop back to back elbows for the easy win at 2:00.

Michael Hayes has replaced Terry Taylor, much to JR’s annoyance.

We go to a video with JR talking to Bill Apter of Pro Wrestling Illustrated. The magazine is hosting a tournament starting on Halloween night for a cup and $50,000, so a bunch of wrestlers are already trying to get in.

Here’s the UWF Top Ten:

10. Chris Adams

9. Missing Link

8. Chavo Guerrero

7. Michael Hayes

6. Terry Taylor

5. Jim Duggan

4. One Man Gang

3. Ted DiBiase

2. Steve Williams

1. Buddy Roberts

And the UWF Champion is Terry Gordy.

Iceman King Parsons vs. Gustavo Mendoza

Hayes says the UWF is a very organized organization. Parsons hammers away to start and hits Mendoza in the head a few times, setting up a running knee. The hip attack sets up a splash to finish Mendoza at 1:35. Well that was quick.

Chris Adams isn’t happy with his situation involving the World Title. He’s coming for Terry Gordy and doesn’t care where he has to go to get it.

Tag Team Titles: Fantastics vs. John Tatum/Jack Victory

Tatum and Victory, with Missy Hyatt, are challenging. It takes the Fantastics a long time to get to the ring as they are rather popular with the fans. Bobby Fulton armdrags Victory to start and then does the same to Tatum, who complains about a hair pull. No one else seemed to notice it so Fulton monkey flips and dropkicks him. A double dropkick puts Tatum on the floor and a double backdrop does the same to Victory as the champs start fast.

Tommy Rogers comes in to slug away at Tatum and it’s back to Fulton, who gets caught in an armbar. That earns Tatum a headscissors and the champs clear the ring as we take a break. Back with Fulton being sent into the post, allowing Victory to drop him onto the barricade. Victory posts him again and it’s time to work on the arm.

Something close to a low blow has Fulton in more trouble and Tatum cuts the ring off to block the hot tag attempt. Fulton manages a knee lift though and there’s the hot tag to Rogers to clean house. Everything breaks down as Eddie Gilbert has come down with flowers for Missy. Tatum is distracted by Missy leaving ringside and gets rolled up to retain the titles at 12:50.

Rating: C+. The Fantastics are my favorite NWA/non-WWF 80s tag team so it’s fun to see these guys getting some time in a hot match. The angle was what mattered here though as Missy has someone new and the Fantastics just happened to be there. Tatum and Victory were fine for a heel team and I was thinking the titles might change hands here so well done with setting everything up.

Missy goes to leave with Gilbert but throws him back inside for the big beatdown. Gilbert’s friends Sting and Rick Steiner come in for the save and beat down Tatum and Victory. Missy even gets in a shot with the loaded Gucci bag (I love wrestling) to bust Tatum open (the slow motion replay makes it look even better). Tatum and Victory would win the titles before the month was over.

And now, with a little over a minute to go, it’s time for the UWF Title match with Jim Duggan challenging Terry Gordy. The credits roll over the entrances and we’re promised the outcome next week. See how much better that is than having everything wrapped up to end the show?

Overall Rating: C+. Good show here and I could go for some more of this stuff. I know the company was on its very last legs here but you could see what Bill Watts could do with the right resources. The energy was there and you could tell that it was set up to make fans watch next week, which is kind of the point. The ending alone made me curious about where things were going, which you just do not see today. Very efficient use of an hour, and it was an absolute breeze to watch.

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WCCW TV
Date: March 29, 1986
Location: Dallas Sportatorium, Dallas, Texas
Commentator: Bill Mercer

I liked the previous show so let’s take another look at the Dallas boys. As usual it’s just another random show and that means there is no way of knowing what we have coming up. I can go with more of that in a promotion I’m not overly familiar with, so hopefully they live up to the expectations I have from an unrelated show about fourteen months ago. Let’s get to it.

Opening sequence.

Mercer runs down the card.

Steve Regal vs. Brickhouse Brown

Say it with me: not that Steve Regal. Brown is a lot smaller than you probably would expect and grabs a headlock to start. A sunset flip doesn’t even give Brown one and it’s time to fight over the wristlocks. Brown elbows the arm but gets caught in a top wristlock for his efforts. Back up and Brown isn’t having this being sent face first into a buckle, meaning it’s time to crank on Regal’s arm again.

