SMW Ongoing Thread

[El-P]

The Summer of 1993 solidifies SMW as probably the best TV product of the year in the US, despite (or thanks to ?) the old-school format. The big summer show was the best major card of the year, with an excellent Wargames like cage match and the awesome Cornette vs Armstrong showdown. Brian Lee turned from boring and dull babyface to cool heel with Tammy Fytch at his side, and you can see her get really good really fast. His work still isn't exactly stellar, but his bumping big man style heel suits him much better. DWB not collecting the bounty on Tracy Smother moves thing organically toward the babyface turn. I'm loving every minute of Candido vs Tim Horner (I'm a sucker for redneck butterface Horner and his bad promos, he's campy but he's genuine, and he's such a crisp worker), including Dennis Corraluzo making a cameo as the WWA president. Cornette's post injury promos are priceless, and the Heavenly Bodies with Del Ray are more fun in the ring than with Lane. The only thing I don't like about the product at that time are the Bruise Brothers, even the Rock'n Roll can't make them watchable. Bobby Blaze is a nice little worker in the babyface Barry Horowitz role too.

[Dylan Waco]

Blaze was underrated. Not a "light the world on fire" type of guy, but he was good and likely would have gotten very good if there had been any place for him to go and really learn post-SMW.

[El-P]

Didn't he show up on WCW TV B-shows later in the decade ?

[ButchReedMark]

Yeah. Even made it onto the WCW Mayhem video game!

[WrestlingPower]

I think in hindsight, the Cornette/ECW thing is hard to understand but at the time it was completely justified (or at least understandable that he would think that way, not being a viewer of ECW). SMW was no different than any other Southern territory in its use of gimmick matches. ECW was guys doing stupid stuff to get noticed regardless of what it did to their bodies or their opponent's. That was the difference, Cornette had guys bleed a lot & do violent stuff but that was part & parcel of the business he ran. The ECW that Cornette railed about (and those of us that were fans of both at the time knew he was over-sensationalizing) was about guys getting drunk or drugged up & doing some stupid stuff to get noticed. There's a big difference between running a chain match & a Taipei Death match.

 

I agree with the above comments on Brian Lee's heel turn being the best thing for him.

 

As for the Bruise Brothers, they actually weren't bad at the time. Their gang fight (or whatever it was called) with Heavenly Bodies that headlined Thanksgiving Thunder in Knoxville was the best SMW match I ever saw live. They were best used in brawling style matches & Cornette used them that way including turning them & having them fight Moondogs. They were good in their brief ECW run too I thought. After that they were garbage as they got lazy. The big drawback to them in SMW was they were dangerous for fans. They didn't care so if someone in the crowd pissed them off, they'd go punch him.

 

I'm not sure what match was being referred to as stalling Smothers' momentum but if you're talking about the chain match, that is 100% not true having lived thru it. That was his final validation, triumphing over DWB, becoming champ and breaking free from his being perceived as a mid-carder. I would argue he might be one of the few success stories of Cornette as booker in taking a guy who was seen as a jabroni on the national stage & making him into a legit draw & star regionally.

 

I was surprised to hear a recent podcast with Tom Prichard who really downplayed the whole Bodies/RnR feud as being a total walk-thru/rehash of MX/RnR to diminishing crowds. Not only did I think the Bodies were something fresh at the time but it certainly wasn't diminishing gatest that killed the promotion, it was the TV money situation. And certainly by the time SMW started to look on its last legs in 1995, Bodies/RnR was LONG since over.

[El-P]

Two things that make SMW great :

Tammy's Tips : okay, Tammy was great at this point. Infuriating, obnoxious and hilarious.

Darryl von Horn : namedropping a bunch of pornstars that I would guess Bob Caudle never heard the names of as the harem for his Egyptian Prince.

