I think the end result of this project is going to be pretty great, but a side result is going to be me trying to convince you to do an FBI set. Hell I may do one myself. This is just fun as fuck. Pre-match Tracy dance routine, the FBI getting pelted with heads and Tracy hiding behind the Italian flag with Tommy Rich's face on it, Tracy celebrating after every basic hold including a collar and elbow, tons of FBI heel schtick and interfering spots that actually worked well, Rich cursing out the crowd, Guido taking a crazy bump, Snow eating a nasty chairshot on a misdirection spot on the floor, tons of Tracy dancing in the match, a criss cross spot with two ref drop downs, Evil Judge Jeff Jones actually not sucking for once, Tommy Rich actually blading off of a shot from head, Post match with the Big Don biting a piece out of styrophome head and Tracy selling repeated shots from styrophome heads, et. Just tons of fun and some great heel work by the FBI to boot. There was enough down time in this for me to cut it short of slam dunk status, but I'm definitely endorsing it.

This is another match where you and I have a disconnect. I like the shtick but you get the feeling that Head is more over than the actual match. I don't mind stalling and shtick but there has to come a point where you wrestle. It came after 15 minutes of fun but pointless stuff. I would chalk this as another one in the Smothers comp files but a no on the set.

Funny thing about this match. This is one I watched with my little brother and my dad when they were in town. All of us are huge Tommy Rich and Smothers marks and we were fucking rolling on the floor laughing and marking out for this. After it was over I was writing up my nomination post and my little brother turns to me and says "no one in their right mind is going to like this as much as we did. You realize that right?"

 

This is something I would fight for as an extra, but by far the biggest negative to me about this match is it's length. I'm an FBI mark but I'm not going to lobby for a 20-plus minute EXTRA on an ECW set. Smothers set appearance feels like a good compromise.

I think if Head wasn't there and if there wasn't a plume of smoke in the middle then this might have had a shot. I like Tommy and Tracy shtick but I think it worked better in the Kanemura match where i thought it was a detriment here.

Al Snow vs. Tracy Smothers (2/21/98)

 

Tommy Rich joining the dance party before the match was awesome. The styrofoam heads was such an awesome idea by ECW and it got Al Snow over like a motherfucker hell I still have the two heads that Tommy Dreamer gave me at Wrestlepalooza 98. The FBI bumping and selling for the heads was fucking world class especially Smothers using the flag as cover. FBI stooging at the start was fantastic and the crowd was eating it up. Smothers celebrating after a clean break was fantastic and they worked this while this huge smoke cloud was in the arena which gave it an odd look. This becomes total Memphis with the FBI all over Snow while Smothers distracts the ref pissing off the fans which was also awesome. Then they transitioned into a solid match with both guys giving and taking with the highlight being the moonsault by Snow on the FBI on the floor. Next is a ref bump which transitioned into Jeff Jones taking his place and letting the FBI work over Snow before they all started dancing around which was great allowing Snow to hit everyone with Head with Wildfire juicing which was fantastic. Snow then delivered Snow Plows to everyone and by this time the crowd had blown up as their intensity was real low until the end when they go to throw their heads back in the ring. Rich then bit a piece off of a head while Smothers was selling for the shots which was a fantastic end to this. Dylan, I'm with ya bro this was a great example of pro wrestling and this should definitely be on the set.

Funny thing about this match. This is one I watched with my little brother and my dad when they were in town. All of us are huge Tommy Rich and Smothers marks and we were fucking rolling on the floor laughing and marking out for this. After it was over I was writing up my nomination post and my little brother turns to me and says "no one in their right mind is going to like this as much as we did. You realize that right?"

 

This is something I would fight for as an extra, but by far the biggest negative to me about this match is it's length. I'm an FBI mark but I'm not going to lobby for a 20-plus minute EXTRA on an ECW set. Smothers set appearance feels like a good compromise.

Maybe it's worth lobbying for as an extra. Shane Douglas, after all, has that famous 40-minute long in-ring promo that I would imagine should be an extra if only because it's so known.