Boo Bradley v. Killer Kyle (Falls Count Anywhere)

 

Big problem with visibility here as a good two minutes of this are lost entirely due to the guys being off camera. There were moments of this that I liked a lot, especially Boo taking a couple of big bumps into the chairs and some of Kyle's more deliberate punches. Boo staggering around with a chair on his head was also a nice touch. The real problem with this is that this is the sort of match that simply is not made to be paced really slow and go nearly twenty minutes. Arena brawl paced like a Dory v. Jack Brisco broadway is just not smart booking, even if you are running a skeleton crew. The last two minutes or so had the right feel and the work was not bad, it's just the booking never gave this a chance.

 

Jim Cornette promo explaining to the live crowd the previous nights heel turn he had made against Bob Armstrong.

 

Buddy Landell v. Steve Armstrong

 

Tommy Young is refereeing. Cornette does his boxing stance spot but it actually comes across pretty sad here. Really loved Steve's short jabs, but that may have been all in the sell job by Buddy. Typically Armstrong gets tripped by Cornette coming off the ropes which sets up Budro in control. Lots of cheapshots from Cornette on the floor. Armstrong goes flying from a running knee to his spine on the floor. This was a solid match and they worked in some good hope spots during the FIP, but Steve really lacks any sizzle at all and Budro did was nowhere near working overtime to make him look credible. DQ finish sucked.

 

Brief legends ceremony.

 

Bobby Blaze v. Dan Severn

 

Blaze gets huge air off of the opening belly to belly and bumps half the distance of the ring. Good double leg by Severn. Severn covering up for Blaze's kicks is kind of amusing, and cool all at once. Blaze flips Severn over head and they go into a really cool series of mat reversals and exchanges. Another fun grappling exchange starts with a fireman's carry and ends with Blaze escaping by rolling through the ropes. Blaze and Severn both go for heel hooks and Curtis seems confused about what he should do. Severn with a really deep gutwrench suplex straight into a cross armbreaker which Blaze escapes only to be taken over with a Northern Lights and then another gut wrench off of the next exchange. Severn hits a back body drop on his knees but Blaze holds on. Severn had been attempting armbars over and over and finally catches Blaze mid-ring for the finish. This was pretty awesome for what it was though I can imagine that a lot of people will not like it. Still this falls under "Dylan will fight for this" category and it definitely moves on.

 

The Thugz v. The Gangstas (Street Fight)

 

No chance of this sucking as battle of underclass stereotypes is pretty much guaranteed to work on some level and really you are not going to find better example of Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan study subjects v. Senator James Webb study subjects than this. Racist rednecks v. black nationalist from the Ghetto - let's get er done. Thugz come out pissed off after a baiting New Jack promo and immediately get to it, with Tracy hitting dive shots to the floor with trashcans, leaping Confederate Flage shots, tossing New Jack into the tenth row, et. New Jack comes back by throwing an insane looking over hand that sends Tracy flying, then hurls him into a stack of chairs and just starts chucking shit at him. Jack tries to hit Tracy with a cinderblock but DWB blocks it at the last second. New Jack hits an insane leaping clothesline onto DWB on the floor. During all of this D-Lo is just tossing shit around. Tracy and Jack have color now and Smothers is really selling his ass off. Great punch exchange on the floor that starts with DWB and New Jack and escalates to all five guys. D-Lo gets tossed into the tenth row by Smothers. Mustapha tries to run away and Smothers darts after him and leaps on him sending him flying off camera. Back in the ring and there is more solid brawling and then Smothers gets dumped to the floor. D-Lo hurls a trashcan at head and then New Jack absolutely kills him with a leaping piledriver through a table. Holy fuck what a spot. Being economical men with their weaponry, D-Lo and Jack try and use the remnants of the table as a battering ram, but Tracy reverses and throws them both into it as DWB makes his comeback in the ring. D-Lo ends up accidentally frogsplashing Mustapha and Anthony pins him. Brawl continues post-match with New Jack and Smothers throwing each other into the crowd while men run over to protect their children from getting caught up in a race riot. They end up brawling onto a stage where D-Lo gets back body dropped. Thugz finally chase Gangstas to the back and Curtis raises their hands on the stage, while fans hold up the Stars N Bars. This is pro wrestling as hate crime which is pretty much the way it's supposed to be. Really a tremendous match, easily the best Gangstas match I've ever seen, and one of the best SMW matches I've ever seen as well.

 

Rock N Roll Express v. Unabomb/Al Snow (Cage Match)

 

Snow and Morton are both in neckbraces and the Cage is in hilariously shitty condition. Sort of a strange match as they don't do much until Snow and Unabomb start disassembling the ring and using the turnbuckles/ropes as whips/weapons. I'm sure that seemed like a cool idea, but it really slowed down an already subdued match to a sub-leisurely pace. Cornette ends up tossing a racket into the ring behind the refs back for the finish.

Falls Count Anywhere Match: Boo Bradley vs. Killer Kyle (5/20/95)

 

I agree with Dylan in that Boo looked good here and Kyle was a bit more active than the night before but damn this dragged and dragged on. Way too long.

 

SMW Heavyweight Title: "Nature Boy" Buddy Landell © vs. Steve Armstrong (5/20/95)

 

Cornette shows up before the match to tell everyone about his heel turn the night before and that he is now aligned with Budro. You notice the many empty seats here as everyone is talking. The whole psychology of this was stupid as Steve should've been out for blood since his father was destroyed the night before and it was told to the crowd but nope they worked a worse version of their match also from the night before. Bad finish as well to end this disappointment.

 

Next we get the legends ceremony with the highlight being the appearance of Magnum T.A.

 

NWA World Heavyweight Title: Dan Severn © vs. Bobby Blaze (5/20/95)

 

Funny how they treat the NWA title as a midcard match here. These two went at it at a rapid pace throwing each other around and working body parts in a quasi UWFi style match. Most of the fans didn't know what to think and chanted boring but this was really good stuff. I'll go with a low-end pick here.

 

Street Fight: The Thugz ("Dirty White Boy" Tony Anthony & "Wild Eyed Southern Boy" Tracy Smothers) vs. The Gangstas (New Jack & Mustafa Saed) (5/20/95)

 

Tracy has got his overalls on so this shit is going to be on and it is right from the start. Tracy & New Jack are bringing the most violence early on as they pound each other with weapons plus you have both men flying into the crowd thanks to the other. D-Lo gets involved as well using weapons and holds DWB up so New Jack can hit him with his insane clothesline off the apron. Tracy & Jack are now bleeding and it makes Tracy go crazy as he runs all over the building attacking guys. These guys are just beating the fuck out of each other before New Jack piledrives Smothers through the table at ringside which looked awesome. Tracy fights back though using the remnants of the table on Jack & D-Lo before D-Lo missed a frog splash off the top on Mustafa causing the finish. The battle didn't stop there as they just kept brawling like madmen while fans ran for their lives. They would eventually brawl on the stage before the Gangstas get run off. This was a fucking awesome brawl and a slam dunk nomination.

 

Fence Match for the SMW Tag Titles: Al Snow & Unabomb © vs. The Rock n Roll Express (Robert Gibson & Ricky Morton) (5/20/95)

 

This was a fence match straight out of 1975 not 1995. You felt kinda bad for Morton & Snow as they had to follow two fucking awesome Gangstas matches that were hard to do and in both occasions they fell short. This wasn't a bad match but it was anti-climatic for sure and the shitty fence didn't help either. I did like the take off the ringropes spots though as that was different but it dragged down the match a little as it wasn't quick work. Corny would toss the racket in for the champs to use as the finish to end this weirdness.