Pro Wrestling from Florida Report
Hi my name is Adam Lunau and I live in
Calgary…Alberta…Canada. I am
now lucky enough to have the ESPN classics Canada channel and every Wednesday
they show classic wrestling. This
past week was an episode of Pro Wrestling from Florida from 1990. I hope everyone enjoys looking back in time with me.
Coach John Heath and Diamond Dallas Page open the
show and we go right to the ring.
Steve Keirn (Florida Heavyweight Champion) vs.
Bodyguard Mark (with Ron Slinker)
The ref for this match is Mickey Jay.
Keirn extends his hand in sportsmanship but it’s not returned.
Coach states that Keirn doesn’t want to win the World title because he
loves the people of Florida and his family too much (yeah right!) Power match to
start as no one budges from a shoulder block.
Crowd isn’t into the match and actually starts chanting for DDP on
commentary. Keirn sells the arm and
makes his comeback but it’s stopped short by a body slam and forearms to the
back. Keirn gets the sleeper out of
nowhere but it’s blocked. Keirn
then immediately gets a pile driver for the win.
Winner:
Steve Keirn
DDP and Coach put over Dennis Knight as we go to
a face-to-face interview with Knight and Hurricane Walker.
They hype their upcoming match and Knight puts over his new manager
Captain Ron Slinker. Next up is the
match.
Dennis Knight (with Ron Slinker) vs. Hurricane
Walker
DDP calls Knight a cross between Dick Murdoch and
Elmer Fudd and Coach puts over Hurricane as having a promising future.
Quick pace to start with a series of arm drags by Walker.
Knight bails out of the ring and when he gets back in he’s hit with a
Russian leg sweep by Hurricane. So
Knight bails out of the ring again. Slam
by Walker is met with a rope break. Knight then takes over the offense with
elbow smashes and leg drops. Knight
then climbs to the second rope and drops an elbow to Walker’s head.
Hurricane then hits a crucifix out of nowhere and was about to get the
win when Slinker jumps in for the DQ.
Winner by
DQ: Hurricane Walker
Post match Knight gives Walker the slop drop
years before it was called that. Lou
Perez makes the save for Hurricane.
We then go to a segment called coaches corner
with the Coach. He revealed the
winner of last week’s trivia question. Name
4 of the 8 presidents who were outstanding wrestlers was the question and the
answer is Washington, Taft, Roosevelt, Lincoln, Coolage, Jackson, Grant, and
Taylor. A bonus question was name
the president that added a wrestling room to the Whitehouse and the answer is
Roosevelt. This week’s question
is who was the first wrestler to use the flying tackle?
We are then shown the ring for our next match.
“Lightning” Lou Perez vs. Greg LaBounty
The match starts off with a series of arm drags
exchanged from both men. Trip by
Perez and a headlock applied as DDP makes fun of LaBounty.
Coach also tries to be funny but it just doesn’t work.
Gut wrench suplex by Perez and a series of double under hook suplexes
follow. Perez then works the arm
and hits a flying tackle (no, not the trivia answer).
DDP puts over the fact that Robert Fuller is in the house.
Perez gets the pin with a northern lights suplex.
Winner:
Lou Perez
Coach and DDP interview Perez after the match and
he puts over his upcoming match with Jim Backlund in Orlando and is upset that
it is a non-title match. After that
we go right to an interview with Robert Fuller and Ron Slinker. Slinker puts Fuller over and Fuller makes fun of Florida and
the “ugly” crowd. Fuller wants
a match with Steve Keirn so he can bring class to the Florida Heavyweight title.
“Tennessee Stud” Robert Fuller vs. Wild Thing
Fuller does, of course, have Ron Slinker in his
corner. This was typical 80’s and
early 90’s squash match with the announcers building Fuller up as a legit
challenger for Keirn. They go to an
inset interview with Keirn who promises to keep the title when he meets Fuller.
Fuller dominates and throws Wild Thing outside.
Slinker works over Wild Thing on the outside as Coach notices that one of
Fullers feet is bigger than the other. He
wonders about Fuller’s ability to stay balanced (I’m not making that up). A double under hook suplex by Fuller and a stomp to the head
gets the 3 as the Coach wonders if the boot was loaded.
