James Atkins v. The Hornet

 

Boy the opening stalling in this seems to take forever. I'm a fan of stalling but not sure stalling this much in opening match is really a wise strategy. Hornet really does not click with me either as an offensive wrestler, so I found this to be a really drab way to start the show. It was decent, basic work, but it just seemed to go nowhere and at a very slow pace. I did like some of the stuff at the tale end of this, but overall this was sort of the antithesis of "hot opener."

 

The Heavenly Bodies v. Lance Storm (and eventually Dirty White Boy)

 

Better than I expected. At the top of the show they cut an angle where Cornette said Storm would have to wrestle both of the Bodies because Jericho was hurt and the Bodies would not wrestle individual match ups. I am not a fan of Storm, and his offense did not look good, but he took a pretty good beating and the Bodies brought a lot of cool offense to this one. DWB appears in Storm's corner to a huge pop after over ten minutes. Finish is obstructed by ringside fans.

 

Brian Lee/Chris Candido v. Rock N Roll Express

 

This was good. Candido bumped around big early for Morton, but what I really liked was Lee reacting to Morton. Morton punting Lee in the balls and Lee hopping around and then bumping like crazy for Ricky was a welcome surprise and gave the RnR's a lot of credibility. Really loved Candido crazy header bumps in this as he took a huge one off the top to the floor after a Gibson dropkick and another face first one off a missed top rope rana. Morton heat segment was simplistic, but well executed and the fans were really into it. I hated the non-finish here and this is just short of being nomination worthy as a result, but it was a good bout overall.

 

Killer Kyle/Bruiser Bedlam/Jim Cornette v. Tracy Smothers/Dirty White Boy

 

Pre-match Smothers starts an "HIV" chant directed at the heels. Holy shit. The heels play pass around the foreign object in pre-match screenings which gets the Thugz and fans all riled up as Curtis takes forever to pat them down. Then Cornette gets lit up with punches from the babyface which he sells huge and the heels take a powder. Lots of schtick and stalling in this. Smothers ends up working some good rope running exchanges with the heels in this. The heels take over off a Corny cheapshot and I am amazed at how much and how well Smothers sells for Cornette's shockingly good looking punches. Tracy's selling was good enough where the heels control segment was better than their work really merited. Corny took a huge bump near the end and the finish with Bruiser covering Corny so he couldn't get hurt only for Smothers to pile on top for a flash pin was well done.

The fan week footage on these shows is hilarious to me.

 

James Atkins vs. The Hornet (8/7/94)

 

This is just a match.

 

Handicap Match: Lance Storm vs. The Heavenly Bodies ("Gigolo" Jimmy del Ray & Dr. Tom Prichard) (8/7/94)

 

What you would expect from this type of match with the Bodies looking good and Storm taking a good beating before DWB showed up to save the day.

 

SMW Tag Titles: The Rock n Roll Express (Robert Gibson & Ricky Morton) © vs. Chris Candido & "Primetime" Brian Lee (8/7/94)

 

Candido's head is completely wrapped because his head was shaved the night before. This was a case of a good house show match but nothing special to put it over the top. Everyone worked fairly hard but it wasn't dynamic enough for a nomination plus the shitty finish didn't help.

 

Handicap Match: "Dirty White Boy" Tony Anthony & "Wild Eyed Southern Boy" Tracy Smothers vs. Bruiser Bedlam, Killer Kyle, & Jim Cornette (8/7/94)

 

This was fun for what it was as the schtick was well done here with Corny being great. Smothers was solid making the heels look good but this was still at best a decent match.