[El-P]

I'm loving the DWB turn, it's done so smoothly and organically, with actual logic in how the character interact together (Tracey Smothers not helping DWB against Brian Lee). DWG showing up spices up things too. Tony Anthony is probably my biggest revelation on SMW TV.

I'm not enjoying the tag team scene though, Bruises Brothers suck and the Moondogs aren't much better or interesting. Too much boring brawling matches with bad workers here, it really ruins the potential of the R'n'R and the Bodies.

I'm not fond of the Bullet either, as Bob Armstrong was fine for a while, but he really can't do much in the ring, and the gimmick really feels dated. Cornette vs Bob Armstrong was pretty cool, and I don't understand why the Armstrongs were put on hold while the Bodies feud with the Bruise Brothers.

Anyway, the TV is still really fun overall, but not as much as it was at the middle of the year. It's really carried by Candido on the undercard and Lee vs DWB which is a great program as far as angles go. Tracey Smothers badly need something to do.

[Cox]

I think the Armstrongs left for a while, and weren't really regulars again for the rest of SMW"s existence. Not sure why, I think Steve got into All Japan and Scott started picking up jobber work in WCW, but they were sorely missed on the undercard as they were essentially replaced by the Moondogs, who were pretty bad. I understand trying the gimmick out to try something new with the Rock 'n' Roll, but it didn't work.

 

I actually liked the Bruise Brothers/Bodies brawls, though. Honestly, I don't think the Bruises were ever better than they were in SMW. Granted, that's not really high praise, but it also helps that they pretty much exclusively worked with good teams like the Bodies and the RnR.

 

And the DWB babyface turn was one of the best things SMW ever did. Loved all the stuff with Ron Wright.

[El-P]

I actually liked the Bruise Brothers/Bodies brawls, though. Honestly, I don't think the Bruises were ever better than they were in SMW. Granted, that's not really high praise, but it also helps that they pretty much exclusively worked with good teams like the Bodies and the RnR.

I've yet to see one Bruises match I enjoy in SMW (I love Rage in the Cage but it's a multi-man match so...), and I don't think I have enjoyed any in ECW. They had a few decent ones in WWF from what I remember and none in WCW (and they had that horrible corporate gimmcik there which made things even worse).

One thing I'll give Ron, or Don, whoever was the one who talked, is that he wasn't a bad promo.

 

And the DWB babyface turn was one of the best things SMW ever did. Loved all the stuff with Ron Wright.

I'm loving every minute of this too.

[goc]

The Harris Bros actually looked pretty good in the very early TNA weekly PPV days. I forget which one, but one of them had a really fun series of brawls with Malice.

[El-P]

Prince Kharis : wrestling the way it used to be, and the way you like.... wait ! What ???

[Tim Evans]

Well he does go back to the days of the Wrestling Mummy and Dr. Frank.

[El-P]

Well, I don't argue against the first part of the sentence. And he was a precursor to the HOF candidate, the infamous WCW Yetay...

Wasn't that a Rick Rubin idea BTW ?

[Johnny Sorrow]

I just saw Tim Horner singing some country in a studio.

[Cox]

I posted a clip of that on YouTube a few years ago. One of the most amazing things to ever air on SMW TV.

[El-P]

-Bob Armstrong is no longer The Bullet and is back in the commissioner's chair. I know he doesn't go away completely, and he'll still be around to cut awesome promos about Scandanavian snake feces, but it's kind of disappointing that he'll no longer be portrayed as a main event player for the rest of the run (unless he has a main event run that I'm not aware of). Sure, the guy is old, but he's still decent in the ring and cuts a hell of a promo.

I'm in Feb' 94, and honestly the whole Bullet Bob vs Cornette feud has overstayed its welcome with me. The highlights have been Murdoch's and Terry Funk's promos, but I'm really getting tired of this feud, with a hundred stipulations each time around.

 

On 02.19 TV episode, a few WWF guys do promos for the Armstrong Family reunion show, and Lex Luger comes off AMAZINGLY disingenuous !

