Thursday, May 1, 2008

UWF Blackjack Brawl - 9/23/94

The sister show to the 1991 Beach Brawl pay-per-view. It couldn't be that bad ... could it?

1) Johnny Ace vs. Dan Spivey - 2
2) The Killer Bees vs. The Warlord & The Power Warrior - 2
3) Cactus Jack vs. Superfly Jimmy Snuka - Lumberjack Match - 3
4) Steve "Dr. Death" Williams vs. Sid Vicious - 4

This is the edited down version of the show that was aired as part of the "Classic Wrestling" series on ESPN Classic Canada. The actual show contains 11 matches that look really bad. Gene Okerlund introduces the show from the studio and we're off and jogging. It should be noted that Okerlund never worked for the UWF, but he was the host of the "Classic Wrestling" series.

First up is what totally could've been a decent match between Spivey and Ace. However, Spivey kept trying to work an abdominal stretch that looked that he was trying to hump Ace. I'm sure Johnny Ace has taken hits for the company before but damn! Missy Hyatt (ew ... hives! hives! ... I'm itching!!) throws in the towel to swerve Ace and join up with Spivey. Umm ... okay. Not exactly sure what happened but yeah ... next!

Next we get the infamous Warlord of WWF fame teaming up with a ridiculous bum who's pumping gas at Swifty for a living now up against the Killer Bees. Everyone showed their age in this one. Warlord and his partner did nothing but pound on the Bees' backs and pose randomly. The Bees win after 11 agonizing minutes to become the first and only UWF Tag champs.

The lumberjack match between Cactus and Snuka was the match I was looking forward to the most. I read about Foley's dealings with UWF promoter Herb Abrams in his first book in which he said that he "got to live out a dream" in this match. Well, it may have been a dream for Foley to compete with Snuka but it was hardly a dream watching it. The lumberjacks around ringside looked as if they didn't want to be there, John Tolos was over-hyping it on commentary, and there was no finish. It ended in a no contest and Cactus and Snuka brawled in about 20 rows of completely empty seats.

The main event was Sid and Dr. Death and they seemed to be the only ones who put for any effort. Doc was working hard and laying some hard shots in. Sid was throwing his standard offense but they seemed to work pretty well together. Doc won to keep the UWF Title, which didn't mean a thing and this abysmal abomination of a show ends mercifully.

3 comments:

Jessie said...

i would have liked a little more "analysis" but i'm intrigued by these workers/ definitley like to check this show out.

Adam said...

yeah, i agree. i'm really not in the rhythm i used to be in doing "analysis" per se but i'm going to start trying to take more detailed notes so i have some stuff to look back on.

this was definitely an interesting show though. the lumberjack match and the main event were the best things, and that's not saying much

Adam said...

I think i'm definitely going to try to find this whole show and review it. Tyler Mane vs. Steve Ray needs a full on analysis.