GSR

I would have to get my copies out of the Observer to be 100% certain, but as someone who keeps a record of WWF/E results (and does it differently to Cawthon's site) am pretty positive there is no mention of a try out match involving him at all in the '87 issues.

Really enjoyed the first part of this so looking forward to starting on this one. I was following Kris' updates on twitter about how long it was going, so glad that this has been uploaded in two separate parts as opposed to one almighty 8 1/2 hour job!

There are better British wrestlers than him who didn't garner one vote and there are better British wrestlers than him who didn't even get nominated.

Jericho says that he broke his arm in a motorcycle accident just prior to the Night of Legends and the doctors have said that he can’t wrestle for six to eight weeks. That night they had a point to prove to Jim Cornette, to the Heavenly Bodies, to the fans and to themselves, that they had the guts and fortitude to come out on top, and they did, but by wrestling with a broken arm he’s paying for it now. Lance says that he will be wrestling in singles action for now until his partner is healthy again. And so ends The Thrillseekers time in Smoky Mountain Wrestling. Considering the hype and push they got they have to be seen as a huge failure, although it would have been interesting to see where they would’ve headed had Jericho not got injured. My best guess is a prolonged feud with the Bodies while the The Gangstas are feuding with Rock & Roll Express, and once that was over they would have transitioned to The Gangstas before defeating them for the titles.

New Jack says that the TV stations are trying to censor him, while those Negros down at the NAACP don’t like him. They wish they were water melon eating, chicken eating, chicken bone sucking black folk, but that isn’t New Jack, he’s from the street and he believes in getting things done. The Rock & Roll Express got a little taste of how bad the Gangstas are when they left Ricky Morton lying unconscious. They are going to see exactly what it’s like to have to deal with New Jack and Mustafa and they’re going to see how they deal with people down in the hood. If they want some, bring it on. The Gangstas are here to be had and they’re in the house!

Dory runs down the rules of the Texas death match (like he did previously for the Terry Funk vs The Bullet ‘Texas death’ match) and says that together they have never lost a ‘Texas death’ match and you will never see the Funk brothers quit or give up in one either. Terry is trying to reel off the names of the Armstrong’s but is struggling because there is so many of them. He finally remembers Brian and says that he is going to be on his knees begging for them to ‘leave his daddy alone’ and for the match to stop, but he’s not going to leave him alone because this is the match their father made famous. He had over 240 of them, never lost one and had a match against ‘Iron’ Mike Dibiase that went four and a half hours, where he received 36 stitches in his head and the police had to be called in to stop it. Dibiase received 40-50 stitches, he went to the hospital and didn’t get out of there for weeks while his father was up and dancing the very next day! There is one thing that a Funk has that an Armstrong or a Dibiase doesn’t, and that’s a heart. They may not be the world’s greatest wrestlers, but they’ve got more guts and pride and the Armstrong’s are going to see their daddy stay down for a lifetime as the gravedigger is coming!

Not to be offensive, but wasn't the whole Sweeney issue that he didn't have "his head on straight"? And that he wasn't taking his meds? Dave clearly had a major brain freeze, as he forgot his cause of death. I really put a lot of blame for Dave's insensitivity on Jim Ross not doing his homework and having a well-known agenda. I don't think Dave would have been quite so blasé about Sweeney's mental health issues if Ross had reminded him that he had committed suicide by hanging himself and had long suffered from bipolar disorder. See that's given that obsessive Les Moore plenty of ammunition for his 'Talking Shit' podcast. I swear Dave could say the sky was blue and he'd argue that it wasn't.

There is a difference though, since reporting on the others is reporting on a wrestling company, while LU is reporting on a tv show. They don't do houseshows or live shows or anything, it's all canned taped stuff. Its wrestling. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter has always covered it. There is no difference. I don't really care, I don't have a sub. Him chastising anyone for caring is silly though. Helps to subscribe or be familiar with it before getting mixed up in the discussion. I follow him on twitter. I've got to stop, ti's the worst. It's just him making fun of people. Can hardly blame him the amount of grief and nonsense he receives on there.

