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Tape Reviews
"Gentleman" Chris Adams Shoot Interview
Posted by Brandon Truitt on Apr 21, 2003, 20:00
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Short intro this week due to more overtime at work.
If someone can find a video capture of a 16mm film from 1983 called Arcade Attack, drop me a line. I have a copy of it off of HBO but it's almost unwatchable since the tape has degraded over the course of 20 years.
As always, you can feel free to Drop me an e-mail, read the archives, buy me stuff, or buy yourself stuff at Highspots.com.
�Gentleman� Chris Adams (10-30-2000)
We start off with a UWF match pitting Hacksaw Jim Duggan and Chris Adams vs. General Skandor Akbar�s stable, Akbar's Army. (One Man Gang, Wild Bill Irwin, and Bad Leroy Brown). Missing Link was supposed to be Duggan and Adams� partner but he ditched this match because of something involving his valet, Dark Journey. This is your standard UFW main event, as it turns into a schmoz with TV time expiring and the whole locker room empties out to get involved.
How did he get into the business? He�d been doing judo and been a champion in his age and weight class three times when he went to a match with a friend, who was related to a boxer who�d beaten Sugar Ray Robinson for the middleweight title back in the day. The promoter at the matches knew him, his martial arts background, and that he hung out with people who had legitimate sports backgrounds and asked him if he was interested in becoming a wrestler. He wasn�t into it at first but got into it after seeing Dynamite Kid wrestle.
Was he a fan as a kid? Yes, but only for the entertainment and he didn�t take it seriously.
Who trained him? Tally Hokay, who is famous in England.
Wrestling in England- His first match was with Tally Hokay in 1978. He also teamed with Big Daddy and worked with Giant Haystacks around that time.
British wrestling scene- It was good back then as they had a highly rated weekly show and everyone was into it.
Coming to the US- He met a guy named Yasu Fuji, who worked for the LaBell family in Los Angeles. Yasu got Mike LaBell to bring Chris to LA and get him a visa.
Guys in the territory- John Tolos and Victor Rivera were the main two guys in the territory. Andre the Giant was in and out of the territory every so often.
Dr. Tom Pritchard- They became good friends out in LA. They were tag champions out there.
New Japan- Mike LaBell had contacts with Vince McMahon Sr., New Japan, and Mexico. He worked with Fujinami and Tiger Mask when he was in New Japan. He�d met Tiger Mask (Saturo Sayama) when he was in England when he was brought in using a Bruce Lee gimmick.
The WWWF Light Heavyweight Title- He won it from Perro Aguayo in Mexico. He worked there for about 6 months.
Antonio Inoki- Inoki liked him because Chris�s brother is a world-renowned judo champion who had won Olympic medals.
Portland- He didn�t like working there because of the backstabbing. Bret Sawyer, Matt Bourne, and a few others were in the office burying people all the time.
Buzz Sawyer- He didn�t know him well in Portland. When they were both in World Class, they had some great matches and got to like each other as a result.
�Dr. D� David Shulz- �He was an asshole� because of his strange temper. He had good matches with him though.
Don Owens as a promoter- He was a farmer and didn�t need to promote but seemed to do it for fun. His brother Eldon Owens was a bigger trip because he�d offer $50 to whoever could win in a shoot fight and the boys would work him on it.
World Class- Portland�s weather was like England but the pay sucked. He almost went back to England before Owens sent him to work for Fritz Von Erich in a talent exchange.
Coming in- He�d heard from the Samoans that the territory was about to set on fire.
Rick Martel- They worked together in Portland. �Gentleman.�
Initial impressions of the Von Erichs- He was in awe of what was going on in the way of business. The boys took a liking to him and he got a long run on top as a result.
The locker room- It was good. Ken Mantell was the booker and the Freebirds were there along with Jimmy Garvin, Precious, and others.
Did the boys resent the Von Erichs? Yes, if you were a babyface. The Von Erichs always got the top babyface pushes. He was grateful, though, for what they let him do.
