Posted October 23, 201014 yr comment_5457522 After Intro we get a Furnas promo..yikes Doug Furnas v. Killer Kyle I have enjoyed Kyle so far and I liked the way he took Furnas' offense as he bumped big and really put over the "strongest man on Earth" gimmick that Furnas was working. Furnas headlock segment was needlessly long and not well worked on his part, but I did like the hotshot off the criss cross that set up the heel control segment. Kyle's offense did not impressive and Furnas' hulk up was heatless and weak even if he hit some good offense on the back end. This wasn't good. Dick Slater/Bob Orton promo "we don't care about losing, we just want to fight!" Ron Garvin/Mongolian Stomper promo "Orton and Slater are two of the craziest guys on the circuit! They are gonna pick their booty out of the commode!" Bob Orton/Dick Slater v. Ron Garvin/Mongolian Stomper Early the heels are working overtime to make Stomper look credible, taking big bumps, begging off, stumbling around, et. The heels end up working over Garvin's throat and cutting off the ring on him. Garvin sells well and they do a good job building to the hot tag. Really loved the spot with Garvin coming back with punches and Slater just falls forward onto him in a waste lock cutting down Garvin's momentum. Hot tag was poorly timed and executed and dq off of the boot was just bizarre. Decent match. Jim Ross brings The Gangstas out for an interview. Awesome promo with New Jack calling the NAACP trained Negros in cages who jump for their masters. Then he cuts a promo talking about the R N R's where he discusses his past beating up child molesters and killers on the streets of South Central. Tremendous. EXTRA Tammy Fytch/Brian Lee/Chris Candido promo Rock N Roll Express/Ricky Gibson promo Rock N Roll Express v. Brian Lee/Chris Candido Ricky Gibson is handcuffed to Tammy Fytch at ringside. Early on there are some fun quick spots including Candido taking a slingshot over the ropes onto Lee. Lee starts jarring with a cop who comes toward him like he's about to beat his ass which is pretty awesome. Heel in peril segment really goes on a while here, but the R N R's do a fair amount of cool shit and it is a forward moving affair right up until Lee takes over with a military press on Morton. Camera missed a key spot and then the follow up spot was all fucked up. This was actually really disappointing. Les Thatcher narrates a video package on the history of East Tennessee. Some cool footage in here. Knoxville Hall of Fame induction ceremony. This was cool but went on WAY too long. Footage of Jim Cornette getting a cake in his face from The Thrillseekers. Footage of masked thugs and Cornette attacking the Thrillseekers in the parking lot. Thrillseekers promo Heavenly Bodies/Jim Cornette promo The Thrillseekers v. The Heavenly Bodies This is the infamous Jericho blade job/broken arm match. I had forgotten about the big early dive sequence, but then was thoroughly appalled by the utter shittiness of Lance Storm's kick flurry. Seriously Storm's offense is unbelievably awful in this. The Jericho blade job is of course epic and the match is a lot better when he is in, but no way I can back this match as a nomination. It pretty much has to make the set but I see it as an EXTRA. Dirty White Boy promo Dirty White Boy v. Terry Gordy This was sad too watch. Gordy was either unwilling or incapable of doing anything and Anthony wasn't going to kill himself to make this interesting. Really bad. Heavenly Bodies/Fantastics Cage Match from Fire On The Mountain clips. Finish of a TV match followed by Cornette promo attacking Bob Armstrong. Cornette