Ryan's Dive into '95 - Part 47 (11/19 - 11/25)

Survivor Series, Diesel "shoots", Shawn collapses, a variety pack of matches from Japanese promotions, Jerry Jarrett recites poetry, and Smoky Mountain nears death's door.

Feb 11, 2024

If you haven’t read it already, please check out my introductory article that explains what this series is all about. As a reminder, footage is sourced from the Goodhelmet 1995 Yearbook unless otherwise stated.

How ya now?

We have a ton of history this week at The Dive. We start off with the best WWF show of the year and the end of a nearly year-long championship reign. We also get some notable happenings from the RAW after. Plus, Sting and Hulk Hogan lock horns in a match that should be much bigger and better than it is, there’s matches from GAEA and Michinoku Pro, and New Japan looks to embarrass UWFi in the latter’s home turf.

As well, we have the final ever episode of Smoky Mountain Wrestling’s television show, then their second-to-last main event. Jim Cornette’s little promotion that could (never turn a profit) is mere days away from closing its doors for good.

Well…

NOVEMBER 19th

WWF Survivor Series 1995

Before the show kicks off proper, Mr. Perfect makes his return to The Fed on commentary. This was the first Survivor Series to take place on a Sunday, as previous iterations happened on Thanksgiving or the night before.

The Bodydonnas (Skip, Rad Radford, Dr. Tom Prichard, & The 1-2-3 Kid) vs. The Underdogs (Barry Horowitz, Marty Jannetty, Hakushi, & Bob “Spark Plug” Holly) - Oh, man, I miss when Survivor Series used team names for their elimination matches that weren’t just “Team RAW” or “Team Cena”.

There’s a couple of substitutions in this one. Newly-minted Million Dollar Corporation member 1-2-3 Kid (ironically facing off against a team of underdogs after making his entire career up to that point out of being one) is subbing for Jean-Pierre Lafitte, who was out after hernia surgery. He would be done with The Fed after falling completely out of favor with The Kliq due to an incident in Montreal. An incident in Montreal between a Kliq member and a Canadian wrestler? Never!

According to Shane Douglas HA HA, Lafitte and WWF Champion Diesel were set to have a match in the pirate’s hometown that was booked to end in a no-contest or DQ so that they can have a rematch the next time they came back. However, Shawn Michaels decided to do a bit of the ol’ politicking and had the decision changed to a clean victory for Big Daddy Cool. Lafitte was all like “that's not gonna work for me, frere” and refused to do the job, so the match ended with a double-countout. The Kliq were none too happy about Lafitte’s insubordination and buried him to the higher-ups.

Avatar was set to be on The Underdogs, but given his poor showing on RAW and the fact that Bob Holly was ready to quit the WWF due to lack of work, The Fed opted to plug Sparky into Avatar’s spot.

Tom Prichard is going it alone at this point after Heavenly Bodies partner Jimmy Del Ray was fired from the WWF on the back of a horrific incident from December 1994 involving a woman and Halcyon. This was apparently a common practice for Del Ray. Tatanka was also blamed for the incident as he was seen with the woman and Del Ray the night it took place and was suspended for six months during the investigation. He was cleared of any wrongdoing and reinstated in January 1996. Kevin Nash talks about this during a shoot interview, and you can read a bit more detail about what happened on Tatanka’s Wikipedia page. It’s pretty fucked up, so research at your own discretion.

Interestingly enough, despite Radford being a Bodydonna in Training, Prichard would actually end up as Skip's tag partner, Zip. On yet another note, The 1-2-3 Kid is facing off against two former tag team championship partners in Jannetty and Holly, AND one of his most recent rivals in Hakushi.

Jesus, that was a lot of preamble. Let’s talk about the actual match! Razor Ramon comes out and wants some of The Kid, but is held back by a cavalcade of refs. Prichard and Jannetty start, with the latter fighting off the heels. Radford and Holly tag in, with Holly snapping off a hurricanrana. Radford tries one himself but gets powerbombed for his efforts. Hakushi tags in and gets a decent pop. After a fast-paced sequence, Rad lays him out with a nice spinebuster.

The Kid tags in and lands a frog splash for two, After some kicks, Skip tags in, but Hakushi reverses a second-rope back suplex and tags Holly back in. They do a fun little sequence that ends with some sturdy Holly clotheslines. The crowd chants “BARRY”, presumably being fans of the Bill Hader show, as Dr. Tom hits a Doctor Bomb on Holly for two. Prichard misses a moonsault, and Holly hits a crossbody to eliminate the Doctor of Desire. Skip runs in and immediately rolls Holly up to put HIM out! 3-on-3 now.

Hakushi hits some impressive kicks on Skipper, but a pump splash hits knees. Skip hits a top rope Frankensteiner, but flops onto his face afterwards. Kid tags in and pounds away, but Hakushi makes a comeback to a huge response from the fans. I know the WWF was heavy with babyfaces during this year, but Hakushi should have been one sooner, man. By the time he turned, he lost all credibility as a top-end star and occupied the dreaded “Jobber to the Stars” status. Hakushi misses a springboard headbutt, then Kid tags in Radford. While Hakushi was engaged with the grunge merchant, Kid kicks him in the back of the head, and Radford covers and eliminates him (making sure to grab the tights).

