wrestling / Video Reviews
The Name on the Marquee: Smoky Mountain Wrestling (7.15.1995)
Loading...-Originally aired July 15, 1995.
-Your hosts are Les Thatcher & Chip Kessler.
PG-13 (USWA Tag Team Champions) vs MATT & JEFF HARDY
-Well, here’s a neat piece of history to start with. PG-13 attacks from behind and does elbows in perfect harmony. Hardys fight back with double backdrops and throw dropkicks to clear the ring. Matt gets caught in the wrong corner and double-teamed. Matt counters an attempted double-team by clotheslining both opponents. 17-year-old Jeff throws dropkicks until PG-13 dodges one of them, and a double-bulldog gets the win. Short but competitive match and the win looked like a bit of a fluke. You can tell Jim Cornette saw something in the Hardys early on.
-PG-13 commends Randy Hales for bringing a great tag team to such a crappy area and gripes that there’s no competition for them in any corner of the building.
-We recap all the chicanery that led to vacating the SMW Title.
-Bob and Brad Armstrong are here. Bob stands by his decision to give the WWF Intercontinental Title shot to Buddy Landell. However, he’s orchestrated a deal with the USWA for Billy Jack Haynes to defend the USWA Title against Brad Armstrong. Also, Unabom is being forced to face, for the first time in his career, a man just as big and dangerous as him: The Undertaker. We get words from ‘Taker and Paul Bearer, who say Unabom’s biggest mistake is basing his career and reputation on an undefeated streak, because it just makes opponents more driven to end it, and Unabom’s finished as soon as somebody ends that winning streak. Taker, by the way, would have a legendary Wrestlemania winning streak that would last for 21 years, and then after his first loss, each year’s Wrestlemania was preceded by an increasing number of fans muttering “Wait, he’s coming back for another one?”
“Nature Boy” BUDDY LANDELL (with General Jim Cornette & The Punisher) vs THE WOLFMAN
-Wolfman surprises everyone with an early sunset flip for two. Buddy gets fired up and clotheslines Wolfman down. He chokes Wolfman out and applies the figure four, and Wolfman submits instantly.
-JJ cuts an arrogant promo, promising that he’s gonna strut straight from In Your House in Nashville to the Super Bowl in K-Town to defend his Intercontinental Title against Buddy Landell. We also hear from Shawn Michaels, who’s excited about coming to Knoxville to defend the Intercontinental Title. No, he admits, he’s not actually the champion yet, but, you know, he’s got this. And then Shawn turns cryptic, saying he wants this match because it’s going to be Buddy Landell and he’s been wanting revenge for something Buddy Landell did to him ten years ago.
-We go to to the WMC studios for some highlights of a Billy Jack Haynes squash.
-We get highlights of the Steiners vs. The Heavenly Bodies from SummerSlam ’93 to promote Steiners vs. Headbangers at the Super Bowl of Wrestling. Card subject to change. Front row tickets are $25 and entitle ticket holders to early admission, a free chicken & biscuits dinner, plus wait service during the event from the staff of Hooters.
-Boo Bradley has found a friend to help him fight Cornette’s Militia: Plan B himself, the Mongolian Stomper.
TOMMY RICH (with General Jim Cornette) vs JASON ARNDT
-Arndt starts with an armdrag while Jim Cornette joins commentary mentions that the Rock & Roll Express hasn’t arrived in the building for their title shot yet.
-Arndt misses a moonsault and Rich just boots and hammers away at him. Clothesline by Rich, but he misses a corner charge and Arndt comes back with right hands. He puts his head down for a backdrop, but Tommy Rich turns it into a DDT to get the pin.
-The Militia is ready for the Super Bowl of Wrestling! We take a commercial break and the Rock & Roll Express still isn’t here. Bob Armstrong says he advertised a title match this week, so even though the Rock & Roll Express isn’t here, he’s a man of his word. We’re having a title match.
TAG TEAM TITLE: AL SNOW & UNABOM (with General Jim Cornette & The Punisher) vs THE THUGS
-Surprise!
-Unabom slams Tracy Smothers down, but misses an elbow. Smothers kicks him down for a one-count. Everybody tags and Dirty White Boy elbows Al Snow to the floor. Snow slingshots himself back in and goes for a superkick, but DWB dodges it and the Bucksnort blaster almost finishes it, but Unabom breaks the pin. Cornette provides the distraction as Unabom pulls the top rope down to pull Tracy Smothers out to the floor, and Al Snow springboards onto him. Back in, Snow hangs Smothers on the top rope to dry and Unabom comes off the top with a legdrop.
-Snow and Unabom double-team Smothers, but Smothers manages to slip through them and get a hot tag. Unabom holds DWB in place for a superkick, but DWB ducks, Snow knocks out his partner, and Al Snow gets rolled up for three. The Thugs are your NEWWWWWWWW Tag Team Champions.
-In the locker room, The Thugs cut a celebratory promo as the Rock & Roll Express shows up with their luggage wanting to know what happened. Bob is apologetic and Ricky is like, “It’s a TV taping, you couldn’t just run other matches for 30 minutes?!” That’s a REALLY good point from Ricky. Express is insulted that the Thugs even agreed to steal a match from their friends like that, and there’s trouble brewing in SMW.
