Brian Lee v. Tim Horner

 

This is another fairground show which is a fun and unique atmosphere. Lee takes advantage of this throughout by stalling and jawing with the assorted rednecks. For whatever reason Lee was really ragdolling Horner in this, making an attempt to do every power move with one arm and with an almost contemptous look on his face. SMW matches often feel like they are going long for the sake of going long, but this had the opposite feel of a match that was prematurely short. Decent work but nothing special.

 

The Heavenly Bodies v. Rock N Roll Express

 

Weird as Cornette is not out with the Bodies. They do a slowed down opening segment with no big spots, but lots of fun comedy mostly built around the heels being made to look like fools by falling victim to their typical tactics. They do some cool spots with Ricky as FIP but it's not well developed and you could tell by the finish alone these guys considered this a night off.

 

Battle Royal

 

Pretty pedestrian with Gibson winning by eliminating both Bodies at the same time.

 

Cowabunga v. Jim Cornette

 

Pre-match Cornette gets on the mic and says he doesn't want anything to do with this sort of foolishness and no one can make him work the match and sure enough here comes the ref to tell him he will be fined if he doesn't work. I absolutely loved the opening stalling in this as Cowabunga is getting the crowd riled up, going into various karate poses, clucking around to indication Cornette is a chicken, et. and all the while Cornette is running away, bitching, et. Cornette wins the collar and elbow and pulls a headlock which Cowabunga breaks by clawing Cornette's ass. Cornette then tries to work the arm off the next collar and elbow but Cowabunga reverses it with a roll out and then does a rope walk armdrag to Cornette which is to awesome for words. Cornette getting taken down with side headlocks, working criss cross spots, and telegraphing leaping elbows is even better. Cornette takes an awkward bump off of a cross body, but who gives a fuck? The turtle ends up taking a huge head bump off of a legsweep and Corny works a nerve hold which Cowabunga sells, fires up for and then gets caught off with a clothesline. Cowabunga eats a body slam and does this weird sell where he is spinning around like his shell is keeping him glued to the mat and Corny is just laughing at him. Cornette throws a fucking delayed vertical suplex! Cornette starts working over him with punches and the turtle does a fucking "drop the strap" spot and takes off his shell before locking on an abdonimal stretch! Cowabunga wins with a flip senton off the top into a perfect pinning combination. This is Jim Fuckin Cornette working a matwork heavy wrestling match with big highspots against a referee dressed in a giant Ninja Turtles Halloween costume. There is no fucking way this doesn't go on the set unless these guys had a better match somewhere else.

 

Chris Candido v. Tim Horner

 

Pre-match Horner tries on Candido's "WWA belt" which really pisses Chris off. This is a slow building match with lots of early bullshit to establish what you are going to get from both guys, i.e. Candido as cocky jerk and Horner as tougher, wiser, vet. Candido does take a big bump off the top into a face plant fairly early, but really this doesn't pick up until Chris tosses Horner to the floor. Here they work Horner's top rope spinebuster counter of the rana attempt as a hope spot rather than the turning point comeback spot which was somewhat surprising. Horner hits his handspring elbow/vaderbomb combo for a nearfall, bu then gets cut off when trying a dropkick and ends up taking a slingshot. Candido goes for another one but Horner blocks it and hits a surprise cross body for the finish. This was a solid match, but I don't think it stacks up favorably to the other match of theirs I've watched and that was a really marginal nomination.

 

The Heavenly Bodies v. Rock N Roll Express

 

This is interesting as they work a lot of the same "heels are fools" type stuff as the night before, but they mix it in with more up tempo stuff and antics from Cornette. Weird to see a semi-botch of the spot where the babyface leaves the ring on a criss cross to chase Corny into the ring for a big bump, but they covered it up well and if you didn't know that was a staple spot you would have never known their was a problem at all. Morton hit his really cool huracanrana in this which I still mark out for every time I see it. Amazingly enough Gibson plays FIP here after a blindside thrust kick and then hits his shoulder on the post on a corner charge a minute later to really up the ante on the sympathy factor. The heels do some decent work and Gibson was fine in the role, but he's no Ricky Morton. Finish is kinda silly with Morton getting the win after breaking up a clothesline attempt with the racket. This was fun to watch because it deviated a bit from script and it was better than the match from the night before. But it's not enough to nominate.

