Ryan's Dive into '95 - Part 32 (8/6 - 8/12)
Ryan's Dive into '95 - Part 32 (8/6 - 8/12)
We dive into the fifth G1 Climax, SMW has another significant presence, Guerrero and Malenko again square off, and more!
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.
As this review was being written, we lost both Terry Funk and Bray Wyatt. Losing Terry was devastating; the man was one of the absolute greatest to ever lace up a pair of boots, and I've taken great joy in covering his exploits in this series and look forward to seeing more of The Funker. He felt like one of those guys who was always going to be around forever. In many ways, he will be.
Losing Windham Rotunda the day after Funk is an absolute gutpunch. Thirty-six is way too damn young to be passing away like that. I loved his early Wyatt Family stuff (that six-man with the Shield and the Wyatt Family from Elimination Chamber 2014 is an all-timer) and I had to respect his level of creativity. Most of all, Wyatt cultivated a bond with fans that even the best of the best could only dream of.
All of the best to the families, friends, and fans of both men. Rest easy, guys.
How ya now?
We have another busy week ahead of us, mainly because it’s G1 SEASON, BAY BAY! We’ll have some block action coming up. Also, another Malenko/Guerrero rematch, lots more Smoky Mountain action, more vignettes for bad gimmicks, and much more!
Well…
AUGUST 6th
WCW Clash of the Champions XXXI - We get a little bit of content from this show, and I MEAN a little because we’re clipped to the finish of the main event, Vader vs. Ric Flair & Arn Anderson in a handicap match. This was looking to be an all-heel match, but Vader had just turned face earlier in the night after rescuing Hulk Hogan from the Dungeon of Doom.
We pick things up with the big guy (Vader, not Ryback) in a figure-four.
Vader makes the ropes to break, then Flair lays in the chops and scales the ropes. I know this will come as a severe shock to my dear readers, but Vader tosses Flair off the ropes. Vader splashes Flair, but Arn breaks the pin. Vader hits a top rope splash this time, but Arn again interrupts the pin. Moments later, Vader clotheslines both guys down and powerbombs Arn for the pin!
Flair and Anderson have it out after the match, leading to a breakup angle and a bout between the two at Fall Brawl.
Other stuff that happened:
Main Event (the pre-show):
Johnny B. Badd defeated Big Bubba Rogers after shifting his weight during a body slam attempt and ending up on top for the pin.
The Nasty Boys beat Los Especialistas (David Sierra & Ricky Santana) via pinfall after a couple of elbowdrops. The jobbers were unmasked by the Nasties after the match.
Flyin' Brian Pillman defeated Marcus Bagwell in an all-babyface match after both guys collided in mid-air when attempting simultaneous crossbody blocks. Pillman landed on top for the win.
WCW World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan defeated Kamala by DQ in a non-title match after the Dungeon of Doom interfered. Because of Hulk’s ridiculous contract, WCW would had to have paid Hogan an obscene amount of money to work the actual Clash show. They got around it by having him work the pre-show.
The Clash show proper:
Road Warrior Hawk & Sting defeated Kurasawa & Meng in a pretty awful match.
Kurasawa “broke” Hawks’ arm with a Fujiwara armbar (dubbed the “Kurasawa Krush” by Col. Rob Parker) after the match.
Diamond Dallas Page defeated Alex Wright after Das Wunderkind missed a dive to the outside. DDP rolled him back in for the pin.
The Renegade (c) pinned Paul Orndorff with a crossbody to retain the WCW World Television Championship. Bleh.
Harlem Heat & Sister Sherri defeated Bunkhouse Buck, Dick Slater, & Col. Robert Parker. The finish came after Sherri missed a splash and hit her head. Because this review series needed more comedy stemming from brain trauma after ECW Wrestlepalooza, Sherri started making out with Parker, resulting in him getting pinned for the win.
As per the pre-match stip, The Heat earn a tag title match against the Stud Stable at Fall Brawl.
AUGUST 7th
WWF Monday Night RAW - It’s another edition of THE REPORT CARD with Dean Douglas. Fucking…hooray. Today's subject is “teamwork”. Sources tell me that it makes the dream work.
