[1990-10-08-USWA-World Title Tournament] Jerry Lawler vs Dick Slater

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Fun to see these two doing all sorts of interesting arm work. So much cool attention to detail, like Slater's quick attempts to break a hammerlock being countered by Lawler, and Lawler pointing to the ropes when Slater was using them for leverage in a pin attempt. I loved that they kept teasing a screwjob finish that didn't come. This was a very smart match and I always love the pin yourself finish. I think Matt D would really enjoy this. The best match so far.

[PeteF3]

Lawler's doing the Randy Savage different-color-schemes-in-every-round thing, which I approve of. Definitely the best match so far as it was pretty much all action with no Memphis stalling. This takes some unique turns among its false finishes. An especially clever spot sees Lawler getting in a piledriver while Frank Morrell was bumped (after Slater had attempted to piledrive him numerous times, giving the babyface some moral high ground), but Slater yells about the piledriver as he's being covered and Morrell stops the count and the match goes on. Morrell actually comes across as a real-life competent official here, "letting 'em play" while still enforcing the rules.

[soup23]

Hmmm, I actually thought this was my least favorite match so far. Still good but I felt myself losing attention more during this match. The teased screwjob ending was neat.

[Kevin Ridge]

Slater tries a couple piledrivers but referee stops them because illegal. Later in match with referee down, Slater goes for another but Lawler reverses. Jerry then hits his own piledriver. Referee counts one but then stops to question Lawler if he uses a piledriver. Ugh, annoying refereeing going on. I dislike the finish more over years when a guy suplexes another but has his own shoulders down.

[garretta]

I agree that this was the best bell-to-bell match of the night so far, but was the crowd ever dead. You know your card's in trouble when not even one of the best Lawler performances this year can't inspire the crowd to care very much. And why should they? By the time this round is over, they'll have seen eighteen matches in one night, with the biggest two still to come. I've never been to one of those marathon tapings that the WWF used to run until almost one in the morning, but now I know what they probably sounded like before Vince's technical crew got a hold of them.

 

It's a shame, because both men worked as hard as they have all night so far. I loved the piledriver teases from Slater, and how Lawler turned the tables by hitting the driver himself when Frank Morrell couldn't see. The finish was kind of standard for a promotion which wants to build a fresh set of challengers for a new champ, so it didn't bother me. I did find Morrell a bit annoying at times, particularly when he asked Lawler if he'd piledriven Slater. The rule's always been: if you as a ref don't see something, you can't call it. I don't know if they were trying to show that Morrell would put up with just about anything so that this match would have a clear winner and loser, but he came off as a total dunderhead.

 

The announcers' punchiness continues, as they riff on the camera crew during the restholds. Maybe Dave didn't have the night off after all, but where was St. John? I thought I was watching Gino and Lord Alfred at MSG for a minute, which doesn't really bother me personally but isn't exactly the height of professionalism either.

 

Can't wait for Lawler/Funk in the semis!

[drew wardlaw]

I missed the finish at first, glad they showed a replay. I'm split between this and the Funk/Brown match as my favorite, but I really liked the finish here.

[dawho5]

I enjoyed the way they teased the screwjob finish. Really good match that you don't expect from Memphis, but a lot of the details are kinda blurred at this point.