CWA TV
Date: 2/13/1988
From: Memphis, TN
Lance Russell and Dave Brown welcome everyone to the show and rundown the show. Tonight, we will see a battle royal involving fourteen men. The winner of the battle royal will get a CWA Heavyweight Championship match tonight against Jerry Lawler. The Choir Boys and the Zebra Warriors will be here as well.
CWA Heavyweight Champion Jerry Lawler will be watching the battle royal at the announcers table. Bill Dundee tells Lawler that he’s coming for the ring and the championship, which he’s obsessed with.
Opening Contest: 14-Man Battle Royal to earn a CWA Championship Match: Bill Dundee, Manny Fernandez, Jimmy Jack Funk, Jeff Jarrett, Rikki Nelson, Rodney Napper, Ron Nation, Maxx Payne, Alan Reynolds, William Thompson, Ken Wayne, Gary Young, Zebra Warrior #1 & Zebra Warrior #2 are the wrestlers involved. Pain and Fernandez eliminate each other and brawl around ringside afterward. Jarrett, Dundee and Young are the final three. Dundee sits on the top rope while Young pummels Jarrett with right hands. Jarrett backdrops Young to the floor. Dundee hits a back suplex to control Jarrett followed by a slam. Dundee knee drops Jarrett for another near fall. Dundee decks Jarrett through the ropes to the floor. Dundee holds the ropes for Jarrett to return to the ring, but uses the middle rope to low blow Jarrett. Dundee press slams Jarrett followed by a springboard knee drop for a near fall. Jarrett holds on avoiding elimination and dropkicks Dundee over the top to the floor to win the match. Jarrett gets a title shot against Jerry Lawler later on in the show. After the match, Dundee flips out and claims that Jarrett hit the ground, but that’s not the case.
Lance Russell introduces a hype video for the AWA Tag Team Champions Midnight Rockers. They will be wrestling the Rock n’ Roll Express. We also get a video package promoting the Rock n’ Roll Express.
Lance Russell interviews Jerry Lawler regarding a match with Tommy Rich in the Renegade Rampage series. Lawler shows footage of what happened nearly a year ago when Rich got involved in Lawler’s match against Austin Idol. Lawler was rammed groin first into the post. Lawler also recalls Rich helping Idol shave Lawler’s head in the hair vs. hair cage match after hiding under the ring. Lawler promises to hurt Rich real bad.
Tommy Rich provided some pre-recorded thoughts saying that Lawler was never the king in his mind. Rich is obsessed with wrestling and suggests that Lawler better be worried.
Lance Russell interviews Maxx Pain with Brother Angel. Pain wants to destroy Jerry Lawler. Pain wants Brother Angel to stand by him and watch his back.
Second Contest: Maxx Pain vs. William Thompson: Pain wins the match in short order after a big splash off the ropes.
Third Contest: CWA Heavyweight Champion Jerry Lawler vs. Jeff Jarrett: Lawler backs Jarrett into the corner, but cleanly breaks away. Lawler tosses Jarrett across the ring a few times. Jarrett clotheslines Lawler and the crowd is heavily behind Jarrett. Lawler decks Jarrett with a clothesline out of the corner. Jarrett gets out of a headlock and puts a head scissors on Lawler. Lawler struggles to pop out of the head scissors. Lawler tries to handstand out of it, but Jarrett drives Lawler down to the mat head first. Lawler manages to break free and controls Jarrett with a headlock on the mat. They run the ropes until Jarrett nearly wins with a Thez Press. Jarrett maintains wrist control followed by elbow strikes to Lawler’s arm. Lawler hip tosses and dropkicks Jarrett. Jarrett comes back with a dropkick and they both attempt dropkicks at the same time. Jarrett hits a springboard crossbody, but the referee is knocked down. Bill Dundee comes out and hits Jarrett with a chain. Lawler crawls over for the cover, but the referee is woozy. The referee makes the count and Lawler wins the match. After the match, Dundee decks Jarrett to the floor. (**. It’s a big main event and I was hoping for a classic TV match, but instead they went with an angle direction clearly setting up a Dundee/Jarrett feud. Dundee is a far more interesting heel, so this makes a lot of sense.)
Dundee grabs a chair and whacks Jarrett over the back and sends Jarrett into the ring post. Jarrett has been busted wide open as Dundee delivers another chair shot over the head. Lawler comes over and is whacked with a chair over the head. Dundee continues to stomp on Jarrett until the locker room comes out to make the save. Dundee continues to swing the chair, but Jarrett is taken away from the scene.
Dundee grabs a microphone and says that he won the battle royal and we know it. Dundee wants Jarrett to be let go as he’s being held back by wrestlers. Jarrett is pulled away from the ringside area. Eddie Marlin says that Jarrett wants a match with Dundee and not be a team, which Dundee agrees to.
Gary Young makes his way out to cut a promo with Brother Earnest. Young has a match with Alan Reynolds with less than two minutes left in the show.
Main Event: Gary Young vs. Alan Reynolds: Young wins the match in less than thirty-seconds with a front suplex.
Final Thoughts:
I can get behind a Dundee/Jarrett feud as I’m much more interested in a Dundee heel character. I was a little disappointed by the Lawler/Jarrett match, but I understand why they did what they did here. The show was better this week compared to the last several weeks of TV. CWA has been in a bit of a lull creatively at this point.
Thanks for reading.