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The show opens with Eddie Kingston attacking KC Blade and telling him to let Homicide and Uncle Murda know that it's not over and he's coming for him, then he steals Blade's shoes and wallet and leaves while EC Negro is trying to get ahold of him on the phone. Next, we go to Billy Blue as he chews out Bestia for (messing) with his money before breaking up a situation between Steve Mack and Buck Chyld, telling them that he's already got to deal with his baby mamas and doesn't need to deal with this too. Tonight, Steve Mack and Buck Chyld are going to settle this and the loser is out of his crew.
We hit the opening video and the intro with our announcers Shawn Credle, Robbie Mireno, and Julius Smokes, then it's off to the ring as the Mack-Chyld match opens the show. Billy Blue comes out and intros both guys and then clears the rest of the crew out while Mack and Chyld go at it. The story here was that these two weren't just trying to win the match but also beat each other down and punk the other guy out. Mack just pummeled Chyld for the first couple of minutes before Chyld hit a really impressive looking superplex and took control, hitting a twisting senton off the top and a Fameasser and then finishing with the Stratusfaction bulldog (which I'm sure he has a much more intimidating name for). Billy Blue said he doesn't want a weak link in his crew, and has Chyld, Jeez, and Bestia lay him out. Jeez hesitates, but then joins in the attack at Billy Blue's urging, telling Mack "I'm f---ing your b----, dog" before coming off the top rope with a double stomp.
I liked the match, I've been a fan of Steve Mack for a long time because he's this massive, hard hitting guy who has the power to press slam a guy the size of Buck Chyld, but also still has the agility to do top rope moves like a much smaller man, and I think it's a crime that he hasn't gotten a shot on a bigger scale given what a super talented guy he is in the ring and also on the microphone. I've never seen Buck Chyld before, but he impressed me too given that he's another big guy doing more athletic stuff than you would expect. I have to give Billy Blue credit as well because he handles himself well doing promos and seems really comfortable with it.
Time for more vignettes, as the LEP Bogus Boys warn us of the violence they're going to bring to the UWF, then Eddie Kingston gets the drop on KC Blade and menaces him with a metal pipe while telling him as well to warn Homicide and Uncle Murda what he's got in store for them. Gunplay and his crew from Miami are also on their way in and have everyone in the UWF in their crosshairs, and then we do a long series of vignettes with probably three or four different crews that involves so many people that I have no idea what's going on, why these guys are fighting each other, or which crews are dealing with which. This points to one of the inherent problems with having so many people involved, which is that it's impossible to keep track of the alliances, feuds, and even many people's names when you have to cram so much into a monthly, hour long PPV. No knock on the people involved in any way, but there simply isn't time to adequately explore the storylines and people involved given the breakneck pace of everything I just watched.
This brings us to our next match between the SAT (representing Melle Mel) against Lance Lude & Brian XL (from 40 Glocc's crew), a fast paced lucha-esque spotfest that was pretty standard, with the SAT hitting Spanish Fly on Lude for the win, but then things got totally out of control after the match when 40 Glocc's boy Big Business got in the ring and in the face of Melle Mel, and Mel clotheslined him over the top rope to the floor. 40 Glocc came in and got in Melle Mel's face and then laid out one of the SAT, leading to a brawl through the crowd that saw one of the SAT try to pick XL up and slam him into the front of the balcony, only for XL to grab onto the balcony and climb over the railing and fight with the other SAT there. They both tried unsuccessfully to toss one another over the railing before XL moonsaulted off the balcony and wiped out what appears to be Melle Mel and 40 Glocc's complete crews, who get back up just in time for the Maximo that was in the balcony to dive off as well. A huge brawl between the two sides breaks out as they fight all around ringside.
Okay, I thought the match was good, I really liked the postmatch brawl and how the heat between the two sides is getting so nuclear that it leads to a literal gang fight at ringside, I think Brian XL and whichever Maximo it was up there with him are out of their minds for trying the dives they hit because it takes real grapfruits to do stuff like that, and really enjoyed the entire segment EXCEPT for Melle Mel and 40 Glocc getting physically involved and laying out the wrestlers. I understand they're supposed to be the head men in charge of their crews, but they're still non-wrestlers and while I'm sure either of them could easily hand me my ass, neither should be laying out a seven foot monster like Big Business or a seasoned and pretty hefty veteran in one of the Maximos. Again, I get that they're supposed to be the stars here but it hurts the credibility of the wrestlers. If nothing else, if I'm Melle Mel and one of my wrestlers got laid out by 40 Glocc, I'd be really mad at him because he's supposed to be my hired muscle and he can't even beat up a non-wrestler.
