“Stunning” Steve Austin, wearing a bright colored pattern over long black tights, is wrestling Memphis hallmark “Superstar” Bill Dundee. The commentary eventually turns to Austin’s current feud with his mentor, “Gentleman” Chris Adams, who they call “one of USWA’s big names.” They pause, and one laughs, reflecting, “We’re hurtin’ for big names if Chris Adams is a big name.”
And with one offhand remark, the story of the USWA (United States Wrestling Association) is told.
The USWA, as it stands right now, is listed on the WWE Network under the GWF (Global Wrestling Federation) banner. According to a guy named TheMaskedOtter on the prowrestling.com forums, in the early 90s the GWF purchased part of USWA’s TV deal, which was World Class’ old TV deal. So the WWE purchased some segment of this tape library and has put up 10 episodes on the WWE Network, listing it under Global Wrestling Federation but naming all the shows after the USWA.
All of this is here for some of the earliest work of a young man named “Stunning” Steve Austin. As a bonus, though, you get some classic Jerry Lawler, impressive performances by a young Tom Prichard and Jeff Jarrett, and a rotating cast of guys that didn’t make a mark on the WWE but who ol’ Stone Cold will commonly bring up as guys that helped him become a better wrestler – Skandor Akbar, “Gorgeous” Gary Young, and of course “Gentleman” Chris Adams. There’s also some good stuff from Eric Embry and Matt Borne (the eventual Doink the Clown).
The run is a few shows from late-1990 and the middle of 1991, and then three “Best of” episodes that aired in the middle of 1992. It’s interesting, but there’s only a few bits of really good stuff. The rest is unremarkable, un-notable, or just bad.
Basically, this is the carcass of World Class with guest appearances by guys from Memphis. Kevin Von Erich shows up a couple times and he’s still over, but his time in the sun had long passed. The youngest Von Erich, Chris, makes an appearance as well. It’s depressing and fascinating at the same time … here’s this kid, the brother of the legendary Von Erichs, but he’s 5 foot 5 inches and can’t even really throw a dropkick. Interesting to watch, but depressing as hell.
As with most of these 10-episode Vault runs (and I hope they add more), while there’s rarely a great match (or in this case, moment), watching this stuff is super interesting and a fun snapshot into a different era and type of wrestling, in this case early 90s Memphis and Texas. The whole thing isn’t very good, and without any really great matches or angles, my mind turned to the experience. And it’s a doozy. You’ve got cameramen wearing zubaz pants, Mark Lowrance on commentary doing a serviceable job but clearly bored out of his mind, and Jeff Jarrett being presented as some big time star.
The highlight is obviously seeing the guy who became the biggest star in pro wrestling very early in his career. “Stunning” Steve Austin was a bit green and clunky, but clearly a natural in the ring and already a decent promo. There’s a match with Bill Dundee on the first episode and a match with Chris Adams on the second that are both worth watching. This is Austin way before the neck injury, obviously, so he’s bumping big for stuff and moving around really quickly. But he definitely hadn’t put much together yet.
There’s a bit of the Austin/Chris Adams feud here, which was Austin’s first big feud in wrestling. I always thought Austin was the good guy, so shame on me – it’s he and his first wife Jeanie being dicks to Adams and his girl Toni. From what they show of the feud here – and it’s not a lot – Austin actually got his ass kicked a lot of the time, which is amusing to see. From everything I’ve seen of Adams on the Network, from WCCW and this, he had fire and was a good talker – but man did he like to just lay waste to everybody. As seen with the quote above, a big fish in a small pond type of guy.
Jerry Lawler, Bill Dundee and Jeff Jarrett are all over these shows, giving it real Memphis flavor as they work matches around punches and shtick. It’s not the best example of this stuff, but it is some of the best available on the Network, if you’re curious.
Jeff Jarrett, before he made a splash on the national scene, was really an awesome babyface. Great fire and selling, smooth sequences, solid promos… just the perfect regional young good guy. He is the standout wrestler on this sampling of USWA, having good matches with Lawler, Tom Prichard and Eddie Gilbert.
Early Tom Prichard is also great. He’s basically Roddy Piper lite as far as promos go, and that’s not a bad thing. The matches are strong too … he only has a few here, but they’re all good, and he pops up in a lot of angles and does commentary quite a bit. It’s all fun, and he along with Jarrett has the best matches here.
Since this isn’t a full TV run, there’s a lot of random appearances that are cool to see. Percy Pringle does a bit of managing and commentary, Jerry Lynn appears once as a jobber, and Robert Fuller shows up a couple times and is awesome – just a Southern-fried motherfucker. Ronnie P. Gossett is on the first couple shows and appears to be one of the sleaziest men in wrestling.
The regular cast of characters includes “Maniac” Matt Borne, Billy Joe Travis, Eric Embry and “Gorgeous” Gary Young. Nothing standout, though Borne and Embry are impressive. It’s sad Embry never got a bigger run, thanks to a car accident in 1992. His wrestling was solid and facial expressions were great. Just a fun guy to watch, and able to work both heel and face.
