This show is built around the tourney to crown the first SMW champ

 

Dirty White Boy v. Dixie Dy-no-mite!

 

Oh man I love the spelling of Dixie Dynomite on the graphic. I somehow forgot about Ron Wright being in a wheelchair too. This is a commercial tape and I figured it was going to be clipped, but it looks like it is going to be heavily clipped which is too bad. Anthony is really awesome in this selling frustration in the opening exchanges with Dynomite, taking a flair flop on the floor, et. The clothesline that sets up DWB's offensive run doesn't look very good, but I did like some of his deliberate blows while on offense and I thought they did a good job building to Dynomitie's comeback. DWB wins with the Bucksnort Blaster after a missed Dyno dropkick. Solid match.

 

Buddy Landell v. Brian Lee

 

Lee throws Mark Curtis out of the way to get to Budro and we immediately get an edit job into a Landell control segment. Very strange place to put an edit. Lee's got the blonde mullet and quasi-Johnny Ace look, but he's real hard to buy as a white meat babyface. Lee misses a top rope knee and Budro goes for the figure-four but Lee hooks the rollup for the pin. Not much to look at.

 

Tim Horner v. Paul Orndorff

 

I am not the biggest fan of Orndorff, but his overbumping off the initial rope running exchange was entertaining and looked really good. I like how they established early that Horner was the better wrestler which leads to Paul breaking out some forearms to get the upperhand. Horner responds in kind knocking Paul to the floor and Orndorff ends up jawing with a blue hair who seems to be trying to jump the rail. Another good rope running exchange ends with a Horner crossbody and our first edit. Damn. Back from the jump and Paul is in control. I've gotta say that meatheaded Orndorff really does make a good heel in this setting and Horner really takes some nice bumps to the concrete for Paul's offense. Really loved his weeble wobble selling on the floor after the second concrete bump. They work a longish chinlock spot, but they sort of add some depth to it with Horner bridging his neck over Orndorff's knee that the long camera shot really showcases well. Horner gets a teased comeback which Orndorff breaks up. Man the cutoffs in this are really well done in large part because of Horner's selling. Horner finally makes his comeback after getting the knees up on a Vader bomb attempt. Finishing run is Orndorff working an "on the ropes" gimmick and winning via cheap roll up with Horner hooked up in the ropes. This was not a great match, but it was very well developed and built well. I enjoyed both guys in it. Edit was fairly minimal. For projects like these you have to set a baseline of sorts in order to get things rolling and this feels like a match that fits that designation well.

 

Jimmy Golden v. Robert Gibson

 

God damn Golden's facial expression after the Gibson hiptoss was awesome. After an initial offensive flurry from Gibson, Golden takes over with a chop block and spends the next several minutes working the leg. I was probably over impressed by the half crab spot as Gibson - without looking over his shoulders - started wildly selling the pain the moment Golden grabbed the top rope for leverage. Edit right after that spot and a teased comeback, followed by an enziguri from Gibson. Finish to this was Gibson win off of a misdirection bulldog which sounds a lot better than it was. Decent build to a disappointing payoff.

 

Dirty White Boy v. Brian Lee

 

This is a fight. Lee runs out and brings the fire first with Anthony stumbling around, taking shots into the table, et. Ron Wright ends up rolling in front of Lee in his wheelchair to set up DWB's comeback which of course is awesome. Lee blades after a bell shot. This is a pretty big gusher as blood appears to be spurting out of Lee's head and DWB just keeps laying in shots. I was extremely impressed by Lee's selling in this as he does punch drunk better than I would have guessed. DWB's heeling is good, but I don't think this is nearly as good a match if Lee wasn't on his A game. The payoff to the DWB beatdown is a "Seein Red" rage spot with Lee that leads to a big Anthony bump when he loses the slugfest. Lee ends up advancing off of a missed Anthony drop off the second rope. Post-match Anthony beats down Lee with a chair. I enjoyed this one but I can't see fighting for it at the end of this process.

 

Paul Orndorff v. Robert Gibson

 

Early edit here and after the jump Gibson is on the floor selling his knee. There were a couple of really neat spots early, namely Gibson countering an Orndorff corner charge by raising his hooked leg off the rope and Gibson going for a hiptoss and Paul blocking it with a standard armbar. Paul wins with a chop block soon after. Nothing to see here.

