Throwback Match Reviews: Austin Idol vs Jerry Lawler (CWA) (04/27/1984)

Austin Idol vs Jerry Lawler (CWA) 04/27/1984

This was for the AWA Southern Heavyweight Championship. It was a Steel Cage match and hair vs hair. The match starts with Idol cowering away from Lawler. Lawler immediately goes after him. For a supposed blood feud the action really isn’t that brutal. There have been way more brutal Jerry Lawler matches with much lower stakes. The match was very slow at the beginning. It picked up a little when Lawler began to make his comebacks. The selling was pretty good here. Tommy Rich ran in after the referee had been knocked out. The problem with that is that he waited a good while under the ring even after the referee went down. It was kind of dumb. Rich and Idol double teamed Lawler and Idol gets the victory. The best part of the matches happens after the match when the crowd nearly riots when Lawler is getting his hair cut off.

Final Rating - ***

Throwback Match Reviews: Jerry Lawler vs Terry Funk

Jerry Lawler vs Terry Funk (CWA) 03/23/1981

The version of the match that I found online was a clipped. After doing some research I learned that all that was cut out were the slower and down moments. All of the action was left in. While I personally enjoyed that, I need to have the full match in order to give it a proper rating. Keep in mind that my rating reflects what I saw only and while I’m assuming the slow periods were cut, I can’t let that influence my final rating.

This was a good hate-filled fight. Funk especially was great here with the punishment he inflicted on Lawler. Lawler played a good babyface. The crowd definitely enhanced this match. This is the first match I’ve watched for this project where I could not get into the frame of mind of the time. The problem is that I’ve seen a lot more of these hate-filled brawls done better. The match was good, worked well, had great crowd connection and was psychologically sound but it was not special in any way, even for the time.

Final Rating - ***½