What the World Was Watching: Smoky Mountain TV – January 28, 1995

Jim Ross and Les Thatcher oversee commentary and they are still taped from Sevierville, Tennessee.

Commissioner Bob Armstrong announces that February 25 and 26 will be a “doubleheader weekend.” On February 25 there will be a show at Freedom Hal in Johnson City, Tennessee called Fall Brawl in the Hall. February 26 will be Sunday Bloody Sunday II in Knoxville, Tennessee.

After showing last week’s Gangstas attack on Steve Armstrong, a taped promo airs from shortly after the incident where Thatcher talks to Bob and Steve, with Steve getting his knee iced by referee Mark Curtis. Bob says that the Gangstas will pay a price for what they did. Jim Cornette comes into the picture and says he is happy to lend a helping hand. Bob says that he owes Cornette a favor for trying to help Steve.

At home, Scott Armstrong hypes the Wild-Eyed Southern Boys tag team, composed of Steve and Tracy Smothers. Scott urges Smothers to team with him to face the Gangstas and their team can be called the New Wild-Eyed Southern Boys.

Smothers delivers a response, who says he would be happy to team with Scott and that the Gangstas had better worry about them rather than the Rock N’ Roll Express, the NAACP, or the Ku Klux Klan. He vows that he and Scott are going to be on the Gangstas like “a duck on a June bug.”

Opening Contest: The Gangstas (w/D’Lo Brown) defeat Tommy Pitner & the Wolfman after New Jack pins Pitner after a rocket launcher at 3:08:

The Wolfman was an older jobber who dressed in furs like he was an extra in Jeremiah Johnson. According to a Jim Cornette interview, a vitamin supplement company that advertised on SMW show wanted the Wolfman used, so that is why he was put on television. The Gangstas were made up of New Jack and Mustafa Saed, who first teamed in the North Georgia Wrestling Alliance in early 1994. They came to SMW in July, embarking on a series of controversial angles where they alleged racial prejudice by SMW officials and demanded they be able to win matches via affirmative action where a two count could win instead of three. The threat of a racial discrimination lawsuit caused them to be awarded the tag team titles in October, which they lost to the Rock N’ Roll Express at Christmas Chaos. Pitner and the Wolfman are no match for the former champions, offering no resistance. The Gangstas finish with an ugly rocket launcher where Mustafa cannot get New Jack airborne. New Jack still crashes into Pitner with a flying headbutt for the winning fall, though.

Ross interviews the Gangstas. New Jack says that the Gangstas are ready to face off with the Armstrongs and the Heavenly Bodies because they love violence. He also says that Jim Cornette’s funeral awaits him later in 1995 and Bob Armstrong may suffer from the same fate.

Ross interviews Chris Candido. Candido complains that he must face Boo Bradley in a match – date undetermined – where the loser has to eat dog food. He argues that the stipulation is prejudicial to him because he does not like dog food, but Bradley does. Bradley interrupts the segment by attacking Candido and choking him with a chain, forcing Candido to flee. Bradley apologizes to the audience and then vows to shove dog food down Candido’s throat.

Beat the Champ Television Championship Match: Buddy Landel (Champion) (2-0) beats the Dirty White Boy (SMW Champion) after using a foreign object at 3:57:

This marks Landel’s fourth title defense as he nears closer to five successful title defenses that can earn him a $5,000 bonus. Ross hypes that money as enough to retire on, laughable even by 1995 standards. As the White Boy makes his entrance, he is attacked by Landel but that backfires when the White Boy DDT’s Landel on the SMW title. After some basic brawling, the White Boy applies a figure-four, only to have Landel get to the ropes. A desperate Landel pulls a foreign object out of his tights and he blasts the White Boy with it when he is cornered for the victory. This was just an average television match as both guys wrestled quickly. At least it had some fun spots. Rating: **

$5,000 Smoky Mountain Rumble: Eddie Gilbert and Unabomb share the victory after Gilbert tosses Ricky Morton at 15:17:

Other participants: Robert Gibson, New Jack, Chris Candido, George South, Boo Bradley, Buddy Landel, Tommy Pitner, the Dirty White Boy, Bryant Anderson, Mustafa Saed, the Wolfman, D’Lo Brown, and Scotty McKeever.