Feuding with Jimmy Garvin- �Him and the Freebirds were always together.� Over the course of several months, the Freebirds had so much Jack Daniels that they had a fireplace wall covered with empty Jack Daniels bottles. One night, when they didn�t have any firewood, Buddy Jack Roberts smashed a coffee table and put it in the fire. When he feuded with Garvin, he had Sunshine as his valet. �She was his cousin and they HATED each other.� They eventually worked a program where Garvin�s wife became Precious, Precious and Sunshine had a falling out, and Chris ended up teaming with Sunshine to face Garvin and Precious. He thinks it was one of the first mixed tag angles in the country. Whenever Precious and Sunshine started going after each other, they�d break it up quickly so they could continue to tease the audience. In his opinion, he compares it to sex and says �when it�s finished, it�s finished� and that you need to tease it for as long as possible. In those days, an angle would last from 6 months to 2 years if things were booked right.
Stella Mae French- They brought her in out of the blue when Sunshine disappeared. Sunshine was unhappy about something and started no-showing. They ended up making her into Sunshine�s aunt although she was only a truck driver before that.
The Freebirds- They were at South Padre Island and Buddy fell asleep with his mouth open while sunbathing. Michael PS Hayes ended up finding a rotten fish and laid it over his face. Another time, they put a dead possum in Buddy�s bag.
Jake �The Snake� Roberts- Good friend, although they don�t keep in touch. He wasn�t really pushed in World Class.
Ringrats in Dallas- He and Kerry went out after a show one night and the girls were hanging onto their car when they drove off.
Working with Gary Hart- �The Vincent Price of professional wrestling.� A Nice guy who taught him a lot about the political side of the business.
Rick Rude- He won the World Class Heavyweight Title from him on July 4, 1986. Percy Pringle (Paul Bearer) was Rude�s manager at that time. Rude was a great guy and incredibly strong.
Iceman King Parson- He liked Parsons although some people didn�t. He competed a lot against Buddy Roberts.
Drugs in the territory- You could pick up needles from outside the dressing rooms at house shows.
Gino Hernandez- They were pretty close although they didn�t work together before Chris turned on Kevin Von Erich. Gino had been in Houston for years working for Paul Boesch and made a lot of money for only working one day a week. �Gino was a trip.� He lived the high life.
Teaming with Gino- He think it was Gino�s idea to do it and that Ken Mantell approved of it.
Matches against the Von Erichs- They would snip a piece of everyone�s hair after they beat them and eventually had a haircut match against the Von Erichs. Kevin would no-sell spots at times, such as taking a piledriver on the cement and then beating you back into the ring. They had to lay it in on him as a result.
Smashing the car windows with chains- It was a lot of fun. It was a shocking angle at the time instead of being an every-week occurrence like on RAW now.
Was he worried about working with the Von Erichs when they were stoned? He was concerned when they would be in the ring uncoordinated.
Mike Von Erich- Supernice guy who got pressured to enter the business by Fritz Von Erich.
David Von Erich- He and the other Von Erichs went to a restaurant in Dallas called The Magic Time Machine. Each waiter or waitress is dressed in a themed costume and their waiter happened to be a professional wrestler. David kept picking on this guy until the guy said wrestling was fake. He ended up putting a sleeper on the guy to show him that wrestling wasn�t completely fake and knocked the guy out with it.
David�s death in Japan- He hears it was a viral infection in his stomach but believes he accidentally OD�ed instead.
Did he and Gino ever get approached by Vince McMahon? They called the WWF and talked to Pat Patterson but nothing ever really came about.
Fritz Von Erich- A tyrant but was always nice to him. He wasn�t very diplomatic.
Kerry Von Erich- �A big teddy bear.� Liked to get high a little too often but everyone did back then.
Drugs- The Freebirds were heavy drinkers while the Von Erichs were the ones into harder drugs.
Breaking up the team- He and Gino agreed on it and they moved onto feuding with each other. Everyone kept trying to pressure them into a haircut match but they didn�t want to do it and stretched out the feud as a result. When they had their falling out in the ring and Gino �blinded� him, they figured it was the right time to go ahead with it.
Was he surprised Gino died? Yes. He�d just gone back to England after filming an angle where he had his eyes all bandaged up from being �blinded� and tried to get into his Corvette backwards. When he got back to England, Scotland Yard came around to question him about Gino�s death. They thought he�d murdered him because of the angle they�d run. After an investigation by the FBI, they determined it was a drug overdose.
