Chip Kessler and Les Thatcher call today’s action, which is still taped from Sevierville, Tennessee.
Opening Contest: The Headbangers (1-0) defeat the Wolfman & Mike Mason when Thrasher pins the Wolfman after the Stage Dive at 1:47:
The Headbangers work a smoother squash versus their debut appearance several weeks ago. They flatten Mason with a double inverted suplex and finish the Wolfman with the Stage Dive.
Thatcher interviews the Headbangers. They take off his glasses but are not sure what year it is and do not know who the THUGS are.
Thatcher chats with the Rock N’ Roll Express. The Express have their own tape recorder and a copy of the tape they had to surrender back to the Dynamic Duo last week. Ricky Morton plays the tape to reveal that Jim Cornette was giving the Duo hints about how to beat them all these months. Cornette gets into the ring, saying that the Express blew the whistle too late because the Duo are on the verge of ending their careers. Cornette announces that the Duo are now part of the Militia. The Express corner Cornette in the ring, but the Duo use the opportunity to do a sneak attack until the THUGS make the save.
Brad Armstrong (1-0) pins Larry Santo after a side Russian leg sweep at 1:57:
Armstrong brings a lot of babyface fire, but the crowd is tired by this point in the taping and are not reacting to much. Santo puts his head down too early after an Irish whip and Armstrong seizes on that to deliver a side Russian leg sweep to stay undefeated.
Thatcher interviews Armstrong, who is excited to get a shot at the SMW Champion Buddy Landel at Summer Blast. Armstrong has to stop himself from saying something foul when he rants against Jim Cornette. He says he wants the title so he can wrestle the WWF Intercontinental Champion at The Super Bowl of Wrestling.
Kessler interviews NWA World Champion Dan Severn, who displays the NWA and UFC belts. Severn shares his background in wrestling and compares professional wrestling with the UFC. He does some hype for UFC VI where he will face Ken Shamrock in a super fight. That hype is odd as one would think SMW would want him to hype The Super Bowl of Wrestling more.
In a pre-taped promo, Tommy Rich says that he does not have any ties to the South ever since the North whooped them in the Civil War. The 130-year-old Rich screams about how he is proud to be part of the Militia.
Mark Curtis is interviewed by Thatcher. Curtis has a skeleton to make fun of Randy Hales’ physique, saying that he is using it to train for his upcoming match with Hales. After recapping his career, Curtis vows to get even with Hales at Summer Blast in Knoxville.
In a taped promo, Hales provides a rebuttal, saying that he looks forward to beating up a goofy referee.
Thatcher talks with Cornette’s Militia, a group that now represents almost every single heel in the promotion. Cornette hypes the Thunderdome cage match between the Dynamic Duo and the Rock N’ Roll Express at Summer Blast. Al Snow says that he is happy to have the backing of the Militia. Cornette puts over how SMW Champion Buddy Landel will keep his title at Summer Blast so he can wrestle for the WWF Intercontinental title at The Super Bowl of Wrestling. Landel says that Brad Armstrong is a fine athlete, but he is the premiere athlete in the promotion, and he will show everyone why that is the case at Summer Blast.
Boo Bradley says he does not know a lot about Freebirds. He is mad that Terry Gordy picked on his jobber opponent last week and he is coming to get even today.
Terry Gordy (w/Jim Cornette & the Punisher) (1-0) defeats Boo Bradley (16-4) after a powerbomb at 3:54:
There are lots of bad spots in this match. Gordy tries to do a flip after getting whipped into the corner but cannot get over the ropes. Then he falls down too early when Bradley runs the ropes, so Bradley looks like a moron when he keeps running and goes over the top rope. Gordy also struggles to get Bradley up for a clothesline and picks him up and just lightly rams him into the ring post. Even the Punisher runs some weak interfere, stopping Bradley from doing the top rope splash by holding his foot, causing Bradley to graze him with a kick so he can try to do the move, which misses. The series of bad spots is capped off by Gordy failing to get Bradley up for a powerbomb and dumping his opponent on his head, a spot that ends the contest and Bradley’s five-match winning streak. Rating: DUD
After the match, Gordy tears apart a teddy bear that Bradley brought to the ring and the Punisher, Gordy, and Buddy Landel do a three-on-one beatdown. Steve and Bob Armstrong try to make a save, but the Dynamic Duo keep the heel beatdown going until Brad Armstrong clears the ring by himself.
Thatcher interviews Bob, Steve, and Brad Armstrong. Steve says he looks forward to facing the Punisher. Bob tells his son, Brad, that everything rides on what he can do against Landel at Summer Blast.
Tune in next week to see Brad Armstrong face Killer Kyle!
The Last Word: The main event was terrible and borderline business exposing. Placing the Dynamic Duo in Cornette’s Militia seems unnecessary because they were doing perfectly fine without becoming part of a faction. Brad Armstrong is playing his role well, though, and based on the booking SMW needs a babyface champion because there are better heels on the roster than the other way around.
SMW ran a series of shows over the weekend in Eastern Kentucky. Here are the results of a few of those shows, courtesy of prowrestlinghistory.com:
Williamsburg, Kentucky – Whitley County High School Amphitheater – June 30, 1995 (100): Thrasher beat Tracy Smothers…SMW Champion Buddy Landel wrestled Brad Armstrong to a double disqualification…Boo Bradley & the THUGS beat Killer Kyle & the Headbangers…The Rock N’ Roll Express defeated SMW Tag Team Champions the Dynamic Duo via count out.
Barbourville, Kentucky – Knox Central High School – July 1, 1995 (525): The Headbangers defeated Bobby Blayze & Larry Santo…Boo Bradley pinned Killer Kyle in a falls count anywhere match…The THUGS defeated the Headbangers…SMW Champion Buddy Landel wrestled Brad Armstrong to a no contest. As a result of the match, the title was held up…The Rock N’ Roll Express beat SMW Tag Team Champions the Dynamic Duo in a non-title cage match.
Backstage News*: The reason that the SMW Championship was held up in Barbourville is because Mark Curtis counted three after Brad Armstrong hit Buddy Landel with the side Russian leg sweep. However, Jim Cornette rang the bell before three. The match was restarted, with Unabom giving Landel a foreign object and helping him prevail, only to have Tracy Smothers tell Curtis what happened, leading to another restart. Armstrong proceeded to win the third restart with another side Russian leg sweep and left with the title, but television will be saying that the title is held up.
*At the ECW Internet Wrestling Convention, Cactus Jack and New Jack joked (or not) about having some of their checks bounce while they were in SMW.
*In talent relations news, Unabom is leaving soon for the WWF and Al Snow is soon to follow. Snow has a tryout with WCW scheduled for July 11 at a WCW Saturday Night taping. He is also getting interest from the WWF.
*Backstage news is provided courtesy of Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer for July 10.
Up Next: Smoky Mountain TV for July 8!