At the very least, I'm getting some decent meme formats out of this. Dean rails on Savio Vega and Razor Ramon while examining a tag match that just happened. Douglas uses a TELESTRATOR to point out Savio inadvertently distracting the ref while Razor gets double-teamed by Yokozuna and Owen Hart.
Douglas gives them a grade of two ‘T's, standing for ‘Terrible Twosome’. I'm sure this will be the last we'll hear of Shane's friction with Kliq members.
Out of the toilet bowl and…into another toilet bowl as we catch up with Jerry Lawler and Isaac Yankem, D.D.S. Lawler cuts a promo on Bret Hart while The Yank x-rays a patient. Fuck, I hate getting x-rays at the dentist. I have an exceptionally weak gag reflex, so having to put that little plastic/foam piece between my molars is pure torture. The x-rays seem to be particularly strong here.
Lawler makes many x-ray-related puns to hype up Yankem's debut match against The Hitman at The Summerslam.
AUGUST 8th
ECW Hardcore TV - We start off the week’s ECW coverage with a big in-ring celebration in Tampa, Florida with The Public Enemy and many fans.
Not surprisingly, the ring fucking COLLAPSES under the weight of all those Floridians. I'm not sure if anyone was hurt, but that was quite the memorable visual. The crowd chants “E-C-Dub” in response.
ECW World Television Championship: Dean Malenko (c) vs. Eddy Guerrero - After winning the ECW TV title last week, Deaner defends it against Eddy one week later. This was taped on July 28th but broadcast on August 8th. Since we saw Guerrero with the TV title again at Wrestlepalooza last week, the result here isn’t exactly in doubt. I’ll just pretend to be surprised when Eddy regains it.
We start off with both guys working arm-wringer reversals that lead into a rapid parity sequence. Eddy gets a sweet flip to escape a monkey flip then scores a headscissors out of a knucklelock sequence. We learn from a sign in the crowd that Dean Malenko is a fart.
Eddy gets a top-rope Frankensteiner for two, then both guys trade headscissors with Guerrero getting insane height on his. Slingshot hilo from Guerrero gets two as Joey Styles lists off some of the great wrestling rivalries and stating that those old wrestlers are sitting back and watching mat wrestling being brought to a new extreme. I can't imagine Lou Thesz, Édouard Carpentier, or Verne Gagne on their La-Z-Boys at home watching ECW. Eddy sinks an abdominal stretch on Dean, then downs him with a short clothesline. Dean comes back with a big back suplex.
Malenko takes over with more strikes than usual, hitting a back elbow and a corner clothesline before nailing a brainbuster for two. Malenko hits a huge gutbuster that gets a tremendous reaction. Methinks that move is over. Eddy tries a tornado DDT, but Dean tosses Eddy most of the way across the ring. Double underhook powerbomb gets a close two for Malenko. Dean whips Eddy into a flapjack that gets BIG air as he continues to work the ribs.
Eddy gets a rolling front cradle for two, but Dean reassumes control with a clothesline. Eddy sneaks a uranage and hits a frog splash, but he can't capitalize because of the ribs. Dean applies his own abdominal stretch, but Guerrero escapes via the ropes, so Dean hits a rope-assisted legdrop for two. Eddy hurricanranas Dean, but Dean rolls through…but Eddy himself rolls out and lands a jackknife roll-up for three and the title!
***1/2 - This was another very good match in this series, but it wasn't quite as dynamic or exciting as prior matches. This is likely due to the novelty starting to wear off and it being a bit shorter than the others. In this one, though, I liked that they had more definitive heat segments, especially with Dean working over the ribs, and Eddy sold the ribs well for the most part. The finish also continued the story of flash pins being each guys’ most effective weapon.
We now get a music video with clips of Mikey Whipwreck interspersed with the actual music video for Weezer’s classic tune and Rock Band staple, “Say It Ain’t So”.
This actually starts off with Mikey hitting offense instead of him getting his ass kicked…until we get to the parts where he gets caned by The Sandman.
