Universal Wrestling Federation (9.20.1986) Review

-Originally aired September 20, 1986.

-Your hosts are Jim Ross and Michael Hayes.

THE GLASSMAN vs. THE LIBYAN
-Man, even Cagematch was like “Who the hell is that?” when I tried to do a search for Glassman. He’s a black wrestler with a vaguely Michael Jacksonish entrance outfit a la Mark Ragin, so my guess is this is another experiment to try to replace JYD after two full years.

-Armdrags and a dropkick by Glassman, and a cradle gets two. Libyan starts hammering away at Glassman with forearms and an elbow for two. Backdrop and an elbow…gives Libyan the win?! Okay, I guess my theory was wrong.

-Bill Watts and Steve Williams are with the Oklahoma Sooners defense, getting ready for practice. Dr. Death gives the defensive coach a Dr. Death t-shirt. Bill Watts talks with head coach Barry Switzer, who sees an unlimited future for his team.

(Spongebob narrator: “Three years later…”)

-We head to the weight room, where Dr. Death encourages the kids out there to take up weightlifting. This was an odd segment, with Bill Watts in particular coming off like a starry-eyed fanboy around the football players instead of somebody on their level.

-Terry Gordy has words for Dr. Death before their UWF Heavyweight Title match. His promo style is so disconnected from the whole persona of the Freebirds that it’s almost weird that they lasted as a unit for so long. It’s a GOOD promo though. He’s intense as hell.

UWF HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE: TERRY GORDY (Champion) vs. “Dr. Death” STEVE WILLIAMS
-Unique start to this one, with Terry charging at Williams and tackling him, then holding on and taking him down with a waistlock. Williams slips out and gives him a back suplex. Right hands by Doc while JR reminds us that oh yeah, the Freebirds beat the crap out of Doc on the concrete floor, which would have been nice to mention before the match. You can say what you want about the quality of the in-ring action, but this was one area where the WWF shined, especially in this era–they did NOT let you forget stuff like that and you didn’t go into a match not thinking about it.

-Snapmare and a falling headbutt by Doc. Piledriver is countered by a backdrop from Gordy. Doc shakes it off and chokes Gordy, and JR is so taken aback by that, he speculates that Doc is about inflicting punishment on Gordy first, and winning the title second.

-Chinlock by Doc, but an ANGRY chinlock to be clear about it. Gordy rakes the eyes to break that. We pause for commercial and return to Doc taking some BUMPS for Gordy, getting thrown shoulder-first into the post twice, but it’s not enough to put Doc away. Doc starts his comeback with a clothesline, then piledrives Gordy with some sauce on it. He heaves Gordy shoulder-first into the post twice. ANOTHER piledriver by Doc, but Gordy kicks out at twice. Doc strangely goes right back to kicking Gordy’s ass instead of sitting on the mat with a frozen shocked facial expression following the kickout. Do you even wrestling, bro?

-Double clothesline wipes out both men as Gordy is low bleeding, although it may just be the sauce from that clothesline. Bodypress by Gordy misses its target and he knocks out referee Carl Fergie. Tommy Gilbert hits the ring immediately, but just as immediately gets knocked out by an errant blow from Gordy’s feet when Doc is setting him up for the Stampede. Fergie revives in time to count the pin, but Gordy gets a foot on the ropes. Tommy Gilbert revives, too, and Doc hits a belly-to-back suplex on Gordy, holding onto it for the pin, with both referees counting three. The crowd comes unglued for the title change, but here’s your plot twist….

-Carl Fergie was counting GORDY’s shoulders to the mat and got a three-count, so he feels Doc has won. But Doc forgot to lift a shoulder for the pinning combo, so Tommy Gilbert was counting DOC’s shoulders to the mat, so he feels Gordy has won, and he takes the belt away and hands it over to Gordy, who leaves the building triumphantly as the referees keep arguing in the ring. That’s a great twist on an abused finish.

-Danny Hodge joins commentary as we get this week’s UWF TOP TEN!

#10. Hollywood John Tatum
#9. Freebird Buddy Roberts
#8. Chavo Guerrero
#7. “Dr. Death” Steve Williams and this ranking seems really low considering he was going for the title two minutes ago
#6. The Missing Link
#5. Freebird Michael Hayes
#4. Ted DiBIase
#3. Hacksaw Jim Duggan
#2. One Man Gang
#1. Terry Taylor

-Next order of business: Last week, The Missing Link defeated John Tatum, which means Missy Hyatt must now become Dark Journey’s valet. Jim Ross indicated that something happened during the commercial break following that match but he got interrupted before he could tell us what, so now we go back to last week to see the unaired footage…

-Eddie Gilbert and John Tatum get into an argument about whose fault the loss was. Missy Hyatt desperately tries to play peacemaker. It appears to work, but Tatum throws a sucker punch at Eddie and starts beating on him. Sting hits the ring and attacks Tatum, taking Eddie Gilbert’s side. Jack Victory hurries out and attacks Tatum, taking Eddie Gilbert’s side. Missy manages to stop the fight, but now there’s a new argument because Missy is in the ring, literally caught in the middle. Eddie & Sting on one side of the apron; Tatum & Victory on the other side. And after a lot of agonizing, she leaves with Tatum & Victory.

-Jim Ross interviews Missy and Tatum. Missy is dreading being a valet because she’s afraid something will happen to her nails. Tatum tries to steer the conversation to announce that he and Jack Victory will be a tag team, but Missy dwells on the fact that Tatum lost the valet match, and Tatum is so annoyed that he walks off. Missy pledges that she’s going to try to get the four guys back together, while Tatum yells from the other room about how he doesn’t want that.

ONE MAN GANG & BAD BAD LEROY BROWN (with Skandar Akbar & Savannah Jack) vs. BOBBY PEREZ
-Brown hammers and headbutts Perez. Hard clothesline and a big pair of elbows put Perez away.

STANDBY MATCH: ICEMAN KING PARSONS (with Ted DiBiase) vs. FREEBIRD MICHAEL HAYES (with Buddy Roberts)
-Danny Hodge dipped out of guest commentary early, so JR gets a new commentary partner for this one: UWF Events Coordinator Bruce Prichard!

-Parsons does ONE move, and Hayes milks his sell for all it’s worth. Slam by Parsons, but he misses a bodypress. Credits roll as we’re desperately out of time, but JR lets us know that the videotape from the title match is being reviewed.