Barry comes in for the first time and quickly gets assaulted by the baddies for a while. Radford hits a gutwrench, but pulls Barry up at two. That’s not gonna end well for Raddy. Skip keeps asking Radford to pull Barry up during covers to further castigate his nemesis. Radford hits a Mr. Perfect necksnap and a beautiful Northern Lights suplex, then does some pushups. Barry rolls him up for the elimination using the same three-quarter nelson that beat Skip in July.

Barry squares up to Skip, which Skip sells wonderfully. Horowitz has Skip on the ropes, but 1-2-3 Kid soon puts Horowitz out with a kick from behind and a legdrop. That leaves Marty with a 2-1 deficit. Jannetty and Skip have a great sequence that includes a Rocker Dropper from Marty (Mr. Perfect: “That’ll break your neck”).

Marty soon hits Skip with a SUPER POWERBOMB! Sweet Jesus! That understandably got the elimination.

We’re down to Kid vs. Jannetty, with the former hitting a top rope legdrop for two. A cannonball misses, and Marty makes a spirited comeback. However, Sycho Sid comes out for the inevitable run-in. Marty hits a Rocker Dropper, but Kid breaks the pin via the ropes. Ted DiBiase distracts the ref while Sid guillotines Marty on the top rope. Kid covers for the pin while Ramon loses his absolute rag backstage.

Sole survivor: The 1-2-3 Kid

***3/4 - Some weak eliminations aside, this was a HOT opener with a lot of fast-paced action, little bits of storytelling, and MOVEZ. Putting eight good-to-excellent workers in there and letting them cook on PPV will shockingly yield great results. The Kid did a good job being a slimy heel while not completely abandoning his cool offense, Skip stood out for his mannerisms and bumping, Hakushi got himself over with exciting offense, and Marty did well fighting back from underneath. Plus, the SUPERBOMB! Unleashing that in 1995 WWF is insane.

We cut to Todd Pettingill who is with the totally real then-president Bill Clinton. Mr. Bob Backlund joins him in the presidential box. “Clinton” goes to shake his hand, but Backlund refuses. Backlund must have seen the Epstein list.

Backlund tells Clinton to address him as MISTER BACKLUND and chides him for being at the show instead of presiding over his country.

Because one segment wasn’t enough, we go back to Mr. Clinton, this time with Sunny. She changed out of her Bodydonna gear and into a dress in order to sit on his lap.

Clinton makes inappropriate comments while staring at her cleavage. Sunny believes she’d be the PERFECT undersecretary. Eek. This was one of the first instances around this time of a female being presented in a more ‘adult’ fashion. It would only escalate from there.

WWF Championship, No Disqualification Match: Diesel (c) vs. Bret “The Hitman” Hart - We recap their previous two title matches and the fuckery that caused them to end in unsatisfactory finishes. As such, the third match in this trilogy is no disqualification to ensure a winner. Bret’s name with the uber-American chyron just feels wrong.

Each guy undoes a turnbuckle pad to set the tone for this one. The early story sees Diesel mauling away at Bret like a low-drawing bear while The Hitman tries to keep his distance, absorb any blows necessary, and pick his spot. Diesel abuses Bret with the ring steps and a chair, similar to what Bret did in their Rumble title match in January.

In the ring, Bret continues taking a beating until Diesel goes for the Jackknife. Bret holds onto the leg, then BITES Diesel’s arm and head! Bret goes for some eyerakes, then works away at Big Daddy Cool’s leg. Bret slaps on a figure four. I have to say, Mr. Perfect and Jim Ross are doing a great job of explaining Bret’s strategy and the callbacks to prior matches. Bret continues to heap abuse onto the leg, but Diesel eyepokes out of a Sharpshooter attempt and pushes Bret back into one of the exposed turnbuckles. Diesel hammers away, but Bret rolls out and posts Diesel’s leg!

Bret then grabs some cable and ties Diesel’s foot to the ringpost! Diesel smashes him in the face with the other leg, but he’s still tied to the ring! Bret tries to attack him with the chair, but Diesel boots him in the face! Diesel crawls for the steel, but Bret snags it and chairs his back and knee! Bret heads upstairs with the chair, but Diesel cuts him off and biels him off the top. Diesel unties himself and hits a sidewalk slam for two.

Diesel hurls Bret sternum-first into the exposed buckle, giving us that awesome trademark bump. Diesel drops Bret with Snake Eyes and continues hobbling around the ring, but Bret escapes another Snake Eyes and rams Diesel into the exposed metal. Bret comes back with a flying clothesline and a second-rope bulldog, each for two-counts. Bret takes a nasty spill after Diesel dodges a plancha. Moments later, Diesel pushes Bret off the apron and through the Spanish announce table! This was long before it became a cliché, so Bret sells the bump like a blunderbuss to the face.