Rivers Cuomo wailing “say it ain't soo-whoaoo-woooaaaohhh” over Mikey writhing in pain actually kinda works, as does the cane shots being timed with the chorus’ trademark guitar riffs.
AUGUST 11th
NJPW G1 Climax, Night One - It’s the summertime, so that means it’s time for New Japan’s annual heavyweight round-robin tournament: the G1 Climax! It’s the fifth tournament under the G1 Climax name after undergoing many name changes since 1974. Unlike the ungodly 32-man field from 2023, 1995’s G1 has a lithe 8 competitors, with two blocks of four wrestlers each.
The field:
A Block:
IWGP Heavyweight Champion Keiji Mutoh
Masahiro Chono
Ric Flair (Flair’s one and only G1 tournament)
Shiro Koshinaka
B Block:
Hiroyoshi Tenzan
Kensuke Sasaki
Scott Norton
Shinya Hashimoto
Instead of the nearly month-long affair that it’s been over the last several years, the tournament lasts a mere five days, from August 11th-15th. It’s so weird to think back to the days when the entire G1 Climax would come and go within a week. In this year’s iteration, the top two finishers of each block will compete in a mini-tournament to crown the winner. We have some block action this week, and we’ll see the finals next week.
A Block: Keiji Muto [0] vs. Shiro Koshinaka [0] - I’ve always really enjoyed Koshinaka. Yes, his main offensive weapon is his ass, but he’s a really fun guy to watch; probably up there for most underrated worker I’ve seen in NJPW along with El Samurai. He had my favorite 1994 G1 match against Shinya Hashimoto, so we’ll see how he cooks with Muto.
Muto spends the early portion of the match dominating, landing a NICE dropkick out of a cartwheel and generally keeping Koshinaka grounded. Shiro escapes a figure-four headscissors and slaps on a camel clutch.
Shiro hits a hip attack, but Muto immediately responds with a spinning back kick and that SWEET elbowdrop. Muto then works over the leg as he is often wont to do.
Muto abuses the leg for quite a while until Shiro starts to come back with some chops, getting the crowd behind him. Muto quickly snuffs that comeback out with a spinning back kick, but Koshinaka catches him in a full nelson during his handspring elbow and manages a dragon suplex for two! Flying ass to the face! Koshinaka goes up for a super hip attack, but Muto counters into a back suplex. Springboard dropkick from Muto, followed by a facecrusher and a sleeperhold, which transitions into a dragon sleeper, then a chicken wing.
Koshinaka makes the ropes and armdrags out of another attempt at the chicken wing. Glancing dropkick briefly stuns Muto, but Muto ducks an attempted enzuigiri. Muto hits a missile dropkick to the back of the head!
Muto lands another facecrusher and goes for a moonsault…which hits knees! Koshinaka goes for a powerbomb, but Muto ‘ranas out of it for a very close two! Backslide from Koshinaka gets a near-fall! Dropkick and German suplex gets another near-fall for Shiro, as does a folding powerbomb! Muto gets a Frankensteiner out of nowhere for another close two! Muto goes for a top rope Frankensteiner, but Koshinaka counters into a BRUTAL powerbomb! Holy shit! Koshinaka couldn't get the pin though as they were in the ropes.
Koshinaka hits another dragon suplex, but Muto kicks out! Powerbomb gets the three as the crowd and the announcers lose their everloving minds!
***3/4 - Knee work that went nowhere aside, this was damn good. Koshinaka put in a great underdog performance here, coming back incredibly strong after getting completely outmatched by Muto for the majority of the match. The absolute elation from the crowd when he finally pinned the champ was something to behold. It was an upset, sure, but it felt earned rather than fluky. I’ve always loved Muto’s execution of moves; the snap he puts into everything is incredible.
The series of near-falls in the latter portion was very well done, and that powerbomb off the top was not only sick, but made for one hell of a way to spell the end for Muto's hopes for victory. The powerbomb could very well have been it if it wasn’t for the ropes.
