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The Name on the Marquee: Smoky Mountain Wrestling (6.25.1994)

April 2, 2017 | Posted by Adam Nedeff
7.2
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The Name on the Marquee: Smoky Mountain Wrestling (6.25.1994)  

-Originally aired June 25, 1994.

-We’re in Loudon, TN.

-Your hosts are Bob Caudle & Les Thatcher. Chris Hamrick gets drawn for Beat the Champ.

-…But before we can go to ringside, Well Dunn is here, demanding a match this week. Timothy Well wants to face either of the Thrillseekers in an “automatic DQ” match: no warnings from the referee, the match actually ends the very moment a rule is broken.

SCOTT & STEVE ARMSTRONG vs JAMES ATKINS & LARRY SANTO
-Armstrongs work both arms on Atkins. Atkins gets aggressive with Steve but runs into a dropkick. Santo tags in and hammers Scott repeatedly, but Scott catches him bouncing off the ropes and holds him in position for a missile dropkick from Steve to finish.

-The Armstrongs say they idolized the Funks as kids, but 1994 is the year of the Armstrongs.

BEAT THE CHAMP TV TITLE: “Wild Eyed Southern Boy” TRACY SMOTHERS (Champion) vs CHRIS HAMRICK
-Jim Cornette says that Chris Hamrick’s career has been hampered by “unfair working conditions and lack of benefits” and says that if he can beat Smothers, Hamrick can join FITE. Killer Kyle and Bruiser Bedlam come to the ring to scout the potential new member.

-Smothers hiptosses Hamrick and clamps on the armbar. Hamrick gets three, and FITE immediately begins playing games with the referee to help Hamrick out, with Cornette providing the distraction while Kyle and Bedlam take turns attacking him.

-Hamrick works over Smothers while the Armstrong family comes to ringside to provide equalizers. Hamrick attempts an Undertaker ropewalk but falls off (not a botch, it was actually the spot he was going for) and Smothers immediately takes advantage with the jawjacker to finish.

-Tammy Fytch and her men have HAD IT with the Rock & Roll Express. Well, I always figured that about Tammy.

-We recap all the shenanigans with the twinjas from last week. Jake is here in person and gives DWB props for being able to think of such a scheme, although he suspects it’s actually the wife who does all that thinking for him.

DIRTY WHITE BOY vs JOE CAZANA
-Cazana was on Cornette’s podcast a while back talking about his family’s history in pro wrestling, and honestly, my hat’s off to the guy for being born into the business, the son of a promoter, and apparently being completely content to just dedicate a career to offering himself as cannon fodder for the stars instead of getting bitten by a bug and trying to launch his own promotion and making himself champ.

-DWB squashes Cazana pretty good, but before we get too far into the match, Jake attacks DWB and goes to town on him. Kendo the Samurai runs in, and Jake sees him coming and immediately DDTs him. He beats on DWB some more, and the second Kendo runs to ringside. Jake holds him up for a double-team move, but Kendo walks right around DWB and just kicks Jake straight in the head, revealing that Jake DDTed the wrong guy.

-Another history lesson from Les Thatcher, this time focusing on the team of Ron & Don Wright. They shown as singles and tag team wrestlers, but Les picks a side and declares Ron the undisputed star of the pair. We get a vintage Ron Wright promo from 1972. It is on YouTube, and it is fucking hilarious. The host of the Knoxville TV show was an announcer named Big Jim Hess, who earned the nickname because he’s about twice Ron’s size. The other thing to note is that Ron’s character is one that there isn’t nearly enough of in wrestling; he’s not a bully, he’s not a cool heel…he’s just a huge pain in everyone’s ass. So he’s cutting this gloriously redneck promo while Big Jim he arguing with him and rolling his eyes because Ron is just such a huge thorn in his side. (“How come this chair is so low, Jim?” “I DON’T HANDLE CHAIRS, RON!”)

-Terry Funk says the worst thing about Tennessee is the way they befowl their major wrestling organizations by letting Bob Armstrong, his legitimate children, AND his illegitimate children run roughshod all over the company.

-Cornette challenges Tracy Smothers to a “dock match” with Bruiser Bedlam on the Summer Blast tour.

PERSONALITY PROFILE
-Les Thatcher meets Bambi, a good friend of the Rock & Roll Express who’s happy to help, she says. Tammy Fytch comes out and says she’s run Sherri Martell out of SMW, what threat is Bambi. This is a very compelling point. Brian Lee and Chris Candido come out and threaten an attack, but the Rock & Roll Express makes the save. Thatcher has a funny reaction to this. Instead of running off when the chaos breaks out, like most interviewers would, he calmly says “Let it ride, guys” and then then hangs out in the corner until the Express has cleared the ring.

AUTOMATIC DISQUALIFICATION MATCH: LANCE STORM (with Chris Jericho) vs TIMOTHY WELL (with Steven Dunn)
-Well slaps and taunts Storm, daring him to throw a punch. Dunn distracts the referee while Well takes Storm to the mat with a handful of hair. Jericho protests to the referee, so Well chokes him out too. Nice touch to it, as Well finally gets the referee’s attention by yelling “Hey, let go of my hair!”

-Storm fights back with an armdrag. Storm stays with the armdrags, as they have impact and are 100% legal. Referee gets distracted again while Well breaks Storm’s onslaught with a thumb to the eye. Storm fights back. Well spits in his face, and Storm is so fired up that he finally throws a punch, and gets himself disqualified.

7.2
The final score: review Good
The 411
Angles all over the place this week and all good ones, with a badass new faction, an actual threat to Tammy Fytch, and the Jake/DWB mind games all legit intriguing and entertaining. Good show.
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