The Name on the Marquee: Smoky Mountain Wrestling (2.18.1995)

-Originally aired February 18, 1995.

-NEW OPENING! And kind of a shame that the promotion is in its final year because the new opening is incredibly catchy, a Hank Williams “Monday Night Football”-style theme along with a pretty slickly edited montage of stars who, brace yourself, are currently competing in SMW.

-Your hosts are Jim Ross and Les Thatcher.

-And here’s a promise kept! The tape machines were in fact kept rolling for Robert Gibson vs. Unabom. Eddie Gilbert trips Gibson from the floor, which brings out Ricky Morton with a folding chair. Morton whacks Unabom across the face with the chair twice and no-sells it completely.

-Back to JR, who announces that Eddie Gilbert got into an incident with SMW official Ron West and as a result, he’s been fired from SMW. (According to Cornette, there’s really not much more to the story than “Eddie lasted one taping and then bailed”).

-The Rock & Roll Express knows that it gnaws at Unabom that a giant like him couldn’t beat a little guy like Ricky. Unabom is beatable and they know it.

VACANT BEAT THE CHAMP TV TITLE: BOO BRADLEY vs WOLFMAN
-They have a new ring this week, too. Boo’s new deal as a baby face is that he has a big white teddy bear. Crowd’s really hot for him too.

-Boo misses an elbow and Wolfman goes to work with a nerve hold. Chris Candido is on commentary but denies he’s scouting Wolfman because he already taught Wolfman everything. Boo comes back quickly and splashes Wolfman from the top rope to win the TV Title.

-Chris Candido isn’t worried about Boo Bradley, or eating dog food, or being chained to his opponent, because he figures that if he can’t fight a big fat slob like Boo, he might as well not even be in SMW. JR latches onto that and asks if he really means it. Candido insists that, as a friend of Dennis Corraluzzo, he’s a man of his word and says that he would be willing to agree to a loser-leaves-SMW match if he thought Boo would agree to it, too, but he doesn’t think Boo would be willing to do it. JR promises to track down Boo later in the hour.

-A Jerry Lawler vintage highlight reel.

-Dirty White Boy is in a duster and cowboy hat, riding a horse through the fields of Tennessee because it helps him clear his head. Jerry Lawler and Buddy Landell made DWB look bad close to his own hometown. He’s gonna rip somebody’s head off and get his belt back real soon.

CONFRONTATION WITH JIM ROSS
-JR’s guest is Buddy Landell. Somewhere along the way we lost the thread of this segment, which was supposed to be two guys doing dueling promos and agreeing not to come into physical contact.

-Buddy is here wearing his most expensive suit for a pre-victory celebration because he already knows he’s going to win the SMW Title at the end of the month. Also, Dirty White Boy was riding a mule around, not a horse, becajse he marries horses. Dirty White Girl’s been ridden by more cowboys than Trigger…and that brings out DWB, who strangles Buddy with his own necktie and rips the suit off.

-Da Gangstas are here and they don’t care who they get stuck with as a guest referee. They’re gonna fly a big X flag for every redneck city in the South real soon, I guess because if there’s one thing the deep south won’t stand for, it’s flags with X-shaped designs on them.

“Simply Sensational” AL SNOW vs GEORGE SOUTH
-Snow’s gimmick is just that he considers himself a great technical wrestler. Single leg takedown by Snow, and instead of capitalizing, he demands praise for how good the takedown looked. South recovers and capitalizes, but runs into a boot, and a slingshot splash finishes. Commentators dub the finish a “Simply Sensational Dive.”

-Al insists that he’s good at giving interviews, in addition to wrestling. He introduces his good friend Unabom and announces that he and Unabom are forming a tag team. Al wraps up by announcing, “I’m going back to have some sex!” JR scowls and wraps up the segment by just muttering, “Sex.”

BRAWL IN THE HALL! SATURDAY NIGHT, FEBRUARY 25TH!
Street fight: Gangstas vs. Heavenly Bodies
-SMW Title: Dirty White Boy vs. King Jerry Lawler
-SMW Tag Team Titles: Rock ‘N Roll Express vs. Al Snow & Unabom
-Bob Armstrong, Scott Armstrong, & Tracy Smothers vs. All three Gangstas
-Chris Candido vs. Boo Bradley, loser eats dog food
-Jim Cornette runs down Da Gangstas, calling New Jack “Aunt Jemimia” and introducing the guest referee at Sunday Bloody Sunday…Bob Armstrong. Da Gangstas try to storm the ring for an attack, but Cornette has his racquet and Bob Armstrong has the baseball bat, and Da Gangstas are hestitant to get in. Southern Boys storm the ring for reinforcement, and Da Gangstas retreat.

SUNDAY BLOODY SUNDAY 2! SUNDAY NIGHT, FEBRUARY 26TH!
-Heavenly Bodies & Jim Cornette vs. all three Gangstas, guest referee Bob Armstrong
-SMW Title: Dirty White Boy vs. Jerry Lawler, winner meets Buddy Landell immediately afterward
-Rock & Roll Express vs. Al Snow & Unabom
-Gangstas vs. Southern Boys
-Dog Collar Chain Match, Chris Candido vs. Boo Bradley

NEW SOUTHERN BOYS vs INFERNOS
-Scott Armstrong hiptosses Fire. Brimstone tags in and takes a dropkick. Fire and Brimstone are such great names for a tag team that I feel kind of bad that Cornette wasted it for a pair of jobbers.

-Superkick by Armstrong nearly gets the win, but Brimstone breaks the pin. Armstrong dropkicks him out of the ring, and Smothers finishes with the jawjack. Da Gangstas murder everybody with nightsticks after the bell, but Cornette & Armstrong storm the ring together, weapons in hand, to make the save.

5.9

The final score: review Not So Good

The 411

I hate to say it, but the thinness of the roster is becoming noticeable at this point, with Candido/Bradley and Armstrong/Cornette/Da Gangstas carrying so much of the show, and they're about to lose Candido, which doesn't help. I still enjoyed it, but the "borrowed time" element is becoming noticeable.