Elsewhere on the night, Ric Flair and Masahiro Chono went to a 30-minute draw, earning one point each. In the B Block, Shinya Hashimoto defeated Scott Norton, and Hiroyoshi Tenzan beat Kensuke Sasaki.
After Night One, here are the standings:
A Block:
Shiro Koshinaka - 2
Masahiro Chono - 1
Ric Flair - 1
Keiji Mutoh - 0
B Block:
Hiroyoshi Tenzan - 2
Shinya Hashimoto - 2
Kensuke Sasaki - 0
Scott Norton - 0
AUGUST 12th
NJPW G1 Climax, Night 2 - We start off a loaded Saturday with some more of that sweet G1 block action.
B Block: Kensuke Sasaki [0] vs. Shinya Hashimoto [2] - Someone alert Arby's because this match HAS THE MEATS. This is a rematch of this year's January 4th main event, with Hashimoto having retained the IWGP Heavyweight Championship on that night in a beautifully beefy bout.
Sasaki establishes his power early on while Hashimoto tries to grind him down with holds. After a bit, Sasaki unleashes the chops and body blows, then punishes the midsection until Hash fights back with chops of his own. Hash start to work over Sasaki’s arm, hitting a divorce court (IT DOESN'T JUST SEPARATE THE ARM; IT DIVORCES IT!) and working a kimura.
Sasaki fights back with knees to the guts, but Hash weathers the blows and goes back to the arm. Sasaki comes back with some nasty slaps, then catches a Hashimoto kick and rains down some elbows onto his leg, exacerbating his own arm injury in the process. Sasaki then goes to town on Hashimoto’s leg.
Sasaki applies a scorpion deathlock that rivals The Rock's Sharpshooter in terms of execution (to be fair, I can’t imagine it’s easy to put a big fella like Hashimoto in that hold), but Hash makes the ropes. Sasaki continues to assail the leg, but Hashimoto fires back with stiff kicks. Moments later, Sasaki grabs a strangle hold, but Hashimoto kicks him to break. Sasaki hits a huge powerslam and reapplies the hold, but Hash breaks via the ropes this time. Kensuke plants Shinya with a DDT for two.
Powerbomb gets two for Sasaki, but he soon runs into a brutal head kick from Hash for two. Hash unloads the torso kicks, then lands a spinning heel kick for two. DDT from Hash gets two, but Sasaki fights off a brainbuster attempt. Another high kick from Hashimoto gets another near-fall, but Sasaki catches Hashimoto with a judo throw, hits a flying lariat, and scores the pin! Whoa!
*** - We get another unexpected result as not many were pegging Sasaki to overcome a heavy favorite in Hashimoto. I wanted to like this more than I did, but it never hit that next level that these guys are capable of. It's definitely no Tokyo Dome match, but there's still some fun sequences and hard strikes. Cut 5-6 minutes of filler off the 21-minute runtime, and this could have been much better.
A Block: Keiji Muto [0] vs. Masahiro Chono [1] - The IWGP Heavyweight Champ is looking to bounce back after his surprising Night One loss to Shiro Koshinaka. This meeting of NJPW’s Musketeers is also a rematch of the very first G1 Climax finals.
Both guys trade the advantage early on until Chono mule-kicks Muto in the dick. Muto comes back with a dropkick and goes for a German, but Chono again kicks Muto in the penis. Muto's like “fuck you” and forearms Chono out of the ring. Muto goes for a handspring elbow against the railing, but Hiro Saito absorbs the blow. Saito gets into a tussle with the ref and is soon tossed.
Muto is busted open after an attack from Chono, but he comes back with a handspring elbow and a facecrusher. Chono rakes the eyes and boots Muto in the face, then proceeds to work over the cut like a true heel. Chono, ever the bastard, runs Muto into an exposed turnbuckle as the crimson mask is rapidly forming.
After biting at the cut, Chono lands a top-rope shoulderblock, but Muto gets a dropkick out of nowhere, then a facecrusher and Saito suplex! Top rope Frankensteiner gets a close two for Muto, but a moonsault misses. STF from Chono!
