wrestling / Video Reviews
The Name on the Marquee: Smoky Mountain Wrestling (2.26.1994)
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-Originally aired February 26, 1994.
-We’re in Jellico, TN.
-Your hosts are Bob Caudle & Dutch Mantell. Dutch draws a name for Beat the Champ and announces, quite confused, that the #1 contender is The Hornet.
-Chris Candido emerges with a masked guy, The Hornet, and indicates he rigged the drawing so that he could put up another $2,500 and get his money back from last week. He says he’s personally trained The Hornet for the past week, and he’s got the dough to put up.
-Tracy Smothers takes the bet.
BEAT THE CHAMP TV TITLE: ROBBIE EAGLE (Champion, with Tracy Smothers) vs THE HORNET (with Chris Candido)
-Two weeks into Eagle’s push and the Jellico fans already buy into him with a “Go Robbie Go!” chant at the bell. Eagle works the arm and connects with an uppercut for two. Hornet comes to life with a snapmare and a suplex for two. Neckbreaker gets two more. Hornet clamps on a chinlock. Candido gets on the apron and tries for some interference. Smothers runs in and knocks Candido off the apron. Referee turns around to deal with Smothers while Candido knocks out Eagle with a foreign object, and The Hornet is unexpectedly your NEW TV Title.
-We go to the Thrillseekers, Lance Storm and Chris Jericho. SMW has the best tag team wrestling in the world, which is why they’ve come to Tennessee. Jericho is like a hair band version of Bob Backlund with regards to his promo style at this point.
-That leads us to the Thrillseekers, exploring Tennessee, their new home, by visiting the local arcade and enjoying a ride in some bumper cars. Jericho’s more familiar personality finally starts to emerge in this montage, as he’s just making the dorkiest, hammiest faces while showing how much he’s “enjoying himself,” and there’s at least one genuine shot of Lance busting up at something that we can’t hear. High point of the montage: The Thrillseekers train for their upcoming debut by playing Konami Main Event at the arcade.
-Back to the ring, where…oh, actually, the montage keeps going…now they’re going bungee jumping, and then for a ride in a helicopter, then they go horseback riding. THRILLSEEKERS: COMING SOON!
DOWN AND DIRTY WITH DUTCH
-Dutch welcomes Jim Cornette and the Heavenly Bodies. They’re conditioning for the marathon match during the upcoming SMW Golden Week and they promise that they’ll be ready for the Rock & Roll Express. Dutch asks Cornette about the Thrillseekers, and Cornette only says “No comment” and leaves hastily.
-Tammy Fytch is so very upset about being forced into a match when she’s not a wrestler. She’s looking for a way out. We go topical as Tammy promises to call “a friend in Oregon who was just at the Olympics” to help her injure Dirty White Girl before the match happens.
“Prime Time” BRIAN LEE (with Tammy Fytch) vs ANTHONY MICHAELS
-Gag here is that Lee is excited about this match because he gets to beat up a guy named Anthony, Dirty White Boy’s real name. Lee lays a beating on Michaels, a graduate of the SMW wrestling school, which gives us the most awkward commercial for the school ever, as Dutch just busts on the guy for not spending enough time in class.
-Lee continues mauling Michaels. Kneedrop from the top gets three.
-After the match, Lee gives Tammy “a wrestling lesson,” beating Michaels completely unconscious and then teaching Tammy how to pose while she pins somebody.
-The Dirtywhites mock Tammy for her half-assed approach to training.
-Lex Luger is coming home to Marietta, GA on March 10! He’s real excited about it too.
-Bob Armstrong and Dick Murdoch trade words about their match at the Armstrong Family Reunion. Mama Cornette is paying a fortune for Jim Cornette to be protected in the handicap match. Bob Armstrong knows what Dick Murdoch is capable of, but he’s more than willing to take a Dick Murdoch ass kicking just for a piece of Jim Cornette.
-Jeff Jarrett will see you at the Armstrong Family Reunion.
-Bob Caudle is with Darryl Van Horne. The SMW Board of Directors has denied Prince Kharis a title match. He also gripes about the lack of camera time he gets in SMW, saying the show might as well be changed to “The PTL Club” because whenever anyone cuts a promo here, all you see are Jim and Tammy.
BOBBY BLAZE AND ROCK & ROLL EXPRESS vs KILLER KYLE AND HEAVENLY BODIES (with Jim Cornette)
-Morton starts with Prichard. Prichard gets backdropped right away and Gibson goes to work with an enziguiri. Blaze tags in for his turn. Prichard gets outta Dodge and Del Ray gets armdragged and dropkicked.
-Killer Kyle tags in and finally gets the ball rolling for Cornette’s side. Del Ray tags back in and eats a dropkick. Del Ray looks like he’s going for a Razor’s Edge but switches it to a powerbomb in mid-air, and Blaze is left laying…until he tags in Morton immediately and Morton fights off all three men. We have a pier sixer until Kyle eats a double dropkick for three. Weird match, as the heel side never had an actual chance to get any heat and it just played out as a really, really long squash match. Cornette comes in with the tennis racquet after the bell and renders Morton a bloody mess after the match, so he’s loaded it with something. Bodies and Kyle just murder the faces as Cornette picks off everybody who tries to run in and stop it one by one with the racquet.