Diesel takes his time going in for the kill, seemingly taking pity on his opponent. This was his undoing, though, as Bret holds RB and presses B to activate the Possum Pin, small-packaging Diesel for the three and the title! Diesel says very naughty words on camera (which got the WWF a little bit of heat) and attacks Bret with three brutal Jackknife powerbombs, then assaults some officials.

****1/2 - Yeah, this was awesome. I used to prefer the Rumble match due to the strong injury-focused psychology, but I actually liked this better upon rewatch. This had its own unique storytelling, great selling and aggression from both guys, and an actual finish with Bret putting an end to a lousy Diesel title reign.

Also, the table bump, while not much nowadays, was not something you saw in the WWF around this time. Likely due to the influence of ECW, The Fed was definitely starting to move into edgier territory as we’ll see on RAW. This is likely Kevin Nash’s best match ever, other than maybe the Shawn Michaels match from In Your House: Good Friends, Better Enemies.

Other stuff that happened:

The Smoking Gunns defeated The Public Enemy in a pre-show dark match.
Bertha Faye, Aja Kong, Tomoko Watanabe, & Lioness Asuka defeated Alundra Blayze, Kyoko Inoue, Chaparita Asari, & Sakie Hasegawa in about 10 minutes. Match was super-rushed and sloppy, but still kinda fun. Just not as mindblowingly great as the line-up looked on paper.
- Asuka was pinned by Blayze via German Suplex.
- Hasegawa fell to Kong after a belly-to-back suplex.
- Kong took out Asari with a diving splash.
- Kong pinned Inoue after a butt splash.
- Blayze eliminated Watanabe after a piledriver.
- Faye was eliminated after a Blayze German Suplex.
- Aja Kong pins Blayze after a uraken.
- Sole survivor: Aja Kong
Goldust defeated Bam Bam Bigelow in an absolute snoozer.
- This was Bigelow’s final appearance in the WWF. He’d be in ECW not too long after.
The Dark Side (The Undertaker, Savio Vega, Henry Godwinn, & Fatu) defeated The Royals (King Mabel, Hunter Heart-Helmsley, Jerry Lawler, & Isaac Yankem, D.D.S.) in a match that was actually enjoyable, even if the logic was deeply flawed and it felt like they were killing time before the closing sequence. The faces spent the entire match not tagging Undertaker until it was time for him to come in and wreck everyone, which was honestly great. Also, this was Taker’s return from facial injury and the debut of his odd “Phantom of the Opera” look.
- Lawler and Yankem fell to Undertaker’s Tombstone piledriver.
- Triple H was eliminated via an Undertaker chokeslam from the apron into the ring.
- Mabel walks out of the match and is eliminated via count-out.
- Survivors: The entire Dark Side team
  - Also, it took me many years before I knew that Taker was tagging with members of the Bone Street Krew (Undertaker and Yokozuna’s backstage circle of friends) instead of just a ragtag bunch of midcarders.

Shawn Michaels, Ahmed Johnson, Sycho Sid, & The British Bulldog defeated Razor Ramon, Dean Douglas, Owen Hart, & Yokozuna. This was a Wildcard elimination match, which explains the strange bedfellows-ish nature of the teams. I liked this one quite a bit; I’m kind of surprised they haven’t tried any more Wildcard matches. It’s a fun concept, like a big-ass Atomicos Incredibles.
- Douglas was eliminated via a Michaels roll-up after Razor attacked him.
- Razor pinned Sid after a hilariously-errant superkick from Shawn felled his former bodyguard.
  - Sid got revenge with a powerbomb on Michaels after the elimination.
- The Big Johnson ousts Owen after a Pearl River Plunge (Tiger Driver).
- Razor exits via a Bulldog powerslam after a distraction from 1-2-3 Kid, Ted DiBiase, and Sid.
- Yokozuna was eliminated after a superkick from Shawn and a big splash from Johnson.
  - Bulldog had tried to break up the pin on his stablemate, but his two teammates attacked him before finishing Yoko off.
- Survivors: Shawn Michaels, Ahmed Johnson, British Bulldog

This was definitely my favorite WWF show of the year. Not like there was much competition (Royal Rumble, maybe?), but there’s some great wrestling here and nothing awful aside from the Goldust/Bammer match. It ended up with a 0.57 buyrate, translating to roughly 135,000 purchases, good for third-worst of the year. Only the wretchedly low In Your House 4 and the somehow-even worse In Your House 5 numbers would be lower.

NOVEMBER 20th

WWF Monday Night RAW

Diesel walks out during a Savio Vega vs. Skip match, pretty much ending it. He grabs a mic and cuts a quasi-shoot promo. He does NOT apologize for his actions last night and says he slept like a baby. He looked in the mirror and saw a SMILE on his face for the first time in a year and not a corporate puppet. The camera pans towards noted sexual assaulter and sex trafficker Vince McMahon sitting at ringside. This is one of the first times that Vince was acknowledged as the owner of The Fed on-air.