Chono releases and hits some Yakuza kicks, then reapplies the hold. Muto makes the ropes, so Chono hits a Samoan drop for two. Dropkick and Frankensteiner out of nowhere gets three for Muto!
***3/4 - Another great G1 match for Muto here. Chono was an absolute dick here, using all the shortcuts he could to keep the advantage and expertly working over Muto's cut to really build heat and fuel Muto's comeback. There was pretty much no dead space unlike Hash/Sasaki, and the story was compact and well-told. An ideal G1 match.
Chono attacks after the bell, but Muto fights him off and resumes the celebration.
Elsewhere on the night, Ric Flair [1] defeated Shiro Koshinaka [2] and Scott Norton [0] defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan [2].
After Night Two, here are the standings:
A Block:
Ric Flair - 3
Shiro Koshinaka - 2
Keiji Mutoh - 2
Masahiro Chono - 1
B Block:
Hiroyoshi Tenzan - 2
Shinya Hashimoto - 2
Kensuke Sasaki - 2
Scott Norton - 2
Flair is on top of the A block while there’s a four-way logjam in the B block. As is almost tradition for the G1, the heavy favorites (Muto and Hashimoto in this case) start off with early losses to establish doubt.
USWA Championship Wrestling - We’re walkin’ in Memphis this week with clips of a USWA vs. SMW cage match. There's a metric fuck-ton of guys in there and there's weapons aplenty. The goal is to handcuff all of the opponents to the cage.
It looks like it’s PG-13, Jerry Lawler, Bill Dundee, Billy Jack Haynes, Brian Christopher, and Doug Gilbert for USWA vs. Buddy Landel, Tracy Smothers, Pat Tanaka, Tom Prichard, Gorgeous George III, Brian Lee and Robert Gibson for SMW. I could be wrong, though. FOURTEEN GUYS. Some weird choices on the SMW side there. Fuck, you might be able to find Waldo in there.
This is absolutely insane. Lance Russell is doing comms over the house mic. USWA wins after everyone from SMW is handcuffed to the ring. Per the pre-match stip, the USWA contingent gets five minutes to do whatever they wish to the SMW guys…but Billy Jack turns on Tommy Rich! Everyone gets into a giant brawl to end things. Fourteen guys in one ring enclosed by a cage is just too much.
We then transition to Dave Brown in the studio with Doug Gilbert
Doug cuts an emotional promo discussing the passing of his brother Eddie, how Eddie is influencing his career direction, and his decision to join USWA in their battle with SMW. This meanders a bit and runs a tad long, but the emotion is there.
Things picks up a bit when he gets to Brian Lee who turned his back on the USWA. Doug plugs their First Blood match at an upcoming Mid-South Coliseum show.
We now get arena clips of PG-13 (c) vs. The Heavenly Bodies for the USWA Tag Team Championship. Wolfie D hits a DDT on Tom Prichard, but Jimmy Del Ray breaks the pin.
Wolfie hits a DOUBLE sunset flip for two! Soon, PG-13 gets a double facecrusher for two, then Wolfie looks to piledrive Jim Cornette (DO IT!)…but Prichard whacks him with the tennis racket. Prichard covers for the win and the titles!
Dave Brown interviews the now-former champs at the desk. They plug an upcoming rematch where Jim Cornette is banned from ringside, promising to take back the titles with the sides even.
Smoky Mountain Wrestling - We have not only the weekly TV show, but we'll have a bit of Fire on the Mountain later in the evening.
We open with the Rock N’ Roll Express vs. PG-13 in progress. HOT TAG ROBERT GIBSON! He goes wild on both guys, then the Express hit a double-dropkick on Wolfie D.
The Headbangers run out (“IN PINK SKIRTS, NO LESS”, screams commentary) and attack the Rock N’ Rolls. They force Ricky Morton to wear a dress while PG-13 assaults Gibson. As someone who only really watched the Headbangers in The Fed, seeing them with hair is a trip.
Al Snow and Unabomb join in on the fun, but The Thugs come out for the save. However, Morton and Tracy Smothers go at it!
