#52 – Eddie Gilbert v Jerry Lawler, March 28, 1988, FIREBALL MATCH!
A mere day after WrestleMania IV, fans in Memphis, TN witnessed the culmination of weeks of hatred between Eddie Gilbert and Jerry Lawler that could only be settled in a NO DISQUALIFICATION-ROPED-FIREBALL MATCH! Dre and the Black Cat take their first look at some of the classic Memphis battles with some help from Scott Bowden at http://kentuckyfriedwrestling.com and on Twitter @KFriedRasslin. We also go over some feedback from last episode regarding the Defense of Demolition and possibly cross a line or two.
It was strange to hear Dre say “WTBS the Super Station” without breaking into a Dusty voice.
Loved the Lance Russell impression!
Anytime I see a wrestling feud today that’s basic, simple, and being treated like it’s legit I get excited to follow it. I agree that the methods of the past can still work today. Maybe it’s because I remember and enjoyed the way things used to be.
In Chris Masters’s defense, he was having decent matches with new guys for months leading up to him being future endeavered.
Quebecers vs. Men on a Mission from Wrestlemania X isn’t my favorite Wrestlemania tag team match, but it’s shockingly good. I’m serious! I haven’t really thought about what my favorite tag team match from a Wrestlemania is. Bulldogs vs. Dream Team from II will always have a soft spot in my heart. The Hardys-Dudleys-Edge & Christian stuff from 16 and 17 rank up there too.
The Demolition impression is passable.
I’m too lazy to photoshop a pair of headphones going over Crush’s gravestone as if the gravestone were listening to your podcast.
I agree with Hardcore Badass. Dre does a mean Dusty. As soon as I hear Dre speaking as Dusty,or for that matter Dusty speaking himself, I want to start to speak like that myself. Luckily I always listen at night so I can sleep off the effects. People would look at me funny if I walked around talking like the “Son of a plumber.”
Agreed simplicity can still work. Things got convoluted in the late 90s and I think we’re just starting to wake up to the fact that hot-shotting everything doesn’t work too well.
I really want to get the Memphis Heat DVD that just came out that covers all of this stuff.
Adding Quebecers vs MOAM on the todo list for the podcast.
the end of the podcast rules. lawyler vs idol hair vs hair match and von erich vs gino and chris hair vs hair would be good podcasts
Yet another fantastic episode guys. I never saw a lot of Eddie Gilbert at the time but his legend lives on. Its a crime that the WWF never signed him – obviously too small for Vince but what a foil he would have been for Hogan. And years later, maybe the being exposed to the inevitable fireballs would have meant he wouldn’t have ballsed up so badly in his WCW match with the Warrior.
You absolutely hit the nail on the head when you spoke about all the wrestlers and promotions you only saw in PWI and wondered at what mysteries were out there beyond the WWF and, for those fortunate enough to see it (not me sadly) the NWA.
Such names as The Sheik, Abdullah the Butcher, Stan Hansen, Col DeBeers and Jake Milliman (what?) were represented in slightly blurred snapshots of crimson soaked violence and the overexposed fireball flash and we wondered where were these exotic matches taking place? What were these strange promotions? The ICW, WCCW, PNW, GWF, WWC and so on.
Working on the assumption that all of them were the equal of the WWF and were regularly promoting shows the size and spectacle of a Wrestlemania, it became a quest of sorts to learn all I could about them, purely so I could use to lord it over my WWF-centric friends.
Sadly, the quest failed. I never got to see any of them until youtube came along years later. Too late, it turns out, for it to be effective in making me the big man amongst my friends. Apparently in your mid 30’s, such matters as kids, jobs, houses are more important – the poor misguided losers.
Anyway, the point I’m failing to make is that Dre and the Black Cat indulge this passion on the podcast is like manna from heaven
Keep up the good work chaps!
ps:
My favourite Wrestlemania tag matches:
3 Rockers vs Twin Towers (WM 5) Surprisingly entertaining for such a grotesque mismatch of styles
2 Bolsheviks vs Hart Foundation (WM6) Mercifully short
1 Tenyru & Kitao vs Demolition (WM 7 – I think) It’s the Demos with a hint of oriental spice. What more could you want??
I heard an interview with Akeem where he said he wished Twin Towers vs. Rockers at WM5 was given more time. He said the Rockers were such good bumpers, they could have done a lot more with the match had they just been given the time.
I just want to say that when the two of you talk about reading wrestling magazines from the early 80’s, I completely understand. Seeing stars like Jerry Lawler & Eddie Gilbert in their pages and only being able to imagine what their matches gave them such a mystic. I watched WWF and the old AWA, NWA, and WCW shows when I could. I was able to catch Smokey Mountain Wrestling now and then. But, I still missed out on a lot of interesting matches I am sure. I enjoy listening to your podcasts, and now I too will be searching YouTube for these squared circle gems. Keep up the good work guys.
Eddie Gilbert was married to Medusa briefly.
Like Dre the first time I watched Memphis Wrestling was on the Andy Kaufmen wrestling documentary that Comedy Central airs every once in a while. Besides reading about Memphis in the Apter mags I also learned about Memphis from when Jerry Lawler first joined the WWE at the end of 1992. I’m sure you guys already know that several wrestlers like Randy Savage, Owen and Bret Hart to name a few appeared in the USWA starting in 1993.
Towards the end of the USWA some guy named Flex Cavana wrestled for them. He was of course better known as the Rock.
Eddie Gilbert is in my opinion someone who was very underrated and will probably never get the respect he deserves. Gilbert did help found Hot Stuff International which had a couple of guys who later on became bigger stars Rick Steiner and some guy named Sting. You might want to look up the Battle of New Orleans angle along along with putting the flag on the cowboy angle (The russians put the Russian flag on Bill Watts) from the UWF.
Eddie Gilbert was a booker in every territory he was in from his UWF days until he passed away minus of course his stints in Memphis and WCW. He was the first booker for Eastern Championship Wrestling from 1992 until September 1993 when Paul Heyman took over. Of course the rest is history.