[1992-02-14-GWF] Jerry Lynn vs Barry Horowitz

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

There appears to be some weigh-in controversy before the match, with the referee not believing Horowitz's weight to be legit. Referee James Beard has to leave the room for something, and Gilbert switches out the scales to give Horowitz a false low weight. No explained presence of the camera! Eddie Gilbert was truly ahead of his time and knew where wrestling was going.

 

Nice match from a time when Jerry Lynn was tolerable and it's great to see Horowitz work a real, actual competitive match. Lynn ends up getting the win despite using a chain as a weapon. Something tells me Gilbert won't be happy.

[Tim Evans]

Pretty good match and Loved Gilbert at the weigh in. You're right, the guy was ahead of his time.

[shoe]

A fun little angle before the match. Then we get nice little match between the 2. Had some similarites to Blazer/Horowitz from the WWF 80's set as in he was a real good base for his high spots.

[Chess Knight]

Pretty sure I've never seen heel Horowitz and I was really impressed. All the trash talking and cheating you'd want. If he was in his peak today McMahon would probably want to make him a star.

[Kevin Ridge]

Changing the scales by Gilbert was a cool tough. Nice little match. I got a kick out of Horowitz looking all confident at the end and then getting rolled up out of nowhere.

[MikeCampbell]

It's sad that Barry will be mostly remembered, if at all, as the jobber who patted himself on the back. He was great here, showing a bunch of personality and looking pretty good in the ring. I don't think I've seen anyone break a sleeperhold the way Barry did. Fun finish with Barry seeming to have it won, only for it to slip away. He came from ahead to lose.

[WingedEagle]

Not bad but nothing so special here either, though it was pretty obvious they were calling the next sequence of spots following a Lynn armdrag. I may very well be biased against BH as well as I just can't get into his schtick all that much.

 

**1/4

[PeteF3]

The presence of the camera makes little sense and yes, it's definitely a very late-'90s segment. It was still fun though, thanks to Gilbert's subterfuge and Horowitz's excuse-making. Craig Johnson gallantly tries to explain that no one was able to get in touch with Beard between the weigh-in and the match.

 

Match isn't on the level of the Lynn/Kid stuff but Horowitz is so good at the basics and has just enough high-end offense to enhance that, so we get a nice solid match. Horowitz is in the unusual role of dominating bully after Lynn misses a second-rope dropkick and takes a nasty bump right onto Horowitz's knees, which probably wasn't pleasant for either guy. Horowitz attempts to use brass knucks but can't keep Lynn down with them, leading to a sunset flip and Lynn victory.

[garretta]

This was all right, nothing more. It was a pleasure to see Horowitz actually show what he could do after seeing him as nothing but a punching bag for so many years, but I couldn't get over the stupidity of the pre-match stuff. How in the hell does any ref allow himself to be pulled away during an official weigh-in, and why doesn't the GWF have a backup referee or other official available just for cases like this? Stupidity abounds in wrestling, but to see the referees and other so-called officials being this actively dense ruins matches and angles.

 

If they had to run something like this (and trust me, they didn't), why not have Horowitz actually score the pin after the brass knucks shot, then "find" the hidden-camera footage and use it as an excuse to strip him of the belt? At least then Beard would have known he was duped and would have had revenge of a sort on Horowitz and Gilbert As it is, everyone except Eddie looks too stupid to come in out of the rain, which was probably just how he liked it (in real life as well as kayfabe).

 

Could Craig have made any more tortured references to "The Winner"? The segues he had to make back into the match after them were downright painful to listen to at times.

 

Even fellow heels like Eddie have no patience for Barry's touchy-feely routine. That was acceptable in 1992, but the rejection of his hugs today would probably turn him babyface in 2016's more gay-tolerant society.

 

Jerry Lynn isn't knocked silly by a knucks shot to the forehead? A 207-pound shrimp? Either he's got a special new skull imported from Samoa or someone really forgot to think the finish through. It's a shame too, as Lynn did his usual fabulous work throughout, including besting Horowitz in several punch exchanges.

[dawho5]

Horowitz getting to show off a heel character and serve as a base for Lynn was fun to watch. Lynn's missed dropkick looked horribly painful. The pre-match was definitely ahead of it's time, if a little silly. Nothing that's goingto win any awards, but it's a fun segment and definitely not something you see often from Horowitz.