JHawk
My apologies for not having this last week. Without going into a lot of detail, real life got in the way, but I’m hoping to be back onto our weekly schedule moving forward.
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June 1987, Monday, Week 3
There was an altercation last night between Rick Rude and Manny Fernandez that will most likely force the team to split up. There was some sort of argument backstage which led to Rude jumping Fernandez from behind and a lot of wrestlers getting involved to break it up. This is the second time in as many nights that Rude has caused issues backstage. Word is his punishment will be a series of matches with Fernandez, because if Fernandez holds a grudge, those matches could get ugly for Rude real quick.
The paid attendance for Power Pro Wrestling was 3,256.
June 1987, Tuesday, Week 3
The UWF officially announced the quarterfinal round matches for the UWF Western States Heritage Title tournament that will be taking place in Houston on Saturday night. Shaska Whatley will face Buddy Roberts, Black Bart will take on Sting, Rick Steiner will take on Mike George, and Barry Windham will take on Chris Adams. Expect Sting to face the Windham-Adams winner in the finals.
June 1987, Wednesday, Week 3
Another big main event will take place in Houston on Saturday, as Big Bubba Rogers will defend the UWF Heavyweight Title against Michael Hayes. This is potentially the best show the UWF has done since Jared Hawkins bought the company in March.
June 1987, Thursday, Week 3
We just received word that the opening match of Saturday’s show in Houston will be a 10-man battle royal. This is quite clearly a way to get some extra people on the card.
June 1987, Friday, Week 3
Yet another match added to tomorrow night’s card in Houston, as The Lightning Express will defend the UWF Tag Team Titles against The Enforcer and Fury. With the tag teams available in this company, is that really the best they can do?
June 1987, Saturday, Week 3
Here’s a preview of tonight’s UWF show in Houston, with the tournament brackets updated.
Show opening battle royal: Announced so far for it are Steve Cox, and Gary Young, with seven others to be announced. Assuming we’re just filling spaces and those are the top two names, Cox is the only one getting any sort of push.
First Round Brackets: Black Bart vs. Sting: Sting is set for a monster push and it wouldn’t surprise me if this title was made just for him.
Rick Steiner vs. Mike George: This would potentially set up Rick Steiner vs. Sting, and since they’ve teased a break up for a while, I’d expect Steiner to win here to set that up.
Shaska Whatley vs. Buddy Roberts. I’d assume Whatley wins only because a face is guaranteed to go over in the other match.
Barry Windham vs. Chris Adams. I’d assume Windham wins and Terry Taylor becomes involved somewhere, but they could save Taylor’s interference for a later round as well.
That leaves Sting vs. Steiner and Whatley vs. Windham. I’d expect Sting vs. Windham in the final, and Sting winning the title wouldn’t surprise me in the least.
UWF Tag Team Title: The Lightning Exprss defend against The Enforcer and Fury. The question isn’t whether the champions retain. The question is if the match actually hits five minutes.
UWF Heavyweight Title: Big Bubba Rogers vs. Michael Hayes. The title isn’t likely to change with zero build so Rogers will probably retain.
Given how high people are on Shawn Michaels at this point, I’d expect him to either be part of the battle royal, or possibly given an early match to get him over.
UWF Western States Heritage Title Tournament live coverage (June 1987, Saturday, Week 3)
Live from the Summit in Houston, TX. The advance is about 6,000 in the 15,000 seat arena.
At the start of the show, it was announced that due severe weather throughout the middle portion of the United States, many of the scheduled competitors were unable to make it to the building tonight so there will be a lot of changes made to the card. Black Bart will be replaced in the tournament by Rick Rude while Barry Windham will be replaced by Chavo Guerrero. It was also announced that neither title match could take place as scheduled as a result and refunds were offered to anybody who requested one. I’d say at least a third of the crowd is taking advantage of it because the arena is a lot emptier than when we started.
In a bout that had solid in-ring action but not much in the way of heat, Angel of Death won a battle royal in 12:47. The other members of the ‘final four’ were Steve Cox, Joe Savoldi and Savannah Jack, with Cox being the final elimination. Angel of Death got the most eliminations over the course of the match.
In a tournament quarterfinal match, Shaska Whatley defeated Buddy Roberts in 4:39 by pinfall with The Flying Willie. One match into the tournament and already an upset.
In a tournament quarterfinal match, Rick Rude defeated Sting in 7:29 by pinfall with a Rude Awakening following botched interference by Rick Steiner. Steiner and Sting argued with each other after the match.
In a tournament quarterfinal match, Rick Steiner drew with Mike George in 6:55 following a double disqualification. The fans were clamoring for Sting to cost the Steiner the match and he never came out. This result moves Rick Rude directly to the final.
In a tournament quarterfinal match, Chavo Guerrero defeated Chris Adams in 7:48 by pinfall with a German Suplex. Very good match.
Brad Armstrong and Todd Champion defeated The Enforcer and Tim Patterson in 5:20 when Armstrong pinned The Enforcer with a Russian Leg Sweep.
Robert Gibson and The Missing Link defeated Bill Irwin and Buzz Sawyer in 10:17 when Gibson pinned Sawyer with a Rocker Dropper. Obviously Link was wrestling in Ricky Morton’s place. Somehow this would up being pretty good.
In a bout that had a good crowd and good action, Tully Blanchard defeated Michael Hayes in 19:46 by pinfall with a Slingshot Suplex. By far the best match of the show.
