[1993-01-09-SMW-TV] Rock & Roll Express vs Heavenly Bodies

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Before the match, the Stud Stable ask Dutch Mantell when they are going to get their title shot. He tells them he tried to get them one with Bob Armstrong, but he kicked Dutch out of the office. The nerve!

 

Robert Fuller says Dutch should take a page from Cornette, who took a mediocre team like the Bodies, gave them a great nickname, and gets them title shots all the time. Jimmy Golden follows by calling the Rock & Roll Express drugstore toy champions!

 

They then show a clip of the Rock & Rolls vs Bodies & Cornette at Christmas Chaos. Cornette does a middle-rope elbow drop (!!!) but misses. The Stud Stable show up at ringside and distract the Bodies to give the Rock & Rolls a win to retain their titles. After the match, the Bodies and Stud Stable brawl with the house lights up. Cornette gets in some good shots with the racket. The Rock & Rolls come back out. Morton and Gibson want a handshake, but the Stable beat them up and will have none of it.

 

Now Tracy Smothers and Tim Horner come to the rescue, and the Stable bails.

 

Then, we get an interview with Cornette and the Bodies. As the Stud Stable talked earlier about their great family lineage, Cornette says Robert Fuller's dad's only job he ever had was supervised by a man holding a shotgun, and that Jimmy Golden can have a family reunion when the parole board meets.

 

Funny also to see anyone doing a promo with Cornette and getting to talk.

[benj]

Another wtf moment on the Cornette spot, i liked the segment, but i still have a lot of catching up to do on SMW stuff.

[shoe]

A really cool way to lay the groundwork for an elaborate angle that has a lot more twists and turns to come. I have always been a big fan of SMW T.V.

[Cox]

Funny also to see anyone doing a promo with Cornette and getting to talk.

I think this is something Cornette tried to get better at in SMW, as Prichard was likely used to doing his own promos (and despite being a total Piper clone, was a pretty decent promo), and it also feels like Stan Lane has more to say at this point than he did in the Midnight Express. It was really easy for Cornette to monopolize the mic time when Bobby Eaton was in the group, but with Prichard and Lane both there wanting to talk, he had to tone that back just a little bit. It will be interesting to see how that continues to develop into '94 and '95 as I keep watching SMW TV, when the Bodies go up north to WWF and Cornette starts managing different guys.

[Kevin Ridge]

Stud Stable putting Mantell on the spot for not getting them a tag title shot. Dutch needs to be more like Cornette! Dutch can't have liked that underhand shot.

 

Cornette getting cocky there trying to hit a elbow drop off the middle rope. Stud Stable interfere in match causing the Bodies to lose. Brawl between the Bodies and Stud Stable. Express make the save and then try to shake hands. That was not smart.

[PeteF3]

Robert Fuller is upset about not getting a tag title shot, and praises Jim Cornette as a manager while taking shots at his mediocre team. Golden recites the Fuller/Welch/Golden family tree, which always gives me a headache--if a Welch ever married a Samoan, I believe there would be a rip in the fabric of the universe.

 

Highlights of Christmas Chaos--Cornette takes some tremendous bumps and further proves himself as a legitimate in-ring worker. Meanwhile the Bodies get a pin on Gibson with the help of Prichard's loaded boot, but the Stud Stable are making nuisances of themselves at ringside, and that allows Morton to get in a shot of his own for the Rock 'n Rolls to get the win. A face-off between the Stud Stable and Bodies follow. Eventually the Studs get taken down with the tennis racket. The Rock 'n Rolls come back to make the save, but during an attempted handshake the Studs jump Ricky & Robert! Great booking to establish a three-way feud without turning the Studs babyface.

 

Cornette is out paying tribute to Breast Cancer Awareness month with his pink jacket and pants, talking of the big Welch/Fuller family reunion that's scheduled as soon as the parole board meets. Lane's comparisons of the Studs to minor league baseball and hockey teams continue to amuse me.

 

When Sawyer Brown's in the Smoky Mountains, they watch Smoky Mountain Wrestling!

[WingedEagle]

Studd Stable promo with Dutch looking for tag title shot, followed by highlights of the Bodies & Cornette vs. RNR from Christmas Chaos. The way this is shot makes it look like a bigger building than usual for SMW. RNR win when Studds distract Bodies to retain titles. Afterwards, Bodies & Studds get into it before the RNR is out for the save. Instead of shaking hands the Studds attack the RNR. Smothers & Horner save. Good angle. Then a Bodies promo with Cornette wanting the titles back, talking about Studds as small time champions.

 

Not much has changed in my thoughts on SMW -- *love* the Studd Stable & Dutch. Love the RNR as selling babyfaces for them. Love Pritchard's work. I know I'm in the minority, but man, Jim Cornette does not do it for me most of the time. But this 3-way feud is still unique and really well executed.

