This PPV Wrestling event held in December 1988 was co promoted by the Texas based WCCW promotion and the Minnesota based AWA Promotion.
Highlights saw the sneaky pudgy heel (Heel is Wrestling slang for the "bad guy") Eric Embry defeat young baby face (Babyface is Wrestling slang for the "good guy") Jeff Jarrett for the WCCW Light heavyweight championship in a descent bout, also a AWA sanctioned contest saw baby-face Native American Wahoo McDaniel defeat his arch rival "Raging Bull" Manny Fernandez in a bloody leather strap match.
Lowlights were terrible AWA matches like the old veteran baby-face Jimmy Valliant defeating the young Wayne Bloom in just 10 SECONDS, I mean what was the point???, was Valliant so washed up he could only go 10 seconds in the ring?, or was the AWA really trying to make Bloom look like a complete loser?. The fact that Bloom became an AWA Tag Team champion(With partner Mike Enos) just over a year or two later makes me think the former. Also supposed baby face Greg Gagne(AWA promoter Verge Gagne's son) beat AWA Television Champion Ronnie Garvin via COUNTOUT to win the belt, the funny thing was that the supposed vile "heel" Garvin was cheered through out the match, which tells you how popular the bland "Daddy's Boy" Greg Gagne was.
However the main event made this event a must see, the beloved hero WCCW World Champion Kerry Von Erich from Texas versus the master heel (but sometimes face too)"King" Jerry Lawler the AWA World Champion from Memphis Tennessee, a title unification match, the winner becomes the undisputed champ. The crowd are cheering for Kerry and Lawler is at his bad guy best, Kerry is busted open early in the match (bleeding from the arm) and Lawler works on the cut arm, however Kerry manages a heroic fight back and to the delight of the crowd locks Lawler in the dreaded "Von Erich Iron claw", Lawler submits, the bell goes, and the fans go wild thinking Kerry Von Erich has won the match and unified the titles, however the announcement is "That due to heavy blood loss the match is stopped and awarded to Jerry" The King" Lawler",therefore Lawler takes both belts to the disgust of the fans.
A great match with a great ending, one of the few wrestling pay per views at the time (1980's) which featured a heel main event victory as normally the face wrestler would win to send the fans home happy, a rather boring under card but worth a look just purely for the cracking main event match.
Highlights saw the sneaky pudgy heel (Heel is Wrestling slang for the "bad guy") Eric Embry defeat young baby face (Babyface is Wrestling slang for the "good guy") Jeff Jarrett for the WCCW Light heavyweight championship in a descent bout, also a AWA sanctioned contest saw baby-face Native American Wahoo McDaniel defeat his arch rival "Raging Bull" Manny Fernandez in a bloody leather strap match.
Lowlights were terrible AWA matches like the old veteran baby-face Jimmy Valliant defeating the young Wayne Bloom in just 10 SECONDS, I mean what was the point???, was Valliant so washed up he could only go 10 seconds in the ring?, or was the AWA really trying to make Bloom look like a complete loser?. The fact that Bloom became an AWA Tag Team champion(With partner Mike Enos) just over a year or two later makes me think the former. Also supposed baby face Greg Gagne(AWA promoter Verge Gagne's son) beat AWA Television Champion Ronnie Garvin via COUNTOUT to win the belt, the funny thing was that the supposed vile "heel" Garvin was cheered through out the match, which tells you how popular the bland "Daddy's Boy" Greg Gagne was.
However the main event made this event a must see, the beloved hero WCCW World Champion Kerry Von Erich from Texas versus the master heel (but sometimes face too)"King" Jerry Lawler the AWA World Champion from Memphis Tennessee, a title unification match, the winner becomes the undisputed champ. The crowd are cheering for Kerry and Lawler is at his bad guy best, Kerry is busted open early in the match (bleeding from the arm) and Lawler works on the cut arm, however Kerry manages a heroic fight back and to the delight of the crowd locks Lawler in the dreaded "Von Erich Iron claw", Lawler submits, the bell goes, and the fans go wild thinking Kerry Von Erich has won the match and unified the titles, however the announcement is "That due to heavy blood loss the match is stopped and awarded to Jerry" The King" Lawler",therefore Lawler takes both belts to the disgust of the fans.
A great match with a great ending, one of the few wrestling pay per views at the time (1980's) which featured a heel main event victory as normally the face wrestler would win to send the fans home happy, a rather boring under card but worth a look just purely for the cracking main event match.
