The Name on the Marquee: Smoky Mountain Wrestling (12.31.1994)

-Originally aired December 31, 1994.

-Your hosts are Jim Ross and Les Thatcher. This week: highlights from a recent NWA event in New Jersey.

“Suicide Blonde” CHRIS CANDIDO (NWA Champion, with Tammy Fytch) vs. STEVE SKYFIRE
-Chris is announced as the champion but doesn’t have a belt, presumably because the supermarket near Dennis Corraluzzo’s house ran out of Reynolds Wrap and tape. Commentators will only cryptically say that Chris and Tammy should be ashamed of what they did to Boo Bradley this past week.

-Skyfire applies a side headlock. Candido fights him off and slams him down. Series of three legdrops at 200 MPH by Candido in a really impressive display. Tammy slaps Skyfire around and he’s pretty well finished, but Candido just wants to keep beating up on him. Powerbomb by Candido, and the superplex finishes.

-We go to highlights from the NWA World Title tournament in Cherry Hill, NJ. JR acknowledges that due to politics and infighting, the belt has been dormant for several years, but they finally organized a tournament to bring the prestigious belt back to life.

-We go to footage from the first round of the tournament, with Dirty White Boy battling Jerry Lawler. Commentary says we’re ten minutes in, and since it’s a Lawler match, that would mean we’re two moves in. DWB is in firm control when Jim Cornette shows up with the tennis racquet and accidentally knocks out Lawler. Referee sees the whole thing and DWB advances by DQ. Cornette and Lawler avenge the loss with a 2-on-1 beating, with Lawler targeting the knee.

-Jerry Lawler wants to address the peasants and peons of Knoxville. The city of Memphis laughs at the illiterate goofs in Knoxville who give the whole state a bad name. Lawler is reluctantly coming to Knoxville for SMW Super Saturday Night Fever just to get that SMW Title. Also, Dirty White Girl’s a slut.

-We go to DWB, who says that SMW means wrestling and not teaming up with a bunch of midgets to beat a guy wearing facepaint.

-California sports agent Robert Q. Harmon demands that the title match at Saturday Night Fever go to Buddy Landel, and DWB pointedly tells him that if Landel wants ANOTHER title shot, he needs to earn it this time.

-We go back to the Rock & Roll Express with Jim Cornette in their corner in a squash against the Infernos, with Cornette tripping an Inferno from the floor at one point…which leads to…

UPTOWN D-LO BROWN vs FIRE THE INFERNO
-This was supposed to be Da Gangstas vs. The Infernos, but apparently Brimstone is injured and that whittles it down to a singles match. Fisticuffs are exchanged while Buddy Landell storms in and complains about being robbed of a title match on January 28 and he says bad things will happen if anyone else has the title match that night.

-Landell is so mad that he storms to the ring and stops the match cold to demand a match with Dirty White Boy. D-Lo and Fire oblige and clear the ring when Dirty White Boy shows up to answer the challenge…and Landell suddenly gets cold feet and leaves. God that was a weird segment.

CONFRONTATION WITH JIM ROSS
-Everyone’s a little perplexed to learn that Bruiser Bedlam wanted a segment to confront his own manager, Jim Cornette. Bruiser wants to know why Cornette is focused on managing his sworn enemies instead of getting a title match for a guy who got a clean win over Randy Savage. Cornette pointedly tells him that he got title shots against DWB and blew it. They agree to go to the locker room and talk it over. Gee, a lot of people want a match with DWB leading up to a big house show…

-Tracy Smothers excitedly proclaims that he’s the number-one contender for the SMW Title, and he’ll be meeting the champ at Super Saturday Night Fever on January 28. The plot thickens.

BRYANT ANDERSON vs ANTHONY MICHAELS
-Side headlock by Bryant. Michaels tries to hiptoss him but Bryant turns it into a fireman’s carry takedown and goes back to the side headlock. Pez Whatley gets namedropped out of nowhere on commentary as Bryant starts working the arm and wraps up pretty quickly with the armbar.

-JR talks to Bryant Anderson after the match, and Bryant is irritated about not being named #1 contender for the SMW Title and he thinks Tracy Smothers needs to find a way to get rid of him instead of acting entitled to a match.

-Later in January, SMW will be holding a “Rumble Rules Battle Royal.” Multiple Rumbles will be held all through January, leading up to the January 28th K-Town Rumble for $10,000. Weird twist to this one, as JR’s explanation of the rules includes a $250 entry fee, so the match is basically a bunch of wrestlers gambling.

BEAT THE CHAMP TV TITLE: “Prime Time” BRIAN LEE vs “Nature Boy” BUDDY LANDELL (with Robert Q. Harmon)
-Lee shoves Landell on his ass and gives him a WOOOOO just to rub it in his face. Right hands and a clothesline by Lee. Landell slips out and applies a hammerlock. He switches to a chinlock, but now Lee turns it into a hammerlock, and Landell is hilarious with the way he plays it for the camera. “No problem, I can get out of this hold any time I waAAAAAAAA, OH GOD!”

-Landell gets free but runs into a big boot. Lee drops an elbow and goes back to the hammerlock (since we established earlier that it definitely works). Fistfight erupts. Landell grounds Lee with a front facelock and Harmon gradually learns how to cheat, assisting his man with extra leverage as even the commentators have started busting on Harmon for how bland and clueless he comes off.

-They slug it out close to the ropes, but Landell realizes where he is, so he sweeps Lee’s legs and pins him with both feet on the ropes to get the three-count and win the TV Title.

-Buddy Landell says that for a Tennessee pig farmer, a thousand dollars is a lot of money, but it’s nothing for Buddy so he figures he might as well give it away. Really funny, as he sticks the check in JR’s pocket, then turns to the camera to cut his promo, at which point Harmon pulls the check out of JR’s pocket.

7.0

The final score: review Good

The 411

Compared to watching the WWF's post-Wrestlemania III mega-slump, it's amazing to see Jim Cornette coming off a week-long run of super house shows and just fire off angle after angle after angle for another run in four weeks. Great week.