We get the SMW Tag Team Championship match from last week's SuperBowl of Wrestling, but the clipped TV version. This includes the pre-match burial of Ricky Morton by Bob Armstrong and Robert Gibson. The audio isn't nearly as ass this time around. Dig the pink tank top on Bullet Bob.
I won't redo the match here (it’s covered in-depth in Part 31, which was linked earlier), but it’s quite good. At least we get a better view of the piledriver through the table which looks even more brutal. They didn't break the table in half; they punched a hole through the damn thing.
We now catch up with Jim Cornette and The Punisher backstage. Corny crows about the SuperBowl of Wrestling successes of his Militia, but says Buddy Landel let him down by not winning the WWF Intercontinental Championship. Budro shows up in a suit and accosts Cornette, saying he had Shawn Michaels beat until Jim interfered.
Buddy promises to win the SMW Heavyweight Championship at Fire on the Mountain because Cornette won't be there! Cornette does not react well to this. We’ll see how this goes shortly.
WCW Saturday Night - On The Mothership this week, we hit up the Dungeon of Doom. The Master and The Taskmaster yell a lot about a trap they laid for Hulk Hogan until The Hulkster himself enters the scene in his finest red and yellow-striped spandex.
Hogan saw the trap coming, then asks The Taskmaster to send all his cronies Hulk’s way, last of all The Giant. Speaking of whom, The Giant comes in and yanks the chain from around Hogan's neck, much like his worked father did 18 years prior. The Giant also doesn't look all that much taller than Hulk here. I mean, he wasn’t, but I’m surprised they didn’t do any camera tricks or perspective to make The Giant look even bigger.
The Giant throttles Hogan while the rest of the Dungeon assault him. However, Vader enters the Dungeon and fights off the baddies. The Giant no-sells Vader's blows and yells into the camera.
We then cut to Mean Gene with Hulk Hogan in Vader's dressing room. Hulk questions Vader's motives for helping him in the Dungeon.
Vader comes back from his match, so Hogan proposes that he join Team Hogan for WarGames with the promise of a future WCW World Heavyweight Championship match. Vader accepts, then screams “I GOTTA GET IN THE SHOWAH!” and leaves. Team Hogan is now comprised of Hulk, Vader, Randy Savage, and Sting. That's a hell of a babyface quartet.
However, that squadron was not to be. Vader got into an infamous backstage scrap with Paul Orndorff that resulted in his firing. Vader would resurface in NJPW in January 1996 to beat the shit out of Antonio Inoki in the Tokyo Dome before joining the WWF at the Royal Rumble.
SMW Fire on the Mountain - Closing out the week is another Smoky Mountain handheld show. We have a ‘dream match’ concept for this show as all of the bouts were conceived by members of the roster.
We start off with the ending of Al Snow’s dream match, Al Snow & Unabomb vs. The Thugs in a match where the loser of the pinfall leaves the territory, and Jim Cornette is the special guest referee. Dirty White Boy fights off some double-teaming and it's HOT TAG TRACY SMOTHERS! Crowd is ecstatic for that one.
Smothers naturally runs wild on the heels, but Cornette does the slow-count. Cornette is clotheslined by Snow in error, and the Thugs double-shoulderblock Unabomb. Mark Curtis runs in and uses Cornette’s limp arm to count the pin! Unabomb is out of Smoky Mountain Wrestling! Snow sobs into the house mic at the result.
And this is how Unabomb was officially written out of SMW, freeing him to move to the WWF full-time.
SMW Heavyweight Championship, Lumberjack Match: Buddy Landel vs. Brad Armstrong - This is not only a lumberjack match, but all the lumberjacks have TENNIS RACKETS.
The lumberjacks in this case are just Robert Gibson, Dirty White Boy, and Tracy Smothers. There are no heel lumberjacks here as this was Brad’s dream match.
As you may (or may not) remember, the SMW Heavyweight Championship has been vacant since July 1st after a match between these two ended in controversy. Brad actually had to wrestle twice earlier in the night as part of dream matches selected by members of Cornette’s Militia. I’ll touch on those when I recap the other matches.