Do you agree with the theory that the people Gino ran with had him killed? It�s possible, because he was in �with some pretty heavy people in that business� and he may have owed someone a lot of money or refused to do something they wanted, but he probably just OD�ed on his own.
What was the atmosphere like at the Cotton Bowl show? The fans were crazy. When he and Gino had a tag team hair match against the Von Erichs, they got HUGE heat. When the Von Erichs won, there was a sizable pop.
Ric Flair- It was great when he came into the territory because he�d bring in more fans. He�d also freshen up the territory by giving more possible matches to put on top of the card. His matches with Ric were good because the crowds loved him and hated Ric at the time. He says that WCW has a big problem in this area as they have a ton of talent but they don�t build up people enough for the fans to love them or hate them. (Sound familiar? The only people being put in that position are either former main event guys or certain untalented wrestlers who the office keeps trying desperately to push coughA-TRAINcough.)
Bruiser Brody- �King of the independents.� They got along well outside of the ring. Brody was very smart and not exactly what he appeared to be.
Abdullah the Butcher- He wrestled him in Puerto Rico. Butcher and Brody would have great matches.
Mike Von Erich�s death- He was shocked that he�d intentionally OD. He knew Mike didn�t want to be pushed in the business but didn�t realize how many things had piled on top of him to kill himself.
Did Kerry, Kevin, or Chris change after that? No, not that he noticed. He thinks they�d started taking more to cope with the deaths of both Mike and David. This lead to Chris shooting himself to death a few years later. Chris always wanted to be Kerry but he didn�t have the genetics for it, even after taking growth hormones.
Where was his feud with Gino going to go? He starts talking about how when people know that two people are close, it makes it mean that much more when they turn on each other later. They were going to do the same formula they�d always done and that they�d just do regular matches at first before building to a no-DQ match, a match with someone at ringside, etc. until they finally built to a cage match with, possibly, a hair vs. hair stipulation to it.
The locker room�s reaction to Fritz pulling out of the NWA- �Why?� They wondered what was going on behind the scenes, such as problems with money, the boys, or other things. Fritz was approachable on some days and you just had to catch him in a good mood.
Leaving World Class- They wanted him to lose the World Class belt to Black Bart but he got in major trouble and he had to �go visit someone for several months� until it blew over. He refused to lose the belt and just left the territory instead.
Did he see the promotion falling apart? Yes, because everyone was leaving and Kerry was injured. The business just hit a brick wall when the Von Erichs started dying. It was like a curse on the promotion.
Did he want to go to the WWF? Yes, and he spoke to someone in the office but they never got back to him. He figured he was good enough that if they didn�t call him back, he didn�t need to work for them. He acknowledges that it was a mistake in hindsight.
Going to the UWF- Bill Watts came to see him when he was marrying his wife Toni. Watts took a liking to him and asked him to come into the territory. Watts was a lot like Fritz but he was good at what he did and he respected him a lot. Some of the guys in the territory were treated like crap, such as a black guy who was just breaking into the business who Bill abused after he did something wrong.
Differences between Watts and Fritz- Watts had more respect for his family in a way. Fritz was more of a tyrant to his family and his employees.
The locker room compared to World Class- They were frightened to death of Watts.
Teaming with Terry Taylor- They became friends and the office thought it was a good idea to team them. He thinks they were trying to recreate the magic he had teaming with Gino. �Terry was good to work with� and had a good mind for the business.
Brawling with Eddie Gilbert and Sting all over the building- It was new at the time. He liked Eddie and thought he had a great mind for the business. He also liked Eddie�s wife, Missy Hyatt. He thinks that Eddie�s work has gotten more respect over the years than it did at the time.
Crowds in the territory- They were HUGE. On a single day, they could work the morning in Oklahoma City and the night in Tulsa and sell out both because every match down the entire card had a storyline behind it.
Memories of guys in the territory- Ted Dibiase was a great guy and a great wrestler. �Dr. Death� Steve Williams was very tough and one of Watts� favorites. The Freebirds were there too.