He recounts being asked to smile and be more politically correct by the “suits” at Titan Towers after his WWF Title win. Big Daddy Cool is BACK.

All that matters to Diesel now is his family and his friends (making sure to point out Shawn Michaels in particular). He'll still slap hands, but they better have a black glove on it.

After the promo, we see Diesel embrace Shawn Michaels backstage and leave the building.

Where the hell was THIS Diesel? This was a breath of fresh air after sitting through a year of corny promos where he quotes dead 50's comedians and makes truck puns. This tweener character for Diesel immediately makes him far more interesting to watch. It’s unfortunate that, much like most of his fellow Kliqmates, Kevin Nash sucks ass as a human being.

Shawn Michaels vs. Owen Hart - We get some athletic action and near-falls to start, with Shawn coming out on top. Michaels snaps off a ‘rana, but Owen clotheslines him out and hits a baseball slide dropkick to take control. Seconds later, Owen hits a nice German suplex for a close two.

Owen dominates, hitting a spinning heel kick as RAW ROLLS ON…

…and we're back with Shawn fighting out of a chinlock, but Owen immediately hits a neckbreaker and a legdrop BROTHER for two. Shawn gets a backslide for two, but Owen hits a lariat to put him back down. Shawn counters a superplex into a crossbody for a VERY close two, then soon starts to mount his comeback. Flying elbow gets two.

Moments later, Shawn pulls Owen away from the turnbuckle by the leg, but Owen nails him with the fatal enzuigiri. After a bit, Shawn clotheslines Owen out of the ring and does some hotdogging…but he holds his head and collapses into an unconscious heap. My God, it's post-concussion syndrome! The match ends there as EMTs, staff, and even the announcers tend to the unconscious Shawn. Even the heels, including Jerry Lawler, show concern.

***1/4 - Even though the match is entirely remembered nowadays for the angle, everything beforehand was quite good. Shawn and Owen's similar styles meshed together very well, leading to some terrific action here.

As cynical as I am nowadays about Shawn, this was a well-executed angle that you really didn’t see much of during that time. Much like the Spanish announce table, this trope would be run deep into the ground over the years, but in the day, it was novel and another example of the WWF’s dipping their toe in the “blurring the lines between fact and fiction” pool. Fans were apparently calling the emergency room and Titan Towers to check on Shawn’s welfare, so you know it worked.

I love that Owen afterwards too credit for Shawn’s injury and even started using the enzuigiri as a finisher.

Despite the positive things I said about the WWF product this week, fuck Vince McMahon and the company culture that enables and obfuscates sexual assault, abuse, and sex trafficking. I sincerely hope Janel Grant, Rita Chatterton, Ashley Massaro, Tom Cole, and anyone else wronged by these people find the justice and peace they deserve.

I'll still review the product as it comes up because I can’t effectively complete the project without it, but it's always Fuck The Fed.

WCW Monday Nitro

We start with Mean Gene Okerlund, who is with “The Taskmaster” Kevin Sullivan and Jimmy Hart. Gene calls Jimmy “the original Benedict Arnold”. You know who the REAL original Benedict Arnold was? Benedict Arnold.

Jimmy takes this as a compliment and stirs shit up between Sting and Hulk Hogan. Sullivan discusses the World War 3 battle royal coming up on Sunday. Okerlund calls both guys “two of the biggest pieces of human garbage I can ever recall” to close this out.

Hulk Hogan vs. Sting - That’s a hell of a match to be putting on free TV, but RAW was expecting the post-PPV bump. WCW likely felt they had to unload some of their big guns to keep up.

“Macho Man” Randy Savage comes out while Hulk's music is playing, allowing the Dark Hulk, wearing a shitty plastic mask, to sneak in through the crowd and behind Sting. Real inconspicuous, Hulk.

Sting turns around to see him, and Hulk takes off the mask. OH MY GOD, IT’S HULK HOGAN!

Hogan shoves Sting before the bell, so Sting beats the tar out of him to start. Hogan comes back to disdain from the fans, which was increasingly commonplace. Sting dropkicks Hogan out, and they brawl for a bit with Hulk getting a suplex on the floor. Back in, Sting lands a crossbody for two, but Hogan works over the arm. Sting is decked in red and yellow, either as psychological warfare with Hogan, or he just really likes McDonalds.

The Hulkster applies a rolling armbar, but Sting reverses his fortunes with some armwork of his own. Take THAT, UWFi! They continue plodding through this one until Hogan catches a Stinger Splash and applies a bearhug. Why in the hell is Hogan wearing brown cowboy boots?

Hogan hits some suplexes, but Sting kicks his leg out of his, uh, leg. Scorpion Deathlock is applied!

Hogan powers out and HULKS UP! We get the big boot, but Hogan stalls before the legdrop…which misses! Sting reapplies the deathlock, but the Dungeon of Doom come in for the schmoz finish. The good guys fight them off, but The Giant comes in and goozles them both…but Savage whacks him with a chair and exacerbates his totally storyline (yet completely real) arm injury. Giant chokeslams Savage, but Hogan and Sting double-team him with a chair to send him packing.

