UWF Fury Hour: Episode 43

UWF Fury Hour Episode 43, 29th June 1992

Check out that date - this is not a typo!
Turns out my concern for promoting a "possible" signing of The Ultimate Warrior was unfounded, because that was the UWF's last week of television before being taken off the air for it would seem about 9 months. The remaining dates on their one-year deal saw the UWF replaced by some women's wrestling show, where Bruno Sammartino would also serve as a commentator.

So here we are again! Can Herb bring the company back to life in a successful direction?

Craig and 'The Golden Greek' John Tolos welcome us to the Universal Wrestling Federation. 'Cowboy' Bob Orton is now the UWF Southern States Champion. Mr. Red has been promoted to Colonel.

Orton gives a rambling promo about what the announcers have been saying about him. There has been no UWF for 9 months so I have no idea what they've been saying about him. He's being a nicer guy so people in his everyday life enjoy talking to him. Apparently he beat 'Rugged' Ronnie Garvin for this title. He wants to fight 'Mr. Wonderful' Paul Orndorff in a fair fight or something. Seems fishy.

'Cowboy' Bob Orton vs Midnight Star
The UWF Southern States Championship belt is bright green and looks weird. So it's perfect for the UWF! Just like this 'Midnight Star':

Is this match for the title? Tolos thinks Orton is Lex Luger? 'Dr. Death' Steve Williams couldn't fulfil his contract or something, so there will be another tournament to crown a new TV champion. Sure. Orton looks and moves like he's aged about 5 years in the last 9 months.

Winner = 'Cowboy' Bob Orton via Superplex

Tolos acts like he's never seen Orton perform a superplex before. Bro - you were his manager. You've seen him use that to win matches many times. Herb tells Orton it was a great match and I can barely hear Orton over the music played in the venue. Good job!

Herb talks about how The UWF is what pro-wrestling should be and then brings in Captain Lou Albano. You get a fuck you like you should do. Call the Powerline?

Ivan Koloff (w/Colonel Red) vs Jake Steel
Colonel Red is wearing white because he is a fucking moron. He shouts at the crowd about something.

Tolos assures Craig he is going to make him "a great sportsman". Huh?? Wait - Colonel Red was the former manager of Jimmy Valiant? And Jimmy Valiant is coming to The UWF??

Winner = Ivan Koloff via clothesline with a chain.

Koloff needed to cheat to beat a jobber?

Colonel Red's Corner

HOLY FUCK THEY ACTUALLY SPELLED IT "REDS"
Ivan Koloff is here with his nephew, Vladimir. Is this just Nikita with a different name? But then what do you do with all those Nikita Koloff t-shirts? He looks like he's been skipping the gym since we last saw him. They say absolutely nothing - and in Vladimir's case, literally.

'Mr. Wonderful' Paul Orndorff vs Tommy Angel
Orndorff doesn't seem too happy to be here today. Tolos says he doesn't want to give Orndorff too much praise, and then proceeds to spend the entire match saying how great Orndorff is in every way.

Winner = 'Mr. Wonderful' Paul Orndorff via Piledriver

Orndorff thinks Orton is one of the best wrestlers of all time, but wants to beat him for "the belt that the whole world wants". You guys are going to fight over my Transformers belt??

'Pistol' Pez Whatley vs The Marauder
Whatley. Koloff. Orndorff. Valiant. Orton. Is this 1992 or 1982??
Craig can't pronounce "Marauder" - keeps calling him "The Moroder". Tolos goes on a rant about wrestlers in the 1950's - which makes sense, because this match looks like it is from the 1950's. Craig and Tolos discuss the way Whatley shakes his ass and the great success it can help lead him to. Seriously.

Winner = 'Pistol' Pez Whatley via crossbody

Watch some boxing on "state of the art videotape".

Wet N' Wild vs Johnny Kidd & Stone Cold
First "The Rock from Hawaii" and now Stone Cold??
Tolos and Craig say these are the top contenders for the World's Heavyweight Championship. WHAT?!?! Tolos calls Wild Thing "unorthodox" and doesn't think he's quite "elite level", which Craig takes a great deal of offense at. Craig thinks the jobberdudes should just quit and give the match to Wet N' Wild, while on the other hand Tolos thinks Wet N' Wild are having a tough time trying to beat them.

