Tri-State Wrestling Alliance Summer Sizzler 06/09/90
By Maffew Gregg on 1 December 2024
McGonigle Hall, Philadelphia
Attendance: 1,050
TWA returns three months after their previous show to a crowd half the size. Unlike the multi-camera production of last time, this is a one-camera shoot from the ringside area. Audio and video is much improved though.
Don Muraco vs. Bob Orton Jr.
We’re joined in progress with Don choking a charging Bob until Orton dunks his head on the turnbuckle and DON TAKES A BUMP. Well that’s one more than he did during his entire UWF run. Bob punches him away as Don takes A SECOND BUMP but blocks a Piledriver. Orton takes a magnificent oversell through the ropes as we clip to the small package ending victory for Bob. Huh.
Well we got to see Don bumping on an indie show so that was enough for a **** rating even if the crowd wasn’t arsed.
Mr. Sandman vs. JT Smith
Both men’s first matches on CageMatch so if it’s not their debuts it’s close to it.
We clip ahead to JT dropping an elbow on Sandman with his manager putting his leg on the ropes to break it up. Sandman in proper yellow and black tights kicks out of a sunset flip before Sandy gets dropkicked into some fan at ringside for a big pop. Smith gets sent over the top rope and manages to take three bumps on the way down. The one-man Pachinko Machine. Sandman’s manager is so annoyed with his performance that he pulls Sandy’s foot for the Warrior/Rude finish and a JT win.
Nothing here as a match but Sandman in real gear is surreal.
Jerry Lawler vs. Austin Idol
Hey this was set up on the last show! But Idol was heel then and he’s still heel now I guess? Anyway the fans decide to boo Lawler because it’s what feels right. I don’t know what specific look Idol is going for with his blond mullet, biker hat and Zubaz but he’s absolutely rocking it. The “My Ex Got Ownership Of The Kids But I Got The Dog” look.
Lawler declines to enter the ring so Idol gets the crowd to chant “wimp!” Lawler says he’d like to say it’s great to be in Philly (crowd cheers)…yeah he’d *like* to say it but because of (redacted) he ain’t! (crowd continues to cheer anyway). Even the ref can’t hide his dumb grin as Lawler continues to recite the Milton Berle joke book:
This is the city of brotherly love and you’ve clearly loved your brother a lot.
Lawler’s award-winning punches can’t put a dent in Idol so Lawler gets punched once and then runs away on all fours to get away from him. Lawler calls a black guy “Sambo” before threatening to “lick your lips and stick you to the wall” AND WE’LL MOVE ON to Lawler insisting the ref DQ Idol for all these illegal punches he’s throwing in a Street Fight.
Idol crotches Jerry and vows to make him a woman as the crowd chant “Queen!” Lawler gets a chain and hides it with ease as the crowd yell at the blindness of the ref. Lawler makes sure to show the entire crowd what he’s got in his hand for some truly vicious insults from the fans. I mean the match was announced as a Street Fight but no-one seems to have noticed or cared. Lawler uses his chain while ordering the ref to check Idol for weapons. Lawler sends Idol into the side of the hall as the crowd loves hating Lawler but doesn’t care about Idol. Was he a thing outside of Memphis? I know about his seventies success but he didn’t become a household name or anything did he?
Lawler drags Idol up the bleaches so old women can yell at him before taking an amazing series of bumps tumbling down the bleaches.
Idol punches Lawler so he wonderfully bounces around like he’s on fire and is attempting to put himself out. The ref gets bumped so Lawler tries to use his chain-assisted fist but Idol grabs it and pounds away on his forehead…just in time for the ref to recover and DQ Idol for using a chain in a Street Fight.
Post-match: Idol knees Lawler in the groin and then decks the ref for being useless. Then Lawler takes another wild bump through the ropes and Idol continues to batter Lawler through the crowd as the young and old lose their minds. Eventually Lawler ducks and Idol punches a wall leading to Lawler escaping to cheat another day.
Lawler’s pantomime act works in any setting or period (aside from the racist material which as we all know only works in the Nitro 2000 recaps). No wonder he was able to keep doing the exact same match on the indies until 2019.
Russian Chain Match
Nikita Koloff vs. Manny Fernandez
Nikita is fresh (?) from the last days of AWA. Raging Bull was only wrestling sporadically but if you looked at this forehead you’d think he was headbutting cage walls three times a week.
Manny stalls for ages before the chain is applied. These guys went to a DQ finish on an earlier TWA show so there’s reason for this gimmick. That gimmick justification wouldn’t last long. Crowd don’t care about logic and chant “Taco Breath!” at Manny.
