UWF Fury Hour - October 1, 1990
by Scrooge McSuck
- Televised on SportsChannel America, taped on September 24th, 1990 from the Reseda Country Club in Reseda, CA. With recaps of their only PPV Beach Brawl, and years later a short revival with the live special, Blackjack Brawl, I’m sure I’ve done enough lengthy bashing and history lessons behind Herb Abrams and his UWF. Up until recently, I’ve never seen full episodes other than the occasional half-hour edition featured on ESPN Classics, but lately someone has uploaded the full run of the Fury Hour, so here you go...
- Herb Abrams and Bruno Sammartino are "sitting at ringside" (via the front of a green screen) to call all the action. Seriously, how did Sammartino get conned by Abrams? We are promised to see the following: "Dr. Death Steve Williams, "The Unpredictable" Cactus Jack, David Sammartino (HA! That explains it), Billy Jack Haynes, Colonel DeBeers, "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff, and "Killer Bee" B. Brian Blair vs. "Dangerous" Dan Spivey in the Feature Match, as well as Capt. Lou Albano’s weekly segment: Captain’s Corner! In all honesty, that isn’t the worst collection of guys not presently employed by WWF or WCW. Certainly better than what the AWF launched with in 1994.
"Dr. Death" Steve Williams vs. Davey Meltzer:
... I’m sorry, but I legit just laughed out loud at that one. Williams refuses a handshake by delivering a clothesline. He unloads in the corner and hits another clothesline. I don’t think Bruno understands the joke about Davey Meltzer. Williams continues to punish this poor guy and lifts him overhead with an impressive gorilla slam. Oh my God, this commentary is awful. Williams with clubbing blows across the chest, followed by a suplex. He sets up in the corner and runs through Meltzer with a shoulder tackle. He sets up again and runs him over for a second time. Whip to the corner, Williams scoops him up, and finishes with the Oklahoma Stampede at 3:48. Total squash match. Post-match, Williams takes a couple of pieces of paper and shoves them in Meltzer’s mouth. In case anyone doesn’t get the joke, Dave Meltzer, known to the wrestling community for his Wrestling Observer Newsletter, wasn’t very fond of Abrams, so this was a witty attempt at trying to show him what’s what. I’m pretty sure it didn’t bother him because Meltzer has thicker skin than most wrestling promoters.David Sammartino vs. Cactus Jack:
I wonder if David is related to Bruno... please don’t take that as aa serious comment. David doesn’t look quite as bloated as he did during his WWF run of the mid 80’s. Cactus only had a brief run in WCW at this point, but was well known by "smarter" fans for his incredible ability to take pain and take dangerous bumps. We actually get inset promos like this was Superstars of Wrestling. Lockup to the corner and David with rights and lefts. Charge to the corner, Cactus sweeps the legs and rolls him up for two. Cactus pokes him repeatedly, drawing a series of slaps. Sammartino works the arm. Cactus tries to out muscle David in a battle of the hammer-lock, and uses the hair to take him down. David with a snap mare into an arm-bar. Cactus with rights to escape. Whip to the corner and he meets the post shoulder-first on a charge. David keeps working the arm, proving one thing: Cactus has to wrestle himself to make this entertaining. He tries to half-nelson Cactus into a cover, but it only gets two. Cactus goes to the throat and chews on his midsection to take control. He sends David to the corner and lays him out with a short-clothesline. He tosses David to the floor and slams him across the railing. We return from a UWF advertisement with Cactus bringing David back in the ring with a suplex for a two count. Cactus with a long chin-lock spot, setting Sammartino up to escape with the electric chair drop. Cactus quickly recovers with an inverted atomic drop. He hits the big clothesline, taking both over the top rope, to the floor. Cactus goes for a suplex, but David blocks and counters with his own onto the concrete. Back in the ring, David unloads with chops and slaps. David with a small package for two. Whip to the ropes is reversed and Cactus with a swinging neck breaker. David counters a neck breaker with a back slide, but only gets two. Sammartino picks the leg and rams a knee into the face. Cactus randomly headbutts the referee, and it’s a Disqualification victory for Sammartino at 12:34. ** Suprisingly not awful, just kind of boring, especially when Sammartino was in control. You can see Cactus had something special, but I’m sure his look held him back from really being elevated beyond mid-card sideshow attraction.Billy Jack Haynes vs. Spitball Patterson:
Haynes had been out of the mainstream eye for over two years at this point, working mostly locally around Oregon after a falling out with the WWF. Haynes offers a handshake, but his opponent refuses it. What kind of name is that? Was he fond of early 20th century baseball? Lockup and Haynes takes him down with a waist-lock. Haynes with a takedown and an arm-bar. Patterson lands an uppercut and diving elbow, tallying more offense than Davey Meltzer. Whip to the corner and Patterson follows in with another elbow. Haynes reverses a whip to the other side and takes him down with a German Suplex. Haynes from the second rope with a face-buster, followed by a knee drop. He slaps on the Full Nelson, and Patterson is done at 4:09. I wonder if this was a clever way to knock someone else on Abrams’ enemies list?- Back on August 26th, 1990, in New York City, it was at the press conference announcing the formation of the UWF where B. Brian Blair and Danny Spivey had an altercation. You’re telling me there’s actually backstory to this week’s Main Event?