Sting and the Ultimate Warrior- When they teamed as the Blade Runners, they looked like a million bucks even though they were green. He says that you can tell if someone�s got the tools to make it in the business immediately but you can�t tell if they�ve got the mentality to pull it off.
Rick Steiner- Both Rick and Scott Steiner are tough. He had a small shoot in the back against Rick and couldn�t even move him. He loved him to death though.
Ribs in the UWF- Most of the stuff was travelling-related. He traveled with Hector Guerrero and Chavo Guerrero Jr., and they were wild as Hell. Watts kept anything from happening in the locker room though.
How did the guys found out they were being sold to Jim Crockett? It was announced to them that Crockett was buying them and then they saw Crockett had come in to watch the matches. Everyone worked their asses off that night in order to get brought to work in Crockett�s main territory.
His brief run in Jim Crockett Promotions in 1987- The company dropped the ball on the whole UWF thing. Instead of killing everyone off, they could have done a promotion vs. promotion feud. He doesn�t understand why he did it. Instead, they took a few select people and ditched the rest. (They had a lot of talent in that locker room at the time such as �Dr. Death� Steve Williams, the Freebirds, Rick Steiner, Eddie Gilbert, Sting, �Captain Redneck� Dick Murdoch, and a young Shane Douglas who mostly went to waste there.)
The locker room- Very cliqueish. Dusty Rhodes, Lex Luger, Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, and others all tended to run together. He thinks he didn�t make it there because he was too cocky for his own good. He walked out because he felt underpaid for a show.
Coming back to World Class- It was very different. He�d worked the indy circuit for a long time too. The Von Erichs and Gino were dead and most everyone else were gone, but it was just a job at that point. Not even the Freebirds coming back changed it. He feels that everyone gets the magic formula to draw big business every so often and, when you try to rehash it later with different guy, it falls flat.
Lance Von Erich- The fans hated him because he wasn�t a true Von Erich. The guys in the back didn�t like him much either because he had no real tie to the Von Erich clan but jumped ahead of them just by being associated with them. It wasn�t his fault though.
Kerry�s death- He was at home and heard that Kerry had shot himself. He was upset at first but that changed the more he heard about what was going on with Kerry. He goes into a story about how, months before that, he was at a surprise birthday party for Kerry at the insistence of Kerry�s wife and that they all got drunk and that he ended up sleeping in the same bed as her although not actually sleeping with her. After Kerry�s death, he found out Kerry had been sleeping with HIS wife and that they two of them had done all kinds of stuff like have sex on a tanning bed. When he saw his wife crying at Kerry�s funeral and almost diving into the coffin, alarm bells started going off in his head. He was pissed at what Kerry did because he left two kids behind and that he didn�t want to take responsibility for his actions. He thinks that Kerry shot himself in the chest so that he wouldn�t spoil his face. Fritz had bailed him out of trouble for so long that he couldn�t take it when someone couldn�t cover for him anymore.
Kerry leading up to his death- Kerry had some legal problems, marital problems, and lingering problems due to the amputation of his foot. He was on a motorcycle one night and was too messed up when he was riding on it and laid the bike down on his foot, causing it to be amputated. (Jack Victory says that Kerry was actually in a chase with the cops and had tried, and failed, to run a police roadblock.)
Did Fritz feel responsible for all the problems? He thinks Fritz put himself above all responsibility and that it was his big downfall.
Other guys he worked with in that run- Black Bart, Iceman King Parsons, the Samoan Swat Team (Samu and Fatu, better known as Rikishi) and no one who really stood out.
Memphis- Jerry Jarrett bought out World Class and turned both companies into USWA. The Memphis style, which was based on gimmick matches at the time, didn�t really go well with the hard-hitting action the Texas fans were used to.
Jerry Lawler as a booker- Very smart man but didn�t agree with his booking philosophy. He says that Lawler was very successful in Memphis with that gimmicky style, though. He ended up working with Lawler�s son, Brian Christopher, and liked him a lot.
