DVDVR Memphis Set, Top 60: #60

Alright, so way back at the start of 2009 I started a project where I was gonna talk about every match from the DVDVR Memphis set that had come out the previous year. The forum I started it on was a small one, and I mostly decided to do it in the first place so other posters there would think about picking up the set as well and watching all of the stuff, because it was awesome and all that good shit.

Then I did what I usually do and got sidetracked for whatever reason and never finished it (although I got a few folks to pick up the set, so mission accomplished, I guess). Then the same forum started a greatest WWF/E Match ever poll and I put the Memphis project on hold again. Well, that project finished a couple months ago, and I swore I'd get this done after that got done, so I'm back to finally finish what I started.

Also haven't been able to get motivated enough to watch anything and write about it for a little while, so I figured this would be a good way to back into the swing of things since I've seen the whole set already and had a blast watching it the first time around. Won't bother talking about the entire 125 matches that are on it, since I already covered most of them last year, but I'll work my way through the top 60 I had at the time I sent in my ballot to the DVDVR crew, re-watching it and talking about each match. Then at the end I'll re-watch some other stuff and come up with a new top something-or-other to see how they compare, because just looking at my list now some of the picks seem kinda WTF-like. Anyways...


#60: Jerry Lawler v Kerry Von Erich (9/17/88)

This was a part of an AWA card that got shown on ESPN Classics a few years ago, so there's a bunch of stuff about the NBA playoffs and the NHL draft in the info bar running along the bottom of the screen. I found that really distracting during some of the matches when I first went through the set. I lost count of how often I read about Jason Kidd not getting hit with a flagrant foul. Still, this was good. Thanks to Loss on PWO putting up all of the Observers from 1988, one is reminded that this same unification match (Lawler was AWA World Champ, Kerry WCCW World Champ) happened a bunch of times, and not once was there a decisive finish. I'm not sure which installment this was, but I get the sense the crowd saw it coming.

Starts out with both guys being all apprehensive like, sort of going tit for tat, but you can tell they don't care much for the other guy. They exchange clotheslines and Kerry plasters Lawler in the face with a pretty wild one. I can only assume he was fucked up. Things break down some when Lawler backs Kerry into the corner and throws the first punch of the match, which Kerry no-sells like a rube and follows up with a discus punch. Lawler shows him how you're supposed to sell that shit, at least. From there it's all more or less built around them both throwing big punches. Doesn't even need to be said that Lawler throws immaculate pro-wrestling punches, but he cracks Kerry with an uppercut here that is just glorious, even for him.

Post-match has some back and forth on the mic about who should be the unified champ and all that jive. Of the two Lawler/Kerry matches on the set, I remember thinking this was definitely the weakest, but I'm struggling to remember a whole lot about the other one this far down the line... so we'll see.