reveals identity of Dixie Dynomite and Scott Armstrong comes out and takes off the mask. Really awesome confrontation with The Bullet and Cornette. Jim calls Brian Armstrong a deserter and then Bob knocks out Cornette. EXTRA Finish/Aftermatch of Rage In The Cage shown with massive heel beatdown of Bob Armstrong. Finish of Bullet v. Jim Cornette match with the Lumberjacks holding rackets. Finish of Terry Funk v. Bob Armstrong with the commisionership on the line. Finish of Texas Death Match with Terry Funk v. The Bullet Finish of Savage v. Bruiser Bedlam and post-match melee shown Finish of Funks v. Armstrongs shown Finish of Bedlam v. Tracy Smothers Clips of Armstrongs brawl with Cornette's groups from tv Bloody mid-ring Bob Armstrong promo Bob Armstrong/Tracy Smothers promo from tv/Cornette taped promo. Sets up a pair of Six-man tags for the 8/5-8/6 weekend. Ron Wright announced as the corner man for the faces in the Coward Waves The Flag tag. clips of Cornette's big bump from Starcade 86. Road Warrior Hawk announced as mystery partner for Armstrong/Smothers. Cornette goes nuts. Jim Cornette/Funk Brothers/Bedlam promo Armstrong/Smothers/Hawk promo. Terry Funk/Dory Funk Jr./Bruiser Bedlam v. Road Warrior Hawk/Bob Armstrong/Tracy Smothers (Coward Waves The Flag) Terry Funk was great in this, bumping around, screaming at Ron Wright to wave the flag, et. Smothers was also awesome bleeding buckets and selling his ass off. I really liked the heels run taking turns suplexing Smothers to shit and was starting to think this was a lock for the set when they went to a hot tag out of nowhere and then a lame finish with Corny waving his flag as a defensive move against WRight for the heel loss. More good than bad, but not a nomination.
October 23, 201014 yr comment_5457543 The Thrillseekers v. The Heavenly Bodies This is the infamous Jericho blade job/broken arm match. I had forgotten about the big early dive sequence, but then was thoroughly appalled by the utter shittiness of Lance Storm's kick flurry. Seriously Storm's offense is unbelievably awful in this. The Jericho blade job is of course epic and the match is a lot better when he is in, but no way I can back this match as a nomination. It pretty much has to make the set but I see it as an EXTRA. I understand you don't like the match but there is non way this doesn't go on the set as a match. For some folks, this is the match that defines SMW, right or wrong.
October 23, 201014 yr Author comment_5457547 I know it's a popular match and it's not worth it to argue about this at this point but are there really people who see this as "the match that defines SMW?" I realize it is one of the more famous matches in SMW history, but I just can't see anyone with even a passing knowledge of SMW saying "this match between two guys who were there for a few months and a tag team that at the time was employed by the WWF is the personification of what Smoky Mountain Wrestling was all about!"
October 23, 201014 yr comment_5457548 The problem is most people have seen very little SMW period. This project will change that. However, I think it was the highest rated SMW match on the DVDVR list and the blade job is legendary. It is one of those necessary evils.
October 23, 201014 yr Author comment_5457549 Not arguing that point really. The match was actually a lot worse than I had remembered it being, though the second half is pretty good. Not sure what you are shooting with for length here, but I don't see this being an epic length set at this point as it is, so it's not like there would even be cause to fight over a match like this one.