I don't give star ratings but here is what I wrote about this. I'm not going to even attempt to call this as there was so much going on, but this was a fantastic, technical match between the two. Lots of chain wrestling, unique reversals and Sarjeant demonstrating his flexibility on a number of occasions. There is a wonderful escape and counter escape from a Japanese stranglehold, firstly by Sarjeant and then by Thomson who turns it into an armlock in his advantage, whilst there is an amazing sequence in the third round that sees Thomson have a Boston Crab on Sarjeant who escapes in a way that needs to be seen, going over on his face to turn it into a pin attempt. The finish comes as Sarjeant attempts to backflip his way out of a side headlock, something that he had done on two previous instances (it's to avoid any potential follow up) but he doesn't execute it properly with being so close to the ropes and takes a bad landing hurting his neck and the bout is stopped. The St John's Ambulance folk show up and Thomson helps carry Sarjeant to the back after refusing to accept the victory that could have been his by TKO (Jim Breaks wouldn't be happy!). I found this a total joy to watch between two technical wizards, it's just a shame that we have so little footage of either of them.

The Terry Gordy promo appears to be two interviews spliced together; firstly with Gordy talking over some AJPW footage and then him just sat at home. Fairly non-descript stuff as he just says he will get the SMW Heavyweight title and he doesnt care who he has to go through. The Dirty White Boy says that hes got some tough matches coming up, as on 8/5 in Knoxville hell be facing Terry Gordy and if hes lucky enough to beat him hell drive straight up to Johnson City to take on Dick Slater, while Jim Cornette has formed his Union and gone and got himself Conan Chris Walker. He didnt get the belt by laying down, he got it through blood, sweat, tears and beating people up, because thats what the Dirty White boy does and they all better get ready to do battle with him. Really not sure why these made the cut for the Yearbook at all? The Gordy promo is terrible and it's just a regulation, bog standard promo for the White Boy running through his upcoming matches. If the White Boy vs Gordy match from Night of Legends was included I could see having this, but as it isn't, it's just a bit of a headscratcher. Never knew Walker was ever in SMW until watching the TV shows and if this was put on purely for him being mentioned, a better bet would have been the end of the Battle Royal in Chilhowie, VA where he jumps the White Boy and you get some pretty funny commentary from Cornette narrating over things.

The Gangstas have their own security as they don't trust the police force and then proceed to squash Chris Hamrick & Anthony Michaels. The Gangstas interview and New Jack says that 30 years ago they would’ve been strung up getting hung in somebodies tree for beating two white boys like the way they just did. They don’t like being here as he was getting out of his car, slipped and fell in some tobacco spit; there’s nothing but rednecks, geeks, coal miners, chicken farmers and Klan’s men up here and he doesn’t like anyone but his partner. He doesn’t care who they line up in front of him as he is going to show them how bad New Jack and Mustafa are. Violence to some people may be putting the figure four on someone, to him violence is taking a can of gas, pouring it over them and then setting it on fire. He didn’t come up here to be liked, he came here to be paid and whoever they put in front of him he’s going to drop down. He’d like to send a special shout out to his homeboy O.J. Simpson, keep up the good work baby, two less they’ve got to worry about! Well this was something else! New Jack comes across as one seriously scary, dangerous man and you would have no trouble whatsoever believing he would pour gasoline over someone and then set them alight. Not too sure what to make about Mustafa on first viewing, it’s as though he is trying to act unhinged but it comes across a bit more comedic; not at all like the aura New Jack projects. The TV show needs a shot it the arm at the moment and all the help it can get and I think these two may very well be the men to do it.