Winner:
Robert Fuller
Post match interview with Fuller hypes a future
match with Keirn. Slinker denies
that the boot is loaded. When we
come back from break, Keirn has sent DDP a gator skull as DDP wonders aloud
where Buddy Landell had gone.
Terminator vs. The Coconut Kid
It’s wacky 80’s stereotype time as yes the
kid is Samoan. The announcers put
over Terminator’s recent face turn and his feud against Bounty Hunter #1.
Slinker does an inset interview where he calls Terminator fat and says
there is no way he’ll beat the Bounty Hunter.
Lots of power moves in this one until the Kid gets going with a dropkick
and a body press. DDP mentions
managing Pat Tanaka for some reason. Side suplex by the Kid and a rake to the
eyes puts Terminator back in control. A
closeline and choke slam from Terminator and he follows that up with a neck
breaker and DDT for the win.
Winner:
Terminator
After the match the announcers interview
Terminator where he continues to hype with feud with Bounty Hunter #1.
Bounty Hunter #1 (with Ron Slinker) vs. Joe
Pedero
Terminator stays around ringside distracting
Hunter #1 while Coach says hello to a church group in attendance. Due to the distraction Pedero takes the early advantage with
arm drags, leg drop, and an arm bar. Coach
tries to put over Keirn but DDP brings him back to the match and the
Terminator/Bounty Hunter feud. Sunset
flip by Pedero gets 2. Bounty
Hunter comes back with a series of power moves.
Gorilla press slam by Bounty Hunter and he follows that up with a Samoan
drop (Coach actually wonders out loud if Bounty Hunter is going to attempt an
airplane spin. I love the old days!) and gets the 3.
Winner: Bounty Hunter #1
After the match the announcers interview Slinker
and Bounty Hunter. They run down
Terminator until he goes to the ring and calls out Bounty Hunter. Crowd chants for them to fight but the heels flee as the show
goes off the air.
I hope you enjoyed the recap and as long as Buck
will let me I’ll keep reporting on the shows every week.
I don’t know if it will always be PWF but regardless it’s fun to look
back! Any suggestions you have for me can be sent to [email protected]
Turn's out they aired two episodes that night, so Adam sent along a second
report!
Well I’m back with the second edition of Pro
Wrestling from Florida. This
episode looks to be the next week’s program so that’s encouraging from a
timeline perspective. This week was
a special guest host that interacted with Coach in a way that I will never
forget. Coach was truly pathetic in this episode but you’ll see what I mean.
Onto the show!!
The show opens with Lou Perez as the new Light
Heavyweight Champion having just defeated Jim Backlund over the weekend.
Says he’ll hold it for a long time.
We then get a response from Backlund saying that he’s going to win the
belt back soon.
Coach and guest host Steve “Gator” Keirn open
the show and preview Backlund, Fuller, Bounty Hunter #1, and Mike Graham as
being there tonight. Coach gushes
over Keirn and can’t stop putting him over.
“Gigolo” Jimmy Backlund vs. The Stinger
Fast paced match as the two men exchange punches
and arm drags. Backlund
gets the upper hand with a dropkick, followed by a standing dropkick.
Oklahoma roll by Backland gets 2. Gutwrench
suplex and a double underhook suplex by Backlund gets 2.
Coach is still putting Keirn over. Gigolo
slams Stinger and goes to the top rope and hits a leg drop or the flying ginzo
as he calls it and gets the win.
Winner: Jim Backlund
Coach lets everyone know that PWF is now seen in
Haiti and Kenya. Mike Graham and
Joe Gomez are interviewed about winning the tag team titles.
They declare it was not a fluke and put over Kendall Windham and Robert
Fuller as the toughest team that they have faced.
Mike Graham and Joe Gomez (Tag Team Champions)
vs. Lebanon Assassin and Dirty Dennis Knight
Coach is STILL putting Keirn over as he talks
about Graham and Keirn as the greatest tag team in history.
He starts talking about the “classics” Keirn and Graham had with the
Briscoes. Slow paced match with a
series of stalls. Hip toss by Graham on Knight into a chin lock.
Keirn tells kids to say no to drugs as Gomez is tagged in.
Gomez slaps on a headlock for a long time and then tags Graham back in.
