[1993-08-20-SMW-K-Town Showdown] Jim Cornette vs Bob Armstrong (Lumberjack)

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Total Memphis-style match, with Cornette making every excuse he can think of to not get in the ring, then getting what has been coming to him for months. Really fun! Crowd chants "9-1-1" when he's KO'd for the Bob Armstrong win.

[El-P]

Yeah, total memphis goofyness. Armstrong's piledrivers looked brutal, in a good way.

BTW, the actual date is 08/20.

[Kevin Ridge]

I was hoping for more use of the rackets by the lumberjacks on the outside. That first piledriver looked really great. Bob gives Cornette another to finish him off. Cornette does the full stretcher job with the neck brace applied. Right into an ambulance too! All this happens to Bad to the Bone playing.

[PeteF3]

About as good of a wrestler vs. manager match as you'll ever see. Cornette gets in just enough offense (with lots of smoke and mirrors) to get some heat, but not enough that overly pushes himself. I really, really wish one of those Cornette vs. Ronnie Garvin cage matches had made tape.

[soup23]

Another feather in the cap of Cornette. They milked everything they could here for all it was worth and it was a joy to watch. Bob winding up to punch Cornette and him flying never fails to make me smile. This was the type of memorable matches that while not great really make a promotion or period of time stand out for their entertainment value. ***

[GSR]

This is actually from the K-Town Showdown and not FIre On The Mountain (although it is at the end of the Fire On The Mountain commercial tape).

 

Cornette is limping down to the ring and has his arm in a sling. He gets on the mic and says how he was looking forward to this match tonight, but he slipped in a puddle of water out in the back and tore his shoulder out. The Boss Man tells him that The Bullet has signed a contract to wrestle tonight, he has signed a contract to wrestle tonight so get his ass in the ring! Cornette then brings out a note from his mother which he hands to the Boss Man, but Armstrong rips it up and the Boss again tells him to get his ass in the ring. He then tells the Boss Man that he wants two minutes of his time before they get started. He gets in the ring and starts talking to him before offering him his hand. The Boss Man shakes it then whips Cornette into the Bullet and the match is underway

 

Cornette rolls out of the ring but is met by Armstrong’s Army about to whack him with tennis rackets so immediately gets back in the ring. He ends up on the outside again at which point Jimmy Del Ray sneaks in the ring to attack Armstrong with a racket but he is spotted by the Boss Man who decks him. This gives Cornette the briefest of advantages before the Bullet is back on top. Prichard powders Armstrong and another advantage to Cornette. Del Ray chucks his racket in the ring to Cornette who hits Armstrong hard with it across the back but he doesn’t register it. Someone in all of this Cornette ends up getting busted open too. Bullet Bob with a beautiful jumping piledriver, then another and he pins him with one foot on his chest. The paramedics see to Cornette and he’s carried off on a stretcher and Armstrong doesn’t have to refund the paying audience’s money.

 

As a match this was pretty bad, but there was enough shtick and smoke and mirrors to keep it interesting and entertaining. Cornette’s selling was especially hokey, although I liked how he was only ever in the ascendancy (and it never lasted) when he was getting help from one of his criminals. The Bullet finally gets his retribution for the first Rage in the Cage all those months ago, but something tells me this isn’t the last we’ve heard of this feud.

[garretta]

The closing montage made this match. Seeing Corny do the stretcher job from beginning to end was worth the price of admission, both live and on tape. Corny talks about this match on a recent podcast of his when he discusses how an injury angle should be done, saying that he never, ever smartened up the EMTs or led them to believe that his neck hadn't been severely hurt. This led to him being taped to a backboard at the nearest hospital until almost four in the morning, at which point he declared that his neck had miraculously "healed" and walked out with no one any the wiser.

 

At any rate, the match is the one-sided bloodletting that everyone wanted and expected. I disagree that Corny looked bad on offense; compared to most managers, he looked damn good, in fact. Of course, as Pete said, it never lasted for long, even after Dr. Tom blinded Bullet Bob with the powder. The first piledriver in particular looked vicious, and I really don't see why Bullet Bob needed another, except that it made Corny wearing a neck brace afterward more believable.

 

Want to know how little danger Bullet Bob was in? He was never touched by any of Corny's lumberjacks and their racquets. Not once. If it hadn't been for each of the Bodies' interference spots, none of the Criminals would have laid a hand on Bob,

 

Bossman wasn't as much of a factor as I thought he'd be once the match started, though he looked good decking Del Rey. I loved how he appeared to take Corny's hand in friendship, only to whip Corny right into Bullet Bob and start the match.

 

Corny's time to shine was in the prematch, with the note from his mother and the thousand excuses he had not to get in the ring with Bullet Bob. Unfortunately, the announcer (Phil Rainey?) wouldn't stop talking, even though we could hear Corny clearly underneath him. I wonder if he did the commentary for the match in a studio and couldn't hear Corny talking for some reason. From what little I've seen of Rainey, he doesn't seem to be the type that would talk over important stuff just to hear his own voice. One thing he ​could ​stand to do is learn the difference between a piledriver and an atomic drop, since the two moves look absolutely nothing alike.

 

Normally, a beating like this would end a feud, but we know this one's far from over. It'll be interesting to see where exactly they go from here.