[1995-08-04-SMW-Superbowl of Wrestling] Heavenly Bodies vs The Thugz

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Ricky Morton is out of SMW at this point, so Bob Armstrong and Robert Gibson come to the ring. Bob Armstrong explains that Ricky Morton has left SMW over the fight between his girlfriend and Tracy Smothers' girlfriend. Gibson puts his hand out to bury the hatchet with both guys, as tensions had been building. Finally, Cornette is out with the house mic and goads the Thugz into putting their titles on the line against his team, which happens to be the Bodies, and we have a match!

 

Very good tag. Smothers tries really hard, but he just isn't a Ricky Morton-level FIP guy. I guess no one really is. But I liked that they worked this as a straight up tag instead of as a brawl, as while this was a territory built around tag teams, there just aren't a ton of standout tag team matches (at least that look good compared to anything going on in the world anywhere). I like the finish with Cornette pulling out the ether rag. Nothing that hasn't been done better elsewhere, but still really good, and seems better than it probably is because these types of matches are starting to fall by the wayside as wrestling changes.

[Tim Evans]

Another ether ending? Isn't this the second time this finish has appeared on the set? Good match though with the Bodies bumping all over the place. Stunt Granny tries to attack the heels outside.

[El-P]

Didn't Raven do an ether spot at some point to make fun of the predominance of this stuff in Cornette's promotion ? Anyway, really good match, glad to see the Bodies back, although they were on their last legs, as Dr. Tom will soon hook up with Candido and Del Rey will sadly become a JTTS on WCW TV.

Table spot, uh ? It's 1995 I guess, someone is gaining popularity...

[PeteF3]

SMW successfully turns Ricky Morton heel in his absence, if the television hadn't accomplished that already. The result is a big pop when Bullet Bob announces the termination of Morton's contract. The stuff about the girlfriends was a shoot, was the theft of Smothers' tag title belt a shoot as well? Is Morton off comparing notes with the Snowman somewhere?

 

Cornette is out and sickened over the lovefest going on in the ring, and points out that we still need a tag title match, and offers up two members of the Militia. The THUGs readily agree. "Frankenstein" hits, and the Bodies are out to a HUGE pop. As Plan Bs go, this is a damned good one. The match itself is...fine. Like the previous bout it starts slowly and gets better as it goes along. This time they throw a double-FIP at us, I guess because it's AWA Tribute Night. It gets better once they start getting heat on Smothers, and the babyface comeback is pulled off well. Dirty White Boy sets what has to be a new record for ramming a guy's head into the turnbuckle--he must get up to 30 or so on poor Dr. Tom. That's not enough, as they then backdrop him into a table and Smothers piledrives him through it! Unfortunately they should have pinned Prichard when they had the chance, as Cornette pulls out the ol' ether and smothers DWB with it to give Del Ray the pin and the Bodies the tag titles.

 

Good match with some sense of "we've seen this before," maybe even a lot of sense of it. I did like the build to the ether, as the Bodies looked truly dead when Cornette pulled it out, so it seemed like a last-ditch hail mary pass rather than, "Let's cheat cuz the finish sez so." Still, the desperation of using ether could be seen as a metaphor for the desperation in bringing the Bodies back to support a dying company...or something.