[1991-04-12-USWA Texas] Jeff Jarrett vs Tom Pritchard (Tennessee Street Fight)

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Surprisingly, this was the least of their matches so far. It was still a solid match, but I was hoping for a little more violence. Plus, I HATE HATE HATE when referees try to enforce rules in matches like this. As a result of that small little detail, they end up doing the hide the chain bullshit, yet the referee doesn't call for the bell when they do use weapons in front of him, so what's the point in hiding the chain in the first place? That really ruined this match, in spite of the action being pretty good at times.

[shoe]

I thought this was pretty good. It was a good give and take brawl. I absolutely loved the spot where Jarrett gave the Dr. an atomic drop into the ring post. He does a bump into the corner and spins out into a Jarrett clothesline. The hide the chain didn't bother me as much as Loss. Though at 1st the ref would confiscate the weapons . Then we get the hide the chain. The ref still takes the weapons. Then after he lets them use kendo sticks , belts etc. at 1st the hide the chain made sense in how the rules were being enforced. Afterwards though that went out the window. That is until the finish. Still even with the gaps in logic I liked the bout.

[PeteF3]

This is a "Street Fight"--not simply no-DQ there-must-be-a-winner as Embry/Dundee was. So the weapons confiscation and rules enforcement makes even less sense. Jarrett's comeback upon grabbing the kendo stick is pretty great, but he gets to use weapons with impunity while Paul Neighbors steps in when Prichard goes for his chain, allowing Jarrett to roll him up for the pin. Great impartial officiating. Jarrett gets hanged with the chain afterward in what should be a hot angle that doesn't seem to garner much heat. There still aren't a lot of people left in the Sportatorium and those that remain may just be burnt out on angles like this.

[Kevin Ridge]

Jarrett’s jeans are ripped in a strange area. Since it’s a street fight one chain shot won’t get the pinfall. Not sure why Pritchard is trying to hide the chain from referee when it is a street fight. Well that’s because the referee is checking for weapons.... in a street fight. That is dumb. Just count the pinfalls. Nice when they were whipping each other with the belt but the referee was annoying getting involved when he shouldn’t have since it’s a street fight.

[soup23]

I agree that the biggest detriment in this was the referee and overall lack on focus in some areas. Still a good match but given the time they went, I thought they may be able to have one of the top matches of the year and this was simply another good entry into their ongoing series.

[garretta]

I've read James Beard's postings on a few different boards, and he's said that referees were instructed most of the time to enforce the rules even in matches like this, both so the wrestlers didn't accidentally hurt each other and so the fans would know that using weapons was still low-down and dirty. The only thing they couldn't do was stop the match if a weapon was used. I guess how far they went in stopping the guys from using weapons depended on how physically lucky they were feeling on a given day. All of which begs the question: Why even book street fights in the first place? I'm guessing this match was kept tamer than usual because it was being taped for ESPN, but again, why Dad would book a street fight for a TV show when he knew what they were and how bloody and out-of-control they were designed to be is beyond me. (For those who may not know, I refer to Jerry Jarrett as "Dad" because there are two Jarretts and two major Jerrys in the USWA.)

 

At any rate, Jeff and Dr. Tom did a decent job working around Neighbors and still managed to make this look like a violent brawl. Even Tojo did his part outside the ring. They managed to use the Southern title belt, Jeff's weightlifting belt, at least three different chains, a kendo stick, and Dr. Tom's boot, all without a drop of blood being spilled by either man, which is no mean feat. Michael ends up being the custodian of the weapons, much to his chagrin; just once, I would have liked to have seen him try to refuse Dr. Tom one of the chains and see how far he got. Of course, this match ends on a garden-variety rollup, which somehow fits after all the misplaced rule enforcement.

 

I'm not sure why the postmatch didn't fire up the crowd; sure, the last match between these two ended with a three-on-one beatdown, but that happened a thousand times to the Von Erichs. I thought Jeff was as close to a transplanted hometown favorite as Dallas had by this time, but I guess I was wrong. Maybe they didn't buy Dr. Tom as a real threat, or maybe the Embry turn simply soured them on the USWA in general. Eric may not have been Kerry in his prime when it came to popularity, but he was one of the people's own, and now he was just another bleached blonde heel like the rest. There were no faces left who weren't Memphis transplants, and that might have been what finally killed Jarrett in Dallas. He needed to bring back one of the World Class old-timers, like Kevin or Chris Adams, to lead the babyfaces instead of relying on Dundee and Jeff, especially since the best babyface he had (Lawler) could barely be bothered to show up.

[dawho5]

I am with all of the HATE for referees enforcing the rules in this kind of match. Kind of goes against the concept doesn't it?