First off we get a recap of The Thrillseekers pushing Jim Cornette’s face in a cake from last week and from here we see fan footage of The Thrillseekers arriving at the arena and getting jumped by Jim Cornette and two masked men. A woman was filming her children getting some autographs and their picture taken with Mark Curtis, when the Thrillseekers arrived at the arena soon followed by Cornette and the masked assailiants. The Thrillseekers say that Jim Cornette can deny it all he likes but they know it was the Heavenly Bodies that beat them up in the parking lot, and thanks to that fan’s videotape they’ve got proof. Storm says that Jericho took 18 stitches to the back of his head, while his face has looked better. The Heavenly Bodies may be great but they’re not rolling over for anybody. Jericho says that the Heavenly Bodies were banned from Smoky Mountain when they lost to the Rock & Roll Express at the Bluegrass Brawl and now they want to come back. They could take it to the courts and file a grievance but Jim Cornette would tie it up for weeks, months and years and that’s not how they want to decide this. The only thing they could think to do legally to get them back in the ring was talk to SMW, who in turn talked to the WWF, who in turn told the Heavenly Bodies that they have to come back to Smoky Mountain for a week. If a week’s all they’ve got that’s fine because they’re not going to forget what the Heavenly Bodies did to them and they made a big mistake when they jumped them from behind. Cornette claims that he’s getting accused of being responsible for things that he had nothing to do with. The Thrillseekers got attacked in the parking lot, that’s not his fault, it was two guys in masks that did it, but now they’re claiming that he was responsible for it and it was the Heavenly Bodies who were under those masks and thanks to some snoopy lady with a video camera trying to get autographs for her snot nosed kids they’ve got tape of it. It’s that kind of snoopiness in America today that got those fine upstandind Los Angeles police officers in hot water for trying to apprehend that convicted felon Rodney King! He claims that the videotape shows him trying to pull the masked guys off The Thrillseekers because he knew they couldn’t take it, but they just wouldn’t let it lie. They went to the promoters in SMW, they came to the WWF, and the result is that the WWF are not going to sign any matches for the Heavenly Bodies between the period of 8/5 and 8/13. They’re going to force the Heavenly Bodies under threat of a heavy fine to go back to Smoky Mountain Wrestling to meet The Thrillseekers so that they can get their revenge. They don’t want to do it in a court of law because they haven’t got any evidence, they want to do it in a wrestling ring. Cornette says that the ban hasn’t been lifted, but for one glorious week the Heavenly Bodies are back in SMW to teach The Thrillseekers a lesson. Despite how well this was done and explained, I can’t say I’m overly impressed with the Heavenly Bodies being back a little over four months after losing the ‘loser leaves SMW’ match to the Rock & Roll Express. Sadly just another example of Cornette not adhering to stipulations, although the straw that broke the camel’s back (Morton's hair vs Fytch's hair) is just around the corner now. Good stuff from Jericho in his promo and very Bill Wattsesque with them giving a plausible reason and logical reason for the attack on The Thrillseekers being caught on camera.

Grey would've easily been top 20 for me and the highest ranked WOS guy. I thought that no-one would surpass Breaks but the more I saw of Grey the more his stock rose. Hope those who checked out WOS purely for Breaks had a look at Grey too.

Armstrong & Smothers along with a mystery partner will be facing the Terry & Dory Funk Jr. & Bruiser Bedlam, with Jim Cornette in their corner, at the Night of Legends. Bob has some stipulations for this match, but as usual so does Cornette. He did wants a ‘coward waves the flag’ match, but Cornette said he wouldn’t do that unless they agreed to something in return. Les Thatcher says that they have a videotape from Jim Cornette and plays it so everyone can hear what he has to say. Cornette is sat in his Union headquarters and has finally got what he wanted as Bob Armstrong has resigned as Commissioner of SMW, and effective of 8/5 he’ll no longer be Commissioner as he wanted to get back in the ring and get his hands on his Union. He received some communication from Armstrong in the post that he wants to take Tracey Smother as his partner and face the Funks and Bruiser Bedlam. When he questions that would be 2 vs 3, they said how he wants a mystery partner to be his third person, so he started thinking that Armstrong must have something up his sleeve. The contracts arrived and ‘Bullet’ Bob wants it to be a ‘coward waves the flag’ match, but says that he wasn’t born yesterday and Jim Cornette has conditions on everything and Jim Cornette gets what he wants. He then put a clause in the contract and the only way he’ll agree to it is if there are two six man tag team matches and not just the one, because if Armstrong gets the kind of match that he wants, he also wants to get a match of his choosing, that’s the only way he’ll agree to things without knowing who their partner is. On 5/8 at the Night of Legends in Knoxville, TN it’s a ‘coward waves the flag’ match and he doesn’t know who they’ve got waving their flag, but he doesn’t care about his men’s health so he’s certainly not going to wave the flag because he doesn’t want to lose. The next night, 8/6 it’s Fire on the Mountain in Johnson City, TN and it’s going to be a ‘Texas death’ match; the Funk family invented it, there are no rules, you fight with everything you’ve got and the only way to win is to beat your opponent down so bad they can’t continue and they have to wave it off. This way he gets what he wants and Bob Armstrong gets what he wants, but he still wants to know who he’s turning the Commissionership over to and who this mystery partner is? Back in the studio and Thatcher wants to know who is going to be in their corner and waving the flag for them? Armstrong says he thought about who they needed and it turns out Tracey and he were thinking of the same person. Tracey says he’s the toughest, meanest man the Lord ever put on the earth and even if their arms were cut off he wouldn’t wave that flag. Bob says that his man has put knots on his head, scars on his face and is the meanest man to come out of the Smoky Mountains, Mr Ron Wright (who is looking rather dapper in his white tuxedo!). Ron says they can guarantee they’ve picked one of the meanest men in the world with the worst temper, and they better not get in that ring and think he’s going to wave the flag for any reason, as they could take their heads off and he still wouldn’t wave it. In fact he’s going to take the flag, dip it in concrete and it’ll be wrapped up so solid that it will be impossible to wave, although if Jim Cornette gets involved in the match he may wrap it around his head!. Thatcher says that it sounds like they are planning on making this one of the worst nights in Jim Cornette’s life, but they have some video of what may very well be one of the worst nights in his career. That night is Starcade ’86 ‘Night of the Skywalkers’ and we see the awful bumps that the Midnight Express and Cornette take from the scaffold (hint, hint!). Armstrong decides that it’s about time they told everyone who their third man is, and it will be Road Warrior Hawk. Cornette and Bruiser Bedlam are watching from the dressing room and they head straight to the ring on the announcement. Cornette is irate and besides himself banging on the ring saying that they can’t do that! Excellent segment and although I’d had enough of the Cornette and Armstrong feud, this and the previous week’s promo where Bob relinquished the Commissionership has got me interested, in these matches at least. Great to see Ron Wright back and cutting promos as I’ve missed him, whilst Cornette and the Bullet are tremendous as you would come to expect from these two by now.