His wife Toni getting into the business- That was due to Steve Austin, who trained under him and married his ex-wife, Jeanne Adams. Jerry Jarrett gave Chris an office job and Chris suggested making a wrestling school, which he said was a great success. He found Austin within the first two minutes of his first seminar. There were about 500 people there and he had to hire several salespeople just to take the applications and the money from the potential wrestlers. Austin stood out immediately because of his body and his looks and Chris knew he�d make it. Austin �had a good attitude back then� and picked thinks up quickly in the ring. The promotion liked him so much that they put him on the shows and decided to run a student vs. teacher angle with the two of them. It was his idea to pair Austin up with Jeanne. He also decided to bring Toni in around that time and that they�d run a mixed-tag angle with it. He feels that when there�s a grain of reality to what�s going on, the fans pick up on it and enjoy it.
Problems with his wife in Memphis- �She was seeing Brian Christopher for a while.�
Global Championship Wrestling- He worked there after Joe Pedecino had sold the company. The guy who bought it ended up being Kevin Von Erich�s lawyer and he is, in fact, Chris�s lawyer in his newest venture. The guy wanted to be a scriptwriter and was decent at it but it was in the Memphis style. It just wasn�t the same style that the people loved in Texas.
Starrcade 1990- He teamed with Norman Smiley against Konnan and Rey Misterio Sr. He liked Norman a lot and it was a good match but it just a match and not a program.
Working overseas- He worked for a group in Lebanon and brought in some American guys. The Americans weren�t allowed into the country, so they stayed in the airport and then flew home. He was later contacted about coming back with non-Americans, so he brought Lance Storm, some of the Guerrero brothers, and a few other wrestlers with him. On the way back from that disaster of a tour (they didn�t get paid and a fan was shot at one of the shows), he met a bigwig from Pepsi/7-Up on the plane. The guy was Lebanese but had fled to Nigeria when the troubles started in his home country. The guy asked him if he wanted to do a promotion in Nigeria and he agreed to look into it. Several weeks later, he went to Nigeria to scout it out and, before he even left, had noticed an FAA bulletin that the airport in Lagos, Nigeria, was unsafe and that it was risky to fly there. He ended up going an getting great treatment by some of the upper-class citizens despite all the problems there. He found that the only places capable of running the shows were the soccer stadiums. In every dressing room, he found WWF posters and immediately decided it was a great idea to run there. He ended up taking Bill Eadie (Masked Superstar, Demolition Ax), Iron Sheik, Kevin Von Erich, Tommy Rogers of the Fantastics, �Superfly� Jimmy Snuka, and others over there to work.
AWF- They called him in when Tito Santana and Sgt. Slaughter were running things. He got along with them great. Things didn�t take off because the promoter tried to be like Vince McMahon overnight instead of trying to concentrate on Florida and work out all his problems before trying to go nationwide. It was a shame that they failed because a lot of good talent was in the territory.
FWF- That was something he did for a friend of his who was a wealthy businessman in Dallas. The Rock and Roll Express, Terry Gordy, Missy Hyatt, Greg �The Hammer� Valentine, Koko B. Ware, and others were all there. They were putting stuff together for a series of tapes but it fell apart during the editing process because the money man�s wife sued him for $500,000 and his assets got frozen.
WCW in 1998- He phoned up Terry Taylor and asked if there was a spot for him. Terry got him to come in and do a tryout match for Bischoff, who offered him a job. It wasn�t what he wanted but he needed the money and took it.
Eric Bischoff- He�d only talk to about 5 or 6 guys and would blow the rest off. He was always nice to him though.
Did it frustrate him putting over less talented guys? Yes, but he needed those checks every two weeks and it was easy money. It hurt his pride, though.
His treatment in WCW- He was treated good monetarily but they didn�t allow him to do much in the ring.
WCW�s locker room- It�s all cliques and if you aren�t in with one of them, you aren�t going anywhere. (Sounds a lot like Oz� unless you�re with a group like the bikers, Mafia, Aryan Brotherhood, etc., you�re going to have a VERY hard time.) He says that individual ability means something but that TV exposure is what really gets people over.
Sidenote- I�d say that�s true but that everything always comes back to an individual�s talents. Scott Steiner was protected for months before he stepped into the ring with Triple H at Royal Rumble 2002, where all the pops he had turned into boos by the end of the match because of his limited moveset and lack of mobility. Nathan Jones is another case like this because his introduction vignettes got him over like a million bucks until he kept whiffing his superkicks on A-Train his first night in the ring on Smackdown.
