[1992-04-11-SMW-TV] Paul Orndorff vs Hector Guerrero

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

I can see how they can *argue* that Orndorff has beaten Hogan (even though he hasn't), but I'm not sure when he would have beaten Flair.

 

Anyway, this is one of the better SMW TV matches I've seen, including all the '93 matches and whatever has aired of the '92 so far. I wish they could have had more time.

 

Orndorff goes on a piledriver spree after the match as a string of lower-card guys run to the ring to try to calm him down to no avail, which is OUTSTANDING.

[Cox]

I loved the piledriver angle, and really this whole thing did a lot to turn Paul Orndorff. The only thing that kind of bugged me is that most of the job crew that he piledrove was back on TV the next week like nothing happened (though Hector did sell the neck injury for a few weeks). Other than that, this was excellent.

[Tim Evans]

I just gotta say that Dixie Dynamite just looks so tacky. Fun angle though and Orndorff rules as a heel.

[shoe]

I thought this was more angle than match. As an angle it was outstanding. As a match it was cool. I kinda wish we could have seen Mr. Wonderful like this in WCW. He would have drawn money!!!!

[Loss]

IIRC, Watts brought him in in late '92/early '93 on a trial basis to see if he could still go, and then he ended up getting hired by the new regime after the Cactus match at Superbrawl. Watts may have been more inclined to push him that way.

[MikeCampbell]

This has been the best SMW thing I've watched since I picked up and started the 1992 season.

[El-P]

Solid little TV match, I don't see how it's any special. The Wild Bunch vs Fantastic match from the previous weeks blows this out of the water (shitty finish aside). To me it's more about the angle than anything else, and the angle is excellent. Even past his prime, Orndorff could still deliver.

[WingedEagle]

Orndorff is pissed at being a wildcard in the title tourney, and then in the match he rolls through a crossbody for the pin. The piledrivers after the match on jobbers and then Guerrero on a chair were the best thing here.

 

Early SMW on here outside of the Bodies skits & debut didn't click much with me but this wasn't bad.

[PeteF3]

Hector and Dy-no-mite give asskissing promos about the SMW title tournament ("Little Firecrackers"...gag) while Orndorff stands by impatiently. Mr. Wonderful is insulted at being a mere wild card in the tournament--and he was already pissed at the ban on the piledriver. Nice solid TV match that sees Orndorff get a pin, allegedly with a tights grab, but I didn't see it. Great post-match as Hector eats a piledriver, as does a string of jobbers, then one more piledriver onto a chair for Guerrero. Orndorff is back in his natural role.

[GSR]

Solid little TV match, I don't see how it's any special. The Wild Bunch vs Fantastic match from the previous weeks blows this out of the water (shitty finish aside).

I thought the finish of The Wild Bunch vs Fantastics match hurt it, and prefered the previous weeks six-man where all three Fantastics faced the Wild Bunch and Jimmy Golden. A fairly short match though it was very good and could've been something special with a further ten minutes or so.

[GSR]

Bob Caudle is interviewing Hector Guerrero, Dixie Dy-No-Mite and Paul Orndorff and whilst Guerrero and Dy-No-Mite both consider it an honour and are happy to be wildcard entrants for the SMW tournament, Orndorff isn't so and considers it an insult. He's been all over the world, sold out buildings from the US to Japan, beaten Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair and everybody who is anybody in professional wrestling. Caudle then says that that's the point, he's been wrestling all over the world and hasn't wrestled enough in SMW to be seeded, but Orndorff doesn't see it that way and says that he could beat these guys (Guerrero and Dy-No-Mite) even at the same time. Guerrero tries to placate him but it just leads to a pushing contest with Dixie getting between them. Caudle suggests settling it in the ring and Orndorff responds by saying he'll settle it however he wants and is sick of all this garbage, Bob Armstrong wont let him use the piledriver whilst everyone else can use whatever they want? He's afraid he may hurt someone? Well you're dead right I'm going to hurt someone. After Guerrero claims 'talk is cheap' they head to the ring for the match.

 

The match isn't anything special with Orndorff rolling through on a Guerrero crossbody and hooking the trunks for the pin. Guerrero tries to argue the decision but Orndorff then drills him with a left followed by a piledriver. Ben Jordan, Reno Riggins and then Joey Maggs all come out successively, but all receive the same piledriver treatment. Orndorff brings a chair into the ring and piledrives Guerrero on to it, before Dy-No-Mite comes out and Orndorff finally leaves.

 

The set up for this match was superb with Orndorff showing some real intensity in his promo, whilst the piledrivers he delivers are a thing of beauty. Agree with the comments that this is all more angle than match, but it was bloody tremendous and Orndorff was exceptional in everything here.

[garretta]

I can't often say that Paul blows away his competition on the mic, but he sure does here. Scott and Hector are about as bland and lifeless as any two babyfaces who ever lived, while Paul hasn't done this well on the stick since his original 1984 WWF heel run. He's an angry man, and rightfully so. First, his piledriver is banned, and second, he's only a wild card in the SMW title tournament. He gets madder and madder as the segment goes on, and finally Hector challenges him to a match.

 

There are a couple of things that would have made this segment go down a bit smoother. 1) Bob could have pointed out that they're taping these shows in the state of Tennessee, where the piledriver is banned by the athletic commission, not only by Bullet Bob, and that Paul ought to know this, since he spent time in Memphis. I could just see him going even more nuts than he had already, screaming that Bullet Bob and the Tennessee State Athletic Commission were in cahoots against him. Second, when Bob pointed out that Paul hadn't wrestled for very long in SMW, Paul could have replied that nobody has; the damn promotion just started a month ago. That would have only added to Paul's persecution complex; how is it that he gets singled out for not appearing in SMW long enough to earn a tournament spot when he wouldn't have had time to build a track record there in the first place?

 

Anyway, we get to the match, and there's not a whole lot to it. Both men look decent, but they've each had much better days. As almost everyone else has said, the best part comes after the bout, when Paul piledrives no less than four guys, including Hector twice, with the second one being on a chair. No other promotion Paul's ever been in has gone to these lengths to establish the driver as a killer move, and I wonder how Bullet Bob squared all this with the athletic commission. The only thing missing was Paul piledriving one of the jobbers on the concrete floor. It's hard to say that he's the top heel in SMW right now; that slot's always going to belong to Corny. But he's undoubtedly the most physically fearsome heel on the roster right now, and it's going to take more than Tim Horner or Brian Lee to provide suitable opposition for him.

 

I liked how Paul made a special point of demanding to be called "Mr. Wonderful" exclusively, and I also liked that Bob didn't automatically comply. One is a case of excellent heel work; the other would have been a case of SMW trying to blatantly copy one of the WWF's most asinine conventions.

 

Dutch is a hoot claiming that Paul gets no respect, just like him. I also loved him trying to give odds on the match like a Vegas bookmaker. He's closing in on Heenan for the title of funniest color commentator in the business.

 

Speaking of Heenan, Paul's translation of "Arriba!" couldn't have come from anyone else. It's clear that their time on the road together rubbed off on him. (I guess Corny could have given it to him too, but it sounds more like one of Bobby's lines in my head.)

 

It was nice of Bob and Dutch to acknowledge (and in Dutch's case, critique) Mark Curtis's first appearance as an SMW referee.

[dawho5]

Mark Curtis!  Yes!  Anyway, I also thought it was more angle than match, but that was fine. Orndorff carries it well and it is a perfectly fine TV match with Hector doing a few things you don't see often stateside.  The piledrivers afterward put Orndorff over big.