Blackjack Brawl was the first and only major live television

supercard In sports, a card lists the matches taking place in a title match combat-sport event. Cards include a main event match and the undercard listing the rest of the matches. The undercard may be divided into a midcard and a lower card, according to ...

event produced by

Herb Abrams Herbert Charles Abrams (July 9, 1955 – July 23, 1996), also known by the nickname Mr. Electricity, was an American professional wrestling promoter from Queens, New York, who founded the Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF) in 1990. Early life ...

' Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF). The event took place on September 23, 1994 at the

MGM Grand Garden Arena The MGM Grand Garden Arena (originally known as the MGM Grand Garden Special Events Center) is a 17,000-seat multi-purpose arena located within the MGM Grand Las Vegas on the Las Vegas Strip. Sporting events From its opening on December 18, 1993 ...

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

and aired live on

SportsChannel America SportsChannel is the collective name for a former group of regional sports networks in the United States that was owned by Cablevision, which from 1988 until the group's demise, operated it as a joint venture with NBC. Operating from March 1, ...

.Foley, Mick. Have A Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks (p.184) The event was a successor to UWF's only pay-per-view event,

Beach Brawl Beach Brawl was the only live professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by Herb Abrams' Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF). The event took place on June 9, 1991 at the Manatee Civic Center in Palmetto, Florida. Eight professional wr ...

. Eleven

professional wrestling matches Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "concept" or "gimmick matches" in the jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick matches are more common than others and are often used to advance or conclude a ...

were contested on the card. The

main event In sports, a card lists the matches taking place in a title match combat-sport event. Cards include a main event match and the undercard listing the rest of the matches. The undercard may be divided into a midcard and a lower card, according to ...

was a singles match for the World Heavyweight Championship, with champion Steve Williams defending the title against

Sid Vicious John Simon Ritchie (10 May 1957 – 2 February 1979), better known by his stage name Sid Vicious, was an English musician, best known as the bassist for the punk rock band Sex Pistols. Despite dying in 1979 at age 21, he remains an icon of the ...

. Nine of the matches at the event were championship matches, as several new championships were introduced at the event. New champions crowned included the Americas Championship, the Junior Heavyweight Championship, the Midget World Championship, the MGM Grand Championship and the

World Tag Team Championship The world tag team championship is the name usually given to the primary tag team championships in professional wrestling promotions. Nomenclature The name of the promotion is often preceded to the term "world tag team championship" as the ...

. The vacant SportsChannel Television Championship and the vacant

Women's World Championship The Women's World Championship was the first women's professional wrestling world title. History Cora Livingston defeated Hazel Parker in 1906. Though the contest was originally for the Featherweight Championship, from that point she was bille ...

were also decided at the event. The two non-title matches at the event were a

lumberjack match Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "concept" or "gimmick matches" in the jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick matches are more common than others and are often used to advance or conclude a ...

between Cactus Jack and

Jimmy Snuka James Reiher Snuka (born James Wiley Smith; May 18, 1943 – January 15, 2017) was a Fijian American professional wrestler. He is better known by the ring name Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka. Snuka wrestled for several promotions from the 1970s to 2010 ...

and a singles match between Samson and The Irish Assassin. Despite implications during the broadcast that a follow-up event would happen, Blackjack Brawl would stand as the last event produced by UWF.

Event

Preliminary matches

The opening match of the event featured

Johnny Ace John Marshall Alexander Jr. (June 9, 1929 – December 25, 1954), known by the stage name Johnny Ace, was an American rhythm-and-blues singer. He had a string of hit singles in the mid 1950s. Alexander died of an accidental self-inflicted gunsh ...

taking on

Dan Spivey Daniel Eugene Spivey (born October 14, 1952) is an American retired professional wrestler best known under the ring names "Dangerous" Dan Spivey, Dangerous Dan The Left Hand Man, Danny Spivey, Mr. America, and Waylon Mercy, and initially worked ...

for the inaugural Americas Championship. Near the end of the match, Spivey applied a long abdominal stretch on Ace until Ace's valet

Missy Hyatt Melissa Ann Hiatt (born October 16, 1963), better known by her ring name, Missy Hyatt, is an American retired professional wrestling valet, commentator, and occasional professional wrestler. She is best known for her appearances with World Cha ...

turned on Ace by throwing in the towel for him, thus costing him the match.

Mando Guerrero Armando Guerrero Llanes (born June 9, 1950), better known as Mando Guerrero, is a retired Mexican American professional wrestler. He also was the trainer for the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling, an all-female professional wrestling promotion. He ...

took on Jack Armstrong to crown the inaugural Junior Heavyweight Champion. Near the end of the match, Guerrero missed a

moonsault A moonsault, moonsault press, or back flip splash is a professional wrestling aerial technique. It was innovated by Mando Guerrero. Much of its popularity in both Japanese and American wrestling is attributed to The Great Muta, despite it being u ...

from the top rope, allowing Armstrong to hit a series of elbow drops for the win. Sunny Beach took on Dr. Feelgood for the vacant SportsChannel Television Championship. Near the end of the match, Feelgood pulled a rag out of his medical bag with black ink poured on it and then tried to shove the rag into Beach, but Beach countered by shoving the rag into Feelgood's face and pinning him to win the SportsChannel Television Championship. Hyatt slapped Beach after the match, allowing Feelgood to attack him with the rag from behind.

