wrestling / Video Reviews
The Name on the Marquee: Smoky Mountain Wrestling (8.4.1995)
Loading...-Welcome to the beginning of the end. Here’s where we are with SMW in August 1995…
-Jim Cornette is about to lose his backer. Cornette set up shop in late 1991 with financing from Rick Rubin, who gave Cornette a four-year deadline to show signs of turning a profit or else Rubin would stop financing him. I cannot imagine any shittier luck for a wrestling promoter than doing business with a money mark who turns out to actually have business acumen, but that’s exactly what happened to Jim Cornette. At the same time, the sweet contract that Bill Watts stealthily signed him to right before leaving WCW was about to run out and that obviously wasn’t going to get renewed. Cornette thought he had an easy band-aid by going to Vince McMahon backstage during a WWF TV taping and saying, “Aww, gee, I’m worried I’m going to close up shop.” 1995 was a shitty year for Vince McMahon too, though, so Vince’s response to that was “Let me know if you do shut down SMW, and we’ll give you a spot on creative.”
-1995 was a really, really bad year for SMW anyway. Da Gangstas actually did demonstrable harm to the business, as fans seriously turned off SMW and never turned it back on due to how squeamish the whole gimmick made them. Also, getting into bed with the WWF did them a lot of harm in the long run (and Cornette basically admitted so when he started that relationship in 1993, saying it was a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation for him). But Cornette’s attempt to boost houses with special guest appearances by WWF wrestlers led to a chunk of the SMW fan base deciding that they would ONLY come when WWF stars were in town. And with wrestlers like Chris Candido very visibly moving on to the WWF, SMW developed a reputation that Jim Cornette never wanted, it became known as a feeder system for the WWF.
-Jim Cornette also arguably was doing himself no favors with ticket pricing. I was not aware of this until a good friend of mine from Tennessee, and a very loyal attendee of the SMW house shows, told me about this, but I’m quoting now: “The ticket prices were always eight dollars. ALWAYS. If it was a TV taping, or a spot show, or those huge monthly shows in Knoxville that all the TV angles would build toward, it was an eight dollar ticket. You can’t do that! You have to charge more than that for the big Knoxville house shows!”
-So, like he did in 1994, Cornette spent the summer preparing for a Hail Mary Pass and organizing a monster house show with stars from multiple organizations. It drew 5,000, so in one sense it worked, but in another sense, it just hammered home the fact that there were 5,000 people in Knoxville that could totally attend a house show any time, but they’re only choosing to come to the one this month and not the one next month. After this, Knoxville house show attendance went back down to the usual 1,500 or so.
-Kind of a downer start to this review, but that’s where we are with tonight’s spectacular. This is absolutely the “writing on the wall” point for SMW and we’re in the home stretch with this company now.
-It’s August 4, 1995.
-Your hosts are Chip Kessler & Les Thatcher.
COMET CHRIS MICHAELS & FLASH FLANAGAN vs HEADBANGERS
-“Hey, that’s not the Steiner Brothers!” you might be thinking after all the hype for this show. Apparently money wasn’t QUITE resolved yet when Cornette began advertising them, and the negotiations fell through at the last minute. And the crowd boos the shit out of the replacements for being not-the-Steiners, although the commentators have taken the “do not acknowledge the substitution at all” approach.
-Headbangers attack from behind, but the cannon fodder clears the ring with double dropkicks. Crowd pops for a little old lady who tries to pull off Thrasher’s skirt. Back in, Thrasher’s frustrated. He throws chops and monkeyflips Flanagan, but Flanagan lands on his feet and ties up Thrasher for some double-teaming to work the arm.
-Thrasher rakes the eyes and tags in Mosh. Mosh gets armdragged again and again. Flanagan works the leg with a stepover toehold, but Mosh kicks him into a big boot from Thrasher on the apron in a nice simple spot. Great top rope clothesline by Thrasher, followed by a big powerslam. Flanagan gets sent out to the floor and Mosh springboards himself over the top with a clothesline on the apron, which gets a big “oooooh” from Knoxville.
-Double Gourdbuster by the Headbangers, and I have the most amazing epiphany that “Gourdbuster” is synonymous with “Headbanger” as I type that. Flanagan turns an attempted backdrop into a cradle for two. False tag spot leads to Flanagan getting a ringpost in the nuts. Turnabout’s fair play so Flanagan goes low himself and Thrasher gets the hell out. Corner splash and a legdrop by Mosh gets two.