The rules for this match mirror the WWF’s Royal Rumble as new wrestlers – sixteen in this match – enter the ring every minute and the only way to eliminate a participant is to throw them over the top rope. Old and new rivalries play out in the contest as Gibson and New Jack start the match and the Gangstas accidentally eliminate themselves later when they try to knock Gibson out, Bradley tosses Candido, and the White Boy eliminates himself after he tosses Landel (although he forgets to go over the top rope when exiting the ring).. One problem with the bout is that the promotion lacks adequate roster depth so when the big names quickly toss each other, jobbers are carrying the workload and the crowd does not care. Ross pulls a Gorilla Monsoon in calling the Wolfman and South “youngsters,” and the laughing stops when Unabomb enters and powerbombs South, McKeever, Wolfman, and Pitner, eliminating each in turn. Morton provides the last babyface hope, but Gilbert is the last entrant, tosses powder in Morton’s eyes, and throws out the Rock N’ Roll Express member, sharing the victory with Unabomb. Unabomb was very green, but this was a good way to get him over as a monster. Measured against other battle royals this was poor due to the quick eliminations and lack of storytelling. Rating: *

Ross interviews Gilbert and Unabomb. Gilbert, appearing for the last time on American television, lies about how he eliminated all the participants in the Smoky Mountain Rumble and that Unabomb does not do powerbombs, he does unabombs. Gilbert puts over Unabomb as his backup, but nothing in this promo mattered because Gilbert walked out on the promotion.

The Last Word: It is too bad that Eddie Gilbert walked out on SMW to book Puerto Rico as he was becoming a great feature on these shows. SMW’s lack of roster depth was exposed as Buddy Landel had to wrestle the White Boy instead of someone else to defend his television title and the battle royal was jobberific. It will be interesting to see how SMW books Unabomb without Gilbert going forward.

SMW ran a house show in Cookeville, Tennessee on January 27. Here are the results of that show, courtesy of prowrestlinghistory.com:

Cookeville, Tennessee – Community Center – January 27, 1995 (263): Tracy Smothers beat Bryant Anderson in an “I Quit” match…Chris Candido beat Boo Bradley…SMW Champion the Dirty White Boy defeated Buddy Landel via disqualification…SMW Tag Team Champions the Rock N’ Roll Express beat the Gangstas…The Gangstas beat the Heavenly Bodies in a “lights out” match…The Dirty White Boy won a Smoky Mountain Rumble.

SMW then ran its Super Saturday Night Fever card in Knoxville, Tennessee on January 28. According to prowrestlinghistory.com, the show, which took place at the City Coliseum, drew 2,000 fans and a $16,000 gate. Some of these matches will be recapped on next week’s SMW television broadcast and since this was a major show, win-loss records reflect the results. Here were the match outcomes from Super Saturday Night Fever:

-D’Lo Brown beat Brian Logan

-Boo Bradley (2-0) beat Chris Candido (0-1) after intercepting a foreign object toss from Tammy Fytch

-Ricky Morton (1-1) beat Unabomb via disqualification after Unabomb threw Morton over the top rope

-Buddy Landel (3-0) beat Tracy Smothers in a number one contender’s match for the SMW Championship after Landel hit Smothers with a chain

-Jerry Lawler pinned SMW Champion the Dirty White Boy (0-1) to win the title after Landel gave the White Boy a piledriver

-The Dirty White Boy (1-1) pinned Buddy Landel (4-0) in a “lights out” match with a schoolboy roll up

-The Heavenly Bodies wrestles the Gangstas (1-0) to a double disqualification

-Ricky Morton won a Smoky Mountain Rumble

Backstage News: The Super Saturday Night Fever match between Ricky Morton and Unabomb was supposed to be the Rock N’ Roll Express against Unabomb and Eddie Gilbert but was changed when Gilbert left the promotion. According to Jim Cornette, Gilbert left him a message on his answering machine that he would be in Knoxville so as not to burn a bridge with another promotion, but when Cornette tried to reach him in Puerto Rico his phone number was disconnected. After Morton won the Smoky Mountain Rumble to end the show, Unabomb attacked him and rubbed sandpaper on his face, an audible because Morton was supposed to wear bandages on his face after this show from a Gilbert fireball. SMW is not likely to tell fans that Gilbert is gone because he is going to appear in some non-wrestling segments on future television broadcasts.

*After New Jack was arrested last week one of the officers at the Morristown police station wanted his autograph, so Jim Cornette is laughing off the ordeal and does not think it will hurt the promotion going forward. A fan camera seems to show fans pushing New Jack before he reacted so the charges might be dropped against him.

*In talent relations news, SMW is in discussions with Al Snow since they need a babyface to push for their February television tapings.

Up Next: Smoky Mountain TV for February 4!