 

The Party Patrol v. The Heavenly Bodies

 

Introductions in full, but match is JIP. Lots of stalling and basic heel schtick early which is to be expected. Davey Rich ends up getting blindsided and is actually really good FIP as he is willing get his ass kicked. He takes a flip bump off of a clothesline, a plunge onto a table, and a back bump on the concrete off of a Cornette racket shot. God damn Rich takes a bump over the top and ANOTHER flip bump off of a double clothesline. Hot tag pretty well sucks as Johnny Rich is a total pile of shit as a fiery babyface. On the other hand Corny did take a couple of big bumps at the finish before the Bodies stole a win off of the loaded boot from Pritchard. Decent match mainly because of Davey Rich being a bump freak.

 

Brian Lee v. Paul Orndorff

 

Commissioner Bob Armstrong comes out and says that Brian Lee has a terrible shoulder injury and has lost a ton of blood so he has to award the SMW title to Paul Orndorff. Of course Lee comes out with a bandaged head and gets jumped by Paul after a brief promo. On the floor Orndorff uses a chair and a table shot, but Lee breaks up his momentum with a table shot of his own. They quickly lose me after that as you get the feeling they didn't really have a lot else played out other than a really over the top finish with ref bumps, DWB run-in, a ridiculously lengthy foreign object spot that ends with a DQ victory and title win for Lee.

Les Thatcher is looking quite dapper in the open for the show.

 

SMW Heavyweight Title Tournament - Quarterfinals: "Dirty White Boy" Tony Anthony vs. Dixie Dynomite (Scott Armstrong) (5/22/92)

 

This is clipped up at the start but the action was good here.

 

Next we get a Landell promo on Brian Lee which was good.

 

SMW Heavyweight Title Tournament - Quarterfinals: "Primetime" Brian Lee vs. "Nature Boy" Buddy Landell (5/22/92)

 

This one is also clipped at the start. Budro looks good here and Lee was fine but this wasn't much.

 

Horner cuts a promo on Orndorff next.

 

SMW Heavyweight Title Tournament - Quarterfinals: "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff vs. "White Lightning" Tim Horner (5/22/92)

 

Good back and forth action to start with Horner trying to keep Orndorff grounded and Orndorff fighting back with forearms. Horner keeps frustrating Orndorff with his speed advantage getting a nearfall on a cross body block before the clip which takes us to Orndorff being in control. Orndorff is fun here using the roughhouse tactics to weaken Horner on the floor such as using the camera wire to choke him. Horner comes back in the ring and Orndorff works a chinlock with a knee in Horner's back but the fans get Horner riled up and he fights out only to meet a hard clothesline by Orndorff. Horner got a schoolboy on a distracted Orndorff for a nearfall and tried to fight back but Orndorff would put him back down until he missed a Vader Bomb attempt getting all knees which kickstarted Horner's comeback. Horner has Orndorff reeling before catching an elbow in the running lights as he charged him in the corner but again Horner is pesky coming back with a backslide and an inside cradle for nearfalls before locking on a sleeper. Orndorff grabbed Horner by the trunks and chunked him to the floor where he smashed his head into the table but Horner would again fight back and smashed Paul's head into the table. Horner then tried to bring Orndorff back into the ring but Paul grabbed his legs taking him down then used the ropes to get a pinfall right before the time limit was up. The story here was good and the action was solid as well so this moves forward.

 

SMW Heavyweight Title Tournament - Quarterfinals: Robert Gibson vs. "Gorgeous" Jimmy Golden (5/22/92)

 

Golden comes out fighting from the start as he throws some good shots on Gibson who fights back with some good shots of his own before Golden takes him down to the mat and works over Gibson's left leg. Golden is relentless here wrapping Gibson's leg around the ringpost and uses a half crab with leverage from the ring rope before we get a clip where Gibson is fighting back as Golden tries to wrap his leg around the post again. Gibson limps around on the floor before pushing Golden headfirst into the post but Golden catches him coming back in the ring by kicking him in the leg. Gibson hits a desperation enzuigiri to start his comeback while still selling the leg or so it seemed as Golden would fight back having Gibson reeling. Gibson though would catch him with a desperation bulldog and then got the pinfall which came out of nowhere. This was looking good before the abrupt finish.