[soup23]

This was fun. I love when three teams each have a stake and in the case of Fuller and Golden, you think they are initially allies of the RNR but then they swiftly turn on them and beat them up until Smothers and Horner make the save. The action of the match looked really good and I love when cornette is in matches just based off of his wrestling attire.

[GSR]

Jimmy Golden asks Dutch that he knows he's got them a title match and wants to know when and where it is? Dutch hasn't got them a title shot yet but he's been working on it. He went to see Bob Armstrong in his offices and Armstrong told him to leave, he wouldn't even speak with him saying it is none of his concern and he wanted to speak to 'you guys'. Fuller then tells him that maybe he should take a lesson from Jim Cornette as he has taken a mediocre team like the Heavenly Bodies and has gotten them somewhere. He then guarantees that the first time that the Stud Stable step in the ring with the Heavenly Bodies or the Rock & Roll Express that they will find out who the greatest tage team who ever wrestling in Smoky Mountain Wrestling is. Golden says that the Rock & Rolls should be called the drugstore toy champions as they've beaten them numerous times, they could beat the Bodies too and deserve a title match.

 

We then get highlights from the handicap match at Christmas Chaos between the Bodies & Cornette against the Rock & Roll Express. I do like the almost awkwardness of Cornette's bumping, as if to show that he isn't really a 'wrestler' and he even attempts a second rope elbow drop in this one (missing it of course!). The Stud Stable make their way to ringside and Prichard nails Gibson with the loaded boot and covers him. Meanwhile Mark Curtis is seeing to Jimmy Golden and trying to get him down from the apron whilst at the same time Cornette is trying to drag him over to count the pin. With Curtis still distracted Morton comes off the top on to Prichard, pulls Gibson on top, Curtis turns round and makes the three count. After the match the Stud Stable and the Bodies square off, Cornette passes the tennis racket to Lane and three of them beat on the Studs until the Rock & Rolls come back out to run the Bodies off. The Rock & Rolls then offer their hands to the Stud Stable but they attack them instead, with Tim Horner and Tracey Smothers having to save the Express from the attack.

 

Finally we get an interview from Cornette and the Bodies and Cornette thinks that the Stud Stable are sticking their noses in their business and that's not where it belongs. He tells them that they better stick their nose in somebody elses business besides the Heavenly Bodies, as they want the Rock & Roll Express and aren't in the mood for anyone getting in their way. Lane says that they have nothing against semi pro baseball players, nothing against minor league hockey players and nothing against Robert Fuller and Jimmy Golden... As far as small time regional champions, they're some of the best, but they should stick to the Armory's, the moose lodges and High Schools and leave the international stars, cable TV and the big jobs, like the Rock & Roll Express, to them. Cornette then tells Bob Caudle to tell his broadcast partner to stick to talking instead of trying to manage as he'd hate something to happen to their friendship.

 

The booking in this has been very nicely done and at times it seems like the crowd are ready to cheer for the Stud Stable, but little things here and there stop them from turning. It's years since I've seen the three way from Bluegrass Brawl which I am guessing is the pay off, but this is building very nicely indeed.

[garretta]

This was all a bit confusing, but that's what it was supposed to be. It all comes back to making sure the fans want to see Ricky and Robert kick the butts of both the Studs and the Bodies, separately or at the same time. The stuff between the Studs and the Bodies is good, but this is Rock 'n' Roll's show from start to finish.

 

The action we saw in the handicap match was very good, and Corny almost looked like a real wrestler when he missed the elbow from the second rope. I'll say this for the man: You may not like him being as physically involved as he can get sometimes, but he works a damn sight harder at it than almost any other manager I've ever seen. The only better in-ring worker I've seen while he was a full-time manager was Fuji, and that was when he and Muraco teamed quite a bit in '85 and '86. Most of the rest were either solely in there to bump (Heenan) or just plain didn't care (Albano as a heel).

 

Did anyone in attendance actually expect the Studs to shake hands with Rock 'n' Roll? If they did, they must have been under twelve.

 

I like the idea of Dutch being put in a spot he really doesn't want to be in. All he wants to do is be in the booth, yet his friendship with Fuller and Golden is making him their de facto manager, one whom Bullet Bob ignores completely and throws out of his office. I also like the subtle hints of violence toward Dutch if he doesn't come through. I wonder why Corny didn't use Dutch as an in-ring talent more; the idea of the Studs turning on Dutch for not following orders and Dutch bringing in help to fight them might have given him another bankable feud besides those which he was personally involved in. Maybe he was headed that way when WCW came calling for the Studs later in the year.

 

I liked everyone on the mic here, and Golden especially has improved as a talker. He'll never be as good as his cousin Rob, but he's a lot more solid than he was when the Studs came to SMW. Out of the nine participants in this feud so far (including Corny, with the third man for the Bodies and Rock 'n' Roll yet to be revealed), the only subpar talker is Gibson.

 

Was Phil Rainey doing the commentary for the handicap match in post-production? He's really flat compared to the obvious energy in the building, particularly after the hot tag to Gibson.