- Captain Lou’s Corner! His special guest for the first ever episode of the UWF Fury Hour is B. Brian Blair, still acting like he’s a member of the Killer Bees. Where’s Vince McMahon and Jerry McDevitt to slap a trademark lawsuit in the face of Herb Abrams?! He continues to hype his upcoming match with Dan Spivey.
Col. DeBeers vs. Michael Allen:
I guess DeBeers didn’t get decent offers from WCW or WWF after the AWA folded in the Summer of 1990. I wonder how long it is before they work in some racial tension with DeBeers. Lockup, DeBeers with a takedown and he uses a handful of hair to slam Allen down. DeBeers pounds away with rights and lays him out with a lazy looking clothesline. Whip to the corner and he connects with a back breaker. He covers, but lifts Allen off the canvas at two. I’m guessing he’s a heel. DeBeers with a knee to the back of the neck, but another back breaker is countered with a head scissors! Allen with a dropkick, but a second attempt misses badly. DeBeers with a leverage move from the middle rope to slam Allen face-first to the canvas, and the DDT finishes at 3:05. All times are suspect, because the sound mixing sometimes covers the ringing of the bell."Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff vs. Riki Ataki:
Good to see that Paul Orndorff isn’t dead or running a chain of Bowling Alleys. His last notable work was a very successful WWF run from 1984-1988, but had fallen out of the spotlight and was the victim of death rumors ever since. I always loved that jobbers name... RICKY ATTACK-I. Get it? That’s so racist. Orndorff comes off the ropes with a clothesline and tosses Ataki to the floor. Back inside, Orndorff with a running dropkick, followed by a suplex for a two count. Whip to the ropes and Orndorff with a knee to the midsection. He heads to the top rope and connects with a big elbow. He does the Hogan cupping of the ear before finishing Ataki off with his signature Piledriver at 2:55. Abrams: "I think he Pearl Harbored him." At least Gorila Monsoon never said it in regards to a Japanese wrestler, at least not so blatantly. Suddenly Dr. Death shows up in the ring and they get into a loud shouting match. Williams shoves the referee out of the ring and the straps come down to show he means business... then he just walks away. Interesting."Killer Bee" B. Brian Blair vs. "Dangerous" Dan Spivey:
The Feature Match of the Week™, and the backstory (yes, there is backstory) has been addressed earlier via flashback to a press conference announcing the arrival of the UWF. Spivey pounds away before the bell and connects with a big boot. Spivey with choking across the top rope. Whip to the ropes and he catches B. Brian in a bear-hug. That is one hell of a mullet on Spivey. Blair escapes but runs into a clothesline. They trade rights, with Spivey still in control. He tries to lift up Blair into an overhead back breaker, but Blair counters. Spivey STILL in control, now with an abdominal stretch. Blair counters with a hip throw, but misses an elbow drop. Spivey with a neck breaker for two. Whip to the corner and Spivey with a clothesline. To the opposite corner, and Blair gets a boot up. He comes off the second rope with an elbow and comes off the ropes with a bulldog. Blair with a pair of clotheslines and a knee drop. Spivey uses the tights to throw Blair to the floor. He tries to battering ram Blair, but gets sent to the post. They keep slugging it out and it’s a Double Count-Out at 6:03. They continue to tussle and suddenly a host of jobbers come out to break things up. Spivey beats a couple of them up before casually walking away. *1/2 I was actually enjoying where this was going, with Spivey using his size to dominate, but Blair hanging in and scoring a late flurry of offense. Note that both matches with a name vs. name attraction ended in a bull-crap finish.Next Week on the UWF Fury Hour: "The All American Dream" Billy Jack Haynes vs. Col. DeBeers.
Final Thoughts: You’ve got to start somewhere, and the pieces should fall into place as we go through the weeks (there’s 46 episodes of the Fury Hour). It seems obvious that Steve Williams is being positioned for a top spot in the company, as well as the return to "national" exposure for Paul Orndorff. Cactus Jack and Col. DeBeers appear to be two heels that we’ll be seeing more of, and Brian Blair is a nice midcard attraction to have good matches. There’s really not much that can be said either positive or negative, other than let’s see where things go for the next episode. I’m not going to lie and expect to see a great feature match between Haynes and DeBeers.
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