[2000-01-29-WCW-Worldwide] Tracy Smothers vs The Barbarian

[soup23]

Tracy pulling a Rick Rude and being on WCWSN and MPPW on the same day is great stuff. Even better is him coming out here as Mr. fiery babyface. Barbarian has a relaxed look with his hair all over the place and a leather jacket. Tracy is able to rally the crowd a bit here and immediately gets thrown around like a rag doll. Big headbutt and barrage of strikes in the corner for Barb. Smothers gets a two count with a dropkick and forearm. Tracy does a single leg cradle again. The urgency of Tracy is really being displayed here. Nasty overhead suplex by Barb that is followed up with a side slam. Smothers gets another hope spot with a back heel kick. Tracy hits an elbow on the chest from the top for two. Smothers is fired up but runs into the kick of fear for the Barbarian win. Fun match here for three minutes. **

[Grimmas]

WCW could had been the greatest company ever, they could bring in folks like The Barbarian and Tracy Smothers.. but just waste them on 3 minute b-show matches. Fucking Oklahoma was the Cruiserweight Champion at the time, wtf?

 

The match itself was a lot of fun for the short period it got. Both men did what they do well and it was just nice to see two favourites actually have a match, albeit nothing too special.

[Loss]

It shows how far off the tracks WCW has gotten when fans no longer respond to good wrestling featuring people they may not know well. That was always a WCW staple, even during bad times, and it's no longer a guarantee. Still, this is a very short, but very fun match where they cut a super fast pace. Two true pros. Barbarian gets a nasty kick at the end after Tracy has the briefest of moments of hope.

[The Chief]

Trenchcoat "civilian" Barbarian from this era was one of my favorites. I'm surprised he never got another WWE run a la Meng.

[goc]

This was about as good of a match as you could have in the very short amount of time they were given. Crowd totally did not give a shit though which was disappointing. Had Barbarian been out with an injury of did they just pay him to sit at home for most of 1999 since Scott Hudson said Barb had been gone for 8 months?

[GSR]

Short all action match with Smothers getting in much more offense than I would’ve anticipated. Tracey drops the Barbarian with a kick to the back of the head, then comes off the top with an elbow to the throat for a one count. He runs the ropes, ducks a clothesline attempt from the Barbarian, but is met by a big boot to the face and that’s all for the ‘Wild Eyed Southern Boy’. Don’t know what Smothers contract status would’ve been with ECW, but after seeing him here, surprising that WCW didn’t make a play to bring him in when they were signing up anyone and everyone in late ‘97/98.