*1/2 - Not completely terrible or anything, but a pretty basic match that treaded water until the bullshit finish. A big disappointment, yet the matches between these guys would only get worse.

Surprisingly, there was no PPV bump for the WWF as Nitro won the week with a 2.5 rating vs. the WWF’s 2.3 number. Considering what both companies were offering this week, those are very lackluster numbers.

NOVEMBER 23rd

Michinoku Pro Michinoku Futari Journey '95 ~Tag League Match~, Night 14

This particular show is the final night of a tag team round-robin tournament. The tournament was won by The Great Sasuke & Kato Kung Lee, defeating Super Delfin & Gran Naniwa in the main event. However, we're not looking at a tournament match today.

TAKA Michinoku vs. Tiger Mask IV - Nearly 30 years later, and both guys are still active in New Japan. That is ridiculous longevity. TMIV is dressed more like the original Satoru Sayama Tiger Mask at this point.

We start with a little bit of juniors-style matwork before TAKA dropkicks Tiger out and teases a no-hands plancha. Tiger Mask hits some lightning-fast kicks, including a jumping back kick that sends TAKA to the floor. TOPE SUICIDA from Tiger Mask!

TAKA fights back, but TMIV gets a sweet flying cross armbar. TAKA quickly applies a figure four, but Tiger makes the ropes…and TAKA immediately slaps the hold back on! TMIV escapes, but TAKA hits a nasty springboard knee to the back of the head! TMIV hits a tiger wall flip and a missile dropkick, then follows with a top rope plancha to the floor! Back in, TMIV hits a tombstone, then a running tombstone, then a diving headbutt for two! Hurricanrana from Tiger gets two, as does a German suplex. TAKA dropkicks Tiger Mask when he was jumping off the top, then TAKA hits his usual AWESOME no-hands springboard plancha.

Tiger Mask suplexes TAKA to the floor, then follows with an attempted Space Flying Tiger Drop…that TAKA intercepts with an elbow from the apron. Springboard dropkick to the back of the head and a sheer-drop brainbuster gets another near-fall! TAKA hits a Michinoku Driver II and a Splash Mountain for three.

Post-match, TAKA rants on the mic and leaves. TAKA’s music is actually the same he would use in the WWF and beyond.

*** - Nothing in the way of psychology or long-term selling, but this was a very fun little spotfest. It was all about the dives and high-impact moves here, all done at a rapid pace without overstaying its welcome. Not top-tier Michinoku Pro or anything, but a worthwhile watch.

NOVEMBER 25th

UWFi All-Out Contend Battle

Golden Cups (Yoji Anjo & Yoshihiro Takayama) vs. Ookami Gundan (Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan) - The UWFi vs. NJPW war rages on, this time on a show promoted by UWFi.

The crowd LOVES Yoji Anjo here as he’s been one of the heroes during this interpromotional rivalry. Tenzan yells into the mic, but Anjo PULLS THE CORD AWAY and taunts him with bull horns! OOOOHHHHHH! Tenzan and Takayama, the two young guns, start off and slug away at each other with hard shots and palpable intensity. Chono tags in and scraps with Takayama, with the latter trying to hoist Chono out of the ring. Anjo tags in to pop the crowd and taunt Chono, but Takayama tags in and the heels knock him out of the ring! Anjo comes in and ejects Tenzan to rapturous applause while Takayama dropkicks Chono out! The baddies toss a guardrail into the ring, which Takayama promptly hurls back at them! The fans are going absolutely batshit. This is awesome.

Things settle down for a bit with Takayama blasting Tenzan with knees and kicks. Anjo checks in and continues the assault on the Violent Bull with a choke. Chono tags in and immediately backs Anjo into the heel corner, leading to Tenzan chopping and choking the snot out of him. Anjo escapes a cobra clutch with some kicks and eventually knees and kicks Tenzan into putty.

Takayama tags in, but Tenzan soon gets him into a high-angle Boston crab. Takayama makes the ropes and back body-drops Tenzan, then kicks away at Chono. The heels regain the upper hand, then Chono tosses Takayama into the corner so he can tag Anjo. Anjo manages a Fujiwara armbar, but Tenzan breaks it up.

Chono soon gets an STF on Mr. 200, but Takayama breaks it up. Chono accidentally Yakuza-kicks Tenzan, then Anjo applies a figure four! Tenzan stops it with a diving headbutt! Anjo hits a blatant low blow on Tenzan and goes for another figure four-style hold, but it’s broken up. Takayama hits a massive German suplex on Chono, but Masahiro blocks another one with a mule kick to the junk. Takayama fights through some Yakuza kicks, but Chono applies a butterfly lock for the immediate tap!

**** - This was GREAT. Fast-paced, lasted the right amount of time (11 minutes or so), intense, hard-hitting, and INCREDIBLE heat, especially with Anjo in there. The feud does feel a bit one-sided so far, though, with NJPW dominating in the Dome and the heels getting another tapout win in UWFi territory. Things will turn around in early 1996, at least for a little bit.