July 4, 201114 yr comment_5475877 Doug Furnas vs. Killer Kyle (8/5/94) Kyle working the No Limit Soldiers gimmick 5 years before it's time is hilarious. Furnas needed solid workers as opponents to have good matches and Kyle wasn't that so this wasn't good. Next we get promos by Bob Orton Jr. & Dick Slater then Ronnie Garvin & Mongolian Stomper. I would've LOVED Slater in SMW for a longer run. Stomper smiling and bebopping around during their promo was hilarious for his gimmick. Bob Orton Jr. & "Mr. Unpredictable" Dick Slater vs. "Hands of Stone" Ronnie Garvin & Mongolian Stomper (8/5/94) Orton & Slater were awesome here bumping around for the faces especially making Stomper look credible and the Orton/Slater team was legendary but there isn't any footage of them in their prime as a team. I liked the teased spot with Garvin & Stomper about to fight each other then nailing the heels who were stooging like motherfuckers by now. Garvin worked FIP and the build to the hot tag was really fun as Orton/Slater were solid working him over especially with double teams. Stomper would get the hot tag and the 4-way brawl was on with Stomper using his boot to attack the heels so the ref would call for the bell. HORRIBLE finish to what was a pretty good match that could've been a nomination if not for the bullshit. Next we get Jim Ross interviewing The Gangstas and this is fantastic stuff. Definite extra. SMW Tag Titles: Chris Candido & "Primetime" Brian Lee © vs. The Rock n Roll Express (Robert Gibson & Ricky Morton) (8/5/94) Tammy is handcuffed to Ricky Gibson who looks like fucking Morton with the white hair. Candido took a hard bump to the floor after Gibson dropkicked him off the top rope which was fun. Primetime getting into it with the cop was awesome as it looked like the cop was about ready to handle that business his way. RnR dominated for quite a while but that changed with a Lee press slam on Morton. The camera thankfully missed a big botch of a Candido slingshot into Lee coming off the top with a shot but Lee missed big time. Then it got clunky after that with more botches leading to the hot tag with a 4-way brawl featuring Gibson throwing Candido off the top rope and onto Lee with Morton covering Lee for the win. Highly disappointing indeed. Next we get a Knoxville wrestling history video followed up by the HOF ceremony and this is a definite extra. Then we get the video package building up the Thrillseekers/Heavenly Bodies match. This is good stuff. The Thrillseekers (Chris Jericho & Lance Storm) vs. The Heavenly Bodies ("Gigolo" Jimmy del Ray & Dr. Tom Prichard) (8/5/94) Cornette's gold attire here is fantastic. Jericho is working with the arm injury and the Seekers dominate early with Lance's shitty offense. His clotheslines were sub-backyard level here. Bodies then took control of Lance who was working basically a handicap match here. Jericho worked with his one arm and he tried before Prichard grabbed him and rammed him on the railing. Jericho then hit the epic blade job and the blood was flowing like water. Mark Curtis steps in checking the cut but Jericho fights back even with his head looking like he has paint on it. Bodies were awesome just pounding on Jericho until Curtis finally steps in to stop the match but Jericho begs and pleads for the match to continue so Curtis restarts it. After the restart, Lance would hit Gigolo with a kick with Jericho cradling him for the win. This was a story of two matches as you had a crappy match until Jericho comes in and we get an amazing story with Jericho surviving and overcoming the odds to win. The Jericho section of this is one of the defining moments of SMW history and this is a slam dunk nomination. Sometimes matches are more than just the work involved and this is it. SMW Heavyweight Title: "Dirty White Boy" Tony Anthony vs. Terry "Bamm Bamm" Gordy (8/5/94) Gordy is still feeling the after effects of his stroke here and it was so sad seeing him being so limited here. DWB had to work this at a different style than normal so this just wasn't a good match. Gordy deserves credit for trying but he just wasn't ready yet. Next we get an epic rundown of the Cornette/Armstrong feud and this is a slam dunk extra. Coward Waves the Flag: Bullet Bob Armstrong, Road Warrior Hawk, & Tracy Smothers vs. Bruiser Bedlam, Dory & Terry Funk (8/5/94) This is insanity early on as everyone is brawling with each other including Smothers taking a chairshot by Funk and he juices. The action goes to the ring and it becomes a regular tag match which makes no sense since there are no rules in this match. The one positive about this is Smothers takes a hellluva beating by the heels both in and out of the ring. They were destroying Smothers with Terry yelling at Ron to wave the flag which was great. Smothers would finally get the tag to Hawk who cleaned house on the heels before a 6-way brawl started. Corny then snuck up on Ron Wright throwing powder in his face then grabbing his flag and waving it but Wright grabs him and puts him down. Cornette then waves the flag at Wright trying to stop him so of course Curtis sees this and calls the match. What a fucking shitty finish to the match and another match that was heading for a nomination but the booking killed it.