Bob Orton, Jr. Robert Keith Orton Jr. (born November 10, 1950), better known by the ring name "Cowboy" Bob Orton, is an American semi-retired professional wrestler. He is the son of professional wrestler Bob Orton Sr., the brother of professional wrestler Bar ...

, defended the Southern States Championship against Finland Hellraiser Thor. Near the end of the match, Orton tried to hit a

powerbomb A powerbomb is a professional wrestling throw in which an opponent is lifted (usually so that they are sitting on the wrestler's shoulders) and then slammed back-first down to the mat. The standard powerbomb sees an opponent first placed in a sta ...

, but Thor backdropped him out of the ring. Orton then threw water in Thor's face and dragged him out of the ring. Orton hit Thor with the championship belt and the match ended in a double disqualification. As a result, Orton retained the title. The two continued to brawl after the match until

handed Thor a chair to hit Orton. However, Orton countered forcing Thor to retreat. Little Tokyo took on The Karate Kid for the inaugural Midget World Championship. Near the end of the match, Karate Kid reversed an Irish whip attempt to whip Tokyo into the corner and charged at him but Tokyo hit a double throat thrust for the win. Samson took on The Irish Assassin. Samson hit a

vertical suplex A suplex is an offensive move used in sport wrestling as well as amateur wrestling and professional wrestling. It is a throw that involves lifting the opponents and bridging or rolling to slam them on their backs. Professional wrestling featu ...

followed by a

bridging German suplex A suplex is an offensive move used in sport wrestling as well as amateur wrestling and professional wrestling. It is a throw that involves lifting the opponents and bridging or rolling to slam them on their backs. Professional wrestling featu ...

for the pin.

Tyler Mane Daryl Karolat (born December 8, 1966) is a Canadian character actor and retired professional wrestler, better known by the name Tyler Mane. He is known for playing Sabretooth in ''X-Men'', Ajax in ''Troy'', and Michael Myers in the remake of '' ...

took on Steve Ray for the inaugural MGM Grand Championship. Ray tried to perform a sunset flip on Mane, but Mane countered that with a

seated senton Strikes are offensive moves in professional wrestling, that can sometimes be used to set up an opponent for a hold or for a throw. There are a wide variety of strikes in pro wrestling, and many are known by several different names. Professional wre ...

and grabbed the top rope for leverage, thus pinning Ray to win the match. Tina Moretti took on

Candi Devine Candace Maria Rummel (January 1, 1958 – February 9, 2022) was an American professional wrestler better known by her ring name Candi Devine. She won singles championships in several promotions, most notably in the American Wrestling Associati ...

for the vacant

. Devine hit a big scoop slam to Moretti for the win. The Killer Bees (

B. Brian Blair Brian Leslie Blair (born January 12, 1957) is an American retired professional wrestler and politician. He is best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) under the ring name B. Brian Blair as one half of the tag te ...

and

Jim Brunzell James Brunzell (born August 13, 1949) is an American retired professional wrestler. Best known for his successful tag teams, Brunzell performed for various wrestling promotions during his 21-year career. Early life The son of a navy pilot, Br ...

) took on The New Powers of Pain (

Warlord A warlord is a person who exercises military, economic, and political control over a region in a country without a strong national government; largely because of coercive control over the armed forces. Warlords have existed throughout much of h ...

and Power Warrior) for the inaugural

. Near the end of the match, Power Warrior switched places with his brother David Power but Blair ended up pinning him. The penultimate match of the event was a

between Cactus Jack and

. The action spilled to the outside where the two brawled, resulting in a count out. The fighting continued and reached the audience where Snuka suplexed Jack into a row of seats.

Main event match

In the main event, Steve Williams defended the

UWF World Heavyweight Championship Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF) was a professional wrestling promotion based in Marina del Rey, California from 1990 to 1996. This is a list of titles that were awarded and defended in the UWF. Not all championships were active during the e ...

against

. Williams hit a '' Doctor Bomb'' to Vicious and covered him for the pinfall but Dan Spivey attacked him, causing Vicious to be disqualified. As a result, Williams retained the title.

Reception

''Blackjack Brawl'' largely received negative reviews from critics. Arnold Furious of ''411Mania'' rated the event 3 out of 10, considering the event to be "The usual horseshit from UWF" noting that there were "Stupid stipulations, bad booking, nothing matches and titles that don’t mean anything." However, he also noticed some worthwhile moments, stating "The midget match is pretty good and its weird seeing Sid actually wrestling for a while in the main event."

Results

References

External links

UWF Blackjack Brawl
on Cagematch *

on Pro Wrestling History {{Universal Wrestling Federation (Herb Abrams) 1994 in professional wrestling 1994 in sports in Nevada Events in Las Vegas MGM Grand Garden Arena Professional wrestling in the Las Vegas Valley September 1994 events in the United States SportsChannel Universal Wrestling Federation (Herb Abrams)