Some of the booking is really strange – early on, there’s a Billie Joe Travis vs. Matt Borne match where Travis plays the heel. But then Gossett, who’s a fat sleazy dude who couldn’t be a face if he tried, hits Travis with a chain. And then Gossett and Travis spar until Jerry Lawler makes the save, for… Gossett? It’s just weird and awkward and not good and completely fascinating.
For the best snapshot of USWA, I say go with the 10/6/90 show – there’s a really solid Lawler/Jarrett match, another Lawler singles match, a Bill Dundee singles match, and an 8-man tag pitting Dundee/Jarrett/Embry/Pringle vs. Austin/Akbar/Jeff Gaylord/Gary Young, which gives you a look at most of the cast of characters.
The “Best of” shows are more a collection of random matches than true best of shows, though there’s an Eddie Gilbert/Jeff Jarrett match for the USWA Southern Heavyweight Title on Vol. 1 that is great stuff. There’s also a Terry Funk/Jerry Lawler match that’s not their best, but it’s also a Terry Funk/Jerry Lawler match.
You can find detailed matchlists and recommendations on the GWF page. Below are some quick reviews of a few highlighted matches.
CWA Southwestern Heavyweight Title: “Superstar” Bill Dundee [c] vs. “Stunning” Steve Austin w/ Skandor Akbar (USWA Challenge 5/1/90) – This isn’t the greatest match, but it’s an interesting one, and the earliest Austin appearance on the Network. Austin’s rocking colorful tights, and while his timing is off he’s charismatic and already expressive with his selling and execution. It’s a solid basic match, and as a result is this era of Austin’s best match on this set.
USWA Unified World Heavyweight Title: Jerry “The King” Lawler [c] w/ Ronnie P. Gossett vs. Jeff Jarrett (USWA Main Events 10/6/90) – A fun match with all the classic shit Jerry Lawler does, along with an awesome good guy foil in Jarrett. Lawler does mic work early on saying Jarrett doesn’t belong in the ring with him, dodges a move and struts, claps and congratulates himself after whipping Jarrett into the turnbuckle, and then gets hit with a dropkick and bumps HUGE! It’s great. Lawler works over Jarrett for most of the match after hitting him a chain, but begs off anytime Jarrett gets a brief comeback. When Jarrett finally gets a shot in late in the match, Lawler goes FLYING. Top notch entertainment for the whole family.
Steel Cage Match – Memphis Wrestling Southern Heavyweight Title: Dr. Tom Prichard [c] w/ Tojo Yamamoto vs. Jeff Jarrett (USWA Challenge 4/1/91) – This match feels like two young guys who watched a lot of 80s cage matches and said, “I can do the same thing but cooler.” Prichard is the man here… big time cage bumps, controls most of the match with dickish heel work, and good timing on his cut-offs. Jarrett sells well for everything, and there’s no cage-climbing bullshit. Basically a good straight wrestling match with the cage used as the dangerous setting it is.
Tennessee Street Fight: Jeff Jarrett & Robert Fuller vs. Dr. Tom Prichard & “Stunning” Steve Austin (USWA Challenge 5/6/91) – Apparently, street fight-wear for every wrestler is jeans, cowboy boots and a tucked in t-shirt. This is a fun match, part southern-style tag match and part gritty fight. Prichard is good here, bumping like crazy for everything and seeming like he’s a heel in a real street fight – pulling hair, choking, secretly using a chain. There is not near enough in-ring Fuller on the Network … just a great southern character who basically plays Jarrett’s dad here, having his back and cheering him on. Austin’s actually the weak link if anything – either way this is worth checking out.
USWA Southern Heavyweight Title: “Hot Stuff” Eddie Gilbert [c] vs. Jeff Jarrett (Best of USWA Vol. 1 5/3/92) – Gilbert was a mainstay of the USWA, but isn’t on many of these shows. And that sucks, because god damn is this fun. Gilbert is a madman Memphis heel- mugging to the crowd, taking a huuuge back body drop, wildly swinging at Jarrett as he falls, getting in Jarrett’s face then backing off, taking a Flair face bump with an added goofy facial expression, plus a lot more … and he doesn’t look like a dumbass wannabe doing it like some guys do. The meat of the match is Gilbert working over Jarrett’s leg, which works for what they were doing, and they build on that to not just one dramatic double knockdown spot, not just two, but THREE. Also, the referee looks like Dave Meltzer.
USWA World Heavyweight Title: Terry Funk [c] vs. Jerry “The King” Lawler (Best of USWA Vol. 1 5/3/92) – There’s about 8 minutes of in-ring stuff here, but it’s still Funk vs. Lawler. Funk is really awesome here and does that thing where he’s somehow dangerous and hilarious at the same time. It’s basically just them brawling and working their gimmicks and the crowd’s into it … worth watching for the Funk performance alone.
