[1991-07-22-USWA] Jerry Lawler vs Eric Embry

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Cool, a handheld of a house show match. Nothing special, nor did I expect it to be, as it's all hiding foreign objects. Embry goes as far as to hide what whatever it is he is trying to use in his mouth. What a sleazebag.

[PeteF3]

Unique atmosphere here but not a match that held my attention. Not to beat the "___ by numbers" phrase to death but that's all that comes to mind. Embry uses a foreign object, does his usual moves, Lawler does his usual comeback, copout finish with Embry decking the referee and leaving.

[Kevin Ridge]

Stalling before with Embry running off as Lawler takes down his strap. Eric tries to use a chain before they even lock up. Referee very suspicious and checks him over a couple times but Embry hides it. Embry hides it in his mouth even. This is most of the match with Embry being sneaky as he can. This referee was getting easily fooled when a wrestler would point outside the ring and he would go investigate.

[soup23]

I was really excited going into this one but they did more generic southern schtick than play off their feud on television. It is all entertaining to watch and in general a good match but given the promos on each other, I wanted blood and hate.

[garretta]

This wasn't Embry vs. Lawler, this was Embry vs. the referee (could it have been Frank Morrell? I couldn't tell for sure). I know Memphis is all about the bullshit, and I didn't expect anything close to a clean finish, but this was absurd. They barely touched each other for the first ten minutes, and then we got five seconds of Embry on offense before Lawler's big comeback, during which he completely no-sold a DDT. I'm not a stickler for accurate selling at all times, but that was beyond ridiculous.

 

Meanwhile, the referee looks like he has an IQ of minus three, going down to count several Embry pin attempts and then suspecting that Embry used the chain to knock Lawler down. Either frisk him completely or leave him alone; God knows Memphis refs have gone selectively blind, deaf, and dumb for Lawler a thousand times over the years. To be fair, Lawler takes advantage of this moron to piledrive Embry, so at least he's consistently stupid for both guys. Then we get Embry socking him, which leads to a pinball punching sequence with him (the ref) and Lawler against Embry that would have been at least amusing if the idiot had toned his act down just a tinge over the last ten minutes. As it was, I can't blame Embry for taking off.

 

I'm thinking that Lawler and Embry made this match deliberately unsatisfying (as in poorly worked) so that the fans in attendance would go to the Pipkin Building to see a good match between them at a future date. This looked like it was filmed at a high school or middle school gym, so that strategy may or may not have worked. It definitely wouldn't have with me, though. If they don't care enough to at least try when they come to my neck of the woods, why should I spend my money to see them again? And what if I can't afford to go to the Pipkin Building, either in money or time? If this was my one chance to see Lawler/Embry live, I would have been so disappointed that I would have had to even think twice about tuning in on TV for a while, let alone going to another live show. This really was that bad.

[dawho5]

Little tip for Southern referees. When you suspect somebody is hiding something, check the hands AND the trunks all at the same time. Crazy idea, might work though. Perfectly normal "please go see the big match" match. Embry with all the stalling and cheating we expect and want Lawler to punish him for, Lawler with the comeback and an unsatisfying end. When both of these guys decide to go it's great, but this was not it.