Winners = Wet N' Wild via crossbody

Crossbody is the new official move of the UWF, it would seem.

Tolos says the jobbers are awesome. Wet N' Wild looks like they may have gotten worse.

'The Boogie-Woogie Man' Jimmy Valiant is here! And he's looking... not so Boogie-Woogie. He is not happy with Colonel Red.

And we out!

Thoughts:

• UWF 2.0. might be twice as bad.
• I'm not sure what happened, but it seems with nine months of no television tapings, Herb forgot how to book screwy finishes - there were none at all for once!
• Throwing an ugly green belt on 'Cowboy' Bob Orton with almost no context is pretty darn great.
• This show is sorely missing Bruno on commentary.

UWF Fury Hour: Episode 42

UWF Fury Hour Episode 42, 9th September 1991

This week Craig and Bruno are joined on commentary by Captain Lou Albano. Yay. He brags about beating up Mr. Red, but doesn't mention anything about leaving Herb to get his ass kicked. Craig still can't figure out Super Ninja's name.

'Wild Thing' Steve Ray vs Mohammed The Butcher (w/Abu Dee?)

Wow, what an exciting match to get started with! 

Commentators don't even pretend to care about the match and just make jokes about how fat Mohammed is. Bruno stops making jokes and just says straight up "This guy is very fat". Wild Thing sprays him with a fire extinguisher? In the stomach??

Winner = 'Wild Thing' Steve Ray via clothesline

Wild Thing tries to press-slam Abu Dee, but fails so throws him on Mohammed.

'Dr. Death' Steve Williams will be defending his belt against 'Wild Thing' Steve Ray at a future show. WTF did that dude do to earn a title shot?

B. Brian Blair vs Sonny West
Damn - Blair is still around? Did Craig just call him Muraco??

Bruno finally explains why his version of the hotline is called "Hot Bruno".

Winner = B. Brian Blair via the longest sleeper hold in history.

Bah gawd that was hilariously bad. Because he's such a 'nice guy', Blair 'wakes up' Sonny West afterwards.

Ask The Wrestlers
Where is the fucking graphic? You mean, I'm going to have to start typing out the question myself??
"B. Brian Blair, will you ever wrestle 'Dr. Death' and what do you think of his wrestling tactics?"

Blair says he is a fan of Dr. Death and would love to wrestle him. I mean, he's got the coveted UWF Sportsbyline Nationwide TV VHS Championship - so who wouldn't want to wrestle for that??

We get a full recap of the Captain Lou Albano/Mr. Red/Herb Abrams drama. Wow. Desperate for content muchly?

To The Point

Herb and Captain Lou Albano are joined by Mr. Fucking Red and Super Ninja. They all just scream over each other - except for Super Ninja, who just stands there doing nothing. Why is Mr. Red so obsessed with getting Albano's segment? Mr. Red says he went over Herb's head. How? He owns the fucking promotion. Is this going to be the way they explain the company going off television? Albano keeps making comments about Mr. Red being fat. Herb says something about killing Mr. Red.

Mr. Voice Over explains this segment was recorded before Mr. Red was suspended for 30 days. Then why didn't you air it BEFORE he was suspended for 30 days? Because that part wasn't live, either.

I like bad promos, but that shit was absofuckinglutely painful.

Oh, wow - Official UWF Ratings!
Half of these guys haven't actually wrestled since Beach Brawl.

Next week - tag-team ratings! Excitement!

Frank E is with Luna Vachon and The Black Harts. Oh, it's just a repeat of her promo from a couple of weeks ago. Put Luna on To The Point.

Next week we will have another appearance of Mr. Red. Glad to see that suspension is really being enforced. Also, Herb will have news on possibly signing The Ultimate Warrior. Shouldn't he wait until he actually has the guy signed - not just it being possible?? Does he want another Andre The Giant embarrassment??

