[1992-03-14-SMW-TV] Tim Horner vs Rip Rogers

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

"Tim Horner, you owe me $500.00! And I want 5000 rolls of pennies!" -- Rogers in his pre-match promo

 

The commentary on this is phenomenal. Dutch is making his case about how Horner will lose if this match goes 20-25 minutes because he isn't as conditioned as Rogers. Bob Caudle says he's being ridiculous, that the match is TV time remaining, and they don't have 25 minutes left in the broadcast. Dutch immediately -- without hesitation -- switches gears to accuse Bob Armstrong of stacking the deck in Horner's favor by scheduling the match so late in the show. The match is decent, but feels like it could have been excellent had it gone as long as Dutch and Caudle talked about.

[Tim Evans]

I like how Tim Horner's theme music is about domestic Violence.

 

Good match and yeah Dutch/Caudle rule.

[shoe]

Fun little t.v bout. Watching the yearbook I would love an Embry/Rogers team.

[Eduardo]

Charming TV match, just solid and fun stuff. I liked the finish, the sunset flip pin actually was performed and sold really well. Also, the old lady in the front row was so cool.

[Eduardo]

Charming TV match, just solid and fun stuff. I liked the finish, the sunset flip pin actually was performed and sold really well. Also, the old lady in the front row was so cool.

[El-P]

Fun TV match. Horner is as solid a worker as he's uncharismatic and wooden. I love Mantel on color.

[MikeCampbell]

Dutch and Bob are awesome here, especially when Dutch starts ripping on the fans, and talks about the Fantastics bringing the "Oriental" disease back with them. Horner shows to be a solid hand in the ring, so he's not a total waste.

[WingedEagle]

Rogers takes a good punch and this is a fun little match in basically a theater or large studio setting, aided by the commentary. Could've used a few more minutes. You won't see a finish built around a sunset flip anymore.

 

**3/4

[PeteF3]

Even in February I can't fathom anybody unseating Mantel for the Best Commentator Award. And this is probably Caudle at his best, too. Rogers is still milking his marathon-man gimmick while Dutch goes on a hilarious rant about the old women of the town they're taping in. Solid match, though not at the level of Rogers' best WCW matches. It's a shame Rip didn't stick around, because between this and an arguably better match with Paul Orndorff, he was early SMW's singles highlight.

[xlynwoodx]

Rip Rogers is wearing some amazing sunglasses and is still upset about not getting paid for all his squats. Tim Horner is apparently loved by these fans and gets a hug from an old lady in the front row who looks a lot like my grandmother in 1992. People in the crowd appear to be holding foam lightning bolts, was this a gimmick actually being sold? I feel like Horner should be wearing white trunks & boots, the colorful gear he has on really doesn't match his personality.

 

Match was fine, the finish was surprising. Not just a sunset flip, but Rip was holding onto the ropes for dear life before losing his grip and getting flipped over and pinned.

[GSR]

I actually found this a pretty nothing TV match and Rogers was no where near aggressive enough considering he was pissed about Horner costing him $500 last week. The only time he even showed a slight bit of aggression was the attempted piledriver on the floor (with the piledriver being banned in Smoky Mountain), whilst I too felt Rogers bout against Orndorff on the second episode is better than this. Agree with the comments about the commentary team and Dutch has been fantastic in everything I've seen, and I had no idea how great he was on the stick (I'd put him behind only Cornette on what I've seen so far).

[garretta]

The match itself wasn't a whole lot; it was worked like a curtain-jerker, to be honest. Not that's there's anything wrong with basic work leading to a solid finish, but I agree with Magnum that this needed more aggression from Rogers and more fire from Horner. To be truthful, I'm not even sure the match was done after the angle; it almost seems like the match was done first, before there was any issue established between the two guys, then the angle was filmed to add a bit more spice to what was a somewhat unsatisfying bout.

 

About Horner's song: I highly doubt anyone listened to the lyrics beyond "The thunder rolls, and the lightning strikes". If they had......well, considering some of the things Corny's said about women who aren't his wife Stacey, I'm not sure it would have made any difference. I'm reminded of the theme to Sunday Night Football, which started life as the Joan Jett ode to battered women, "I Hate Myself For Loving You." How anyone ever got the idea that that song could be adapted into one that would make fans want to watch a football game I have no idea, but someone at NBC did. Anyway, I don't think there was any implicit endorsement of men hitting women, though like I said I can't be 100% sure.

 

Bob and Dutch were as grand together as I remember from the SMW set, and coincidentally or not it was about the tine they both left that the product started going downhill. They're a bit like Gino and Bobby, only Dutch doesn't come off as a comedian the way Bobby does at times. He just makes observations which happen to be rather tartly worded. His saving grace is that he knows enough about wrestling that when he chooses to stick to the subject, he can be very intelligent and insightful

 

As for Bob, he does a good job of walking the thin line between letting Dutch express himself and trying to keep the program respectable. There are times when he objects to thing Dutch says (such as his crack about all the old ladies at the taping being ugly), but he lets things slide when there's no sense in arguing the point (Dutch's complaint that the Fultons may have brought back an "Oriental disease" from Japan). He's also an excellent interviewer, and while everyone knows he cheers for the good guys deep in his heart, he saves his outrage for those people and actions which truly deserve it, and thankfully those don't come too often.

 

I'm looking forward to the main event scene developing further in SMW. Lord knows Tim Horner being its top babyface won't cause Vince, Turner, or even Papa Jarrett to shake in their socks.

[dawho5]

Horner seemed kind of over.  I'd agree that Rip should have been much more aggressive.  I'll also agreee that Dutch is a fantastic color commentator.  This is a great announce team for sure.  Once the match got past all the basic mat wrestling they almost looked like they were doing Southern cruiserweight wrasslin'.  Which is actually kind of cool.