-Chinlock clamped on my Mosh, but Flanagan elbows free and goes to the ropes instead of tagging, so he now officially deserves to lose. Mosh catches him in a side slam. Flanagan makes a hot tag at long last and Michaels gets a BEAUTIFUL Frankensteiner on Mosh, I guess as an apology to the fans. An attempted second one goes badly and the fans suddenly turn on him. We have a pier sixer and the Bangers get the stage dive to finish. 1 for 1. Long squash, but the replacements timed their comebacks well and they had some good spots, so bless ‘em for trying in a bad situation.
USWA TAG TEAM TITLE: PG-13 (Champions, with USWA Vice President Randy Hales) vs JACKIE FULTON & “U.S. Male” CURTIS THOMPSON
-Thompson, the former Firebreaker Chip, is a wrestling mailman, so “wrestlers with day jobs” wasn’t strictly a WWF thing in the mid-90s. He’s also another substitution on tonight’s card, filling in for one of the Armstrongs, I forget which one. Let’s say Skippy. Skippy Armstrong.
-Thompson starts wth JC Ice. Curtis overpowers him on the lock-up and starts working the arm. Ice manages to back him into the corner, but Curtis works his way to the top rope after an Irish whip and takes his head off with a clothesline. Faces clear the ring. Sir Wolfie D heads in and we have some clowning and stalling before Fulton comes in and works the arm. Dropkicks and armdrags clear the ring again.
-JC Ice tries his luck and goes to work with right hands, but Fulton connects with a clothesline and whips Ice into is partner. JC tries to stall in the corner, but Fulton London bridges him into the middle of the ring. Thompson tags in and some well-timed distraction causes him to get knocked out to the floor. PG-13 takes turns attacking him on the floor while Fulton chases the other one around. Back in, PG-13 keeps suckering Fulton into trying to enter the ring while they keep ganging up on Thompson.
-Thompson counters a double team move by press-slamming JC Ice onto Wolfie D and making the hot tag. Jackie Fulton cleans house. A donnybrook breaks out, which is different from the pier sixer that we saw earlier. Randy Hales provides some distraction while Jackie Fulton gets a hubcap to the face, and PG-13 gets the pin to retain. 2 for 2. Good storytelling here, as PG-13 figured out a working strategy and straight-up outsmarted their opponents for most of the match.
BULLET BOB ARMSTRONG vs THE PUNISHER (with General Jim Cornette)
-Armstrong foolishly goes after Cornette and Punisher attacks from behind, hammering and choking him down. He dumps Armstrong out to the concrete and Cornette attacks with the tennis racquet while he has the opening. Back in, Armstrong tries a backdrop, but Punisher lands on his feet and mows down Armstrong with a clothesline. Kneedrop and a big right, and Armstrong gets dumped to the concrete again. Cornette tries another sneak attack, but this time, Armstrong gets the better of him until Punisher makes the save.
-Back in, backbreaker by Punisher, and he heads to the top rope. Legdrop misses. Armstrong is fighting for his life now and throws chops from every direction. He gets Punisher off his feet and stomps him. Al Snow comes to the ring to provide some more distraction. Brad Armstrong shows up as an equalizer and it’s chaos everywhere. Cornette comes into the ring and again it looks like Armstrong will get the better of him, so we get another rescue effort from Punisher. Punisher whacks him with a foreign object from behind, and that’s it. 2 for 3. See, if this had been just a total squash for the “holy shit” factor of watching Armstrong get obliterated by the newcomer, that would have been awesome booking. But instead the new guy needed a run-in and a foreign object to defeat the part-time working old guy, which isn’t as effective to me.
MIDWEST TERRITORIAL WRESTLING TITLE: MARTY JANETTY (Champion) vs AL SNOW
-Snow stalls for a spell to start. Fireman’s carry takedown by Snow. Janetty responds with a hiptoss and mocks Snow with a strut. They trade arm wringers and trade counters and reversals. It turns into a slap fight and Janetty shoulderblocks him for a series of two-counts. Snow does likewise and we have a stand-off.
-Janetty armdrags Snow into an armbar. Janetty stays on the arm, going to a hammerlock. Snow elbows out but gets caught in another armdrag/armbar combo. Snow escapes but Janetty unleashes another series of armdrags. Snow gets free and both guys attempt superkicks. Janetty just shoves Snow on his ass and goes back to the armbar. Crowd’s starting to get restless now.
