[1993-04-02-SMW-Bluegrass Brawl] Tracy Smothers vs Dirty White Boy (Tennessee Chain)

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

I was a little leery of watching this because it's so long, but this is still a very good match. It's not Sting/Vader, but it's excellent and heated, with great heat and build to the finish.

[Cox]

This is one of my favorite Smoky Mountain matches ever and really opened my eyes to how awesome the Dirty White Boy was, and how much of a bastard he can be. I'll admit that it's probably not one of the best matches of all time, but it's one of my personal favorites.

[shoe]

This was just a great chain match. Smothers worked his ass off here and DWB was no slouch either. Just a great match for both men. This was a great feud. This show blew away Wrestlemania for heat and match quality.

[El-P]

Well, I thought this was a bit disapointing. They went too long, and this is a gimmick match that can't handle going too long, as you can strangle/tie up and drag your opponent around so many times before it gets really repetitive, which it got here (kinda like some WWF escape cage matches). I still think it's a good match, but it got too repetitive after a while, and despite the fact it worked for the live audience, they ended up losing me. Coming off watching Sting vs Vader work the same gimmick and have the best match ever of this kind doesn't help either. Also, you can see the finish from a mile away while their TV match had a great ending (although screwy). Good match, but I enjoyed their previous TV match much better.

[Kevin Ridge]

Dirty White Boy and Ron Wright were ahead of the times embracing the evil Yankee Empire. I do not like chain matches. They announce it as a one fall match which is good since I dislike the four corners touching stuff. But then later on they go into the four corners stuff. This went too long overall.

[PeteF3]

Lance Russell!

 

I thought this was pretty great--it just suffers in comparison to Sting/Vader. The "both guys touching corners" finish is a cliche, but this particular one was well-executed. There wasn't exactly anything new under the sun here, as it was mostly chain/strap/bullrope spots we'd seen before, but it was a satisfying payoff to the feud and probably the best SMW match to this point.

 

White Boy trashes Smothers during the post-match interview, breaking a board over his head and kicking him between the legs. More good stuff.

[smitlick]

Watched this and it was sooooo much better than I thought it would be. Beside going a little long and the finish possibly being messed up and reattempted, it's probably my favourite SMW match.

[WingedEagle]

Nice savate kick by Smothers sends DWB to the floor. They work surprisingly well early on with the chain not really limiting things as it often does. I still don't get how the Confederate Flag works as a babyface prop in 1993. Or I do, but, yeah, that's for another time and place. Really effective shine from Smothers here with his offense and working the crowd. Smothers goes to the top but White Boy yanks the chain to crotch him in a nice transition. Smothers blades from the chain and DWB works that over. Feels like a textbook gimmick match, which is a good thing. Smothers with a great crimson mask as we're on a nice run of blood between this and Hokuto. Smothers pulls DWB off the top and works him with punches and a jumping elbow. Wright trips Smothers as he's carrying DWB around to touch the posts. They do the bit where each touches the turnbuckles when dragged around, then DWB flips Smothers over which lets him touch the 4th post in a pretty creative finish to win the SMW Title. Really fun match & finish. Lance Russell interviews Smothers post-match before DWB attacks.

 

Can't be sure without looking back over my yearbook rankings, but right up near the top of SMW's best matches.

 

***3/4

[soup23]

This was long but I was gripped the whole way through and once I realized how they were working, I was engaged to the finish. If 1994 was the year of the ladder match, 1993 has to be the year of the strap/chain match. This worked in the basic tropes but did them well and I really enjoyed the commentary from Lance and Les. As you knew you would get some blood and trickery with the finish, this also had a ton of grimy choking and stiff shots to give the match a more gory feel. Tracy winning gets a huge pop and he has established himself as a big star in SMW. ****1/4

[Robert S]

(...) and the finish possibly being messed up and reattempted, (...)

The finish did indeed look really strange. It's as if Smothers missed the third corner and either Hildebrand or Smothers telling DWB and the only solution he came up was to redo the whole long sequence.

[DR Ackermann]

Really disappointing, whereas the match on TV a few weeks ago was surprisingly great. Way too long and less brutal than their previous match that lead to this. Seriously why did they give this match so much time?

[garretta]

I must be the only one who thinks that this blew Sting/Vader away. It was every bit as violent and bloody, and the finish was a damn sight more creative; I've never seen one guy go over another guy's back to touch the fourth turnbuckle before.

 

Kudos to Tracy for tapping an artery to help the cause. The only wrestler in SMW that I can recall bleeding more outside of Kanemura was Chris Jericho a year and some change later, and that was semi-accidental.

 

The finish wasn't messed up; there were some punches in between Tony's attempts, which was a legitimate way to stop the buckle count. Speaking of which, Tracy's timing on his comebacks was impeccable. He knew just when to make them in order to get the fans on their feet. Tony was instrumental in this as well, with his cocky attempts to drag Tracy around the ring which left the door wide open for Tracy to save himself.

 

Mark Curtis made a rare blunder here by checking Tracy's arm when Tony was choking him down with the chain. The rules stated that the match wasn't to be stopped ​for any reason​, which presumably includes unconsciousness of the wrestlers.

 

Lance and Les were excellent here, and as much as I love Bob and Dutch I wonder if SMW TV wouldn't have been better with them on a weekly basis, They got over the match and what it meant as well as anyone I've ever heard, and their strategical analysis was tremendous as well. My favorite bit was when Lance said that he would tell Tracy to pound on Tony between corners to soften him up, which was exactly what Tracy did the next time he tried to drag Tony around. I also liked Les giving his personal perspective on what it was like to be in a Tennessee chain match against Ron Wright and the advantage Tony had due to being taught the ins and outs of this kind of match by its master. Lance had some personal insight of his own on Tracy's early days and how he was slow to adapt to the professional style of wrestling. This might be the best broadcast of a match so far this year, at least in the English language.

 

Line of the Night goes to Les, as he discusses Ron and Tony supposedly living in New York. To paraphrase: "Given how many times Ron has lied over the years, they could be living in the back of this building for all I know."

 

I loved Tony attacking Tracy during the postmatch interview, and for a second I thought he was going to take a swing at Lance while he was at it. This feud is far from over, and I for one can't wait to see what happens next.

 

.

[ChosenOne]

This is one of my favorite matches in SMW history. The whole angle was top notch stuff and this was a great conclusion to a blood feud.