 

SMW Heavyweight Title Tournament - Semifinals: "Primetime" Brian Lee vs. "Dirty White Boy" Tony Anthony (5/22/92)

 

Lee comes out fighting from the bell taking it to DWB inside and outside the ring before DWB fights back and this is nothing but a brawl. DWB posts Lee then bites his head getting the juice out and when the action goes back to the ring he is vicious working it over. Lee is a bloody mess here but DWB can't put him away and Lee does a good job of selling the weakness of losing blood. DWB ties Lee up in the ropes and pounds on him before he falls off lifelessly with DWB taunting him. DWB peppers him with shots before Lee catches him in the midsection with shots then goes into a blood rage after seeing it in his eyes as he starts teeing off on DWB who takes some good bumps. DWB would regain control though for about a minute before trying to finish him off with a splash off the middle rope where he missed and Lee rolled on him for the win. DWB then attacked Lee after the match with a steel chair before leaving him laying. Another abrupt babyface desperation finish here in consecutive matches hurting the chance of a nomination.

 

DWB then cuts an angry promo afterwards.

 

SMW Heavyweight Title Tournament - Semifinals: "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff vs. Robert Gibson (5/22/92)

 

Orndorff wants to go for Gibson's bad left leg to start the match but Gibson holds him off until we get a significant edit as we come back with the action taking place on the floor with Orndorff working over Gibson's left leg. Orndorff does some cool legwork here and Gibson is spirited in his offense before he complains to Mark Curtis about something allowing Orndorff to clip him and getting the win. This was okay.

 

Next we get a promo from the Heavenly Bodies & Jim Cornette about The Party Patrol and this was good of course.

 

SMW Tag Titles: The Heavenly Bodies ("Sweet" Stan Lane & Dr. Tom Prichard) © vs. The Party Patrol (Davey & Johnny Rich) (5/22/92)

 

Like Dylan said we get the full intros but a clipped start to the match. The Bodies are on defense to start and they stall around for a bit before they catch Davey in the ring and they work him over with double-teams. Davey takes some awesome bumps here making a Stan Lane clothesline look like a Road Warrior Animal one. Davey gets abused here by the Bodies and Corny who catches him with a tennis racket shot and he is pretty good at getting sympathy with his wild bumps and selling. He would finally get the hot tag to a fat Johnny Rich who tries but fails here getting the heat and the camera would focus on Davey as soon as he got back involved. Corny would trip Johnny and Stan would get a nearfall so Davey would hit him and Corny took a hard bump to the floor which allowed Dr. Tom to load up his boot and kick Johnny in the head to get the win. The best part of this was the FIP section and the rest of this was just there.

 

Then we get another promo from the Bodies & Corny afterwards which was good.

 

SMW Heavyweight Title Tournament - Finals: "Primetime" Brian Lee vs. "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff (5/22/92)

 

Commissioner Bob Armstrong would come out and said that Lee's shoulder injury was serious and he lost too much blood so he is going to give the title to Orndorff but of course Lee would show up saying that he wants to fight. Orndorff would then attack him with Lee fighting back as they go to the floor where both men would smash each others head on the table. The back and forth continued after they got back in the ring with Lee doing a good job of selling his weakness from the blood but not the shoulder work by DWB earlier. There was a contrived ref bump as they teased it 30 seconds before hitting it before Bullet Bob entered the ring trying to help Curtis and as this happened DWB came out then Orndorff tried to use a chain but Lee ducked and ended up with both men knocking heads. Orndorff would make the cover with Bullet Bob counting two before trying to use the chain again and this time Bullet Bob sees the chain and calls for the bell with Lee winning the title via fucking DQ. DWB then enters the ring which started a locker room clearing brawl with Bullet Bob being awesome throwing punches and signaling for the faces to come out. What a terrible fucking finish to this tournament.

 

Orndorff then cuts an angry promo afterwards about being ripped off.

 

Some of the finishes here were baffling and people talk about WWE finishes today.