The Assassin comes in and gets worked over until he pokes Graham in the
eye and makes the tag. Bulldog by
Knight. Graham plays face in peril
and they do the “ref never saw the tag” spot.
Graham gets double-teamed and Gomez comes in to make the save,
dropkicking The Assassin. With the
ref distracted Slinker goes to hit Graham but misses and hits Knight.
Graham then puts the figure four on Knight and Keirn puts over the fact
that Ric Flair couldn’t escape Graham’s figure four a few weeks prior.
The Assassin makes the save and gets his team DQ’d
Winners and still champions: Mike Graham and Joe
Gomez
An interview with Ron Slinker follows the match
and he puts over Knight and the Assassin as legit contenders for the tag titles.
Coaches corner is up next and the question is: Name a wrestler who has
held 26 major titles and at the age of 13 learned his father was a POW in
Vietnam and would be for the next 7 years.
The answer? Who else but Coach’s lover Steve Keirn.
Coach just keeps going on about how brave the Keirn family is. I have no
problem with a war hero but this is getting cheesy.
Ron Slinker and Robert Fuller are interviewed next.
They run down Florida and hypes up a match with Keirn.
“Tennessee Stud” Robert Fuller vs. Mike
McClaskey
Match starts off fast with a take down by Fuller
into leg scissors. Hammerlock
reversals by both men end with a whip and backdrop by Fuller.
As Fuller rides McClaskey an insert interview airs with Slinker putting
Fuller over as a legend and previews a match with Keirn.
Fuller whips Mike into the corner and hits a knee lift.
A slam and stomp to the head by Fuller gets 3.
Winner: Robert Fuller
Coach still wonders on the replay if the boot is
loaded. Coach and Keirn interview
Lou Perez about his newly won title. Highlights
are shown of the match with Coach and DDP on commentary.
The match ends with Backlund hitting the flying ginzo but then jaws with
Steve Keirn who was at ringside. Perez
hits a backslide for the 1..2…3 and the title.
After the highlights an interview with Backlund is shown saying that it
took two men to beat him and he will get the title back soon.
Perez is then asked if Backlund will get a rematch and he says that
he’s a fighting champion so yes.
Hurricane Walker vs. Sgt. Rock
They start out nose-to-nose and lock up with a
collar and elbow tie up. Rock goes
over the top with a backdrop but no DQ is called.
Coach puts over Keirn some more. Rock
works the arm and hits a series of elbow drops on Walker.
Small package by Walker gets two and with the ref distracted Slinker
nails Hurricane right between the eyes. Rock
rolls up Walker and uses the tights to get the 3.
After watching the replay however the ref sees the tights were pulled and
reverses the decision.
Winner: Hurricane Walker
A short interview with Slinker and Bounty Hinter
#1 puts over the recent feud with Terminator.
Bounty Hunter #1 vs. Joe Pedero
Didn’t this match just happen last week? Oh
well. Terminator comes and sits at
ringside. That distracts Hunter
enough for Pedero to roll him up for 2. Coach
says that Bounty Hunter #1 is ranked as one of the 5 strongest men in wrestling
today. I love those useless stats they used to come up with. Headlock by Hunter and he goes into the ropes and hits a big
shoulder block. Terminator
distracts Hunter again and that allows Pedero to hit a dropkick that sends
Hunter out of the ring. He stalls
on the outside as Coach repeats the top five stat again.
Closeline and sidewalk slam by Hunter sets up a big gorilla press slam
(Coach acted surprised that he could do it even though he did the same move to
the same guy last week). Samoan
drop by Bounty Hunter gets the win.
Winner: Bounty Hunter #1
After the match a face-to-face interview with
Bounty Hunter and Terminator aired. It was a bad segment but it did set up a
mask vs. hair match for next week. If Bounty Hunter loses he is unmasked and if
Terminator loses he gets his head shaved. That
ends this week’s show. Not bad
from an in ring perspective and the hype for Fuller/Keirn and Terminator/Bounty
Hunter is going well. Now if Coach
could just stop with the Keirn love fest the show would be great! I’ll be back
next week hopefully with the hair vs. mask match recap!
If you want to get a hold of me you can at [email protected]
