#1 Contender Match for the UWF Heavyweight Title: “Dr. Death” Steve Williams vs. “Hot Stuff” Eddie Gilbert (5/17/87)

 

WTF they join this in progress. Doc hits a running tackle that sends Gilbert flying to the floor. Eddie was a bumping machine here for Doc who was on fire here himself. Murdoch being at ringside also adds a good touch to this match. Gilbert does whatever he can to keep out of the Stampede and to just keep Doc off of him in general. Funny part on commentary here was that Jim Ross was talking about how DiBiase had fallen out of the Top 10 because he didn’t want to face Doc. Gilbert would get the advantage and tried to weaken Doc with a reverse chinlock then a sleeper but Doc would fight back as a molten crowd in Tulsa gets behind him sounding like 1986 all over again. Gilbert would come off the top rope with a cross body block but Doc would reverse it for the pinfall. Murdoch then attacked Doc after the match with a steel chair and jumped off the top rope two times on Doc’s left arm that was sandwiched in the chair. Murdoch would then kill the jobbers with the chair along with keeping the attack on Doc before other faces made the save. This was the best match on UWF TV in months with a money angle and a definite nomination.

I enjoyed this a lot. The work was solid, and Eddie was great at getting the crowd riled up. Doc worked underneath really well. The size differential didn't matter at all to the crowd since Gilbert such a little prick. That bump that Gilbert took through the ropes to the floor from Doc's shoulder block looked like it should have killed him. Doc was just destroying Gilbert's back early which was setting up the Stampede. When Doc went for the Stampede Eddie held onto those ropes for dear life. Eddie did an incredible job there. Eventually, Doc started to work the arm. Some of the arm work was done well like the hammerlock, and the sharp elbows to the arm. Other aspects the arm work was lazy. Doc would just lay on the ground holding an arm bar for pretty long stretches. Eventually, Eddie would get control and would heel it up to the crowd while locking Doc in a sleeper. Then we get the crowd solidly behind Doc and he goes a football tackling for his comeback. Eddie just took some amazing looking out of control flip bumps here. Their was some nice false finishes here towards the end. This was all capped off by a kick ass angle. This should make a disk.

Yeah this was really great with Gilbert totally bumping like a champ for all of Williams sweet looking power offense. Only quibble is they keep missing transitions with the commercial breaks which I hate. Every time we came back a different guy was on offense. Still should make a set, and I was loving Murdoch and Gilbert killing the jobbers trying to make the save