-Snow goes to the floor for a bit for a rest. Janetty meets him out there and punches him back in. Snow charges at him but Janetty just ducks and Snow basically backdrops himself. Marty goes back to the arm until Snow gets to the ropes. Snow demands a test of strength. Marty turns it into a pinning combo for two. Janetty finally gets the superkick and Snow goes tumbling out to the floor.
-Snow sneaks under the apron and the referee is so confused when he realizes he can’t see the man that he stops counting, so Snow buys himself some extra rest. Snow emerges from the other side and starts attacking the midsection but Janetty clotheslines him down. Backslide by Janetty gets two. Sunset flip by Janetty gets another two. Janetty goes back to the arm. Snow escapes and hits a backbreaker to finally get a real edge for the first time in the match.
-Snow baseball slides him out to the floor and springboard topes himself on top. He sends Janetty into the barricade and leaves him lying out there. Marty makes it back in, and Snow slams him into position for a springboard moonsault for two. Snow puts the boots to him. Rear chinlock by Snow. Janetty get free and comes back with a Frankensteiner for two. Snow bounces back with a clothesline and we get the patented Marty Janetty bump from it. Snow works the neck as Les Thatcher whips out “rest hold” on commentary, commending Snow for using maneuvers that hurt his opponent while giving himself a breather.
-Springboard legdrop by Snow misses. Clothesline by Janetty. Both men crash on simultaneous dropkicks Snow manages to slingshot Janetty into the turnbuckles and then heads to the top rope. Frogsplash misses. DDT by Janetty almost finishes but Snow gets a foot on the ropes. Attempted superkicks are blocked by each man, and they wipe each other out with a double clothesline. Crucifix by Janetty gets two. Snow rolls him up but Janetty kicks out hard enough that Snow ends up on the concrete. PAINFUL-looking spot as Janetty planchas out there and there’s not enough room to fall, so Snow’s back goes right into the timekeeper’s table. Shit, dude.
-Back in, Janetty dropkicks Snow for two. Janetty comes off the ropes but Snow meets him with a spinebuster for two. Snow goes for a powerbomb, but Janetty tumbles behind him and turns it into a sunset flip for two. Janetty comes off the top with a bodypress, but Snow rolls throw and cradles him with a handful of tights to get the three-count and capture the Midwest Title. Whew. 3 for 4. I need a cigarette. Great blend of old school and new school action. Neat bonus after the match, as this is an unedited master, and you hear Chip and Les discussing the reaction afterward. Chip’s disappointed because the crowd didn’t sound all that into it, and Les replies, “Well, no, they didn’t sound like they appreciated it, but I didn’t see anyone leaving their seats for concessions, either.”
NWA TITLE: DAN SEVERN (Champion) vs BOBBY BLAZE
-Bobby Blaze, last seen holding the SMW TV Championship that they abandoned back in May, has already pulled off one miracle by winning the SMW Heavyweight Title in a fluke earlier in the year, so the build for this match was “Does Bobby have another miracle in him?”
-They go straight to the mat. Severn targets the legs and Blaze tries to fight him off with elbows. Severn completely ties him up in a chokehold. Great bit from Severn, as he has it locked in the center of the ring and Severn just drags himself and Blaze over to the ropes and grabs a rope in full view of the referee, just to be a dick. Somebody copy that spot, it was pretty funny.
-Blaze tries throwing kicks and manages to get Severn onto the floor for a half crab. German suplex by Blaze. Overhead suplex by Blaze as he’s unleashing everything he can in one fast flurry because that’s all you can do with Severn. Blaze charges at him with a clothesline, but Severn just grabs onto the arm and clamps on the armbar until Blaze makes pro wrestling history by tapping out, and Severn retains. 4 for 5. Pretty good for as short as it was.
BOO BRADLEY & MONGOLIAN STOMPER vs TERRY GORDY & TOMMY RICH
-Boo and the Stomper charge the ring and attack. Fight spills out to the floor and they continue the assault. Heels basically try to retreat into the ring, which ends poorly. We finally get it down to Boo and Rich. Boo is thankfully back to the Cactus Jack tights. They have a big rip in the knee, which may be why he stopped wearing them, but I guess it finally dawned on him that ripped tights made sense for the character anyway.