Now we go to a video package detailing the history of the heat between 40 Glocc and Cuban Link, leading to our next segment that's not really a match, but more of a fight between BC Killer (Cuban Link) and Eddie Carnage (40 Glocc). This was done in an empty nightclub with both crews watching from the balcony and, as the announcers put it, was more like a prison fight because they came out and just started punching each other, then began breaking light tubes on each other, including one super nasty spot where BC Killer kicked light tubes into Carnage's groin. Carnage went after Killer with a chair and then started killing him with the light tubes again, stomping one onto the back of his head and then gouging the leftover shard into his skull. Carnage started POUNDING on BC Killer with a trash can, but Killer got ahold of a chain and choked Carnage with it before going after him with a staplegun. BC Killer dragged a toilet out of the back room, stuck Carnage's head in it, and then hit it with a metal pole and smashed it around Carnage's head. He follows that up by taking a shower door that just happened to be in the back room of the nightclub, put it over Carnage, and smashed it over him with another chair. Carnage staplegunned BC Killer in the cajones a couple of times and then suplexed him through another shower door that found its way into the ring before setting his own hand on fire to hit Killer with a roaring elbow. That pretty much seems to have wrapped up the fight as Killer is unconscious on the floor and a bloody Carnage makes his way up to the balcony to join his crew for a victory celebration.
That was one of the damndest things I think I've ever seen. In any other company, I'd totally bury this as a completely unnecessary and gratuitous plunder fest, but it actually fits into the world of violent gang wars that the UWF wants to present. This is easily one of the most violent things I've ever watched on a wrestling show, and I can't watch stuff like this all day long, but if violence and blood is your bag, this is the match/fight for you!
This all brings us to the main event, a four way match to crown the first UWF Champion between Bestia (Billy Blue), Rasche Brown (Big Block), Homicide (Uncle Murda), and Ricky Reyes (Cuban Link). This was pretty short, only about 10 minutes long, and the opening minutes had everyone teaming up trying to take out Rasche Brown before pairing off. It came down to the final five minutes or so before we saw any eliminations, and then they all went one after the other. Homicide eliminated Bestia with an Ace Crusher, then he went for a top rope Frankensteiner on Rasche, but Eddie Kingston ran out and held Rasche's ankle and Homicide hit hard. Ricky Reyes immediately followed up with a rolling neckbreaker and pinned Homicide, who went running off to the back after Kingston. Reyes hit another rolling neckbreaker on Rasche, but Rasche kicked out and hit a big chokeslam and a spear for the win. Good while it lasted, but again, there wasn't enough time to really get things going before it was over.
* * *
The UWF is an interesting company because it's really hard to get a handle on as a reviewer. There's a lot of stuff that happens on UWF events that would simply not work or not be productive in any other company in terms of the violence and the storyline elements such as the death threats, guns, and the crews' side businesses, but the thing to understand is that the UWF is supposed to be violent, the UWF is supposed to be the street, and the UWF is supposed to be life or death, and because of that you have to look at it with a different set of criteria. I think in trying to create a wrestling universe that exists on the street where the goal may not necessarily be to become known as the best wrestler or a champion or headline Wrestlemania, but simply to make a living and stay alive any way you can, they've done a good job of weaving together an environment where everyone does their thing while trying to cut out everyone else so they can stand alone as the supreme crew in the UWF.
That said, there are still some standard rules of professional wrestling that have to apply, and that includes non-wrestlers not beating up wrestlers. I get what they were going for, but it's detrimental to the wrestlers and, unless the rappers are all being trained to work full matches on UWF shows, it's not good for their credibility. Also, they really need to slow down the video packages and do a better job of explaining the heat between everybody because casual fans, and even myself as a reviewer, still have a hard time keeping track of who everyone was and where they stood. Between that and how short the main event was, the UWF is screaming for at least a 90 minute, maybe ever 2 hour timeslot to give everything more depth. Overall though, enjoyable and completely different than anything else you're going to see in professional wrestling.
For more information on the UWF, check out their website by clicking here.
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