Tony Anthony

[Grimmas]

Discuss here.

[Dylan Waco]

Despite watching all the SMW a few years back, where he was arguably the best worker in the history of the promotion (it's between him, Smothers and Morton), I really hadn't even thought of Anthony for this until the other day. But going through my SMW reviews and then watching a bunch of his Continental work this weekend, I really feel like he's got a very good shot of making my ballot. The big knock on him will probably be that he doesn't have the long laundry list of great matches, but he is also a guy who's performances always stand out even in otherwise middling matches. He's a very underrated bumper, and is one of my favorite guys ever when it comes to taking simple offense and making it look great. There have been a lot of good Southern style brawlers over the years, but I honestly think Anthony is one of the better guys working that style. Perhaps not in the absolute top tier, but easily in the tier two, and Southern brawlers are likely to be well represented on my list. I also give him extra points because he was able to act as a sort of episodic television anchor/standard which is something I really value because it's not easy. He has matches with Tim Horner, Smothers, Prichard and others that I legitimately love, and I also think he was a great tag worker. Plus he as great as both a face and a heel. One of my favorites of the early 90's all things considered.

[goc]

Sidenote, but if you really love SMW you'll like Continental a lot watching footage for this project. SMW really feels like kind of a continuation of Continental at times with how many guys worked both.

[goodhelmet]

I think Dirty White Boy makes it in part because of his peak in SMW but also his solid tag work in the 80s. he was rock solid in the DWBs in Mid South.

[Tim Evans]

DWB will be on my list somewhere. He had too many great moments and good matches not to. From his feud with Prichard to the battles with guys like Eric Embry and Brian Lee. He even was good in Power Pro after the disastrous run as TL Hopper vs guys like JR Smooth and Ekmo.

[JRGoldman]

I've been watching a lot of DWB stuff recently because I thought of him as sort of a hole in my viewing previously, and I think he's made his way on to my list and is slowly climbing. I think he just so clearly understands his role in what I've watched of him. Really does nothing to come across as likable, which is a lost art. He bumps huge. He's one of those people that bumps like there is extra gravity around him just slamming himself in to the mat. Muta does that on offense to make his stuff look better, but I can't think of too many people that crack down so hard to make other people look good.

[Loss]

How does he compare to Tracy Smothers, Tom Pritchard, Buddy Roberts, Tommy Rich, Jeff Jarrett, Stan Lane, Brad Armstrong, Bobby Fulton, Robert Gibson, John Tatum, Eddie Gilbert, Lanny Poffo, Steve Keirn, Robert Fuller, Billy Joe Travis, Iceman Parsons, Eric Embry, Chris Candido, Dick Slater, Bill Irwin, Terry Taylor and Buddy Landell? I'd put some above him and quite a few below him, but I think those are a solid group of guys for comparison.

[goc]

I think the only guys I would put above him from that list, as far as overall career, would be Robert Fuller, Stan Lane, Steve Keirn & maybe on Jeff Jarret and Eric Embry. Haven't seen enough of Dick Slater to really be fair on that one.

[shoe]

I'm a DWB fan so I do hope he makes my list . Threw a great punch, he had great timing . He could be a heel or a face. He could be a single or tag worker . He was fluid on the card. Awesome at getting angles over.

[Parties]

So what are his best performances/matches? I kind of jumped into watching a bunch of '93 SMW where him and Smothers are feuding. It's entertaining stuff, largely for the promos (feeling that way about a lot of SMW), but if anyone made my list from that feud, it would be Smothers for his insane bumping and strong babyface work. Anthony comes off as a great talker who knew how to work that character. Between his stuff here and with Pritchard, he's one of wrestling's great scumbags. But in-ring I'm still waiting for more matches where he looks like a top 100 contender. Bell to bell his best stuff that I've seen are the two Mid-South matches from '85 that made the DVDVR set: ranked them very high on that set and thought the DWBs were fantastic in them.

 

Watched the '87 Mr. Olympia/Anthony street fight from Continental and thought it was solid but disappointing. At first it looks like it's gonna be southern fried MS1-Chicana, and the mask ripping was good, but the match never gets off the ground. Anthony was more entertaining when he was bumping and stooging than he was when he was in control. If you're gonna be a kick/punch/stomp heel, for me you need to have like, Hansen/Dundee level strikes, which I don't always think is the case with Anthony.

 

I get that to really get over as a heel you have to get heat and put a hurting on the faces, but I often feel like I want the singles Anthony matches I've seen to have more comeuppance? Clearly he's doing something right if I'm invested in his matches and want to see the faces get him. He's such a creep that you want the faces to take vengeance, but I don't know if I've found the match where it happens yet.