Lance Russell is back in the studio this week, calling the matches with Dave Brown. They are broadcasting from WMC-TV5 in Memphis, Tennessee.
Russell interviews the Heavenly Bodies and Brandon Baxter. Dr. Tom Prichard says that the Bodies are not happy that PG-13 is getting a crack at the WWF Tag Team Championship this week in Memphis.
Opening Contest: The Heavenly Bodies (w/Brandon Baxter) (1-3-1) defeat the Spellbinder & T.D. Steel when Jimmy del Ray pins Steel after a moonsault at 3:07:
Any act that is paired with Steel is of the lower midcard variety and that is the spot the Spellbinder has been plugged into upon his return from the WWF. The Spellbinder manhandles Prichard, but Steel gets overwhelmed after tagging in and it is a squash after that. Steel bumps awkwardly for the Bodies, taking a weird bump from an elbow and failing to get into the proper position for a Prichard bulldog. The Bodies finish him off with a double flapjack and a Del Ray moonsault.
Brown talks with Tekno Team 2000 and Brandon Baxter. Baxter puts over the Teknos as the greatest tag team in the company, which is sure to put him at odds with the Bodies, who he also manages. Troy and Travis give an unenthusiastic promo about how they hate PG-13 until the Bodies walk out and confront Baxter over his earlier remarks. An argument breaks out and promoter Randy Hales as to break things up. Needless to say, the Bodies annihilated the Teknos on the mic during this segment.
Tekno Team 2000 (w/Brandon Baxter) (3-0) defeat Kip Morris & Chris Frazier when Troy pins Morris after a flying sunset flip at 2:17:
The Teknos do not give the jobbers any space to breathe, attacking them before the opening bell. The Teknos go for a weird finish where Travis holds Frazier in place for Troy to come off the top rope with a sunset flip and Morris fails to roll through the move properly, so it looks awful. So, after a bad promo, the Teknos cannot get their finish to work either. It must not be their day at the office.
Russell interviews Brandon Baxter, who is appearing in his fifth straight segment of the day. Baxter switches gears from the tag team scene, alleging that USWA Women’s Champion Miss Texas had a love affair with promoter Eddie Marlin to get a push. He adds that Texas is having an affair with Randy Hales to maintain her spot. That causes Texas to rush out and nail Baxter. Jesse James Armstrong is on her heels and he holds her in place so Baxter can slap her. Brian Christopher is charged with making the babyface save.
Russell interviews Armstrong and, who else, Baxter. Armstrong says that Christopher is going to learn what his name is quickly because he is going to win the USWA Unified and USWA Southern Heavyweight titles.
Doug Gilbert (15-11-3) beats Jesse James Armstrong (w/Brandon Baxter) (4-2) via reverse decision at 4:09:
Is the USWA trying to set a record with Baxter today? The count is now up to seven-straight segment appearances. At least Brown has a nice rip on Baxter while doing commentary, saying that Baxter has probably told Armstrong that he is the greatest wrestler in the world and is one half of the greatest tag team in the world. There is a pee wee football team in the front row for today’s show and they freak out during the match every time that Baxter chokes or hits Gilbert behind the referee’s back. After some token action, Gilbert lifts Armstrong for a slam but Steven Dunn runs out and trips Gilbert, allowing Armstrong to fall on top for the pin. However, after the match Gilbert complains to the referee and the referee sees Dunn emerge from his hiding place underneath the ring so he reverses the decision. The USWA needs to stop doing that finish each week. Rating: *
After the outcome is announced, Armstrong and Dunn beatdown Gilbert until Brian Christopher makes the save.
Brown interviews Dunn. Dunn informs fans that he has turned against the USWA because the promotion reneged on giving him lots of title shots.
Non-Title Match: Brian Christopher (USWA Southern Heavyweight Champion) (32-14-6) beats Steven Dunn (12-2-3) via disqualification when Jesse James Armstrong interferes at 4:05:
Dunn finds it hard to counter anything that Christopher throws at him, taking a powder after a bulldog and then having his leg worked over by the champion. Dunn works some boring offense after a blind charge and Christopher fires back with a superkick for a near-fall. Sensing trouble, Armstrong runs in for the disqualification to end another basic, limited match. Rating: *
After the bell, Armstrong and Dunn pound away on Christopher until Doug Gilbert tries to make a save. However, Gilbert has powder thrown in his eyes and fails.
Russell interviews the Heavenly Bodies and Baxter for the second time. The Bodies argue that they would like to wrestle PG-13, but USWA politics are preventing it. Randy Hales walks out and tells the Bodies to leave. When they do so, PG-13 come out, only to have the Bodies return and pound away. The action skills into the ring for an impromptu main event.
Non-Title Match: PG-13 (USWA Tag Team Champions) (37-17-3) defeat the Heavenly Bodies (w/Brandon Baxter) (2-3-1) via disqualification after Tekno Team 2000 interferes at 2:35:
As the match gets going, Tekno Team 2000 lets the commentary team know that they feel slighted by all of this talk of great tag teams. The Bodies are on the verge of seizing the advantage in the match when Dr. Tom Prichard goes to J.C. Ice’s eyes, but they cannot exploit it because the Teknos hit the ring and attack PG-13.
After the bell, a three-team brawl breaks out because the Bodies are not happy with the Teknos run-in.
The Last Word: A three-team tag team feud is something the promotion has not done this year, but it lacks the intensity of prior PG-13 angles because the Teknos are so bad on the mic. Brandon Baxter continues to be overexposed on television, having his hand in several angles and getting too much mic time. Sadly, the promotion lacks other heel managers to balance him out so unless something changes going forward, Baxter is sure to hog up lots of time. The USWA also needs better babyfaces because Brian Christopher and Doug Gilbert are having to carry the load, but Gilbert works much better as a heel and fans were turning against Christopher earlier in the year when he feuded with Sid Vicious over the USWA Unified Championship. This babyface deficit is becoming a problem with each passing show since Jerry Lawler is busy with WWF commitments and Bill Dundee left for Ozark Mountain.
Attendance continued to trend downward at the Mid-South Coliseum as 900 fans paid a gate of $5,500 to see the following card on October 2. The show drew fifty fewer fans than the Mid-South card two weeks ago. Some of the drop off could be attributed to the growing Monday Night Wars between the WWF and WCW as televised competition to the USWA began to eat into crowd numbers around this time. The results below were provided courtesy of prowrestlinghistory.com:
-Pat Tanaka (0-7-2) beat Tony Williams (2-1)
-The Spellbinder (8-6-2) beat Axl Rotten (4-2-3)
-USWA Women’s Champion Miss Texas (15-6-1) beat Brandon Baxter (4-4) via disqualification
-The Heavenly Bodies (2-4-1) beat Tekno Team 2000 (4-0)
-Doug Gilbert (16-11-3) defeated Steven Dunn (12-3-3)
-USWA Southern Heavyweight Champion Brian Christopher (33-14-6) beat Jesse James Armstrong (4-3)
-USWA Tag Team Champions PG-13 (38-17-3) beat WWF Tag Team Champions the Smoking Gunns via disqualification after Tekno Team 2000 interfered
Up Next: USWA Championship Wrestling for October 7!