Don't Cross Lawler, Babe

Jerry Lawler v. Shane Douglas v. Dan Maff, JAPW 12/13/03 - GREAT

ER: Wow, did not expect to like this one as much as I did. First you have the annoying concept of the 3 Way Dance, which always ends up proving that you'd rather see almost any combo of the participants in a singles match instead. Then you get the focus of a 3 Way Dance, which always means a lot of time spent by announcers talking about "alliances", and alliance scheming is always the most boring part of any reality programming, and even more boring in a solitary pro wrestling match. 3 Way Dances also give a bunch of focus to "pulling guys out of pinfalls by grabbing their leg" which takes away from ass beating. So less ass beating, more leg tugging, alliances with zero drama, guys disappearing from the match for minutes at a time, over and under-selling (depending on when you gotta come in to hit your shit).....they're basically almost always a mess.

And yeah this was kind of a mess, but a really really fun mess. First few minutes are Lawler fighting off both Maff and Douglas, and it's seriously some of Lawler's best work ever. Evading both guys, ducking in and out of failed double team attempts, and just blasting both with incredible punches. He mixes in a bunch of body shots here which is something he doesn't really do often, and it looks really cool. KC Blade and EC Negro bump huge off the apron for Lawler haymakers, and Lawler gets to hit piledrivers on both Douglas and Maff. Match gets a little clunky for a bit as due to the structure of the match both guys really don't sell the piledrivers as long as they should have, and Lawler's Austin-aping double middle finger Stunners are about as cheap as a heel saying "Don't you boo me!" But Lawler flies around for the double team spots really nicely and it all builds to Lawler backed into a corner and removing the strap, with Douglas and Maff both cowering away in fear. Maff and Douglas held their own here and ramped up their own shots . Lawler really looked like he took some hard knuckles to the brow at some points. I was expecting this to be a complete cluster and it ended up being a total blast. I may be deep in the bubble at this point.

PAS: I liked this a bunch too, so Eric isn't completely crazy. Always been a Maff fan, and this kind of thing works better for him then the Super Indy finisher exchange stuff that he can fall into sometimes. You know he totally got a kick out of cowering and stooging for Lawler. I was also surprised how much I liked Douglas, I wouldn't expect 2003 Shane Douglas to look even mildly competent, but he was fine in a super poor man's Wayne Ferris kind of way. This actually felt like a fun Memphis studio match, where Jimmy Hart somehow gets Don Bass and Ferris in a handicap match because Bill Dundee's car broke down. I do hate the Stunner though, really the only truly garbage in ring thing I can ever remember Lawler doing, comes off so bush league and unnecessary.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE KING