[El-P]

Bluegrass Brawl II had to be the best SMW show ever, with two legit MOTYC back to back, culminating in a great moment after a similary great build. I guess it's the apex of the company.

[Cox]

I'm partial to the first Bluegrass Brawl, but I really loved the Dirty White Boy/Tracy Smothers chain match, more than most people seem to love it, so that might be why.

[Chess Knight]

Agreed with everything said about Ron Wright. If WWE are going to use Jerry Lawler's heart attack on TV they should just turn him heel and give him a 1992 Ron Wright character.

[El-P]

And although I did comment on it in the yearbook thread, I just wanna reiterate, Cornette's promo after Bluegrass Brawl II with the Bodies walking off is one of the greatest moment I've ever seen in pro-wrestling. One of the greatest promo ever from Cornette, and just pure gold with the Bodies walking off in the blur with the song in the background. Awesome.

[El-P]

The Heavenly Bodies are gone, Dutch Mantell is gone, we get Bruiser Bedlam, Prince Kharis in the main event, a Sasuke/Muta clone, Well Dunn as the first opponent for the Seekers (not a good choice)... Yep, Bluegrass Brawl seemed to be the apex of the company, and things don't look so hot now, despite Candido & Lee vs Rock'n Roll which is the only thing I care about at this point. *sigh*

[El-P]

With the Volunteer Slam III, it's obvious the promotion is sliding way down. Not much in term of matches, Thrillseekers vs Well Dunn wasn't good, Savage vs Bedlam sucked, Jake vs DWB didn't deliver. The DIrty White Girl angle was okay I guess, but it's still a poor rehash of the Liz stuff, which was a lot more intense with one single slap.

[Mad Dog]

I'm right before the first Volunteer Slam on my watch through. This has been a tough stretch as they did a clip show for the tag tournament, an episode and then a clip show for the heavyweight tournament. Tim Horner and Hector Guerrero cut maybe the worst promo ever in the clip show. Horner actually had a foam lightning bolt to further his point.

[Mad Dog]

I'm past the Volunteer Slam now. That tournament was straight up bullshit. I've never seen anyone win a tournament and be that cut off at the knees the entire time. He pins Buddy Landell by rolling him up when Landell goes for the Figure Four. He then pins DWB after he wipes out on a top rope move and Lee gets the pinfall. Then the DWB kicks the shit out of him afterwards. Then we get to the final and he wins it on a pretty BS DQ from Bob Armstrong. Then Orndorff and DWB proceed to kick the shit out of him. Armstrong and the locker room clear out. Lee gets beaten on a bit more as things progress.

 

I know there's building sympathy for the face and everything but this was way overboard. DWB called him out for it being a fluke after their match and Orndorff rightfully calls out Armstrong for costing him the match. So what did this do for Lee. He didn't hit his finisher on anyone in the tournament. He won with all flash pinfall type moves. He just looks like a total chump after this tournament. He didn't even get to celebrate with the belt afterwards.

 

Added to that, why the hell did the Heavenly Bodies need nefarious methods to beat the fucking Rich cousins? I know they're heels but they don't need to cheat to be everyone.

[El-P]

Thrillseekers vs Well Dunn in a "penalty box" match. Seriously Cornette. WAY too much gimmick matches and stipulations, all the time. Russo's "on-the-pole" fixation is actually not that far. Ok, that's harsch, but Cornette's booking, despite its strong points (making sense), relies on stuff like this way too much to keep things fresh and interesting.

 

On the other hand, Bambi-in-the-box was goofy but pretty fun thanks to the way Tammy sold it. SMW is all about Tammy and her team at this point, as nothing else of interest happens. Yeah, Jake & DWB cut great promos on each others, but the feud doesn't deliver at all in the ring. Bruiser Bedlam, Well Dunn, Kendo the samurai are shit. And I'm really getting tired of Cornette vs Arsmtrong, this feud has overstayed its welcome by a few months now.