Thoughts:

• This was a show?
• To The Point may actually be the worst thing this show has ever attempted.
• In WCW, Nikita Koloff and 'Dangerous' Dan Spivey have already worn out their welcome again and are gone. Cactus Jack has just arrived and is feuding with the promotion's top star. Larry Zybysko is a tag-team champion.
• I don't know if I've said this enough while watching UWF, but fuck this show.

UWF Fury Hour: Episode 41

UWF Fury Hour Episode 41, 2nd September 1991

The New York skyline - Florida Style?

TONIGHT! The Fire Cat and "a mystery panther" will take on The Black Harts. Bruno thinks it might be Captain Lou Albano. Does he want me to kill myself?

You can still buy the UWF Beach Brawl official program. Get a bunch and give them to your family for Xmas!

The Keeper & The Animal vs Mike Larrier? & The Nightmare

The Keeper is actually Paul Samson - wasn't he a jobber in an earlier match?  I guess putting on shitty matches and losing means he can now have shitty matches and win? He's an inspiration to jobbers everywhere! The Animal is throwing lollies out to the crowd. Bruno says he never seen an animal like Jim (The Animal) at the zoo. This leads to Bruno discussing wrestling an Orangutan and a bear. He admits it was not smart. Dude, I'm watching the UWF so I know all about doing not smart things. 

Winners = The Keeper & The Animal via tombstone piledriver

After the match, Larrier attacks The Nightmare and The Animal makes the save. Odd. Bruno cared more about... well, everything besides that match.

J.R. James (w/Bobby Rogers) vs 'Dynamite' David Perry

Apparently this Bobby Rogers is the grandson of the legendary Buddy Rogers. Bruno sounds... skeptical. Bruno explains that we don't see some wrestlers again because it means they aren't good enough for the UWF. Is that what happened with David Sammartino? Bruno is mighty tough on that kid.

Winner = 'Dynamite' David Perry via superkick

Wait what?!? Is another jobber graduating to main guy? The bad guys beat him up after the match and the rest of the jobbers come out to split them up. Jobbers means sticking together!

Captain Lou's Corner
We are told this is a repeat of the one the other week where he interviewed Mr. Red. Thanks.

Super Ninja (w/ Mr Red) vs Madman Pongo?

Haha you can kind of catch Bruno, Craig and Lou talking in the background and not in character. Albano actually gets an onscreen graphic to let you know he's on commentary - he must be Herb's best friend or something. Albano completely buries both wrestlers and recommends they go wrestle in WCW. Seriously. Bruno obviously takes this as his cue to be more honest. Herb joins the commentary team and Bruno asks him why he signed these terrible wrestlers. As opposed to the other terrible wrestlers?

Winner = Super Ninja via some weird submission or pin or what?

Super Ninja beats everyone up so Herb gets in the ring and suspends Mr. Red for 30 days. Which would mean something if this company was actually still going to be in business more than 20 days. Herb and Albano beat up Mr. Red but Super Ninja attacks Herb outside the ring. No one saves him because, well... he's Herb. I like that Bruno and Albano are always acting like he's their best friend, but when he's beaten up they don't care at all.

Herb's dead

The Fire Cat & Mystery Partner vs The Black Harts (w/ Luna Vachon)

Frank E is like "I can only introduce one guy" and the crowd are chanting "WE WANT STING". Well ok maybe only like 5 people. His partner is... Wild Thing. Wow.

The Fire Cat & 'Wild Thing' Steve Ray vs The Black Harts (w/ Luna Vachon)

They all just brawl outside the ring and Alison Royale comes out to attack Luna Vachon. Some lady in the crowd starts giving Vachon shit as well.

Craig calls a suplex a "piledriver" because he's such a fucking brilliant play-by-play commentator. Herb just wants to rant about what happened to him "last week".

Double Disqualification

On that note, we outta here.

Thoughts:

• This was easily the worst card ever. It was basically jobbers vs jobbers in some pretty shitty matches.
• I can't stand Albano, but him shooting on commentary was at least an improvement.

