Lance Russell and Dave Brown call today’s action from the WMC-TV5 studio in Memphis, Tennessee
Brown interviews Richard Lee, a longtime Tennessee manager to worked for Nick and George Gulas in the 1980s and then started working for Jerry Jarrett in 1985. He was best known for managing the Moondogs, who he hypes as the most violent team in the territory. On today’s show he is returning after being gone for three years and brings with him Moondog Cujo, a man he claims is going to bring more violence to the USWA.
Opening Contest: Moondog Cujo (w/Richard Lee) pins Ripley Prim after a DDT in 27 seconds:
Cujo has already appeared on USWA programming this year, wrestling as Big Daddy Cyrus in February and early March. He rushes the ring and lays out Prim with a fisherman’s suplex, a splash, and a DDT.
After the match, Lee hands Cujo a chair and Cujo beats the jobber with it until Doug Gilbert makes the save. Gilbert must be thrilled with getting this new feud.
Russell announces that the WWF’s Ahmed Johnson is coming to the USWA and has his sights set on Jerry Lawler’s USWA Unified World Championship. Highlights of Johnson’s WWF squashes are shown.
Jesse James Armstrong (w/Downtown Bruno) (6-5) pins Kip Morris after a powerbomb at 1:53:
When making his entrance Armstrong is carrying both USWA tag team title belts because Tracy Smothers is out with a concussion. Morris comes close to winning with a fluke body press out of nowhere, but Armstrong catches him with a powerbomb when he tries a leapfrog. This was Armstrong’s best squash match to date.
Russell interviews Armstrong and Bruno, with Armstrong bragging about how he and Smothers retained the tag team titles against PG-13 in Memphis. He complains about PG-13 attacking them in the locker room, which caused Smothers to get his concussion. Footage is then played of the locker room attack. After this, Armstrong’s promo loses direction but he got the finer points across.
PG-13 (44-19-3) defeat Charlie Laird & the Yellow Jacket when J.C. Ice pins Laird after Wolfie D tilt-a-whirl slams him on top of Laird at 2:28:
The Yellow Jacket has wrestled PG-13 with a variety of different partners throughout 1995 but cannot get the upper hand. The same is true today as PG-13 dominate him and then finish Laird with their tilt-a-whirl slam finisher.
Bob Armstrong cuts a taped promo, promising that a wrestler called the Smoky Mountain Massacre is coming to the USWA.
Brown talks with PG-13. Wolfie D insists that they did not use Corey Maclin to setup their locker room attack on Jesse James Armstrong and Tracy Smothers. J.C. Ice adds that PG-13 is ready to face anyone that gets in their way. Jesse James Armstrong walks out and offers to wrestle PG-13 one a time, an offer they quickly accept.
Gauntlet Match #1: Wolfie D (w/J.C. Ice) (6-1-2) beats Jesse James Armstrong (w/Downtown Bruno) (7-5) via disqualification when the Smoky Mountain Massacre interferes at 1:02:
There is barely a match here as Ice intercepts an early effort by Bruno interfere and the Smoky Mountain Massacre, a poor Vader imitation with a mask that looks like something out of The Man in the Iron Mask, interferes and chokeslams and splashes the former tag team champions. USWA jobbers come out to stop the carnage but are easily dispatched along with the referee. The Massacre was Bill Stapleton, a Bobby Blayze trainee from Louisville who did not do much else in the wrestling business after this.
Russell returns to hyping Jerry Lawler vs. Ahmed Johnson for the USWA Unified World Championship. Lawler cuts a promo as the promotion airs footage of Ahmed slamming Yokozuna on Monday Night RAW. Lawler admits that the fans might like Ahmed, but he has some tricks to defeat him. Ahmed called into the studio, saying that Lawler might be a legend, but Ahmed is a survivor. This love-in ends with Lawler saying that wrestling Ahmed will be a great opportunity.
Doug Gilbert (22-13-3) pins Ken Raper with a schoolboy roll up at 2:42:
During the match, Richard Lee tells the commentary team that Lawler and Brian Christopher are ducking Moondog Cujo. That is a bold claim when neither of those men knew Cujo was even around until thirty minutes ago. Raper stalls so Lee can rant for a while and then catches Gilbert with a slam for a near-fall. However, he celebrates too much and Gilbert schoolboys him for the win. Does Raper need to be protected? If the USWA sees something in him, they need to push him rather than have him occupy a weird ground where he loses all of his matches but also makes miraculous saves once in a blue moon.
After the bout, Gilbert gets in Lee’s face and hits him. That brings out Cujo and the two brawl into the ring, where Cujo beats Gilbert with his bone until Lawler and Christopher make the save.
Tekno Team 2000 (w/Downtown Bruno) (5-4-1) wrestle Jerry Lawler & Brian Christopher to a time limit draw at 2:15:
This match barely gets out of the first gear before the television time limit expires. The only thing to note about it is that Troy bumps around nicely for Christopher.
The Last Word: With all of the recent departures from the promotion new talent had to be brought in, but Moondog Cujo seems like a relic of a bygone era and the Smoky Mountain Massacre is an embarrassment. It is also an indictment of the company that they lack a good foil for Lawler so they have to bring in a WWF guy to threaten his Unified title reign. Still, this show made both new acts look like powerhouses and the wrestling was perfectly acceptable for an hour show.
After a few weeks of recovering attendance figures, attendance in Memphis dropped again as 550 fans, 150 fewer than the previous week, paid a gate of $4,300 to attend the November 6 show at the Mid-South Coliseum. This was alarming for the promotion because Jerry Lawler main evented after being gone for more than a month. Here were the results of the show, courtesy of prowrestlinghistory.com:
-Steven Dunn (15-6-4) beat Troy
-Pat Tanaka (2-8-2) beat Travis
-Moondog Cujo (1-0) defeated Doug Gilbert (23-13-3)
-PG-13 (45-19-3) defeated Jesse James Armstrong & the Smoky Mountain Massacre
-USWA Southern Heavyweight Champion Brian Christopher (39-15-6) beat Bob Armstrong (1-0) in a “Coward Waves the Flag” match
-Ahmed Johnson pinned USWA Unified World Champion Jerry Lawler (23-5) after ten body slams to win the title at 25:00
Backstage News*: Ahmed Johnson got a lot of cheers in Memphis against Jerry Lawler, who was able to skip doing voiceover work for Monday Night RAW since Lawler was on that telecast in a taped match.
*The USWA is no longer doing Wednesday night shows in Evansville, Indiana because Bill Dundee and Bert Prentice’s Ozark Mountain group have taken over that town. USWA superstars are not happy about this development because that gives them one less show during the week to work. This is hurting the underneath guys the most, who reportedly make $40 (or less) per night, and their pay is continuing to go down because gates in Memphis have been poor since September. This is cited as a big reason for recent departures from the company.
*Backstage news is provided courtesy of Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer for November 13.
Up Next: USWA Championship Wrestling for November 11!