The Infernos v. The Thrillseekers

 

JIP. Hard to tell how much is missing. The camera angle on this kind of sucks too. I really liked the Infernos in this. They were great begging off, great working their comedy spots, worked a pretty good heat segment and then sold well for the comeback. Thrillseekers finish was pretty cool.

 

Killer Kyle v. Mike Furnas

 

The camera angle on this is somehow worse than the previous match and the peanut gallery comments are hard to bear but this is over in a flash.

 

Tracy Smothers v. Chris Candido (Ladder Match)

 

A good camera angle! I love this series of matches, but they are so similar it is hard to tell what you have and haven't seen from the early going alone. They do the Smothers skin the cat spot, the Smothers diving forearm off the apron spot, and some other familiar shit right away. Smothers does the missed kick into running baseball slide and we get a really cool angle on Candido's chest first bump into the guardrail. Cool spot with Chris getting backhanded, falling into the second rope and popping right up into a dropkick. Smothers sets up the ladder, but Candido pops up underneath him and hits an electric chair. Candido starts working over Smothers with the ladder. Goes to climb it and Tracy hits a back elbow, but then Candido cuts him off from using it. Chris ends up cutting off another Tracy comeback with a reverse atomic drop and it occurs to me that they are working this as if it was a traditional match with comebacks and hope spots, it's just that the ladder is their as a way to inflict damage. Cool angle on Candido's wipe out bump off a missed headbutt from the top of the ladder. Smothers ends up rattling off a ten count punch spot in the corner but then ends up catching all ladder on a stinger splash attempt. Smothers ends up winning in really uneventful fashion to the point where it almost looked botched. Still this was good enough to pass through. These guys never had a bad match.

 

Dick Murdoch/Jim Cornette v. Bob Armstrong

 

Murdoch takes some fun bumps early including the faceplant bump off of a Bob punch. Then comes the headlock. It's not that it was awful but it is a LONG headlock sequence and it really takes forever for Murdoch to unravel his wrist tape and take over when Corny distracts the ref. They play hide the foreign object game with the ref pretty effectively and whatever you think of this match it's got some serious heat. A chair briefly gets involved. Jesus this goes on a long time. Cornette ends up taking a fall after some bullshit miscomunication spots. This wasn't terrible, but needlesly long.

 

Brian Lee/Tammy Fytch v. Dirty White Boy/Dirty White Girl

 

God damn this is almost all stalling and schtick from the heels while Lee is underrated at what he can do with this ultimately you wish there was more actual work here.

 

The Rock N Roll Express v. The Heavenly Bodies (Iron Man Match)

 

Same opening as the match from previous night, with the R N R's stealing a pin right at the bell to go up 1-0. Man I just don't know. I admire the effort of these two teams going broadway and it is beyond dispute that they had the crowd with them the whole time. They did do some cool shit in here. In particular I was impressed by Del Ray's bumping and stooging early and offense when in control. I also thought the Gibson FIP was really strong and actually outshined the Morton FIP. But I hate the way these matches were booked with the heels getting the falls only by cheating and I would be a liar if I said this match wasn't tedious. Would have been a lot better if it was half as long and with an hour long match that is a real indictment.

 

Chris Candido v. Tracy Smothers

 

This is billed as being from 2/26/94, but this is the EXACT same match as the 2/24/94 match . These two repeated a lot of spots, but from what I can tell this is the same match which means one of these dates is wrong.

The Thrillseekers (Chris Jericho & Lance Storm) vs. The Infernos (3/13/94)

 

JIP.

 

Mike Furnas vs. Killer Kyle (3/13/94)

 

These idiots talking during the match was stupid. Quick win by Furnas.

 

Ladder Match: "Wild Eyed Southern Boy" Tracy Smothers vs. Chris Candido (3/13/94)

 

This is almost a carbon copy of their match a day earlier but not as crisp in spots. Dylan is right that these two don't have anything but good matches and this should move forward but when push comes to shove I think the 3/12 match is a better match overall. The one thing this match did have over the other one was the ladder was a metal ladder and not a wooden one.

 

Handicap Match: Bullet Bob Armstrong vs. "Capt. Redneck" Dick Murdoch & Jim Cornette (3/13/94)

 

One thing you notice before the match is how many empty seats there were in the building. We got a longer version of the headlock sequence here building up to Murdoch using his wrist tape to choke Bullet which is a difference from the 3/12 match as in that Murdoch used some knux or something. Another difference is that Corny doesn't come in the match until it's deep in the match and it just seemed like they were going longer here so the pace wasn't as fast. If they cut this match down a good 5 minutes it would've been better but again the 3/12 match was better than this one because of the faster pace.

 

"Dirty White Boy" Tony Anthony & Dirty White Girl vs. "Primetime" Brian Lee & Tammy Fytch (3/13/94)

 

These matches are getting tiring.

 

Marathon Match for the SMW Tag Titles: The Heavenly Bodies ("Gigolo" Jimmy del Ray & Dr. Tom Prichard) © vs. The Rock n Roll Express (Robert Gibson & Ricky Morton) (3/13/94)

 

Yeah this was a lot like the previous night's match but these matches were just so good it's hard not to be impressed by both teams going the distance and working their asses off in the process. Great stuff and another definite nomination.