While we�re on the subject of Nathan Jones, I�ll go into one of the fundamental flaws of the current WWE; Vince holds guys who are smaller to a MUCH higher standard than big wrestlers.
Nathan Jones is over 7 feet tall and chiseled but sucks in the ring despite being in the business for about 2 years now and is nearly 40 (I know he�s been wrestling for at least two years but that he got started in MMA in 1997). He didn�t have to make a stopover in OVW before he came to the WWE but, instead, entered the promotion in a choice spot involving The Undertaker. (Admittedly, this point is a bit loaded. He was supposed to go to OVW in 2001 but he couldn�t get a visa due to his legal troubles.) Upon entering the WWE, he got MAD pops due to the introduction vignettes but that fell apart as soon as he stepped into a ring, has he kept whiffing while trying to superkick Albert and, as a result, was changed into a green rookie onscreen instead of an unstoppable monster.
Contrast this with Rico Constantino, who is 42 and has been in the business about the same amount of time but has a great presence about him and wrestles like a veteran. He, however, can�t get a push on TV because the writers see him as �too old� despite the fact that he has less wear and tear on his body than many wrestlers who are in their 20s and 30s right now. When you realize that the addition of him to the tag team of Chuck Palumbo and Billy Gunn saved them and that he was the only good to come out of the abortion of the gay wedding angle, it makes it an even bigger shame. They even teased a push by having him beat Ric Flair on RAW in September, but it was just a way to humiliate Flair and lead to him turning heel by costing Rob Van Dam his match against Triple H at Unforgiven. Now he�s stuck getting stunners from Austin or having his matches interrupted by video of Austin or The Rock walking into the building.
In a perfect world, Nathan Jones would be bounced out of the business until he could do an angle without embarrassing himself in the process, while Rico would get a run with a mid-level belt like the Intercontinental title as a test to see if he would be taken seriously on top. In reality, though, Rico will continue being wasted as the designated jobber of Three Minute Warning while Jones will get push after push until management notices that everyone gets up to take a piss while he�s wrestling.
Well, that was deep. Back to the shoot.
Bill Goldberg- Super nice guy. They were both in one of the Universal Soldier movies. He probably got pushed too fast but he got over well and was very charismatic. He thinks that they should have paired him with an experienced manager like Jimmy Hart to do his talking.
Kevin Nash- Big ego. �He was like a dick to me.� He�s not sure why Kevin was like that to him but Kevin does that to a lot of people. �I think he�s like a bitch.�
Does he think he could draw money today? Yes, because the basic formula still works. They�d just have to tweak it a little to play to today�s crowd.
Why didn�t his brother get into the business? He�s more interested in the shoot stuff than wrestling. He has a dojo now and teaches a lot of people including UFC competitors.
Favorite guys to work with- The Von Erichs, the Freebirds, Jimmy Garvin, Terry Taylor, Glacier, Ric Flair, etc.
Biggest influence on him- It was probably his travelling to Japan, Mexico, and other territories rather than any one wrestler. It exposed him to a lot of different styles that influenced the one he used.
Is today�s style good or bad for the business? He�s not sure. Some spots used to be a finish but now they�re just a high spot during the match, such as anything you see in a Hardy Boyz match. He feels that the finish of the match should be a bigger move than any high spot done in the match.
Best match- The hair match with him and Gino vs. the Von Erichs.
Could a territory survive today? Yes, because it�s wide open. The problem is that they�d need great TV production because they�re competing with WCW and the WWF. He says that they�d need great people in charge of it, though, because the business is like the movie business; Even if you�ve got the best actors and actresses in history, you still need a director who knows what to do with them and when to do it. He thinks that Vince could even get involved with it because it�s a good place for their guys to learn (which he�s done by continuing to support Ohio Valley Wrestling and giving on-again off-again support to Heartland Wrestling Association, which was dropped as a developmental territory in 2002, and Memphis, which was dropped in 2001).
Any regrets? One, which is that he walked out on Jim Crockett Productions instead of sticking it out. The few guys who stayed like Sting became big stars while he went off into obscurity.
