Boo Bradley v. Chris Candido

 

Pre-match to this is great as Dennis Corralluzo, Sytch and some guy named "Guido" come out and cut a long promo about NJ, the NWA title, et. Then they get banned from ringside to a huge pop. Candido is great bumping huge for Boo early and stumbling around ala Terry Funk. He actually gets a "Candido" chant after this which is surprising given the era and settling of this match. Boo getting on his knees for a fisticuffs spot was really great. From there they go to a criss cross spot where Boo bails and Candido ends up running for an extra ten rotations or so which is always a favorite of the Southern fans. They follow this up with a pose down spot of all things which gets another big reaction. Boo loses an exchange and walks to the back of the building and takes a nightsticker from a cop with Mark Curtis cutting him off before he can get in the ring. Things slow down for a bit and then Chris ends up taking a semi-Hamrick bump through the ropes to the floor where he grabs a weapon of some kind and plasters Boo once he is back on the apron. Candido's control segment was solid and steady and they did a good teaser with Boo cutting himself off by taking his standard rolling kick over the ropes bump. Master of the temp change Chris Candido is on display again and this one has a hot run to the finish which comes when Tammy jumps on the apron in disguise and Boo intercepts a purse toss and whacks Chris in the face with it for the finish.

 

Ricky Morton v. Unabomb

 

I really loved the opening of this as Ricky keeps getting tossed to the floor and comes back up over and over before catching Unabomb as he's trying to come through the ropes with some short jabs and sending him on his own ride to the floor. Briefly back in the ring, they go back to the floor where Ricky takes a good bump off of a clothesline. Unabomb has an okay offensive run, but the finish here sucks as Bomb ducks Morton over the top on a sleeper attempt for a cheap over the top dq.

 

Buddy Landel v. Tracy Smothers

 

Lots of early schtick from Buddy with Tracy playing off of it really well and doing everything he could to get the crowd involved. Loved Budro sticking out his chin for Tracy to pop only for Curtis to jump in between them. Also really liked the countering of the various limb work with Smothers getting chucked to the floor and Tracy breaking up an early figure four. All this built to the first really big spot which was a simple slap delivered by Smothers that Landel sells so fucking awesome as he sort of teases a Flair flop before essentially passing out in the corner. This leads to a great chop exchange and Smothers ends up going for a figure four with Landel kicking off. They have really milked a little for a lot but that is what made SMW so great. There is another great mat exchange in this which is really simple back and fourth between Buddy and Smothers working from headscissors to headlock with Buddy cheating to gain his advantages and Smothers eventually snapping and peppering him with rights. They spill to the floor and there is an incredibly great strike exchange where Smothers fucking chops Budro in the face and Buddy fires back with some great rapid fire punches and then Tracy comes back with some more shots and it is awesome as fuck. They get back in the ring and Tracy goes for a corner charge which he misses for a big bump and eats a corkscrew elbow for a great nearfall. Budro misses the second corkscrew attempt which sets up a hot babyface comeback from Smothers. Finish is cool as Buddy goes to the tights for a foreign object but drops it after a back elbow. Smothers gets into it with Curtis about it and tries to use it for himself but while he is arguing Buddy retrieves a chain and decks Tracy for the finish. This was a great match, with great build, a great crowd and every spot meaning something.

 

Jerry Lawler v. Dirty White Boy

 

Lawler relentlessly shit talking an eighty year old lady in the front row and nearly getting her to hop the guardrail was so great it almost pisses me off as you fear the match can't live up to it. Then Landel comes down and sits ringside after shaking Lawler's hand. More shit talking from Lawler and Buddy gets involved and gets chased around the ring by DWB with the old blue hair that went after Lawler pelting him in the head with something at point blank range. Lawler loses the first couple of exchanges via punch and ends bailing to the floor and getting relentlessly taunted by the old bitty which is so god damn great. Lawler ends up hiding on his knees behind Curtis after another punch from Anthony. Lawler then complains about a hair pull on a back body drop of all things while Buddy shit talks over the house mic from the timekeepers table. Lawler complains about another hair pull and DWB pleads his case while Lawler goes to his tights which begins the foreign object game. Of course Lawler is the master of this and Mark Curtis is a really great playing off of him and the crowd as Lawler shifts the gimmick all over to avoid discovery. Lawler ends up popping Anthony off of a test of strength spot and it just goes from there with Lawler working the gimmick every chance he can and Curtis just missing it time after time. Budro ends up handing the title to Lawler who sits it in the corner and bashes DWB's head into it while Landel distracts the ref. Anthony ends up making a come back in the corner and Lawler takes a face plant after a turnbuckle series. DWB hits the blaster and Landel rings the bell claiming the sixty minute time limit has expired. Curtis "fires" Landel as time keeper and they go to a finish with a ref bump, Buddy interference and a Lawler pin. This had some small edits and suffered a bit from a lack of depth, but watching Lawler interact with the SMW crowd is such a treat that I feel this really has to move on.

 

Buddy Landel v. Dirty White Boy

 

This is Budro picking the scraps of Lawler. Not really a match as it's just a continuation of the beatdown at that ended the previous match with a cheap DQ finish for DWB win.

