Bobby Blaze v. Brian Logan

 

Blaze does some nifty stuff here, including a really sweet looking rolling headscissors reversal and a deep arm drag that comes off of a rope running spot and was totally unexpected despite the fact that the whole match is built around armbar base. Logan slapping Blaze to turn himself heel in the match just seemed silly. Logan's twisting top rope splash looked pretty cool.

 

The Gangstas v. The Southern Boys

 

This is Scott Armstrong and Tracy, not Steve and Tracy. Lots of early "hide the foreign object" spots with The Gangstas and New Jack offering himself up to Curtis like it is a police search over and over. I continue to be impressed by how well The Gangstas take offense in traditional tags and really enjoyed their bumping around for dropkicks, crossbodies, et early. Mustapha getting launched onto D-Lo at ringside was semi-shocking. Tracy goes FIP after a cool drop down cross body spot when he is tripped coming off the ropes. Smothers takes a cool bump for New Jack's always fun diving clothesline on the floor. Smothers FIP was too short for my liking, and I didn't care for the stolen Gangstas finish, but this was a pretty good match overall.

 

Al Snow/Unabomb v. The Rock N Roll Express

 

Snow and Unabomb losing the opening exchange which leads to a stalling segment from Snow that lasts well over five minutes. A big portion of it is Snow cutting a promo on ringside fans. Snow gets back in the ring eventually and almost immediately gets himself into an uninteresting and poorly executed exchange with Morton. Now Snow is running around ringing the bell after an accidental self crotching spot. Then they go into a really long segment where Gibson keeps causing Unabomb and Snow to hit each other and they tease dissension over and over and over. Morton finally goes FIP and it last all of three minutes in a twenty minute match. I am a fan of stalling and this was okay schtick, but the payoff was dog shit. This would have been a much better match if it was ten minutes shorter.

 

Chris Candido v. Boo Bradley (Chain Match)

 

The chain was really a huge hindrance here as they fucked several of their better spots because of it and it really didn't add anything to the match. My god this is tedious as all hell. There are a few good spots in this, but it is needlessly long, with a boring as fuck heat section and a really disappointing finishing run.

 

Jerry Lawler v. Bobby Blaze

 

Pre-match Lawler mic work is great. Landell ambushes DWB who is supposed to be in the match and then grabs the mic trying to get a title match. The Bullet comes out and fines Landell and goes to the back and grabs Blaze to be the new challenger. Lawler shit talks Blaze and calls him a preliminary wrestler/curtain jerker. Early part of this is pretty cool as Lawler throws an early drop kick and back body drop and taunts Blaze who naturally responds in kind with his own flurry that Lawler sells like a champ. Lawler goes for a foreign object, but Landell keeps and the crowd keep stooging off to Mark Curtis that he's got a weapon. Naturally this results in the classic Lawler hiding the foreign object bit. Lawler gets his licks in with the object and starts explaining to Curtis that the power of the blow was the result of an open hand palm strike. Lawler throws Blaze to the floor and berate an old lady on the floor to the point where she takes multiple swings at him while Lawler laughs in her face. Blaze comeback here is pretty quick and he steals a win with a schoolboy after Lawler and Landell smack skulls. EXTRA

 

Buddy Landell v. Bobby Blaze

 

Lawler attacks Blaze post-match so this starts out as Blaze getting his ass stomped by Budro. The heat for this was really great and Blaze was really strong selling here and working little flashes of comeback. Buddy is just standing over Blaze paint brushing him. Landell's punches were really great and Blaze is really awesome reacting them with a variety of cool bumps and mannerisms. Landell hits a superplex and then DWB runs out and tries to get into the ring. Blaze ends up getting tossed through the timekeepers table and getting color. Blaze is bleeding like crazy here. Match is starting to get really great and Blaze stumbles into another schoolboy finish. Both this and the Lawler match would be good extras, but neither is something I can see making the set as a match. EXTRA

 

The Gangstas/D-Lo Brown v. Jim Cornette/The Heavenly Bodies

 

Jim Cornette is the star of this. Is mic work is good. his punches on New jack are awesome. his FIP is shockingly compelling and his rolling hot tag was really great. Love him posing on the floor after hitting a cheapshot. He was just the best in this. New Jack was a close second due to this early heel in peril spots and another awesome diving clothesline on the floor. This was good, but not great.

Bobby Blaze vs. Brian Logan (2/26/95)

 

This was a fine opener nothing special.

 

The Gangstas (New Jack & Mustafa Saed) vs. Scott Armstrong & "Wild Eyed Southern Boy" Tracy Smothers (2/26/95)

 

Interesting seeing the Gangstas go from street fights to this type of spot on the card. Funny seeing Scott work as a Southern Boy instead of his brother Steve. Gangstas again prove how good they were working the southern tag style with some fun stooging early including the weapon throwing spots where they were playing hot potato. Tracy worked FIP and was fun as usual taking punishment and getting the crowd behind his hope spots. Gangstas were really good here on offense using illegal double-teams and D-Lo on the floor being a nuisance. Mustafa would miss a top rope Vader Bomb for the hot tag with Scott running wild eventually catching New Jack with a Superkick but D-Lo would trip him up as he tried to suplex Jack for the finish. Fun match but not enough for a nomination.

 

SMW Tag Titles: The Rock n Roll Express (Robert Gibson & Ricky Morton) © vs. Al Snow & Unabomb (2/26/95)

 

I always dug the Snow/Unabomb team and this was their first big match. The highlight of this was granny making her way across the ring to shit talk Snow at the announce table while he was going on his tirade. This was fine for what it was but went way too long with too much bullshit at times.

 

Loser Leaves Town Dog Collar Match: Boo Bradley vs. Chris Candido (2/26/95)

 

Another match that went way too fucking long plus the gimmick hurt the flow of their match.

 

Next we get the whole Lawler/Landell/DWB/Bobby Blaze saga which I agree with Dylan must go on the set as an extra because of how everything ties in together. Great stuff here.

 

SR - Bullet Bob Armstrong: The Heavenly Bodies ("Gigolo" Jimmy del Ray & Dr. Tom Prichard) & Jim Cornette vs. The Gangstas (New Jack & Mustafa Saed) & D-Lo Brown (2/26/95)

 

Bullet being the ref is an interesting touch here. The pre-match micwork was great from all sides and the match was fine as well with Corny being the star here. He looked really good in everything he did. New Jack was pretty damn good as well and I really wanted to nominate this but this match felt kinda anti-climatic after the war they had a month earlier.