GAEA Never Ending Bump

BATTLE FORMATION TO DANGER ZONE: Devil Masami & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Hikari Fukuoka & KAORU - This was taped on 11/3 but possibly wasn't broadcast until 11/25, which is why it's here. Masami, Ozaki, and Fukuoka all represent JWP, while KAORU is basically GAEA’s sous chef under founder Chigusa Nagayo.

We join this one in progress with KAORU sinking in a choke on Ozaki, but Masami breaks it up. Devil tags in, but immediately gets caught in a sleeper. Fukuoka tags in and hits a missile dropkick, but Masami comes right back with a lariat. Fukuoka soon locks in another sleeper, and that goes on for a while as it’s obvious that they’re going long here. Masami claws away at her own hand to keep herself awake, and ends up getting to the ropes. German suplex on Masami gets two, then KAORU locks in the Rita Romero special.

Fukuoka tags in, but runs right into an overhead powerbomb from Masami, who then tags in Ozaki. Oz hits a backdrop driver and a sitdown powerbomb for two-counts, then lands a rounding splash for another near-fall. Ozaki locks in an armbar and cranks on that thing for a while. A long while.

Masami tags in and gets caught with a missile dropkick and a Manami Toyota-style rolling cradle for two. Fukuoka and Masami trade dragon sleepers, then Masami kind of catches Fukuoka in a spinebuster for two. Masami and Ozaki attempt a double-team alley-oop powerbomb onto Fukuoka, but KAORU leaps off the top and causes Masami to powerbomb Oz! Straightjacket powerbomb gets two for Fukuoka, then we brawl in the stands for a bit. Fukuoka alley-oops KAORU onto Masami, then cartwheels into a dive onto the heels.

Back in, Fukuoka hits a handspring elbow on Masami and goes WILD in the corner with elbows. Masami powerbombs her off the top for two!

Masami overhead-powerbombs KAORU out of the ring and hits a sitdown powerbomb on Fukuoka for two. Moments later, KAORU comes out of nowhere with a springboard dropkick to the back of Masami’s head, but the latter comes back with a Samoan drop. Ozaki slams KAORU off the ropes and hits a powerbomb, but Masami misses a top rope legdrop! Doomsday Device from Oz and Masami misses, then KAORU snares an O’Connor Roll on Ozami for a close two.

Ozami and Masami focus on the arm, with Masami hitting a top rope legdrop onto it for two. Assisted powerbomb gets another near-fall but KAORU counters a top-rope slam into an armdrag and hits a missile dropkick on Ozaki! Fukuoka hits a handspring elbow onto both opponents and launches KAORU into a dropkick for two. They dropkick Masami into paste, but she bridges out of the cover at two. We get a pair of sheer drop brainbusters from KAORU, but Ozaki breaks up the pin. Fukuoka hits a somersault kick off the ropes onto the back of Masami’s head. Devil’s sell for this is awesome. The ref won’t count the pin, instead opting for a ten-count.

Ozaki flies in with a somersault senton, but Fukuoka comes back with a moonsault onto Masami for two. KAORU hits the sleeper on Masami and won’t break it despite Ozaki pounding away at her. Fukuoka soon hits the MOONSAULT FOOTSTOMP onto Masami! That looks like it sucked to take. KAORU follows with TWO of her own! Good lord. Ozaki BARELY breaks up the pin in time.

KAORU locks in a choke on Masami, but the latter escapes via an electric chair drop. Sitdown powerbomb from Masami gets two, then Ozaki powerbombs Fukuoka ONTO KAORU for another near-fall as the time limit approaches. Ozaki hits a couple half-and-half suplex for two-counts, then Ozaki gets a crossbody variant of the Doomsday Device for two. KAORU gets a hurricanrana out of nowhere for two, then her and Fukuoka try their own version of a Doomsday Device, but Ozaki gets a victory roll out of it for two. Powerbomb from Ozaki on KAORU, then Masami hits a leg lariat off the top…but the time limit expires at 45 minutes! We have a draw!

“Let’s Groove” by Earth, Wind, and Fire plays over the loudspeaker! You know what that means: MUSIC BREAK!

***1/4 - I’m not sure if I can fairly rate a match as we saw 27 of the 45 minutes, but there was a lot I liked about what I saw, and some I wasn’t entirely fond of. The match definitely had its slow and grindy points, and it got a bit repetitive, sloppy, and disjointed at times.

However, there was still some exciting action here with some creative maneuvers and hot near-falls. Masami is always a great monster and Ozaki is generally excellent. Fukuoka and KAORU had some rough spots but were strong babyfaces here.

USWA Championship Wrestling

We’re walkin’ in Memphis this week with clips of Jesse James Armstrong vs. Jeff Jarrett from the Midsouth Coliseum. Brad Armstrong runs out and tosses some brass knuckles to Jesse, but Jarrett grabs the knuckles and blasts the former Roadie.