UWF Fury Hour: Episode 40

UWF Fury Hour Episode 40, 26th August 1991

Bruno is excited for the women today. Craig talks about the new faces we've seen. MotherFucker we've only seen The Keeper and The Animal and they were geeks.

Frank E tries to hype the crowd. I try to hype my will to live.

Jim 'The Animal' (w/The Keeper) vs David Perry?

The Animal is a mighty big rip-off of a more famous pro-wrestler from my childhood (and before), George 'The Animal' Steele. Even right down to the soft toy being his most prized possession.

The most hilarious result of them taping the commentary live with the matches, is that Craig is promoting the hell out of Orndorff vs Orton - despite the fact that match was aired last week. AND the week before.

Winner = Jim 'The Animal' via The Keeper doing some cheating.

After struggling to find a working mic in the building, Herb asks 'The Animal' if he's "a monkey or a hippo", then laughs to himself and runs away.

Captain Lou's Corner

Today's guest is Joshua Bengorian, who is apparently the UWF Israeli Champion. Is that a UWF sanctioned title? Albano supports Bendorkian committing genocide, apparently. He's often imitated?? I suppose there a large number of geeks in this world...

Joshua Bengorian vs Mohammad 'The Butcher' (w/Abudanen??)

Is this for the UWF Israeli Championship? Bendorkavich hands out Israeli flags to the people in attendance. Yay propaganda! The Butcher eats the ropes. Holy fuck this is awful.

Winner = Joshua Bendorkian via disqualification for some reason I give zero fucks about.

And yes, apparently that match was for the UWF Israeli Championship.

If you buy (The?) Beach Brawl on VHS, you also receive a free autographed picture of 'Dr. Death' Steve Williams. I want the cookies instead.

The Cuban Assassin (W/Mr. Red) vs Joe Defuria?

Mr. Red gets on the mic to tell the fans they stink. Bruno and Craig mock The Assassin's physique. Bruno mocks Defuria's punching and HAHAHAHAH

Winner = The Cuban Assassin via piledriver.

Mr. Red gets back on the mic and this time I can't understand anything he says. Yay!

Now you can order a full 6 volumes of "The Best of the UWF" on VHS. If you buy them all, you will receive (The?) Beach Brawl for free. This ad is even accompanied by a Girls On Film rip-off, so it must be a good deal.

'Mr. Wonderful' Paul Orndorff vs Dave Johnson?

Dave Johnson thinks he is Bob Orton and can attack Orndorff before the bell. But that does not work if you are not Bob Orton.

Winner = 'Mr. Wonderful' Paul Orndorff via squash.

B. Brian Blair vs Death Row 3260 (w/Gorgeous John)

Bruno is aghast at someone having the temerity to call themselves "Gorgeous". Death Row tries a leapfrog, but just ends up throwing his crotch in Blair's face.

Death Row's dropkick is... slightly better this week. Blair does a leapfrog and takes out the referee, which allows Gorgeous John to cheat. But he hits Death Row instead.

Winner = B. Brian Blair via pin after bad guys fail at cheating.

After the match, Blair beats up Gorgeous John and runs away. Craig calls this "a good win" for Blair.

Alison Royale vs Luna Vachon (w/The Black Harts)

Bruno is raving about Royale so much I can only imagine he is madly in love with her or she owes him $100. Vachon is likely the 2nd best wrestler to feature on this week's show. Royale is not.

Captain Lou Albano decides this episode hasn't been awful enough and joins the commentary team. He throws bizarre insults at Bruno and Craig, before deciding they deserve a raise. Take it up with your buddy Herb! Vachon gives the referee a shove and Bruno is upset the referee didn't punish her. "You can't do that!". Well, clearly she can!

Bahaha Fire Cat comes out for no reason but still just stands there doing nothing while The Black Harts attack Royale.

Winner = Luna Vachon via top rope splash.

Apparently, PWI thought a match at (The?) Beach Brawl was "one of the best of the year" or something.

