Talk about it here.

JIP battle of barefoot guys. Both guys are babyfaces at this point. Borne ends up pinning Kevin using the ropes for leverage. This was from the night before.

 

Borne does a really terrific interview teasing his heel turn but not quite going all the way just yet. Kerry interrupts him and wants to know why he held the ropes. He's one of the best wrestlers this country has ever had! Kerry tells him he loves him like a *bleep*. Uh, what? Borne can talk really well and carries this argument.

 

Borne takes exception to Kerry telling him he's been a little off since he locked himself in his house to watch Tony Borne matches (Whaa??) and Matt wants to get him in the ring, but Kerry walks away. Borne is NOT happy.

Really tepid match between Borne and Kevin that sees Borne use the ropes to get the win. Like there was any chance of Kevin ever wrestling Kerry in a title bout under any circumstances.

 

Borne's promo is almost that of a psychotic babyface, with a few lines that could be borrowed from motivational posters but delivered in a high-strung whackjob fashion that really makes him look unhinged. Kerry insists that a fight will end their friendship, so in a week he's going to wrestle Borne instead. Kerry invokes the name of David & Mike to put over said friendship, then calls Matt's old man a cheater. We get into a my-dad-can-beat-up-your-dad argument, but Kerry won't take Borne's bait to fight then and there. Good stuff from Borne.

Both being barefoot seemed strange and I agree that the way Borne was definitely leaning heel but not all the way was really well done. This was bad "kerry" and I can fathom what he could have said that would have been bleeped.

Borne is awesome carrying this. You can really see his qualities that made him a great Doink.

Nobody is wearing boots. Borne sits down on Kevin Von Erich’s shoulders and uses the ropes for leverage. Crowd didn’t seem all that bothered by finish which surprised me with a Von Erich involved.

 

Kerry Von Erich interrupts Borne interview. Kerry calls Borne one of the greatest wrestlers ever. Von Erich considers Borne still a friend and won’t fight him but only wrestle him. Kerry seemed all over the place here coming out really aggressive and making out what Borne did against Kevin to be the most henious thing ever. Then he’s all like were friends and were just going to wrestle.

What airs of the match isn't much, yet I'm still able to take away two things: Ronnie Gossett is a shitty color commentator and Bronco Lubich is a REALLY shitty referee.

 

Great intensity from Borne in what feels like step 2 of a heel turn. Am I the only one who sees traces of Piper in Borne's cadence? Guessing that all of the Portland guys have that to a degree. Nice promo to build up the Texas title match the following week, and even Kerry seems mostly on point, though his story of Borne locking himself away watching matches of his dad is a little odd.

Man, their are so many good talkers in the Texas branch of USWA at this point. Matt Borne is incredible here. To counterpoint all that awesomeness is the Texas champion, Kerry Von Erich. Some people just aren't good talkers but Kerry comes off as a complete moron when he opens his mouth. Even Eric Embry isn't great in the traditional sense, but his character comes out really well in his promos to the point that I would call him good. Kerry just feels like a disingenuous tool. So far he's number one for worst talker in 1990, just ahead of Warrior and then Hogan.

Looking back two years later, Borne's promo was Bo Dallas before Bo Dallas was a thing.

As Cox said, there's a lot of Piper in Borne's spiel, but he pulls it off well. Kerry's all over the place: does he want to kick Borne's butt for cheating against Kevin? Save him from being brainwashed by old videotapes of his father? Wrestle him cleanly like a friend for the Texas title? All three? What it really sounds like is that Kerry somehow was legitimately unprepared for Borne to be so intense and lost his train of thought, which is easy enough for him to do anyway. The post-production and heavy scripting involved in WWF promos even at this time can only help him in the coming months.

There's a similar thread running through the Northwest boys. I can't tell what it is exactly, but I think it's deeper than just "crazy." Like a distance in the mind or something. And speaking of a distant mind, here comes Kerry....

Recap of a Texas title tournament match between Matt Borne and Kevin Von Erich with the winner advancing to face Kerry (yeah, like Kevin is winning this!). Borne is wrestling barefoot but the match is nothing special and he gets the pin whilst sat on Kevin and holding the ropes for leverage.

 

Interview with Marc Lowrance and Borne is pumped! Lowrance says how Borne has advanced to face Kerry by hook or by crook, but Borne claims it’s just technicalities. To heck with technicalities, he advanced! He walked through Billy Joe Travis and he then walked through Kevin Von Erich. Sure he’s a friend, but this isn’t a sport any more it’s a quest. It just goes to show that if you put your mind to something you can achieve anything. He’s got Kerry Von Erich next and he’s never faced him before, but next Friday he’s going to have plastic surgery to remove the smile from his face as that Texas title is his. They can wrestle, they can fight, but he’ll walk away as champion no matter what it takes. Kerry joins them and he’s not happy that Borne cheated him to beat his brother. He says that he never cheated, it was just technicalities! Kerry says how Borne stuck with him through David, through Mike, that he’s one of his closest friends and now he’s saying he’s going to fight him? Borne says that friendship has got nothing to do with it, he just wants that Texas title. Kerry says that he won’t fight him for the title, he will wrestle him. He says how Matt has changed since he’s been watching matches of ‘Tough’ Tony Borne and when he calls Tony a cheater, Matt challenges him to get in the ring right now. Lowrance tries to calm Kerry down and tells him to wait until Friday and Kerry reiterates that he won’t fight him, because if he did, it would end their friendship.

 

Excellent promo by Borne and this was pretty much a heel interview, even though the official ‘turn’ has yet to take place. You can definitely see traces of Doink in the Borne character and you have to wonder what WCW were playing at when they cast him as the face Big Josh.

I can see the comparisons with Borne and Piper. It's this still-there-but-crazy-enough sense that you know can't be good for the opponent. And Borne does a great job of not yet being full-on heel. He's just overly ambitious at this point, so he may still turn it around (good luck with that). And yeah, fuck Kevin von Erich. If I never see him wrestle again it will make me a happy man.