Talk about it here.

Joined in progress from Mid South Coliseum, 20 minutes in. After a ref bump, Rich pulls out a chain, which Jarrett gets away from him and then pins him. Paul Neighbors points out what happened, the ref finds the chain, the match gets restarted and Rich gets a three count even though the ref doesn't see his foot under the bottom rope. Wish we could have seen more of the match itself.

 

Rich comes out to do an interview, and it's a pretty good one. Jarrett comes out to try to get to Rich, but all the babyfaces are holding him back.

I was cracking up so much at that referee pin count after he got bumped. He was lying on his back doing the count with barely looking at the wrestlers. Decision gets reversed and Rich walks out with the title.

Holy crap, Rich must be close to 250 pounds. He has Paul Neighbors in his corner, and after Jarrett swipes Rich's chain and gets a 3-count on him, he protests. TD Steel finds the chain and restarts the match, when Rich immediately gets a cheap victory and wins the USWA not-the-Southern title.

 

Rich comes out looking like early-'80s Ozzy Osbourne, gloating about the former World Champions he's beaten and the crackers hollering at him. Rich demands that Dave Brown refer to him as the champion, but Dave will only say, "You've got the belt." Clever. Tommy Rich brings up a "Miss Christine" which immediately starts to make Dave Brown uncomfortable, something that goes over my head. It brings Jeff Jarrett out, and for some reason he's being held back by like 6 guys, an event basically unprecedented in Memphis wrestling history.

Rich is really starting to bloat but I have still really enjoyed this as an underneath feud so far. Paul Neighbors has also been a good instigator in the stuff we have seen so far and he is effective here. Nothing groundbreaking with this segment but a solid interpretation of some Memphis staples.

If I'm not mistaken, Miss Christine was Jerry Jarrett's mother and Jeff's grandma. She was sort of the "power behind the throne" of the Jarrett empire and a beloved backstage figure, which is why Tommy attacking her got Dave upset.

 

As for the match, we only saw the last minute or so, which didn't make any sense. Apparently Jeff has a glass jaw and Tommy doesn't, because Tommy got nailed with a chain and suffered no visible effects while Jeff stayed down after one regular punch. I couldn't quite see whether Jeff had his foot under the bottom rope or not because of the camera angle. Regardless, the restart made no sense because it was so short. Why not just disqualify Jeff and award Tommy the match to set up a rematch?

 

What exactly is Paul Neighbors now? Is he still a ref? Is he managing Tommy? Is he "just a fan"? He's still selling those piledrivers Lawler gave him a few weeks back. so if he's still a ref, he's on the injured list.

 

I liked the "I'm the champion/you've got the belt" bit too, but I don't understand what Tommy's motivation is supposed to be. He and Jeff aren't exactly contemporaries, but they're a lot closer in age and experience than Tommy is with Papa. Yet it almost seems like Tommy's trying to use Jeff to draw Papa out of retirement. Why? We know it's not going to happen regardless, and we also know that Grandpa Eddie's not coming out of retirement either. As far as we know, the Richardsons (Tommy's full last name) had no stake in the USWA, the CWA, or any other Memphis wrestling promotion, so why is Tommy after the whole Jarrett family?

 

My guess is that this angle was meant for someone else, specifically Doug Gilbert, but when he proved unavailable, they used it for Tommy instead. Ideally, of course, Eddie's the Gilbert who would have done it, but he was still in Philadelphia, and the whole thing would have circled back to him and Lawler eventually if it had happened, which obviously wasn't the intent at all.

 

I know you're trying to get heat, Tommy, but you have no business calling anyone a cracker with the accent you've got. I'm amazed that there were people actually cheering Tommy through all this, which says a lot about how the Memphis fans felt about Jeff when he wasn't teaming with Lawler.

 

So the USWA title is the old Southern title. I was wondering about that when Dave brought it up. Whatever name you give it, it's still the belt behind Lawler's in the pecking order.

 

God love T.D. Steele with the backhanded three-count on Tommy. I've seen odd counting methods before, but that one takes the cake, especially because he was lying flat on his back.