Talk about it here.

Another wild early ECW brawl. A few minutes in, I realize I have never seen JT Smith hit a single offensive move in a match. He is always taking a beating.

 

Paul E. talking about how Muraco always picks one body part and goes after it after he crotches Funk on the ringpost is funny.

ECW continues to add the brawling eliminate that would become its signature later on. Abdullah spends whole time brawling on the outside. Smith gets the pinfall over Muraco which is considered a big upset. They needed to faze out the Muracos and Snukas from promotion.

Fun little bout. Six maniacs stiffing each other and JT taking some loony bumps, including a Marty Jannetty-style spin-out bump off a clothesline on the concrete floor. Even Muraco as sort of a poor man's grumpy Tenryu was kind of fun even though he's near 300 pounds at this point. I too loved Paul E. talking about Muraco "focusing on a body part" as he's hitting Funk with repeated low blows. Snuka accidentally powders him and JT Smith rolls him up for the big upset pin.

How I wish this had been wrestled at least semi-straight. Seeing Snuka and Muraco actually work a regulation-style tag as partners would have been something else. Sane with Funk and Abby. As it was, this was a six-man bunkhouse match minus the fancy get-ups. Even at that, it would have been more watchable had the cameras focused on the guys who were actually in the ring. Instead, most of the focus was on the two guys whom I don't believe ever made it into the ring (Sully and Abby) and the other four guys were afterthoughts, including Terry the former lead babyface.

 

Smith taking a bump like he did for Muraco really didn't make a whole lot of sense. It should have been the other way around, since Smith was ostensibly part of ECW's future. Of course, Muraco wasn't bumping for anyone, as big as he was. He's back in full "Beach Bum" mode physique-wise after looking like he'd swallowed steroids by the metric ton his last year or so in the WWF.

 

Snuka throwing powder in Muraco's face was an interesting way to set up the finish, and I wouldn't have minded one last brief reprise of their feud, which was never really settled in the WWF.

 

Smith's small package for the winning fall was the sloppiest I've ever seen. It's almost like either Muraco didn't want to go down or JT was having trouble taking him down, neither of which was a good thing.

 

Heyman's line about Muraco working body parts was funny under the circumstances, especially since he said it straight. Joey no-sold it, which was the only thing he could do under the circumstances, at least in 1993.

 

Speaking of Mr. Styles, I'm sure this won't be the last time I say this, but he needs to tone it down about four or five notches. He can actually be funny and insightful when he speaks normally, but when he's in what I call "DJ Puke" mode as he was here, there's no one worse in wrestling, not even Vince at his most obnoxious.

 

Does anyone know whatever became of Smith? He must have been left in the dust as the decade wore on and ECW became more and more hardcore.

JT retired around 1996. Came back for an appearance in 1998 and I think he was at ECW one night stand.

Thanks for the info, Tim!

Quick match but fun while it lasted. Smith takes a huge bump off a Muraco clothesline. It feels like we are nearing the time when the fossils got phased out as Abdullah and Sullivan were sort of ancillary here. Big upset win for Smith at the end. **