I've not bothered with any of the GWE podcasts so far, but these are two voices that I enjoy listening to and always find myself learning plenty from. It's downloading as we speak and look forward to making a start on it later.

Funk says that he looks at Tennessee and thinks there has to be something wonderful about it? You look around the countryside and try to find something that is special and sweet about it, but there is really nothing. What’s the attraction about Tennessee? It certainly isn’t the people or the mountains. What does Texas have over Tennessee? It has very successful athletes coming out of the area, the best in the world. What do you have coming out of Tennessee? A bunch of uneducated idiots coming out of the University of Tennessee, but the worse thing they have is the reputation of their wrestling organization that is becoming viled by the Armstrong family. Who wants to see God knows how many of them, legitimately or illegitimately, running around throughout the county? No wonder Jim Cornette called up Dory and himself and they’re going to show everyone exactly what the Armstrong’s are. It does feel as though I’ve heard this all before and this is a bit rambling places.

Jake says that he’s got to hand it to the Dirty White Boy, what he did last week was good, but ‘Tony’ is a child trying to play a man’s game. If the White Boy wants to come over and take his finger he’ll take an arm, if he wants to reach in his gut and pull out the stomach he’ll pull out his heart, because when it comes down to it he’ll do absolutely anything to get what he wants. He has his own rules, he does have morals but they’re his own, he comes up with them himself, and if needs be changes them to get what he wants. At Summerblast it’s a cage match and while the Dirty White Boy thinks he might be worried about that, he’s been a cage animal all his life. When he was bought into this world he didn’t know how to steal, cheat and lie, his dear father taught him all that because that’s the way of life. In that cage he doesn’t need the snake because he’s got the one thing that no man can deal with, the DDT. Once he hooks that on somebody and takes them to the mat they don’t move, just ask that little scumbag the White Boy calls his ‘old lady’. If you’re lucky ‘Tony’ you may survive, but he doesn’t think so because no-one is lucky when they play with the snake. Not more to add to what has already been said, but Roberts is cutting the best interview of the year on a weekly basis at the moment.