Five minutes go by with nothing happening. Manny gets the advantage with some punches in the corner. This kills more time before Nikita gets dragged outside the ring and Manny inexplicably sells being stuck in the ropes. OK. This is enough for Nikita to attempt touching the corners as this match has been nothing so far with the crowd treating it as such. Manny lands his charging shoulder and it’s crazy how quiet the crowd is for names like this.
The announcement of twenty minutes passing motivates the wrestlers into switching to second gear with Manny managing the four-corner count. However, the ref gets bumped so he restarts the match after hearing the crowd insult him. Both men start touching corners with the idiot timekeeper ringing the bell at the three corner mark because he’s from New Jersey before Nikita is announced as the winner even though both of them touched the fourth corner at the same time. Everyone moves on and that’s the match, fucking hell.
Completely heatless and action-less affair considering the participants and location.
Joel Goodhart explains TWA will be running smaller shows focusing on the local talent which will culminate in a tournament for the brand new TWA Heavyweight Title. Yeah a quick look ahead reveals Rockin’ Rebel won a Battle Royal for it a month later before it was immediately vacated and won by DC Drake. Huh. Also Joel says Bill Apter is at ringside to announce that PWI will start recognizing TWA as a promotion. Good for them sucking up to willie.
Six Man Tag Team Elimination Match
Larry Winters, Rockin’ Rebel & Tony Stetson vs. DC Drake, Johnny Hot Body & Mondo Kleen
Despite being an evil hardcore brawler, DC Drake has a lot of fans already so he spends his entrance arguing and thanking people. Crowd finds Mondo Kleen (aka Damien Demento)’s entrance attire hilarious. If you think he’s funny now, wait until he starts reading YouTube comments decades later.
Rebel starts with Damien (they’d become more acquainted later on) before this descends into a wild brawl into the ringside area with everyone being thrown over tables and throwing vigorous chair shots. Stetson gets busted open and the crowd are loving this but it’s also a bitch to keep track of. It’s not dull though. The cameraman does a lovely job of realising there’s wild things happening everywhere and keeps up with it all without turning into Kevin Dunn.
Rebel is eliminated courtesy of a crazy spike piledriver on the floor with Johnny diving off the top to the outside. Several minutes of nothing occurs with the cameraman I just complimented missing Stetson’s elimination to look at the future front row of ECW.
Winters pins Kleen after a crossbody to the outside as the crowd continue to be really into this because they can yell as many slurs as they want. The novelty of it has worn off for me though as these guys really enjoyed wrestling for as long as humanly possible. Winters pins Body after several shots from a fan’s vuvuzela, which leaves Drake and Winters together again so we clip ahead to the pair of them trying to murder one another by teasing going over the balcony.
Back inside, you can tell why Drake sticks to brawling as his moves aren’t particularly smooth but he’s getting wonderful heat so no-one cares. Winters comes back thanks to the fans’ support to finally put Drake away with a powerslam.
Stetson shows up to put over Winters but Drake’s manager yells at him to try and pin Winters instead. Winters tells Stetson that it’s OK, he’ll lay down for him before turning it into a small package for the final pin. I’m unsure if that was part of the match or they re-started in a moment not caught on camera. Ah well crowd laughed at it.
Interesting brawl but very hard to get into because of the wildness of the action and camerawork. Maybe worth a watch to witness the crowd reacting to things that would become more ironed out years later but it’s a demo tape at best.
Tully Blanchard vs. Paul Orndorff
Tully was face last time and somehow that’s still the case as he offers Orndorff a polite handshake. Face Tully is up there with face Finlay and face Hardcore Holly.
Tully sells the danger of Mr. Wonderful by trying to hold onto the ropes so Orndorff can’t do anything to him, but the ref kicks him off so he falls into Paul’s pit of pain. Which is made up of armbars. Lots of armbars. Tully gets sick of being nice and tries to use the ring bell but gets spotted immediately. Tully comes back with his own armbars and vicious punches but despite his best attempts at being a bad guy the crowd is burnt out and too respectful to care. Paul sells for Tully’s mostly-polite offence and takes a lovely suplex but crowd are bored. Tully applies the Figure Four Leg Lock but it doesn’t work so he does it again but Paul sees it coming and ends this with a Small Package to a relieving pop. Tully is pissed and applies the Figure Four again but the crowd still don’t boo him, even when he pulls a crazy face and Tod Gordon rings the bell to let him know the match is over. Tully poses afterwards and the crowd are like “YEAH!!!!” so Tully stops trying and moves on and that’s the show. Match was polite.
Overall: Very much a curiosity at best. Prime Lawler is always fun and the elimination match is kinda fun but the rest is better read about than watched.
