Lance Russell and Dave Brown are in the booth from the WMC-TV 5 studio in Memphis, Tennessee.
Highlights of the 1978 Tupelo Concession Stand Brawl are shown.
Footage of the recent Memphis Coliseum main event where Sid & Jerry Lawler defeated Big Daddy Cyrus & Crusher Bones airs. Sid and Lawler won when Sid pinned Bones after a powerbomb and afterward the heels along with the Spellbinder beat up Sid and Lawler.
Russell interviews Cyrus, Bones, the Spellbinder, and Big Business Brown. Cyrus says Sid did not pin the legal man in Memphis and they all want a piece of him in the big sixteen-man Super Brawl match at the Coliseum on Monday night. The Spellbinder gives a weak promo against Sid that just says he hates Sid.
Opening Contest: Big Daddy Cyrus & Crusher Bones (w/Big Business Brown) (1-1) defeat Edric Hines & Timmy Terry after Bones pins Terry after a double elbow drop at 1:27:
Big Business Brown introduces his own team after taking the mic from Corey Maclin. Cyrus and Bones cruise to an easy win since they are much bigger than the jobbers. A big boot from Bones and a double elbow drop finishes.
Today’s USWA Flashback is from 1984 where Randy Savage and Jerry Lawler got into a studio brawl with Rick Rude, King Kong Bundy, and Jimmy Hart.
USWA Southern Heavyweight Championship Match: Brian Christopher (Champion) (8-4) beats Gorgeous George III (w/Big Business Brown) (4-1) after hitting George with Brown’s briefcase at 5:19:
Maclin does not allow Big Business Brown to announce his charge this time, ripping away the mic and putting him in his place. Each man takes turns strutting after avoiding a big move from the other and Brown stupidly says that if Christopher messes with George’s hair that they will leave. Dave Brown notes that Christopher would welcome that because he was already the champion. The match is slow because George’s offense is made up of various rest holds. Christopher catches George with a superkick and Big Business Brown distracts the referee. George cannot take advantage of the distraction as he waits too long to hit Christopher with Brown’s briefcase, Christopher gets a hold of it, and then uses it to retain the title. Rating: ½*
Dave Brown interviews Bill Dundee, who brings out a whip. He calls out Brian Christopher as footage shows Dundee whipping Dutch Mantel at an old Memphis show. Dundee challenges Christopher to a bullwhip on a pole match. Christopher reiterates his argument that Dundee is too old to be a test for him and accepts Dundee’s challenge because at his age Dundee may not be able to make it up a pole.
Brown interviews PG-13. Wolfie D says that he is going to be okay while J.C. Ice puts over a stretcher match that PG-13 are going to have against Doug Gilbert & Tommy Rich at the Coliseum. Ice jokes that to win the sixteen-man Super Brawl match he should bring a gun to the match and shoot everyone. When Brown reminds him he cannot do that, Ice says he will settle for using a hubcap to beat up his foes.
PG-13 (7-5-1) defeat Mike Morrison & the Heartthrob when Wolfie D pins Morrison after a double bulldog at 2:45:
The Heartthrob is a short ugly man dressed in a pink singlet so hopefully the gimmick is aiming to be ironic. The jobbers made no headway, with PG-13 planting Morrison with a double bulldog for the victory.
Russell interviews Miss Texas and she makes Russell blush by asking if she looks better than Sweet Georgia Brown. Reggie B. Fine and Brown come out and Brown pulls out a monkey and says that it’s a Miss Texas doll. This degenerates into an argument with insults that elementary school students could outperform. Fine proposes a beauty contest on next week’s show between the two women and Texas says sure, but Georgia needs to face her in the ring as well. This was just painful to watch.
Non-Title Match: Doug Gilbert & Tommy Rich (USWA Tag Team Champions) (5-3-1) beat Scott Studd & Mike Mitchell when Gilbert pins Mitchell after Rich hits Mitchell with a baseball bat at 2:17:
Mitchell gets no backstory. All Russell says is that he has heard of him. Studd and Mitchell keep the heels off guard with some arm drags but when the referee’s back is turned, Rich hits Mitchell with a baseball bat and the heels prevail.
Another USWA Flashback shows a brawl from 1985 between the Fabulous Ones and the Sheepherders. While referring to the promotion’s history is a nice touch it also reflects poorly on the present promotion when big crowds were no longer going to the Coliseum.
Brown says that there is not enough time for Jerry Lawler to face the Spellbinder and apologizes.
The Last Word: This was a worst show that the USWA aired to this point in the year. With a shallow talent pool some of these feuds are becoming repetitive, namely Bill Dundee and Brian Christopher, who continue to spew the same insults at each other about their age and ability. Since the promotion aired three different flashback segments it is likely that Lawler was not in the studio, so they had to stretch things out to avoid doing the Spellbinder match.
Attendance was steady at the Memphis Coliseum show on February 20, drawing the same number of fans and gate as the previous week (1,500 for $9,000). Here were the results of the show courtesy of prowrestlinghistory.com:
-Scott Studd (7-1) beat Reggie B. Fine (0-4)
-Gorgeous George III (4-2) beat Doug Basham
-The Spellbinder (2-2) beat Chad Carlson
-Moondog Rex (0-1) defeated Crusher Bones (2-0) via disqualification
-USWA Women’s Champion Miss Texas (2-1) defeated Sweet Georgia Brown (1-2) via disqualification in a street fight
-Corey Maclin defeated Big Business Brown
-PG-13 (8-5-1) defeated Tommy Rich & Gorgeous George III when J.C. Ice pinned George
-Bill Dundee (5-2) beat USWA Southern Heavyweight Champion Brian Christopher (9-4) in a non-title bullwhip on a pole match
-Bill Dundee won a bunkhouse battle royal
Backstage News*: Former Memphis wrestler, USWA Unified World Champion, and booker Eddie Gilbert was found dead in his apartment in Isla Verde, Puerto Rico on the evening of February 18. At the time of his death Gilbert was working as the booker for Carlos Colon’s World Wrestling Council (WWC) promotion. He broke into the business in Memphis and teamed with his father Tommy. Gilbert was thirty-three years old. His death is why his brother Doug did not appear at the Memphis Coliseum show against PG-13 as Doug flew to Puerto Rico to identify the body and bring it back to Tennessee. At the Coliseum they did a ten-bell salute for Gilbert.
*Sid is wrapping up his dates in the USWA over the next two weeks, still working spot shows in between doing promo work for WrestleMania XI.
*Backstage news provided courtesy of Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer for March 6.
Up Next: USWA Championship Wrestling for February 25!
