The Name on the Marquee: Smoky Mountain Wrestling (6.18.1994)

-Originally aired June 18, 1994.

-We’re in Loudon, TN, thank God, with a more alert crowd than the morgue that the last few weeks of TV have been in.

-Your hosts are Bob Caudle & Les Thatcher. Tracy Smothers gets drawn for the TV Title match.

THRILLSEEKERS vs LARRY SANTO & CHRIS HAMRICK
–Chris Jericho starts with Hamrick while Well Dunn drops in unannounced to complain about all the cheating the Thrillseekers are doing. Lance Storm works Hamrick’s arm. Santo tags in and gets some offense with forearms. Storm shrugs it off and brings Jericho back in. Springboard moonsault by Jericho. He holds Hamrick in suplex position and Storm springboards into a bodypress for three. Thrillseekers get a big ovation and really look like bona fide stars in the ring for the first time since their debut.

-Thrillseekers are fed up with Well Dunn’s complaining. Chris Jericho has come up with a gimmick match based on his father’s experiences in pro hockey: a penalty box match.

-Rock & Roll Express have a big gift box for Tammy Fytch. They feel bad about the manure prank from last week and they want to make it up to her. As a show of good faith, they’re leaving the gift box there and walking away, and Tammy can come out any time she wants to collect it.

-Tammy comes out with Chris and Brian, and Brian as finally finished the transformation we knew was coming, as he now has dark red wet hair and a beard. Tammy inspects the box and doesn’t sense any danger. It’s not ticking or anything. She opens the lid, and out springs a woman who strangles and punches Tammy until she runs off. The Rock & Roll Express returns and introduces us to Bambi, one of the top female wrestlers in the world, and issue a challenge for a six-person mixed tag match.
We go back to Jake Roberts DDTing the Dirty White Girl. Weird post-production issue: every time we go to pre-recorded footage, there’s a visible glitch on the screen, like Beavis & Butthead are changing the channel, and I don’t think it’s intentional.

-Dirty White Boy is in an open field where he goes whenever he needs to think. He’s been spending a lot of time in that field lately. DWB cuts another awesome promo, describing the hunt for a snake in his yard. He’s decided that if he wants to hurt a snake, he needs to start acting like one.

-Bob Caudle is live in the arena with Jake. Jake is wearing a bandana and says that DWB can’t play the Snake’s game when Jake keeps changing the rules. Case in point, Jake removes his bandana to reveal he’s now completely bald. THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING. The crowd audibly gasps at the sight of all the apple carts that have been upset by the fact that barbers apparently exist, and Jake celebrates the clear edge that he has by being completely bald. (Jake lost a hair vs. hair match in Mexico.)

JAKE “The Snake” ROBERTS (SMW Heavyweight Champion) vs. JAMES ADKINS
-Arm wringers are traded. Jake just boots him down and connects with the short clothesline, so he’s in a hurry this week. DDT finishes. Jake calls for somebody to come to the ring after the bell. Kendo the Samurai comes to the ring with the bag containing Jake’s snake. Kendo refuses to hand it over, which has Jake a bit confused. Dirty White Boy shows up, smiles, and puts an arm around Kendo. Jake is so confused that he runs back to the locker room, where he finds Kendo trapped in a locker.

-It turns into a brawl with Jake, DWB, and the two Kendos going at it. DWB and “Good Kendo” clear the ring.

-Armstrong’s Army is here, and they have an advantage over the Funks; Armstrongs care more about family pride than they do about money.

-Summerblast ’94 tour, coming to an arena near you all through the month of July!

-Rock & Roll Express & Bambi vs. Brian Lee, Chris Candido, & Tammy Fytch! Thrillseekers vs. Well Dunn in a penalty box match! And others! Check the local house show promos in your area for the exact card!

-Les Thatcher profiles “One Man Gang” Ronnie Garvin, who became a big star along with his brothers Jim & Terry. He also once threw a title belt off the Gay Street Bridge. But more importantly, he beat Ric Flair for the NWA Title (which tanked the company) and we get rare footage of Garvin’s big win. The Mongolian Stomper will also be at Night of the Legends, which is promoted with footage of Stomper absolutely mauling a young Sterling Golden before he became Hulk Hogan. Jim White will be there too!

-Terry Funk calls the Armstrongs cowards who prevent higher education from taking effect in Tennessee. What a random accusation.

-Corny calls Bob Armstrong a corrupt politician, and says Bruiser schooled him about how unions are used in Detroit to protect the working man from corrupt politicians. Cornette excitedly announces that he and Bruiser are forming the first union ever in professional wrestling, and looks right into the camera and says, “That’s right, Wade!” FITE: Federation of International Thugs and Eliminators is now up and running. Cornette introduces us to the first member of the union, Killer Kyle, who has a new look, dressed like a prison inmate.

BEAT THE CHAMP TV TITLE: KENDO THE SAMURAI (Champion) vs. TRACY SMOTHERS
-Worth noting: Darryl Van Horne is missing for the fourth straight week, after we were told last week that for sure he would be here. This ended up making for a funny segment of Cornette’s podcast when James Mitchell was a guest, and Cornette admitted that he flat-out couldn’t remember why he fired Mitchell. News of the death of SMW was printed prematurely, which caused Cornette to lose a new station and potentially a new market for house shows, and in the midst of that, Mitchell, by his own admission, went on a bit of a binge and drunk dialed a bunch of the wrong people to tell them that SMW was shutting down, and Cornette booted him to the curb.

-Kendo connects with kicks and chops. I want to say they’ve switched Kendos because he looks slimmer and moves more fluidly than he did before. Smothers sends him out to the floor. Back in, a belly-to-belly by Tracy gets two. Awkward edit takes us to Kendo slamming Tracy into position, but missing a somersault from the top rope. Three-point stance by Tracy gets two. Double shoulderblock wipes out both men, with Kendo being hit so hard that he falls out of the ring. “Good Kendo” comes to ringside and slides into the ring. Smothers catches the switch and gently rolls up Good Kendo in a cradle, and the referee, missing the switch, counts three, and Tracy Smothers is your new TV Champion.

7.0

The final score: review Good

The 411

The subtle reinvention of Dirty White Boy is a pretty neat angle, with him basically becoming babyface Jake and giving them mirror personalities. Rather than just straight-up "I want revenge" and that's it (not that there's anything wrong with a guy just wanting revenge), they've created this neat journey with DWB actively planning and thinking this through and taking us along for the journey. Good story!