MLW Underground results: Terry Funk vs. Jerry Lawler

We return to the retro Underground episodes this week as MLW takes a break from current-day action. This week. MLW revisits a vicious encounter between longtime rivals in Jerry “The King” Lawler and Terry Funk.

Jimmy Yang defeated Sonjay Dutt (11:22)

This was Dutt’s high-flying debut in MLW before he competed in their upcoming Junior Heavyweight championship tournament. This was great and a real showcase for Dutt. Yang got the win, but Dutt stood out and was given a lot of offense to show what he can do.

The action quickly exploded as Dutt hit a tilt-a-whirl/around the world headscissors and an enormous springboard corkscrew high crossbody to the floor which must have been very close to 15 feet in the air.

Yang, who was playing the lazy and cocky heel, nearly took Dutt’s head off with a spinning heel kick to retake control.

Dutt fired up with a middle rope springboard legdrop, a tilt-a-whirl DDT and a top rope hurricanrana but couldn’t put Yang away. He had another great close near fall after a 450 somersault and hurricanrana from the top rope, but Yang kicked out as the crowd were on their feet.

Dutt then got caught with a rib breaker coming off the top rope. Yang quickly went up top himself and hit a big corkscrew moonsault to pick up the win in this fantastic opener.

— We heard from CM Punk who was unknowingly cutting a promo with Raven listening behind him. After Punk badmouthed him and said his piece on being straight edge, Raven gave him a swift kick to the face, flooring the future WWE star.

— We saw a highlight video of the ongoing feud between Sabu and Christopher Daniels (also featuring James Mitchell and Mikey Whipwreck). Spikes to the eyes, fireballs and car doors to the head were all featured before we heard that Daniels and Sabu would meet in a “spike match” match next week followed by a loser leaves town match shortly after.

Jerry Lawler defeated Terry Funk in a $10,000 Bounty match (time N/A due to edits and commercial breaks)

Lawler had been hired by MLW World Champion Steve Corino to end Funk’s career so he would not be able to challenge for the title.

In his pre-match promo from earlier in the night, Funk recalled back to their empty arena match from Memphis when Lawler jabbed the end of a stick in his eye. Lawler said he hated Funk more than anyone else in the wrestling business and was ready to end his career when he took the mic before the match.

Styles hyped up their previous historical battles in Texas and Memphis so this was set up as having all the ingredients for a brutal and bloody clash.

After an early commercial break, we were back to see Funk knock Lawler down with a series of jabs. The action went to the floor as Funk piledrove him twice on the hardwood floor in the aisle. As Funk was coming back to ringside, Simon Diamond snuck out and wrapped Lawler’s fist in barbed wire which he used to bust open Funk across the forehead.

After another commercial break, we were back in the ring with Funk hitting two stunners and a neckbreaker for a two count. Funk whipped Lawler to the corner but as he came back in, Lawler double-legged him and got his feet on the ropes with a jackknife pin for the quick and shocking three count.

Immediately as the bell sounded, Diamond and CW Anderson jumped Funk and kicked him out of the ring.

Lawler got on the mic, thanked the Extreme Horsemen and was about to leave when Diamond told him they weren’t paying him to pin Funk and win the match. Rather, they are paying him to beat Funk up and take him out of wrestling. Lawler clarified by saying Corino called him and that he was paying him to beat Funk which he did. He then demanded his money, but Diamond said the deal was Funk had to at least be taken out in an ambulance for Lawler to get any of it.

Getting more and more frustrated, Lawler demanded a “yes or no” answer to whether he was getting paid or not. When Diamond confirmed no, Lawler clocked them both with right hands and a pair of stunners.

A masked man, who Styles called out as Corino (Corino was currently suspended and banned from the building for this match), ran to the ring and along with Anderson and Diamond, they began a 3-on-1 beatdown on “The King.”

Funk recovered and the two teamed up to clear the ring of the Horsemen. Styles was pretty heavy on calling the masked man Corino so I thought a twist was surely on its way which there was…sort of.

Funk clobbered the masked “Corino” with a chair and began unmasking him. Styles was yelling that Corino was going to be unmasked and stripped of the title for breaking his suspension, exposed in front of the crowd, etc. Suddenly, a second masked man came in and clobbered both Funk and Lawler with a chair.

The Sandman and “Dr. Death” Steve Williams, who were feuding with Anderson and Diamond, then entered the melee to make the save and hit a pair of Oklahoma Stampede powerslams.

Funk and Lawler then turned to each other again and had to be restrained by Sandman and Williams as they started going for each other’s eyes, harkening back to their legendary Memphis match.

The Horsemen then challenged the four in the ring to War Games. Lawler and Funk agreed they had a common enemy, shook hands, and agreed to partner up.

Final Thoughts:

This was a nice little bit of nostalgia in between two major current-day MLW episodes. The Dutt-Yang match was a high flying spectacle and Funk-Lawler bell-to-bell was decent while it lasted. The post-match chaos had an ECW feel to it which is good now and again and built toward their War Games match (that Lawler wasn’t part of in the end).

I was sure we were going to see either Corino using the masked man as a distraction to jump the babyfaces or a babyface being the masked man, but it was still a good entertaining segment to finish the show. This was one of the better Underground episodes they have aired recently so it’s one to check out on their YouTube.

Next week:

• National Openweight Champion Alex Hammerstone vs. Mil Muertes for the title
• IWA Caribbean Champion Richard Holliday vs. Gino Medina for the title