 

The Heavenly Bodies v. The Gangstas (Street Fight)

 

Good opening with the Bodies blindsiding the Gangstas with prop shots while Corny smacks D-Lo around with a racket. They actual turn up the house lights wich is always a "this shit is on" spot in SMW and sure enough they do a spot with Pritchard hanging New Jack with a noose on the floor. Back in the ring and it is Mustapha's turn to be hung via noose after taking a brief beating from Del Ray. Del Ray ends up missing a moonsault which brings New Jack in. Say what you want about New Jack, but he is so charismatic that even a simple elbow drop looks like a vicious death blow. They end up spilling back to the floor yet again with Cornette getting his ass kicked after attempting to defend the Bodies. Del Ray makes a good FIP as he runs through the simple offense of the Gangstas and bumps big for their mid-level (at best) shit. Pritchard makes a man save with a board and then Del Ray moves on a rocket launcher attempt for a hot tag. Finish is stupid as shit as Cornette gets DQ'ed for hitting D-Lo with a racket when he tries to interfere. Post-match the Bodies bring a table into the ring and take turns bumping the Gangstas into it. I really wanted to nominate this, but this was really clusterfuckish in parts and the DQ finish sinks it for me.

 

Battle Royal

 

This was JIP. Smothers and Candido paired off so there was a lot of good shit in this early. Some good elims and a fun spirited Royal Rumble style bout.

Boo Bradley vs. Chris Candido (1/28/95)

 

The prematch stuff with all the Jersey crew was great. The fans are very hot for Boo here who was active like a motherfucker here with Candido bumping and selling like a motherfucker as well. Candido was channeling Terry Funk here in various ways and it was great. Boo was also a great foil for Candido which makes a difference because some big guys don't know how to work this type of match. Candido would use the ring bell I think on Boo's arm to start his control section which he slowed down the pace working a headlock. Boo was fun in his hope spots and his comeback was awesome as he ripped off his shorts to reveal long tights which was tremendous. The stretch run was fun before Tammy would show up dressed as a middle-aged woman chunking her purse in the ring which Boo would use to win. This was a damn fun match and a fairly easy nomination to me.

 

Ricky Morton vs. Unabomb (1/28/95)

 

Hey it's the future Kane and I loved this gimmick of a Nise Sid Vicious. This was supposed to be a tag titles match between RnR vs. Eddie Gilbert/Unabomb but Hot Stuff no-showed. Ricky was fun here working as the little man and Unabomb was good in his role but the match wasn't anything special and the DQ finish sucked.

 

"Nature Boy" Buddy Landell vs. "Wild Eyed Southern Boy" Tracy Smothers (1/28/95)

 

This should be awesome. Landell rocking the red tights was fantastic as well as his schtick which was like Flair if he would've worked Memphis for 15 years. Great Southern heelness here. Smothers was great as well being the rain on Buddy's parade with Landell making him look great. These two were going to town on each other with shots and the finish was great with Budro sneaking a chain after accusing Tracy of using a foreign object to win. I fucking love Buddy Landell and this match was pretty damn great. Definite nomination.

 

SMW Heavyweight Title: "Dirty White Boy" Tony Anthony © vs. Jerry "The King" Lawler (1/28/95)

 

Finally Lawler has come to SMW and his pre-match promo is fucking great. I also loved he came out to Gonna Fly Now instead of his WWE King music. Lawler going after the granny who was at all the Knoxville shows was tremendous and this was truly a kingsized performance. Landell as the special timekeeper was great then Lawler continued killing the fans and this was so awesome I was dying laughing. Landell saying that the Dirty White Girl was in the parking lot with The Gangstas was the icing on the cake. This match is already awesome from the start as Lawler has worked the crowd into a frenzy especially granny who he was jawing with and almost had her coming over the rail. This breaks out into a punching match which is blurred a little but you can see the fists flying before Lawler hides behind Mark Curtis. Landell then taking a bow after announcing the 5 minute mark to the crowd was god damn awesome. There is an edit but I don't think we missed anything because Lawler was still doing his test of strength/hide the chain act. Lawler continues to use the chain where Curtis couldn't see it and he pounded on DWB until asking Landell for the belt which he would get and smashed DWB's head into before giving it back to Landell who placed it nicely back on the table. Lawler then does pushups before going to pin DWB for a nearfall and that was also awesome. DWB makes his comeback after getting bashed in the corner by bashing Lawler in the head who dropped the strap before doing the Flair bump. DWB had Lawler pinned when Landell rang the bell saying that the time limit had expired like 2 minutes after he gave the 15 minute time limit announcement so Mark Curtis restarts the match then fires Landell as timekeeper. Lawler then knocks off Curtis and Landell piledrives DWB putting Lawler on top for the win. GOD DAMN I LOVED THIS, was the match a classic in ring match hell fucking no but Lawler & Landell were fucking masters here and this was phenomenal. Grand Slam Nomination.

 

Lights Out Match: "Dirty White Boy" Tony Anthony vs. "Nature Boy" Buddy Landell (1/28/95)

 

Landell then wants a lights out match immediately so he jumps in and works over DWB being a total cock which was great before DWB would cradle him out of nowhere for the win.

 

Street Fight: The Gangstas (New Jack & Mustafa Saed) vs. The Heavenly Bodies ("Gigolo" Jimmy del Ray & Dr. Tom Prichard) (1/28/95)

 

The Bodies sneak attack the Gangstas and the crowd is fucking on fire for the Bodies beating the shit out of the Gangstas with Corny taking out D-Lo with the racket. They turn up the house lights which means the shit is hitting the fan and sure enough we get some lynching spots with Prichard using a noose on both Gangstas. Bodies were great at being fired up babyface ass kickers with Corny being just as fired up getting D-Lo. Gangstas get the heat after Gigolo crashes and burns on a moonsault and they do a good job working over Gigolo before Dr. Tom just goes nuts using a board on Mustafa before Mark Curtis calls for the bell as he loses total control as Corny & D-Lo are in the ring with Corny hitting home runs with the racket. Gigolo then brings a table in the ring with the Gangstas taking turns going into the table. I thought this was really damn good thanks to the Bodies mainly as they were great babyfaces. Out of control brawling was also a plus and I think this is a pretty easy nomination.