New Jack doesn’t care if it’s the Rock & Roll Express, The Thrillseekers or the Dirty White Boy, the Gangstas are going to get you. If you’re familiar with the Rodney King beating, they just did the reverse to that redneck in the ring. None of these tobacco chewers can whip him and if they think they can, get in the ring and he’ll beat them like they used to beat his ancestors. If you hit him he’ll hit you back and the only thing they’ve got in common is that they both don’t like Martin Luther King. He doesn’t like him because if you smacked Martin Luther King he just turned the other cheek, but if you smack New Jack or Mustafa they’ll beat you like they own you. Sooner or later they’re going to get what they came for and the Rock & Roll Express better watch their backs because these country, tobacco chewing hog heads are going to see them get beaten like they’ve never been beaten before, you can take that to the bank. The disclaimer is up and they beep out parts of New Jack’s promo.

Morton says that everyone knows tonight is Fire on the Mountain, that the Rock & Roll Express are always full of surprises and they’ve got a great surprise for everyone in Johnson City. He then gets them to put a photo of Tammy Fytch up on screen (and she looks really beautiful here), but then replaces it with a mock-up of her without any hair (and to be fair, she still looks hot). He promises that they are going to cut someone’s hair in Johnson City, the head games are over and Tammy Fytch is going home looking like Kojak

Chris Jericho had broken his arm practicing a shooting star press in the ring earlier that afternoon and wrestles with a soft cast on it. Jim Ross explains on commentary that he did it in a motorbike accident and he refused to have it put in a cast because if he did so, he wouldn’t have been able to wrestle here. Considering he was operating one handed, he did an excellent job; a nice one armed Rocket launcher on Lance from the top turnbuckle to the outside on the Bodies, some quality looking clotheslines and even a one handed bodyslam. The only thing that looked bad were some left handed chops. The Thrillseekers dominate early and are in the ascendancy over their more experienced opponents. It’s only a great little double team maneuver that turns the tide in the Bodies favor, from where they go to work on Lance and continue to wear him down. Superkick by Del Ray for a near fall and Prichard misses his falling back elbow from the top which give Storm the chance to make the hot tag. Jericho unleashes an array of kicks and punches on them before Prichard drags him out the ring and rams his head into the steel barricade. He is busted open and already there is a puddle of blood on the arena floor. The Bodies focus their attention on the cut and Mark Curtis takes a look at it a couple of times. By now Jericho’s blond hair has turned red and his face is a crimson mask, with him collapsed in the corner and the Bodies continuing their attack on the cut, Curtis takes another look before waving the match off. The bell rings and the ring announcer informs the crowd that the referee has stopped the match but Jericho is on his knees begging for it to continue. Curtis calls for the bell and he restarts the match. A matter of seconds after the restart, and with Curtis arguing with Cornette, Storm levels Del Ray with a superkick and he falls backwards over Jericho who rolls him up for the win. Unfortunately the camera completely misses the superkick and it just looks like a very sloppy roll up. I thought this was a good match and between wrestling one handed and the blade job, an excellent, dramatic performance from Jericho. I know if I was in the audience or watching this live, I would have been seriously worried about him due to the amount of blood he lost here. The Bodies are very good, understated and almost the unsung heroes of this as they are clearly the glue that holds it together. The main criticism is the finish which again comes across as over booked, something that Cornette has a tendency to do. I would’ve personally not bothered with the whole ‘stop/start’ part of the match, especially when the pin comes so quickly after the restart. The camera completely missing the superkick doesn’t help one bit mind.

Funk says that Jim Cornette has hired him and his brother to come to Tennessee and take care of a situation, and that situation is a fool running around rampant. Bob Armstrong is a total coward and they are going to show everyone that he is yellow like a banana! I’ve had a gutful of this feud and it really feels like they are just going round in circles; first Dick Murdoch was bought back, and now the Funk brothers. Not even Terry can get me interested in this feud at the moment.

Just a quick side note, I'm almost certain that the fake Kendo is Scotty Riggs here (check out the eyes in the post angle interview).