In the tournament semifinal match that had an average crowd reaction and some decent in-ring action, Chavo Guerrero defeated Shaska Whatley in 8:28 by pinfall with a German Suplex.
In a street fight, Jimmy Garvin and Bobby Fulton defeated Eddie Gilbert and Terry Taylor in 10:34 when Garvin pinned Taylor with a kneedrop. The story appeared to be that Taylor wasn’t sure if he could trust Gilbert as there were several spots where Gilbert called for double teams and Taylor hesistated before doing so. Garvin and Fulton actually gel very well together.
In a match that had some good action and average heat, Chavo Guerrero defeated Rick Rude in 8:40 by pinfall with a German Suplex. Chavo Guerrero wins the UWF Western States Heritage title.
Very good show from an in-ring standpoint but the crowd was deflated by the no-shows and the weird flow the makeshift lineup caused.
June 1987, Sunday, Week 3
By the time refunds were issued for all the travel issues, paid attendance was down to 3,579. Nearly 2,500 refunds were issued due to all the no-shows, although a number of fans who came in from out of town noted a lot of heavy rain throughout Texas. One fan said he missed his exit because he couldn’t see the sign. Now that it’s rained in Texas in June, they’re not expecting any more rain until at least September.
While the weather excuse was legitimate for most of the no-shows, Big Bubba Rogers was actually meeting a prior obligation for Jim Crockett and won the vacant NWA World Television Title at the Eddie Graham Memorial Show, defeating Stan Lane.
Steve Cox was actually scheduled to win the battle royal last night but hit the apron too hard going over and couldn’t hold the rope as scheduled to set up the finish.
Last night’s match wound up being the last appearance of Mike George on the trade agreement with Central States so he’s done. Under normal circumstances Steiner not getting a win over George would be mind boggling but the idea was for the tournament winner to wrestle three times and face a heel who had a bye in the semifinals.
I have not received any official confirmation but I’ve heard Barry Windham was likely scheduled to win the tournament before he was stranded and unable to make it to the show.
I didn’t hear an official number but apparently viewership for the replay of Power Pro Wrestling went up.
Todd Champion and Chris Adams failed the last round of drug tests. Reportedly UWF owner Jared Hawkins blew up at Adams, and Adams was visibly irritated when he left the office. Adams’ time with the UWF appears limited.
UWF Power Pro Wrestling live coverage (June 1987, Sunday, Week 3)
Live from the Tulsa Convention Center.
In an extremely short match, Rick Steiner defeated Todd Champion in 3:24 by pinfall with a Steinerline. These two didn’t click in the least.
In a non-title match, UWF Western States Heritage Champion Chavo Guerrero defeated Sid Steele in 3:31 by submission with a Gory Special. This is the best Sid has looked in his brief career so far.
In a non-title match, Steve Cox defeated UWF Heavyweight Champion Big Bubba Rogers in 1:36 by disqualification. The Tulsa crowd hates DQ finishes.
Eddie Gilbert and Terry Taylor defeated Action Jackson and Derrick Dukes in 3:22 when Gilbert pinned Dukes with a Fireball. Taylor initially looked shocked at Gilbert’s actions but smiled when the referee raised their hands.
Jimmy Garvin and Lightning Express defeated Fury, The Enforcer and Angel of Death in 4:50 when Fury was disqualified while fighting Armstrong. Two DQ finishes in three matches. I’m surprised the crowd hasn’t started chanting for refunds.
The Missing Link defeated Jeff Gaylord in 0:57 by submission with a Figure Four Leg-Lock.
Jim Ross interviewed The Sheepherders backstage, who issued a challenge to The Lightning Express for the UWF Tag Team Title.
A pretaped promo aired of Jimmy Garvin threatening to get his hands on Bill Irwin. I can smell the money off of that feud. Yes, that was sarcasm.
In an extremely short match, Michael Hayes defeated Bill Irwin in 2:26 by submission. At this point, I assume the idea is to get as many people on TV as possible.
A pretaped promo aired of One Man Gang challenging Big Bubba Rogers for the Heavyweight Title.
Another pretaped promo, this time of Rick Rude putting himself over.
Rick Rude defeated Tim Horner in 1:15 by pinfall with a Rude Awakening. During the match we also had Manny Fernandez run in and attack Horner. I assume since Horner had already wrestled that somebody didn’t show up, but I have no idea.
The Rock ‘N Roll Express defeated The Sheepherders in 1:39 when Robert Gibson defeated Butch Miller by pinfall with a Double dropkick. So the Sheepherders challenge the champions and lose in less than two minutes half an hour later.
Jim Ross goes into the locker room to interview Sting and walks into an argument between Rick Steiner and Sting. Eddie Gilbert quickly pushes Ross out of the room and slams the door.
Barry Windham defeated Sting in 3:24 by pinfall with a Flying Lariat. During the match we also had Rick Steiner run in and attack Sting. Jim Ross makes it a point to say it didn’t look like an accident. After the match, Steiner continues to attack Sting until Windham lariats Steiner out of the ring. Windham shakes a reluctant Sting’s hand and the place erupts. A star might have been made here.
Ross interviews Sting and Windham. Windham puts over Sting’s ability, and Sting says he’s tired of taking the blame for Gilbert and Steiner’s mistakes and is now his own man.
Credit goes to the Sting turn for turning around what had been a mediocre show up to that point.
