[1992-06-13-SMW-TV] Brian Lee vs Dirty White Boy

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

It's scheduled to be Brian Lee defending against Rip Rogers, but DWB and Ron Wright show up and offer $2,000 to Rogers to scram. Rogers' exaggerated reaction is pretty funny. Brian Lee seems like he could be a star, but his in-ring just isn't very good. But Tony Anthony is solid and does a good job carrying this. Lee bleeds and Hector Guerrero tries to point out a hidden foreign object, which gives Lee the chance to get it away from him and hit him with it. Paul Orndorff comes out with a briefcase and Hector Guerrero gets hung from the top rope by his necktie! Wild post-match, but the match itself was a little dull.

[Cox]

Brian Lee had a look but that was about it. He looked like he should be a top guy, but just didn't have it in the ring or on interviews. I'm looking forward to heel Brian Lee in my SMW rewatch (which has been on hold for the past few weeks but I'm going back to it eventually) to see if he's any better in that role, but he just didn't have it as a top babyface.

[Tim Evans]

Gotta agree the match isn't very good. It seems the best SMW matches are handhelds. I do like Paul Orndorff piledriving dudes. That never gets old.

[shoe]

Lee doesn't have it. I would have preferred to see Horowitz under a mask doing a Mr. Wrestling gimmick as top face until Smothers comes around.

[El-P]

DWB beating on anyone is fine, but Lee is just bland and an okay worker at very best. The ebst part is Rip Rogers reaction to getting the money, and the Orndorff beatdown at the end.

[Kevin Ridge]

Lee is tough to watch. With the small quiet crowd his foot stomping on punches is really distracting. Rogers got a pretty sweet deal of $2K to take a walk before the match started. Random crowd shot of some dude with sunglasses and one leather glove yelling was funny. Hector getting hanged by his tie was cool. That's what he gets for being the only guy out there wearing business casual clothes.

[WingedEagle]

Ron Wright pays off Rip Rogers to let DWB take his title shot. Lee doesn't sell well, move well or have much an offense. World Champion! DWB soon busts open Lee and after the DQ Hector Guerrero & Orndorff are out for a solid brawl. Wright does a great job antagonizing Guerrero from the chair.

 

**1/2 for the post-match and antics.

[PeteF3]

Lee doesn't offer much but DWB bumps and sells for him the best he can, though not well enough to really save the match. Lee gets caught with a foreign object that Anthony brought into the ring, and gets DQ'd. Another glorious win for our babyface champion. The post-match is what really makes this, as Orndorff goes nuts on Lee with a briefcase, and when Hector Guerrero tries to make the save he gets strung up by his own necktie. Orndorff has always been great at doing beatdowns and this is no exception. This is enough to make me want to see a Lee/Hector-Orndorff/DWB tag.

[MikeCampbell]

A decent little TV match, although it's clear that Lee is mostly look and little else. Orndorff's mean streak is really a sight to behold. Too bad Lee didn't eat a piledriver.

[GSR]

This is scheduled as Brian Lee vs Rip Rogers, but just as the match is about to start Ron Wright and Tony Anthony come to ringside and offer Rogers $2,000 to let Anthony take his place. Before he leaves he attacks Lee and when Prime Time has the upper hand, it enables Anthony to jump him from behind and the match gets underway. Wright passes Anthony some knux which he uses on Lee opening him up, before hiding them in his tights. Hector Guerrero comes to ringside and gets up on the apron trying to tell the referee what happened. Anthony goes over to him, Lee pulls the knux out of Anthony's tights, hits him with them, but the referee spots this and DQ's him. Anthony is busted open and Lee continues to beat on him after the match, when Paul Orndorff, carrying a briefcase, comes to his aid and nails Lee with it. Guerrero tries to help but Anthony ties him up by his tie and then hangs him over the top rope by it. Scott Sandlin runs out but ends up on the receiving end of an awesome Orndorff piledriver. Ben Jordan soon follows but he gets hit with Anthony's finisher for his trouble. The two of them continue the attack on Lee and the show goes off the air just as Tim Horner, Dixie Dy-No-Mite and Robert Gibson hit the ring.

 

Great post match action and I really could watch Orndorff dishing out piledrivers all day. Not sure how long he stays around before heading to WCW, but I hope it's for a while yet. Another guy who I have really had my eyes opened too while watching this TV set.

[garretta]

I didn't like this much. It's against all logic for someone who's signed for a title match to give it up for anything less than six figures, but Rogers taking Ron's money is the least of this bout's problems.

 

In earlier threads, I presented my theory concerning why Bullet Bob is the top babyface in SMW. That's all fine and good, but he isn't the champion. Brian Lee is, and he looked pathetic here. I'm not so much referring to the body of the match; Tony made him look like he belonged in a title bout, which from what I've heard is a minor miracle. I'm talking about the postmatch. I'm all for faces losing their temper and letting the heels have it once in a while, even if it means that the face gets himself disqualified.. But to engage in a beatdown of the heel with a foreign object, even one Ron brought to ringside, is a whole other matter. I was cheering for Orndorff when he waffled Lee with the briefcase, which is totally the wrong reaction but one that Lee brought on himself. Not only that, I cheered when Paul started going to work on the innocent jobbers; Lee didn't deserve a lick of help after what he did Hector did after he was hung, but Lee didn't.

 

So not only do we have a face champion who's already second banana to an as-yet non-wrestling commissioner, we have a face champion who doesn't deserve to be cheered because he acts like the heels he's trying to fight against. If I didn't know better (and I'm nor sure I do, really) I'd swear that Corny planned it this way so most of the fans' energy could focus on the tag division, where of course he and the Bodies are the top attraction. Sure, the fans don't like Anthony and Orndorff, but neither one of them are on par with Corny as a talker and heat getter, and the singles face roster is so pathetic right now that the Fultons are the top in-ring faces almost by default. It couldn't have worked out better for Corny if he'd planned it this way, and like I said above, I'm not sure he didn't.

 

Dutch's analysis during this match, especially detailing the uphill climb a relatively inexperienced champion like Lee has to face, was absolutely brilliant. He self-promoted a bit (though I'd like to see the Down and Dirty where he exposes Ron's conspiracy against Lee), and I'm not sure I cared for him saying that he wished he was in the ring with Lee himself, but those are minor nitpicks. Bob has to stop talking over him, but that will come with time. As of right now, Dutch is the best commentator in the sport, even better than Jesse, who's been revitalized since coming to WCW.

[dawho5]

I think a part of the problem is that they don't have strong enough babyfaces to contend with the likes of Orndorff, DWB & The Bodies.  Who on the roster is going to conceivably come out and make a dent in any of those guys?