Brad enters to “Born in the U.S.A” by Bruce Springsteen, confirming that he, along with many others, does not understand the lyrics.
Budro promises to kick Brad's ass, then starts off with some punches. Landel continues to dominate as the lumberjacks slam the tennis rackets against the apron to try to rally Armstrong back into it. Brad attempts a spaghetti-legged comeback, but Buddy keeps him at bay with punches and kicks.
Landel unloads the chops, but Armstrong fires back…until Buddy goes to the eyes. After blocking a roll-up, both guys clang heads for a double-down. Cornette’s Militia comes out and it's a brawl with the lumberjacks! Cornette hops onto the apron, so Budro gives him the business. Armstrong grabs a tennis racket, pops a distracted Landel, and covers for the win and the title!
* - Not much of an actual match here as it was mostly Buddy working on top with punches and kicks before the clusterfuck finish. It didn't even really make use of the stip. At least the punches and Brad's selling were nice. Plus, it's good to see Brad Armstrong get a rare moment in the sun.
After the match, Landel is PISSED about Cornette’s recent screw-ups. He calls Jim an idiot on the house mic for costing him two title matches in one week and leaves.
Other matches that happened:
Boo Bradley pinned Tommy Rich in a match where only Bradley was blindfolded. Rich was bumped into the ref, leading to a Bradley thrust kick for the win.
This was Rich’s dream match.
Robert Gibson defeated The Headbangers in the Bangers’ dream match where if they won, Robert Gibson would have to wear a dress. Gibson pinned Mosh after an errant Thrasher legdrop.
This was originally meant to be a tag match between the Rock N’ Roll Express and the Headbangers, but with Ricky Morton’s firing, that had to change. In storyline, Robert wanted to uphold the match and stip.
A six-man battle royal with Brad Armstrong, The Punisher, Buddy Landel, Al Snow, Tommy Rich, and Unabomb went to a no-contest in under 90 seconds.
With Armstrong set to wrestle Buddy Landel later in the night for the SMW, The Punisher used his dream match to pit Brad against other members of Cornette’s Militia to soften him up.
Buddy Landel walked out of the match immediately after declaring that he’ll beat Armstrong one-on-one later in the night and again told Cornette to stay away from ringside.
After punching the members of the Militia, Brad eliminates himself about 15 seconds in. That’s shockingly clever for a babyface.
With only Militia members left in the match, Cornette demanded they all head to the back, resulting in the no-contest.
Tommy Rich & The Punisher defeated Boo Bradley & Brian Armstrong via pinfall after Bradley blind-charges into a table, resulting in a Rich pin.
The Mongolian Stomper was set to be Bradley’s partner, but he no-showed, so Brian Armstrong replaced him.
Brad Armstrong pinned “Prime Time” Brian Lee after a Russian legsweep.
This was Buddy Landel’s dream match, again used to wear Brad down before their title match later.
Ron Wright pins Dirty White Boy in three seconds.
This came after a retirement ceremony for Wright. White Boy used his dream match to set up a bout between himself and his former manager. DWB immediately laid down and let Wright pin him in a rather nice gesture.
Jim Cornette defeated “Bullet” Bob Armstrong in a First Blood match.
The finish came about after Bob, Jim, and The Punisher (who had been liberally interfering in the match) all ended up under the ring. Cornette and the future Bull Buchanan emerged unscathed while Bullet Bob came out bloody.
The Thugs defeated The Heavenly Bodies (c) in an SMW Tag Team Championship match via DQ after interference from Jim Cornette.
What was up with the guys pulling triple-duty like it was Starrcade ‘92? I know Brad Armstrong was doing this for storyline reasons, but why Tommy Rich?
Smoky Mountain had a very inconsistent weekend. This show ended up drawing around 1,900 fans, but their “Carolina Cup” show the next day drew 80. Definitely not a good sign for the future.
That was a pretty fun, angle-heavy week for the most part. Definitely check out the two Keiji Muto G1 matches.
NEXT TIME: We continue and end the G1 Climax, and not much else aside from more Goldust and Dean Douglas vignettes. Hooray!
Smell ya later!