Bradstreet runs in and hits a Russian legsweep on Jarrett, but another referee comes out to stop the count. Brad comes off the top, but accidentally axehandles his brother! Double J punches Brad out and gets a two on Jesse. Jarrett hits a superplex and locks in the figure four! Tracy Smothers, Downtown Bruno, Tex Slazenger (the future Phineas I. Godwinn/Mideon) and the Smoky Mountain Massacre (a big fat dude in an S&M mask) run out as well. And you thought the Bloodline stuff is overbooked.

Jarrett bops Roadie with the Confederate flag and chokes him against the ropes, but “Bullet” Bob Armstrong comes in, trips up Jarrett, and holds his leg down while his son gets the cover! The Smoky Mountain contingent parade Bob around on their shoulders in celebration as he now has ownership of the promotion.

Just as an aside, these Midsouth Coliseum shows, and USWA in general, were a major casualty of the Monday Night Wars. For years, USWA’s biggest money maker was the weekly Monday night show at the Midsouth Coliseum in Memphis. Those were their highest-drawing shows and carried a lot of the financial load for the company. However, once WCW and WWF started trying to outdo each other on Monday nights by featuring big stars, major angles, and higher-quality wrestling on free television, a lot of the Memphis fans opted to stay home rather than trek to the MSC. Attendance plummeted for those shows while Louisville and Nashville remained steady.

Jerry Jarrett tried moving the Memphis shows to other days of the week, and that did help things a bit, but the attendance was still not what it used to be. Once people get out of the habit of doing something, it’s sometimes hard to get back into it. The damage was done, and the USWA would not last for very much longer.

We now cut to a promo from the new USWA owner, Bullet Bob Armstrong. He’s proud of his son, Jesse James Armstrong, for beating Jeff Jarrett and says Jesse James should be “Double J” from now on. Maybe the REAL Double J?

He’s making some changes! Corey Maclin, Lance Russell, Dave Brown (‘the weather dude’), and Randy Hales are all FIRED! He accuses Jerry Jarrett of EMBEZZLEMENT! Say whaaaaaaat?

Jerry allegedly funneled USWA funds into his own personal account! Bob asks Jerry Jarrett to put up his big-ass HOUSE in a future match between Jesse James and Jeff Jarrett. Dads in the corners!

Man, it’s too bad the Smoky Mountain stuff (and, well, SMW itself) is dead in the water because heel Bob Armstrong is great stuff. He always came across as likeable as the babyface commissioner in SMW, but they should have tried some sort of heel run for him.

From the Nashville Fairgrounds, Corey Maclin, despite being fired, calls out Tracy Smothers and Jesse James Armstrong, the current USWA tag champs, for not giving PG-13 a return match. Only Smothers comes out and rants against PG-13, saying they won’t defend against a couple of JABRONIS.

He calls out JC Ice specifically, ragging on his size. PG-13 come out for their rebuttal. JC calls everyone in SMW COWARDS, then says Smothers’ mother is “the lowest woman in the world, boy”.

Ice then calls Smothers’ kid “illegitimate” in order to goad him into a title match, but Smothers still refuses. JC Ice then tosses a drink into his face, which Tracy sells like crazy.

We cut to Smothers in the ring asking JC Ice to get his ASS down here. Ice obliges and they have a mini-match with Ice going wild on Tracy. The Smoky Mountain Massacre comes out and assaults JC Ice with his girth. With apologies to the big guy, the REAL massacre happening in Smoky Mountain was in the ledger.

Wolfie D finally runs out and chases off the heels.

We cut to Randy Hales (who was also fired), who is with Jeff Jarrett in his home. They throw it to some comments from Jerry Jarrett, who recounts his history with “Bullet” Bob Armstrong and discusses the match proposed by the SMW Commissioner where everything is on the line. Holy SHIT, that is a lot of guns.

Jerry pulls out a piece of paper containing the poem “If” by Rudyard Kipling, a poem he gave Jeff as a child, and reads some passages to convey the fact that he’s proud of the man his son has become. The poem also explains why he’d bet everything in the world on the result of a wrestling match. It's the same passage Grampa Simpson quotes when explaining to Homer why he’s betting all the money his Bea left him on one game of roulette.

We cut back to Jeff who rips into the Armstrongs and refers to Jesse James as “Brian”, his real first name.

Double J wants the opportunity to show the world the difference between the Jarretts and the Armstrongs. Jeff puts over his father, who many not be a big man, but he’d rather be in a pit full of rattlesnakes than challenge his father when he’s angry. To be fair, after seeing his firearm collection, I wouldn't want to piss Jerry off, either.

Jeff asks Bob to bring ALL his boys because Double J is READY for this match. He spells his name HA HA to close it out.

Really good babyface stuff from Jeff here, and the use of “If” is an interesting way to explain why they’re willing to put everything on the table against the Armstrongs.

Smoky Mountain Wrestling

We start off the last ever episode of Smoky Mountain Wrestling's TV show with KESSLER’S KORNER. Today, we have Cornette's Militia. Sgt. Rock (the future Jacqueline) promises to beat up The Wolfman at Thanksgiving Thunder.