When did he realize he�d made it in the business? When he was teaming with Gino.
What is he doing now? He�s making wrestling rings for the backyard. They think they�re not encouraging people to wrestle, the TV programs do that. They�re just giving them a safe environment to do it in. It with an instructional video from 10 years ago which features him, Austin, Jerry Lawler, Undertaker (under a mask, probably as The Punisher), etc.
Does he keep in contact with Steve Austin? No, but he keeps in contact with Jeanne, who is now Austin�s ex.
Does he want to say anything to his fans? Any wrestler is nothing without the fans� reaction, whether they hate you or love you. Some wrestlers need to remember that.
Matches:
Chris Adams and Gino Hernandez vs. Kevin Von Erich and Kerry Von Erich in a hair vs. hair match. This is the Cotton Bowl show mentioned earlier in the shoot. The Von Erichs win when Kerry rolls up Adams with a schoolboy after a bunch of overbooked powder-throwing spots. The faces flood out of the locker room to hold down Gino and Chris while Kerry and Kevin take turns shaving them bald. Gino tries to escape through the crowd but Chris Von Erich tackles him and the faces drag him back into the ring. The intros, match, and extracurriculars last about 30 minutes.
Chris Adams vs. Tiger Mask- As I understand from Adams� interview, this is the first Tiger Mask I (Satoru Sayama), who is the most famous in this role mainly due to his series against the Dynamite Kid. This is a decent match although Adams is no Dynamite Kid. Tiger Mask wins with a cross body.
Sting and Chris Adams interview with Jim Ross- This is from the UWF. Clips of Adams getting his ass kicked at a press conference by Terry Taylor are included and Adams blades.
Chris Adams vs. Terry Taylor- This is from World Class and is for the Texas Heavyweight Championship but is being contested for some reason in Memphis. I thought World Class and Memphis didn�t co-promote until later than this. This match actually put me to sleep several times, so I recommend it to those of you with insomnia. The match ends in a double countout and Adams starts to beat on Taylor with a chair.
Chris Adams and Dynamite Kid (looking about 150 pounds below his WWF weight) vs. Tiger Mask and Some Japanese Guy. Tiger Mask has theme music that sounds like it�s out of the Captain Harlock anime movie, My Youth In Arcadia. The finish comes as Some Japanese Guy holds Adams about 5 feet in the air while Tiger Mask hits him with a high cross body for the win.
Chris Adams vs. Terry Gordy- This is from World Class. This is was when Gordy was the best big-man in the business instead of the poster child for why wrestlers shouldn�t use drugs. Despite Gordy�s skill, this isn�t a very enjoyable match as it is WAY too slow and methodical for my liking. Adams wins after escaping a Gordy bodyslam and pinning him with a German suplex. Gordy then beats the everloving shit out of Adams before walking back to the locker room.
Chris Adams vs. Kevin Von Erich- This footage could induce an epileptic fit, so I�m skipping it. Thankfully, the quality of footage included on these things have gone up in recent years.
Chris Adams vs. Stunning Steve Austin with Percy Pringle (Paul Bearer) in a Come As You Are match- Austin comes to the ring in shoulder pads, a University of North Texas jersey, and a helmet while Adams comes to the ring in a gi carrying a singapore cane. This is from World Class during the first year or two of Austin�s career. While not a five-star classic, this hardcore brawl still solidly holds up today. The match is thrown out when Pringle gets involved and the heels beat down Adams with his own cane.
Chris Adams vs. Gino Hernandez- I think this was the last match in Gino�s career, as he was found dead of a MASSIVE overdose shortly after this angle started. Adams has Gino beaten several times but keeps picking him back up to continue the match. Gino eventually gets a bottle of hair cream off of the announcer'� table and rubs it in Adams� eyes, �blinding� him. We also get the vignette where a blindfolded Adams gets into his Corvette and goes to the airport so he can fly home to England.
Thoughts: This is a disappointing shoot unless you�re REALLY interested in the golden era of World Class and the start of Steve Austin�s career. Missy Hyatt, Jim Cornette, Jack Victory, and others have all covered World Class in much better shoots than this, so I�ll go with a Recommendation to Avoid.
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