-Rich pulls out a foreign object, but in danger of getting caught he passes it to Gordy. Gordy tags in and hammers down the Stomper, but Stomper just gets pissed off. Boo comes in and uses a rope to choke Gordy, but he gets caught and the referee takes that weapon. Boo rams Gordy into the turnbuckles ten times. Fight goes out to the floor while Stomper and Rich have a stand-off in the ring. Bradley gets whipped into the barricade.
-Back in, Rich clotheslines Boo and Gordy whips him back and forth. Rich elbows Bradley down and goes to the top rope, but Boo recovers in time to slam him off. Gordy tags in quickly to block the comeback, but Bradley rams him into the turnbuckles ten times since that worked before. Gordy tries a powerbomb, but Bradley backdrops out. Referee gets distracted and we get the false tag spot. Bradley misses a corner charge and Rich sneaks in without a tag and pins him. Really underwhelming, as the whole match was building up to “Stomper gets the hot tag and murders everyone” and instead we basically get “heels cheat to win, but Boo was pretty much on track to lose anyway.” 4 for 6.
USWA TITLE: BILLY JACK HAYNES (Champion) vs BRAD ARMSTRONG
-Haynes doesn’t have entrance music because “entrance music is for sissies.” I’m surprised at how weird Haynes looks walking to the ring when he’s not wearing that hat.
-Haynes overpowers Armstrong and locks on a side headlock. Hard shoulderblock by Haynes, and he gets on the house mic and says everyone should be ashamed if this is the best wrestler that SMW has. Armstrong gets fired up and unleashes a torrent of dropkicks and Haynes is so dazed he just falls out of the ring. Now Armstrong demands the mic and declares “That’s how we do things in the Smoky Mountains!”
-Haynes comes back in and throws punches. Brad charges and misses, and Haynes follows with a vicious-looking German suplex. Stun gun by Haynes. Short clothesline, and Haynes takes a break to give himself a round of applause since the fans won’t. A legdrop by Billy Jack gets two. He throws Armstrong out to the concrete, and that’s happening so much tonight you’d swear they’re taping this for the Superstation.
-Armstrong tries to sunset flip his way back in but Haynes blocks it. Armstrong gets a second wind and connects with a dropkick for two. Kneelift gets two more. Headbutt gets another two. Haynes tries to get himself DQed by throwing Armstrong over the top rope, but Armstrong skins the cat and surprises Haynes with a Russian legsweep for three to take the USWA Title. Nothing special but it was fine. 5 for 7.
THE UNDERTAKER (with Paul Bearer) vs UNABOM (with Al Snow)
-This match is doubly exciting knowing that this is the only time these two will ever meet in the ring and it won’t end up becoming some feud that gets totally beaten into the ground. Taker surprises me by flinging his hat into the crowd before the match. Billy Jack Haynes surprises me by coming out, grabbing the hat, and muttering “I’ve been looking everywhere for this thing.”
-Taker blocks a punch and throws a few of his own. Taker goes old school and then chokes Unabom in the corner. Unabom comes to life with a suplex, but it just leads to a zombie sit-up. Unabom clotheslines him out to the floor but Taker lands on his feet and gives Unabom a stunner over the top rope. He takes a free shot at Al Snow and then heads back in. Unabom takes control and puts the boots to him. Baseball slide sends him to the floor and Snow attacks. Paul Bearer flings his coat off to do something about it and Snow runs away, looking terrified of Bearer.
-Taker tries to re-enter the ring but Unabom keeps blocking it and knocking him back out to the floor. They brawl on the floor, with Taker going into the post and the table, and things are looking…grim.
-Unabom with a legdrop from the top rope as Paul starts cheerleading a “rest in peace” chant. Chinlock by Unabom which looks like it might be an illegal choke, but Unabom, as a libertarian, doesn’t believe in a strong central governing body for professional wrestling and uses the illegal choke because he feels that it’s up to the individual to determine what wrestling moves work best for their lives.
-The chinlock continues as both men have gotten extremely comfortable on the mat at this point. Taker finally breaks the hold and Unabom whips him into the corner, but meets the big boot. Taker whips him and connects with a corner splash. Taker goes for a backdrop, Unabom turns it into a powerbomb after several terrifying seconds of looking like he was about to drop taker straight on his head.
-Taker sits up after the impact and chokeslams Unabom. Tombstone wraps it up for the deadman. The everlasting chinlock lost me. 5 for 8.