Thoughts:

• I want to see Death Row 3260 vs Joe Derfuria OR Joshua Bendorkavic.
• This show felt at least 3 hours long.
• We got to meet the promised "new faces" tonight, and the future certainly looks bright!

UWF Fury Hour: Episode 39

UWF Fury Hour Episode 39, 19th August 1991

Could they not find any interesting footage of Florida, so have to keep reusing the New York stuff? Craig and Bruno are with Captain Lou Albano and promise us some new faces this week. Last week you promised a bunch of matches that didn't happen either, so fuck off.

We will finish the 'Mr. Wonderful'/Bob Orton match now, so "Sit back and enjoy and watch". Wait - you mother fuckers are playing the whole match again from the beginning?? Why the fuck didn't you just play a shorter match last week and then play this match in full this week?!?! IS THIS REALLY THIS HARD!?!?!?!

'Mr. Wonderful' Paul Orndorff vs 'Cowboy' Bob Orton

Orton attacks Orndorff before the bell and punishes Orndorff's shoulder against the ring post, before getting in the ring to pose. It's actually the same strange edit as yesterday. Bruno berates the referee for not using a countout already, but I don't know, it's kinda good for a change. Orndorff tries to get in the ring, but Orton just stomps him. Eventually, he just hulks up and does some stomping of his own, so Orton rakes the eyes. 

Why am I recapping this like I think I'm some sort of pro-wrestling recapper?

Bruno wants them to stop brawling and give us a proper wrestling match. Orton is doing a boring armbar, so I would think this would be to his liking? They take it back outside the ring and Orton beats Orndorff with a chair. Bruno is unhappy and again calls for a countout. Clearly he's on Dr. Herb's payroll. Craig seems more concerned with Orndorff's hair. Craig says he went to 'Mr. Wonderful's house to read his dictionary - sounds like a real party! 

Double Disqualification

What a surprise! They continue to brawl outside the ring, including Orndorff hitting Orton with a video tape, before beating up the referee as well. They get in the ring to continue the fight, but then Orton is all like 'Nah I'm going to get a hot dog'.

Captain Lou's Corner
Albano is backstage with The Keeper and The Animal. They are here and they are new - no shit. They're also fucking stupid. No shit, LOGMAN! The Animal has a soft toy. The Keeper says he stole The Animal from The Bronx Zoo. Albano just goes on a rant about how crazy The Animal is and looks, when he really just looks like a dork. Like seriously, what the fuck do cheek bones have to do with making someone look dangerous??

The UWF have ratings! Bob Backlund is "rated" #5 after wrestling a total of... 1 matches in The UWF.

Today we have a new segment! It's called 'To The Point' and it's basically The View with old men.
Herb has actually shaved, so you know he's being sincere! Despite the opening graphic calling it To The Point, Herb says it's called In This Corner. Albano wants Bruno's opinion on today's pro-wrestling. Oh, they're going to talk about Vince McMahon on trial for being a steroid fiend. Bruno is disappointed that it makes the whole pro-wrestling industry look bad, but he's hoping it forces the government to take action and clean things up. Spoiler: never going to happen. Albano says today's wrestlers need to be more like Bruno (NO SHIT) and have a good mind and good ethics and not take steroids. Herb wants to get the message out to all the young people that they should stay away from steroids - maybe just stick to fun drugs like coke? Bruno totally buries Hulk Hogan for his testimony and pretending he's never taken steroids. Herb admits they don't do drug testing in the UWF, but somehow turns this around into a promo for 'Dr. Death' Steve Williams. Albano tries to call Bruno a hypocrite, because there was showmanship in pro-wrestling during the 50's and 60's, but Bruno is like 'Dude, I didn't like it back then - but at least we were wrestlers!'. Then this just further descends into 'old men reminiscing about the old days' and Albano tells Herb he's doing a great job BAHAHAHAH Herb tries to reply but is cut off by going to commercial.

Wait - that was out main event? Or was it all the commercials?

Thoughts:

• Shots fired!
• Orndorff/Orton was not as good as their last match.
• There was only one match tonight. It wasn't very good but it at least it was complete for once.
• Donahue for the main event? What even is this??