[1992-11-07-SMW-TV] Brian Lee vs Kevin Sullivan

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Cox]

I watched this today and it was as bloody and as violent as I remembered. Sullivan butchers Lee to a disgusting degree. What's shocking to me, and maybe this is with 19 years of hindsight, but it seems amazing that they ran a match (really a storyline as the match never gets started) this bloody and violent in front of kids. Like I said, that might be my 2011 frame of reference talking about something from 19 years ago, but they ran this in a school. Great angle and all but not for the squeamish.

[Loss]

This is insane! Ridiculously violent and I'm surprised I've never heard about this. After all the blood, there are mic problems, swearing on the air, etc., which just adds to the moment. This is the most memorable thing I've seen on the yearbooks from either '92 or '93 for SMW.

[Tim Evans]

You know it's serious when Bob Armstrong does CPR. This was way violent, even more Violent than the Kanemura massacre. I liked Bob Caudle of all people trying to save Brian. Reminds me of when Dave and Lance tried to Save Jeff Jarrett when Bill and Buddy attacked him.

[shoe]

This was awesome. Hell even a camera man tries to make the save.

[El-P]

What can I add that hasn't alreay been said. Just an amazing bloodletting by Sullivan. Yeah, it's quite surreal that this happened in front of a family audience, but hey, this was wrestling "as it used to be", and it produced quite an aura of absurd violence. Looked like a slaughter. The camera guy trying a save was a nice touch, just like Dutch swearing on air. Great angle.

[rainmakerrtv]

Who was the other guy with Sullivan, the one who wasn't the Night Stalker?

[Kevin Ridge]

Excellent match/angle. Lee is a complete bloody mess and even Caudle leaves the announce position to try stop things. Him and Dutch are talking ringside but are not miked properly which just adds to the overall chaos of the scene.

[PeteF3]

Total chaos, and Sullivan was a great payoff to the Master stuff. Jobbers try to make the save, a cameraman tries to intervene, and BOB CAUDLE leaves his desk to try to get Sullivan to stop this. Mantell is so horrified that he says, "This shit will never get on TV anyway." We can barely hear that Bob Armstrong says that Sullivan will never be allowed on television again ("you son of a bitch"). Crazy as hell that this aired on weekend television. Everyone sells this great--one of the angles of the year.

[WingedEagle]

Sullivan with a unique entrance. Lee charges and Sullivan immediately throws fire and then spikes the hell out of him. Then Nightstalker and someone else join in for a ridiculously bloody and violent angle. Remind me everything Cornette criticized ECW for? This was violent, intense and awesome. Lee looks like a crime scene as they finally clear out when the RNR, Tim Horner & Dixie Dynamite arrive. Dutch says "we ain't gonna see any of this shit on tv." Awesome. Bob Armstrong bans Sullivan from SMW for the rest of his life afterwards.

 

Best thing in SMW all year, by far.

[Robert S]

There is some stuff here that really takes away from the brutality of this: (a) the announcers pretending not to recognize Sullivan when he was under the hood and ( doing CPR and checking the pulse of a guy who is clearly moving.

[GSR]

'The Master' slowly makes his way to the ring to the sounds of some creepy music, keeping his identity covered by a black cloak. Brian Lee charges at him and 'The Master' unleashes a fireball, then pulls down his hood to reveal he's Kevin Sullivan. Immediately he starts to hit him in the head with a spike, while the Nightstalker and Molokai both come into the ring to help with the attack. Sullivan spikes referee Mark Curtis and continues the assault bloodying Lee up. Paul Lee tries to come and help his namesake, but he is the next victim of the spike and they then hang Brian Lee in the tree of woe. The non-stop attack is relentless as Sullivan spike him some more. Robbie Eagle and Mike Sampson run down to try and help but the Nightstalker is keeping guard, preventing anyone get to Lee and he sees them off. Meanwhile on commentary Bob Caudle is saying that someone's got to stop this 'call the law, call the army, do something?'. A cameraman ends up getting up on the apron trying to help, but he gets spiked as well, leading to Caudle leaving the commentary desk and going over to where the assault is taking place, waving his arms and trying to get them to stop. Lee's face at this time is an absolute bloody mess and Dixie Dy-No-Mite is next to try and help, but like everyone before him the Nightstalker keeps him at bay, while Sullivan keeps spiking Lee and digging it into his forehead. The Fulton brothers come out but it makes no difference and it seems like no-one is able to get to Lee to help him. There is some visual at this point with Lee lay on his back, head hanging over the apron, covered in blood with his hair turned red and Sullivan still continuing to spike him. In the end the Rock & Roll Express, Tim Horner, Tracey Smother and Bob Armstrong all rush out and Sullivan leaves, with Dutch saying 'we ain't going to see none of this shit on TV' and then tells Caudle that he should've stayed over there with him. Armstrong starts to massage Lee's heart and check for a pulse. He then goes over to Dutch and Caudle and says that he made a mistake by allowing Sullivan to come in here but he's correcting it now, and from this point on he's banned from the area for the rest of his life!

 

This was incredible and the violence levels were off the charts with the repeated spike shots and Lee's face (and hair) being drenched in blood. Caudle getting involved and then Dutch agreeing with Armstrong when he bans Lee just adds to everything. After years of hearing Cornette rant on ECW, IWA-MS, Ian Rotten etc and then watching this? Probably more pure violence in this one angle than anything I have ever seen in those promotions. Crazy, wild, chaotic, an unbelievable angle and piece of wrestling television.

[garretta]

I can't believe that this was actually shown on TV in unedited form, and that it didn't cost Corny some stations that he could ill afford to lose. If I'd signed up to carry SMW, I know I would have thought long and hard before allowing it back on my station, and if I'd seen this prior to airing I might have yanked the show early and put on something else instead. There was no excuse not to cut this off before the parts that most of you thought were so great.

 

If I'd been the promoter, I would have gone to commercial just before Dutch swore on the air and not shown the rest, then had Bullet Bob come out the next week and redo the announcement banning Sully. I would have saved the angle by admitting that there was more footage that simply couldn't be shown on the air, then described some of it. That's about as far as I would have gone.

 

Maybe this would have been better if Lee hadn't bled quite so much. Whatever trick he used to bring that much blood, he way overdid it, and I would probably have fined him for it, especially if I lost stations and the money that went with them.

 

The technical problems were a nice touch, as was Dutch coming down on Lee's side, agreeing with Sully's ban, and trying in vain to protect Caudle (who, by the way, was smart enough never to get near the actual action). He stayed in character enough not to get involved himself, which is something I would have liked to see, Shoo Baby and all. I liked Bob's sense of outrage, and the fact that he was moved to actually get up and try to help spoke volumes about how serious the situation was.

 

I noticed the CPR and Lee moving, but it came across to me more like they were checking to make sure he was still breathing, not trying to help him breathe.

 

One last nice touch: Although Sully's banned, his minions aren't, which ensures that the feud will continue, and so will Sully's paid commercials (which may be where the NWO got the idea from).