SAD TROMBONE MATCH: THE THUGS vs THE ROCK & ROLL EXPRESS
-So here comes a worst-case scenario in every possible sense, after what had been building up as a pretty promising hot feud after only a few weeks of TV to hype it.
-On the evening of July 21, after a house show, a handful of SMW wrestlers went to a club. Ricky Morton and his girlfriend Andrea got into an argument. Andrea began hitting Ricky and he wouldn’t hit back. Tracy Smothers walked over and tried to calm things down, but Andrea began attacking Tracy for no reason, which led to Tracy’s girlfriend getting into a fight with Andrea. Andrea filed assault charges, claiming that she was attacked by Tracy and his girlfriend, although there were a ton of witnesses and everyone agreed that Tracy didn’t do anything. The following day, Tracy and his girlfriend turned themselves in, hoping to make this all go away as fast as possible.
-Well, it didn’t go away. Ricky no-showed the next night’s house show. The night after that, Ricky showed up and promptly got into a locker room brawl with Tracy. It gets worse. Tracy Smothers’ arrest for assaulting a woman (which, again, every witness in the room agreed he didn’t do) made the local news and it looked really bad because Tracy had just been through a nasty custody battle with his ex-wife. Cornette and Randy Hales (since the Rock & Roll Express were also working for USWA at this point) both reached out to Ricky Morton and basically told him that if he and Andrea dropped the charges and forgot about the whole thing, he could keep his job. Ricky, suffering from an acute case of Pussy Blindness, sided with his girlfriend and got fired from both promotions.
-So, the Thugs make their way to the ring…and then out comes Robert Gibson, clearly not dressed to wrestle and accompanied by Commissioner Bob Armstrong. And now a tough spot for the figurehead commissioner, who now has to carry out a very real and unpleasant responsibility. Armstrong reads a very carefully written statement acknowledging what’s happened (and what’s funny is that the timing of all this shit going down is so perfect, in a way, that a good chunk of the crowd believes it’s an angle and pops when Armstrong acknowledges the nightclub incident). Armstrong says that it is the opinion that the charges filed against Smothers are exaggerated and false. He also says that Morton will not return the tag team title belt he left with (why did he even have it???), and that Morton is threatening to sue everyone in the company. However, due to the threat of lawsuit, the theft of SMW property, and failure to appear for a scheduled match, SMW has fired Ricky Morton.
-Gibson tries to turn into the skid here by acknowledging that this feud with the Thugs has gone too far, but Gibson quotes his partner as saying “You can stick the Rock & Roll Express up your ass.” They close the book on the now un-blow-off-able feud with Gibson shaking hands with Smothers, and everyone’s happy.
-Aaaaaaaaand here comes General Jim Cornette, who says that this stuff in the ring is the greatest episode of “The Ricki Lake Show” of all time. Cornette says that they’ve advertised a tag team title match, and the Thugs claim to be fighting champions anyway, so Cornette asks if the Thugs want to have a title match. The Thugs agree to defend against whoever Cornette has back there. So…
SMW TAG TEAM TITLES: THE THUGS (Champions) vs HEAVENLY BODIES (with General Jim Cornette)
-Funny half-assed plot hole covering by the commentators, as they’re all like, “Oh, yeah, they were barred for life, but we heard a rumor earlier that Bob Armstrong was letting them come back.” Tom Prichard’s perspective of this whole thing is interesting, as Vince McMahon told the Bodies to go down to SMW for a few months and Prichard instantly figured out that it meant the promotion was dying, because the Heavenly Bodies story in SMW had a very definitive ending, and the fact that Cornette was having so much trouble hanging onto stars and building new talent that he needed the Heavenly Bodies back couldn’t possibly be a good sign.
-DWB gets Prichard on the mat and applies headscissors to start. Prichard wriggles free and shoulderblocks him down. DWB with a hiptoss and a clothesline. Prichard gets pinballed by the Thugs and DWB clears both Bodies from the ring. Smothers tags in and he has a nice sequence with Prichard, trading legsweeps until Prichard gets frustrated and just gives up on what he’s trying to do.
-Jimmy Del Ray tags in and Smothers snapmares him into a side headlock. Thugs double-team Del Ray for two. DWB works the arm but Del Ray punches out. Attempted Bucksnort blaster is stopped with a top rope axehandle. Prichard chops away and a fist fight breaks out. Attempted double backdrop by the Bodies is turned into a double DDT by DWB. Hot tag to Smothers, who cleans house. Prichard stops an attempted jawjack by crotching Smothers on the top rope, then bringing him down to the floor and ramming him into the post.