 

Battle Royal

 

Man I absolutely love that this is a Battle Royal with a giant turtle. People are screaming "save the turtle" every time he gets hung up on the ropes. It comes down to the turtle, Candido and Scott Armstrong. Cowabunga takes an inside out bump from a Candido clothesline and then sneaks up on Candido and eliminates him just as he eliminates Scott. Cowabunga is awesome.

"White Lightning" Tim Horner vs. "Primetime" Brian Lee (8/18/93)

 

The stip is that if Horner wins then he gets a title shot next month. Primetime is good here shit talking the fans before the match and along with his overselling early those were the highlights of the match as the rest was pretty flat to me. Horner would get the win though with his twisting sunset flip.

 

The Rock n Roll Express (Robert Gibson & Ricky Morton) vs. The Heavenly Bodies ("Gigolo" Jimmy del Ray & Dr. Tom Prichard) (8/18/93)

 

Weird not having Cornette around and it makes a difference in the psychology. I agree with Dylan in that this came off like a let's go out and just fuck around a little type match where in the atmosphere of the outdoor show they didn't have to have a great match just entertain the fans. It was entertaining but it wasn't near the standards of their classic bouts as there was more comedy here than violence. Good for what it was but not a nomination.

 

Next we get a battle royal won by Robert Gibson. Only 8 men here and nothing much. The highlight though were the SMW guys bungee jumping afterwards.

 

Cowabunga (Mark Curtis) vs. Jim Cornette (8/19/93)

 

Cornette's micwork before the match is great with the referee threatening to fine him if he doesn't wrestle. The opening schtick between both men was awesome especially Corny who was great being a chickenshit. Then it becomes a fucking wrestling match between Mark Curtis & Jim Cornette with Cornette bumping like crazy in between matwork by Cowabunga. Cornette then takes control using a nervehold and hits a nice clothesline followed up by a diving elbow for a nearfall. Cornette hit a nice suplex as well and this is mindblowing watching him get all this offense and looking credible doing it. The Cowabunga comeback was fun too leading up to him hitting his somersault senton off the top rope for the win. The dynamic of this match totally makes this a nomination to me.

 

Baby Bottle Match: "White Lightning" Tim Horner vs. Chris Candido (8/19/93)

 

Candido is total chickenshit early on and does a good job at it but Horner isn't as equal to him working as a fiery babyface selling his bullshit. The early part was a little slow with Horner in control and doesn't pick up until Candido takes over. Candido picks up the pace and forces Horner to do the same. Candido goes for a huracarana off the top rope and Horner hits his slam off the top rope spot before a double collision which leads to Horner's comeback. Horner hits his handspring elbow/Vader Bomb combo for a nearfall before Candido would counter a dropkick into a slingshot into the corner. Candido would try it again but Horner jumped over the top rope and hit a big cross body block to win. The finish here was good but the match was like their other ones only a little slower. Scott Armstrong would come out and gave Candido an atomic drop on a chair forcing him down to take the milk from the bottle.

 

The Rock n Roll Express (Robert Gibson & Ricky Morton) vs. The Heavenly Bodies ("Gigolo" Jimmy del Ray & Dr. Tom Prichard) (8/19/93)

 

Cornette gets on the mic before the match and says that he is pressing chargers against Cowabunga for impersonating a wrestler. This had the comedy stuff from the night before but at a faster pace and with Cornette involved for his spots. Bodies are great in their roles as the stooging heels for RnR's opening offense. Cornette is fantastic at selling his frustration at the Bodies looking like fools and sits on the ringside table to talk to the camera about this garbage. Then we get a rarity as Gibson works FIP and this is fun as Corny uses the racket and two female fans go to the railing to give him shit including one shooting him a bird. Morton cleaning house was fun for the short time it lasted and the finish was different as Morton jumped on a tennis racket clothesline attempt then covered Gigolo to win. This wasn't one of their classics by no means but it was pretty fun and I'm throwing it on the block.

 

Next we get a battle royal where the highlight is Cowabunga who is really good at his gimmick.