[1993-08-19-SMW-Morgantown, WV] Jim Cornette vs Cowabunga

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

This is surreal. Cornette is surprisingly athletic, not so much in pulling off highspots but cutting a solid pace and taking some decent bumps. I thought this would be all comedy, but it's actually a perfectly acceptable show opener. If anything, this match shows how far having a good grasp of psychology can take one in wrestling, even if one is not a great athlete. Nearly 20 minutes!

[Chess Knight]

My favourite thing to ever exist. This is one of the absolute best examples I can think of to show that wrestling isn't ALL about being athletic and needing a bunch of moves. But shit, who ever knew Jim Cornette could actually WORK some regular wrestling holds? They do a standard babyface repeated headlock period, and pull it off really well - with Cornette going to the trunks for pinfalls and all. Cornette is really fucking good working the everything; when he goes for a hip toss he yells like it a total struggle, because despite how he poses his muscles before the match, he's weak as shit and knows it. Also yells when getting his moves reversed, and Cowabunga shows him up on everything. That is until Cowabunga takes this totally loony Psicosis bump off of the ropes and nearly mangles his neck. The best thing Cowabunga did, however, was when he was slammed on his back and sells as if he's a REAL FUCKING TURTLE WHO CAN'T GET UP BECAUSE OF HIS SHELL. His shell is actually a soft, flat outfit, but he squirms on his back like a beetle turned upside-down. Corny's great laughing and pointing, just the Earth's greatest weak-ass momma's boy. This whole match was around 17 minutes and was built so, so, so well. Jim Cornette's probably a better worker than Edge. But in seriousness; I swear if he was actually an athlete to a reasonable degree - he probably would have been a great wrestler.****99/100

[El-P]

Cowabunga was actually Mark Curtis.

[Kevin Ridge]

Cornette really concerned with Cowabunga’s ninja skills. Jimmy uses his traditional wrestling skills to win the side headlock but gets bit in the butt. Rope walk by Cowabunga! Cornette seems to be enjoying himself getting to bust out bodyslams, backbody drops and elbow drops at will. I’ve seen this before and my previous issues with it was the time given. I’d say maybe I “get” the match more now as enjoyed this time around. This isn’t Cornette going up against Smothers or Morton one on one. It’s Cowabunga so fine that it went as long as it did. What stood out to me at the end though as realizing Cornette was wrestling a match after doing the stretcher job against Armstrong. Seems very unlike Cornette to be doing something like this with how they sell the neck issues later on.

[PeteF3]

Match of the Year. Possible Match of the Decade. In all seriousness, this was gloriously fun and Cornette is a marvel. Could Mark Curtis have made it had he come along as a wrestler a few years later? He was probably no worse than a perfectly acceptable cruiserweight.

[soup23]

This was so fun. Curtis is having a great time in the Cowabunga suit and Cornette is right there with him feeding him some great bumps. It feels like this for sure wouldn't have worked at any point in time than it does right here with the crowd really getting behind Cowabunga. ***

[garretta]

First of all, are we sure this match was in Morgantown, West Virginia? The reason I ask is because Morgantown is served by the Pittsburgh television stations, and as a native Pittsburgher I don't remember SMW airing here. That's not to say that it might not have at some obscure time or other, but if it did I don't remember seeing it, and I would have definitely stopped to watch if I'd seen Corny or Rock 'n' Roll on my TV.

 

At any rate, if you take away the fact that this was a manager against a guy in a ninja turtle costume, this was perfectly acceptable, well-done filler. Trust me, there were plenty of WWF opening and second matches that were a hell of a lot worse than this. Both Corny and Curtis showed great grasp of wrestling basics; any sloppiness was due to the fact that they simply weren't experienced enough to be smooth. Curtis looked at home using the ropes, and the costume didn't get in his way like it might have with some other guys. The Undertaker-style rope walk looked particularly good.

 

As for Corny, I didn't know he could execute backdrops and suplexes at all, let alone as well as he did. He looked acceptably sloppy, which was just fine for a match like this. I certainly wouldn't have expected him to bust out moves like this against Bullet Bob, who not only was way more experienced, but also wanted to squash him flat. Cowabunga, by contrast, had nothing especially against him, and Curtis was a close friend in real life, so it's natural that they would help each other look good to the extent possible.

 

Corny was also great on the mic, and even though no human being presumably has much to fear from a turtle, ninja or otherwise, he played the coward to the hilt here, as you'd expect. I loved the "I won't wrestle and you can't make me!" bit that ended with the ref threatening to fine him, and the sight of Curtis making the chicken motion in his costume is a genuine laugh-out-loud moment. So is Corny trying to cut a promo after the match when he's so blown up he can barely breathe. (I'm guessing that it wasn't all an act; it was 87 degrees in Morgantown at 7PM that night, so that building had to have been an oven. In fact, in one town that summer, it got so hot that Corny told Curtis in the middle of their match to get rid of the turtle suit and wrestle as himself before he either suffocated or died of heatstroke. He did, and it didn't matter to the crowd either way, according to Corny.)

 

Move of the Match: You've heard of Lawler pulling down the strap? He's got nothing on Cowabunga, who removes his shell to signal a comeback. Hokey and cartoonish or an ingenious tribute? You decide.)

 

I wonder if Corny knowingly stole this gimmick from Memphis (where Chris Champion used it, if you'll remember) or if this was a case of two minds having a single brilliant idea. Either way, I think Curtis did a better job with the gimmick than Champion ever did.