-Smothers is busted open. Back in the ring, Del Ray targets the forehead with elbows and right hands. Prichard attacks the wound too. Atomic drop/legdrop combo by the Bodies gets two. Chinlock is applied, but Smothers fights it. Superkick by Del Ray gets two, as that move is just going to lose ALL meaning by the time Shawn Michaels does it. Smothers ends up on the concrete and it’s a 3-on-1 attack. Back in, Del Ray goes for the moonsault and crashes. Hot tag to DWB and he cleans house. All four men are in the ring and it’s Katy-Bar-the-Door, which is different from the pier sixer we saw earlier AND the donnybrook that we also saw earlier.
-Prichard is suddenly a bloody mess too. Del Ray winds up dumped on the floor as DWB rams Prichard’s face into the turnbuckles literally about 30 times. Prichard ends up on the floor too. DWB backdrops him onto the timekeeper’s table. Crazy spot follows as Smothers piledrives Prichard on the table and they both go straight through a hole onto the concrete. DWB finishes off Del Ray in the ring, but Mark Curtis is freaking out over the two guys that just did a piledriver through a table and he’s totally distracted, so General Cornette comes in with his old favorite, a towel soaked in ether, and puts DWB out for the pin by Del Ray. Heavenly Bodies, surprise challengers, are instant Tag Team Champions. GREAT action from bell to bell. 6 for 9.
-Ring announcer makes the most badass announcement ever, declaring that “We need to hold on for a few minutes and clean the blood off the camera lenses.” INDREDIBLE camera shot follows, with a close-up of a turnbuckle that used to be yellow but now has a layer of Tom Prichard’s blood covering it.
WWF INTERCONTINENTAL TITLE: SHAWN MICHAELS (Champion) vs BUDDY LANDELL (with General Jim Cornette)
-Crowd is about 50/50 for this one and the commentators are babyfacing the crap out of Buddy, reminding us of his battle with alcohol and saying that Buddy surprised everyone by making it known before the show that he asked Cornette not to interfere.
-Michaels fakes him out on the handshake and slaps Buddy across the face. Buddy responds with fists. Shawn tries to finish with the superkick right away, but Buddy just ducks out to the floor and avoids it. Back in, Shawn applies a side headlock. Landell fights free but ends up on the wrong side of a rana.
-Buddy decides to just start over again and they lock up. Shawn gets the highest hiptoss I’ve ever seen on Buddy. Buddy throws punches, but Shawn shakes them off and rams Buddy into the turnbuckles. Buddy finally tries working the arm and actually manages to get Shawn on the mat. Shawn just kinda springs up after a while, so Buddy yanks his hair. Shawn springs back up again and whips Buddy, but goes shoulder first into the post on an attempted corner charge.
-Buddy stays aggressive with kicks and punches, but Shawn just punches right back because God forbid Buddy get more than 40 seconds on offense at a time. Landell dumps Shawn out to the floor but Shawn ducks his punch and Buddy punches the post. Back in, Shawn punches and headbutts Buddy. Forearm off the ropes by Shawn, followed by a slam. Shawn goes to the top rope and connects with the flying elbow for two.
-They trade roll-ups for a series of two-counts. Atomic drop by Buddy, but the referee gets wiped out. Cornette tries to take advantage, but Shawn just knocks him out of the ring. Buddy sneaks up with a DDT, and an elbow right when the referee revives gets a one, and a two, and…Mark Curtis notices the tennis racquet that Cornette dropped. He and Buddy argue about it, as Buddy tells him, quite truthfully, that he never used it, and Shawn just sneaks up and takes Buddy out with a superkick to pin and retain the gold. 6 for 10. I didn’t like this math, and it’s completely on HBK. Shawn was too insecure to let Buddy look like a threat and it wrecked the match. Buddy didn’t look like a guy manning up for his last chance at a world championship. He just looked like a jobber having a slightly better than average night.
-Buddy and Cornette argue as the Militia shows up to attack Shawn. Brad Armstrong shows up and helps Shawn clear the ring while Buddy just stands in the corner and watches the other Militia members get their ass kicked, and he leaves looking disgusted.