The armbar goes to the mat and Brown drives some knees into the arm. Regal gets up and pokes him in the eye before stomping in the ribs. We have two minutes left in the ten minute time limit as Regal knees him in the ribs. Brown knocks him into the corner and then pulls him right back out for a crash. A dropkick into a legdrop gets two on Regal as the time limit expires at 10:00 (or 9:40, which is pretty good for the 80s).

Rating: D. This was the stereotypical match from this era with both guys working on the arm for about eight minutes and then remembering that they were supposed to try to win the match. That doesn’t make for an interesting match when you can tell what they are going for from the start, making it just a boring use of most of the time until you get to the finish. Neither was exactly exciting here either, making this a rather lame way to open the show.

Post match Brown wants to keep going but Regal bails. Smart man as that arm work can be treacherous.

From earlier this month.

Six Man Tag Team Titles: Von Erichs vs. Fabulous Freebirds

The Freebirds are defending and we’re joined in progress with Kevin putting Gordy in a sleeper and then a bodyscissors to make it worse. It’s off to Lance (erg Lance), who gets caught in a camel clutch from Hayes. We hit the ten minute call as Hayes elbows him in the face and hands it back to Gordy for the Oriental Spike (that’s the name).

Kevin and Kerry come in for the save and it’s back to Hayes, who gets caught in a suplex. Kerry and Roberts get the double tags as everything breaks down again. A rollup should finish Roberts but Gordy comes in to make the save. Roberts is able to get the cover on Kerry to retain at 5:59 shown. I won’t rate a match with so much time missing, but it seemed like a hot match, as tends to be the case with these people. Except Lance.

Steve Simpson vs. Rick Rude

Rude’s WCWA (same company as WCCW) World Title isn’t on the line and he has Percy Pringle (Paul Bearer) in his corner. Rude’s tights don’t have any painting on them but they do have pockets for a unique look. Feeling out process to start with Rude throwing him around but getting caught in a monkey flip. Simpson grabs a headscissors to take Rude to the mat and doesn’t even let him go down there.

Rude headlocks his way to freedom as commentary tells us how to vote for Rude’s next challenger. A northern lights suplex drops Simpson for two and we hit the abdominal stretch. That’s broken up in a hurry and Simpson unloads in the corner but a monkey flip is blocked. A DDT (known as the Rude Awakening here) finishes Simpson at 6:18.

Rating: C-. Not much to this one as Rude was still getting the hang of things and was nowhere near the star that he would become. It’s impressive to see how fast he became such a star because you could see elements here, but he had a long way to go before he would hit that next level. Simpson looked great but didn’t showcase himself all that well. Granted that wasn’t the point of this one.

Here’s what’s coming next week.

We see Bruiser Brody interrupting a main event to challenge Terry Gordy to a fight. Gordy came out and the fight was on as the main event was completely forgotten.

Fantastics vs. John Tatum/The Grappler

The brawl is on before the bell with the Fantastics clearing the ring as we’re told this is under Texas Tornado rules. They do manage to get in the introductions, with Sunshine in the Fantastics corner and Missy Hyatt with the villains. The Fantastics pull them back in and then throw Tatum right back to the floor. Grappler doesn’t like them going after his mask and Fulton is sent into the corner. An atomic drop puts Rogers down but Fulton is back up to clean house. Missy grabs Rogers’ foot though and the catfight is on with Sunshine covering her with ketchup. The distraction lets Fulton roll Grappler up for the pin at 4:18.

Rating: C. As usual, the Fantastics know how to work up an audience but this was much more about Sunshine vs. Precious, who had some of the most entertaining catfights of their day. Taking some fries and ketchup to Missy’s face would drive her crazy and the fans reacted as a result. Sometimes you don’t need to make things more complicated than they need to be and that was the case here.

A quick preview of next week’s show wraps us up.

Overall Rating: C-. The opener brings this down a bit but the rest of the show was fun enough. As tends to be the case with World Class, it feels like you need to watch a good bit of the shows to really get the hang of things, but what we got here was still good enough. They don’t exactly fill in the backstories, but it’s like Memphis: you don’t need much of a reason to watch people fight in front of a crowd this hot.

 

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