Robert Gibson v. Headbanger Thrasher

 

Another match where Gibson surprised me a bit. This was not fast paced at all, but I thought the match had a natural progression and was a decent little opener. Finish looked pretty impactful. Gibson's selling during the heat segment was really solid.

 

Tommy Rich/The Punisher v. Boo Bradley/Mongolian Stomper

 

Much better than I would have thought. Started as a "wild" brawl and settled into a traditional tag with Boo working FIP. His performance was not especially great, but the heels worked a fairly interesting heat section and the unimpressive Stomper was not a big part of this. Best parts were some of Rich's bumping and punches and Punisher doing the nifty vault flip leapfrog spot that was pretty much the one cool thing he did.

 

The Thugz v. PG-13

 

Lots of pre-match antics and stalling from PG-13. In particular I enjoyed DWB shit talking Ice into tagging in and then J.C. immediately going into karate pose/hiding in the corner/tagging back out to Wolfie. Wolfie gets a brief advantage with some punches but Anthony comes back with an atomic drop that sends Wolfie careening head first into Ice taking both of them out. Back in the ring Wolfie seemingly offers to show White Boy his dick and then tags in Ice who is yelping at Tracy demanding he tag in. Tracy does his back flip over the ropes and then dances a jig that equals or matches any of Ice's absurd strutting - then Ice tags Wolfie back in. Wolfie wins a lock up and PG-13 celebration culminates in him mooning Tracy. Smothers than hits a fireman's carry and Thugz return the mockery and Ice tags in again. Ice bails out of the ring but runs back to beat the count. Now he's doing the old "heel extends his hand act. Naturally he gets caught trying to kick Tracy and takes an atomic drop which is the first actual contact with anyone Ice has had in the match. Heels gain the advantage off of a rope running trip from Ice on Smothers. Tracy gets taken down and they work a cool hope spot with him getting kicked blindsided in the back coming off the ropes. FIP does not seem terribly spirited though I did like the comeback spot a lot and Tracy rolling through backwards for the hot tag was a neat touch. Finish with the faces winning via struggle over hubcap was okay. Good enough to nominate, but the least of the PG-13 matches I've seen.

 

Buddy Landell v. Brad Armstrong

 

Pre-match Budro boots Corny from ringside. I thought the build in this was really good. The work was simple but early it was two guys trying to best each other on the mat and the work looked good. Then Budro started to subtly get a bit nastier. Brad does a really cool looking armdrag out of an armbar attempt and you can almost see Buddy say "fuck this nice guy shit." He ends up punching Brad square in the face later and man can Armstrong sell a punch. They do a really great strike exchange coming out of the corner that was stiff as fuck and Buddy starts complaining about Armstrong cheating which gives him another chance to punch Brad right in the mouth. Brad firing up and doing the double block of punches before laying in with some nice uppercuts was cool. He signals for a forearm but Buddy ducks and Curtis takes a bump. Corny out but he gets beatdown by Brad. Landell hits a sunset flip but Curtis sees the racket and DQ's him. Lamish finish aside this was a good match.

 

The Heavenly Bodies v. The Thugz

 

You could tell this was a little house show match but that's not a bad thing per se. Early Pritchard/Smothers exchange was solid basic stuff and Del Ray took a wicked fast 360 bump for a DWB clothesline in the early going as well. Anthony going into a boxing stance only for Del Ray to fall down and beg off was a cool stall I'd never seen these guys work before. Faces attack the arm on Del Ray and start doing all the typical distraction spots to gain the advantage that heels usually do which was a nice way to keep the crowd heated. Somewhat surprisingly Anthony is the one who plays FIP here after getting caught with the inevitable knee to the back on a rope running spot. Anthony FIP was not bad but not on the level of what you would get from Smothers. Del Ray's shitty superkick looked extra awful here. Finish with Tracy getting caught by Pritchard with racket shot after jumping off the top was okay but didn't blow me away. This was solid but not great.

Robert Gibson vs. Thrasher (8/10/95)

 

Decent match and Gibson looked good here stringing Thrasher along making him look good. The announcer saying Ricky Morton was the winner was hilarious.

 

The Punisher & Tommy "Wildfire" Rich vs. Boo Bradley & Mongolian Stomper (8/10/95)

 

This had some fun brawling before the match with everyone battling on the floor before it settled down into a normal match with Boo working FIP. Better than what I thought it would be mainly thanks to Rich & Boo.

 

The Thugz ("Dirty White Boy" Tony Anthony & "Wild Eyed Southern Boy" Tracy Smothers) vs. PG-13 (JC Ice & Wolfie D) (8/10/95)

 

PG-13 doesn't want to wrestle these guys since they've beaten them already and Mark Curtis threatens to fine them $1,000 which changes their tune. This was a fun match with PG-13 mainly relying on their schtick while the faces seemed in cruise control so in essence this was a day off for these teams which was fine. We have a fantastic match already from these teams so this one can stay off.

 

SMW Heavyweight Title: "Nature Boy" Buddy Landell © vs. Brad Armstrong (8/10/95)

 

Landell tells Corny that he doesn't need his help here and wants him to go to the back. Landell is starting his face turn so he isn't doing his normal schtick to start but after some really good back and forth action that sees Brad getting the best of Budro he would revert back to his old ways a little. Budro fires off some fucking great punches here and Brad is fun firing back with his own before we get a ref bump. Corny would come out now of course but Brad hits him with the russian legsweep sending him out of the ring with the racket laying in the ring. Landell would hit a sunset flip from the apron but as Mark Curtis counts he sees the racket and immediately calls for the DQ. The action here was good but the finish came really quick as it seemed like they were building it up and just came out of nowhere. Good match but not a nomination for that reason.

 

SMW Tag Titles: The Heavenly Bodies ("Gigolo" Jimmy del Ray & Dr. Tom Prichard) © vs. The Thugz ("Dirty White Boy" Tony Anthony & "Wild Eyed Southern Boy" Tracy Smothers) (8/10/95)

 

This was like the PG-13 match from earlier as they were in cruise control and wasn't going all out here. Fun for what it was.