Terry Gordy pledges to take out Brad Armstrong in a Badstreet Death Match. Jim Cornette does NOT care about the mystery partner of The Thugs because “The King of Rock N’ Roll” Robert Gibson and The Heavenly Bodies are gonna prevail. Cornette then goes after Butch Cassidy, saying he’ll CHOP HIM DOWN TO SIZE. Tommy Rich and The Punisher are set to destroy Bob Armstrong, Buddy Landel, and Jos LeDuc (who actually couldn't make the shows due to a family issue).

Heavenly Bodies & Robert Gibson vs. The Thugs & Brad Armstrong - Ahead of a couple of trios main events on the Thanksgiving Thunder shows, we have a preview on the final television show.

Dr. Tom and Bad Brad start off, with Prichard complaining about a hair pull after Brad gets the upper hand. Prichard gets caught in the face corner as Smothers and Dirty White Boy tune him up. Gibson soon tags in but immediately powders after getting slugged by White Boy. Prichard tags back in and gets worked over by the faces until Gibson tags back in…then tags back out when Smothers enters the fray! Del Ray gets beat down with some rulebreaking tactics by the good guys, but a knee to Brad’s back from Dr. Tom turns the tide in favor of the Militia. Sgt. Rock slugs away at Brad on the outside.

Brad plays face in peril for a bit while Prichard hits him with a Doctor Bomb. The Bodies hit an assisted moonsault for two, then Gibson comes in and actually stays for a bit as his team has the advantage. Armstrong comes back with a clothesline and it’s HOT TAG TRACY! He runs wild on the Militia as Terry Gordy runs out and attacks Armstrong. The heels regain control, beating down Smothers this time. Del Ray hits a tornado DDT for a close two, but Smothers thwarts a second one and it’s (kinda) HOT TAG DIRTY WHITE BOY! He runs wild, hitting a powerslam on Del Ray as it’s CHAOS in the ring! DWB hits a chokeslam, but Dr. Tom loads up his boot and stomps him in the head. Prichard covers for the win!

***1/4 - This was a really fun formula trios match, worked at a fast pace with some clever offense from the Bodies and an amusing story with Robert Gibson being a total chickenshit when the faces even had an inkling of advantage. Having the heels win the final TV main event is a bit of a downer, but that’s recent Smoky Mountain for you.

Les Thatcher catches up with The Thugs and Bob Armstrong. They promise REVENGE at Thanksgiving Thunder in a few hours!

SMW Thanksgiving Thunder (Johnson City)

Heavenly Bodies & Robert Gibson vs. The Thugs & A Mystery Partner - We end things off this week with the penultimate main event for Smoky Mountain, captured via handheld. This is the third of four Thanksgiving Thunder shows.

The heels attack the faces right away, with Jim Cornette bopping the mystery partner (under a black cloak), who turned out to be Flash Flanagan. However, that was A RUSE! The REAL partner of mystery turns out to be…~~Savio Vega~~ Ricky Morton! He runs WILD on all of the heels!

Yes, despite all the stuff that happened months ago, Jim Cornette was able to mend fences with Ricky Morton and bring him in for their last couple of shows. The insane thing is that Ricky wasn’t even the first choice of mystery partner. Apparently, the mystery partner was set to be Bob Armstrong, then Jos LeDuc, then Stan Lane, then an actual bear. However, because Cornette couldn’t legally use a bear for professional wrestling purposes, they opted for Morton.

Things settle down for a bit with Dirty White Boy beating down Tom Prichard, who then gets pinballed by the faces in their corner. Del Ray tags in and jaws at the crowd for a while, then gets worked over by DWB and Morton. Smothers holds Del Ray in place for a Morton punch, but Morton accidentally decks Tracy, reigniting some very bad blood between the two. However, they come together and deck the Bodies and do a leaping HIGH FIVE! Everything’s totally cool now!

The faces have their way with Del Ray until he hits Morton with a powerbomb. Another one is countered with a hurricanrana, then Morton goes after Gibson, who rapidly bails. The babyfaces continue their dominance until Gibson low-bridges Smothers, putting the baddies in the driver's seat. Morton tries to rally the fans behind Smothers, who is taking a drubbing.

Gibson goads the faces into distracting the referee, leading to some triple-teaming and tennis racket use. Smothers continues eating the ass-kicking, including a tornado DDT and superkick from that fucking creep Del Ray. Smothers again counters the tornado DDT and it’s HOT TAG RICKY! Atomic drops for everyone! Everyone brawls it out as we have a double-disqualification bullshit finish. The faces fight off the Militia and rough up Cornette a bit to close out the show on a relative high point.

*** - Another fun trios match with hard work and great heat, but not as good as the TV one. Being a house show match, it was a bit slower-paced and featured more stalling and working the crowd, which is understandable. They really could have made a bigger deal out of Morton’s first direct interactions with Gibson, and the finish was incredibly unsatisfying for an important show. The Morton reveal was very well-done, though, and at least the faces got to stand tall for once.