The Dirty White Boy is out in the countryside sat down leaning against a tree. Whenever he gets problems or has to think things through, here is where he comes as it is peaceful, quiet, no-one can bother you and you can just sit and think. He’s been doing a lot of thinking, as right now he has a lot of problems that go by the name of Jake ‘the Snake’ Roberts. Never has he ever begged anyone for anything, but he begged Jake Roberts at the Volunteer Slam to DDT him and not his wife, but like a snake he went ahead and did it anyway. The White Girl is going to get better, but Jake took his self-respect and he can no longer look his wife in the eyes. He’s been sat outside thinking for the best part of a day when he heard something, looked down and saw a black snake come crawling by. If you don’t go head on at a snake the snake won’t bite you, but if you attack that snake or go head on at it, it’s either going to bite you or slither away. That’s when everything started to come clear to him. Jake likes to play mind games, so let’s start playing mind games. He watched that snake for a while, eased up from behind on it, reached down and then grabbed it right behind the head. He had the snake and it couldn’t do anything, it was at his mercy. The only way he’s going to get his self-esteem back, be able to hold his head up high and face his wife is by playing games, he’s going to have to start acting like a snake. From this point on Jake better be ready, because if he wants to play games, he’ll play games! Back in the studio and Bob Caudle can’t believe a giant of a man in the world of pro wrestling like Jake Roberts would DDT a little lady like the Dirty White Girl. Jake says that once you step in the ring you’re fair game and the only person that’s safe in that ring is the referee. He’s heard ‘Tony’ say he’ll pay his game, but if it’s a battle of wits he’d be fighting an unarmed man as when it comes to turning screws on someone or putting a gun to their head, that’s exactly what he’ll do. When you are born into this life you have a decision to make right off the bat, do you want to walk with the man that gave us the book or do you want to run with the devil? Everybody says if you follow the man with the book you have eternal life, but when you run with the devil its instant gratification. You get what you want when you want it, but when you choose to run with the devil you’ve got to be ready to take that extra step no matter when it is or what it is. You’ve got to stay one up on the game, you’ve got be willing to sacrifice anything just to play the game with someone else’s mind. Jake then takes off his bandana to reveal a shaven head (the result of losing a ‘hair vs hair’ match to Konnan in AAA) and says that’s just an example of how far he’ll go to mess with someone’s mind. His hair has gone and whilst the Dirty White Boy’s hair has almost gone, he’ll take the rest of it and if he’s already done what he did to his wife, what will he do to him? If he wants to come play games, come play with the snake, but be careful because you will get bit. We then get a Jake Roberts squash against James Atkins. After the match Jake motions for someone to come down to ringside and Kendo the Samurai comes out carrying a bag. Jake tried to get him to give him the bag but he won’t, when out comes Tony Anthony who puts his arm around Kendo. Jake’s unnerved and uncertain about what’s going on and heads back to the dressing room where he finds the ‘real’ Kendo the Samurai tied up back there. Jake frees him and the two of them return to the ring, but come out on the short end against the White Boy and fake Kendo. The Dirty White Boy is with the fake Kendo and says let the games begin! Jake the Snake wanted him at 100%, ‘no excuses’, and he takes off his eye patch to reveal that he is at 100% and he doesn’t need it anymore. At Summerblast they’ve got a cage match, nobody can get in, there’s no running, no hiding, he owes Jake something and he plans on collecting. What's to say about these segments? The Dirty White Boy interview was phenomenal with him finally coming to the realisation what he needs to do to get the better of Jake. Roberts then tops him and the revealing and explanation of his bald head is masterful. Nice little angle with the fake Kendo and Jake may have writted off the Dirty White Boy quicker than he thought. Wonderful stuff!

Rock & Roll Express have Bambi in their corner for a squash match against Joe Cazana & Chris Hamrick. Tammy Fytch, Chris Candido & Brian Lee join Bob and Les on commentary for this match and Tammy has just about had enough of the Rock & Roll Express. First they humiliated her on national TV when they dumped a bucket of manure over her head and she smelled so bad that Brian and Chris were afraid to come near her for a week. They then bring in this wildebeest to come after her! She’s not a wrestler and shouldn’t be involved with her and can’t take it anymore. The Rock & Rolls are pushing her to her limits, she’s on the verge of having a nervous breakdown and doesn’t know what to do. They have to do something to humiliate them like they humiliated her. As the Express are getting the win, Brian and Chris run down to the ring, Primetime grabs Bambi and Fytch KO’s her with her purse. The four of them start fighting and when she gets her chance, Tammy sprays Gibson in the face with hairspray temporarily blinding him. Lee press slams Morton and then Candido and he hold him while Tammy cuts off some of his mullet until Steve and Scott Armstrong make the save. Tammy is great in this segment and has been for quite some time now and her group (along with the Dirty White Boy and Jake Roberts) are the only things gettin me through these shows at the moment.