[1993-09-18-SMW-TV] Interview: Jim Cornette / Terry Funk vs Bob Armstrong

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Cornette is the new commissioner of SMW and is beside himself! Dutch Mantel is in a tux, presumably to celebrate the occasion.

 

They cut to Funk vs Armstrong joined progress. Lots of good punch selling and tons of attempted, but failed interference.

 

Funk and Cornette gloat after the match.

[El-P]

Funk is so great here yet again. Bob Armstrong was a great promo, but he couldn't do much in the ring.

[Kevin Ridge]

Dutch in a tuxedo but also wearing some white gloves. Way to go all out! Cornette is the new commissioner of SMW wrestling. Bob Caudle has been given the boot. Not all good news though as we have new SMW Tag Team champs in Rock n' Roll Express. Well I'm happy with getting the belts off the Bruise Brothers.

 

Armstrong has awful pinfall attempts where he just puts his hands on Funk's shoulders. Loads of interference and Funk gets the win.

 

Cornette proposes the idea of IQ tests for any fans trying to get into the TV tapings.

[PeteF3]

Commissioner Cornette is here! Back when this concept was totally fresh, believe it or not. He's gotten a brand new tux for Dutch Mantell and fired Bob Caudle. Not all the news is good--before Cornette achieved commissionership, the Rock 'n Roll Express regained the tag titles from the Bruise Brothers. Then another cock-up by Dutch, as Jimmy Del Ray's Beat the Champ challenge will come in the form of Robert Gibson.

 

Armstrong/Funk highlights. Bullet Bob still throws an awesome punch. Overbooked finish as we get run-ins from Dr. Tom, Scott Armstrong, the Harrises, Ricky Morton, and Brian Armstrong. Cornette relied on these sorts of finishes too much, and Mark Curtis tended to come across as an idiot as he turns around and pays attention to the brawling for no reason, allowing Funk to clobber Armstrong with the branding iron for the win.

 

Cornette is positively giddy backstage, wearing the green commissioner's cap. Funk humbly expresses his gratitude to the Lord for his victory--awesome! Back to the taping, and Cornette promises more changes, acknowledging that some pre-existing contracts can't be undone.

[soup23]

Dutch in the tux was awesome. Clips of the big Armstrong vs. Funk match which didn't have as much heat as I expected. I also think this was the first instance so far of Cornette getting too much over as the finish felt contrived with everyone running out, getting stopped by the faces before finally the heel is able to gain the victory with the branding iron. I did like Cornette and Funk's promo afterwards gloating but something overall about this didn't resonate with me like I thought it would given the buildup.

[GSR]

Dutch Mantel is in his tuxedo and introduces the new Commissioner of Smoky Mountain Wrestling, Jim Cornette. Cornette announces that ‘Bullet’ Bob Armstrong is unemployed, so is ‘Bullet’ Bob Caudle after all those smart alec comments he made about him, and he and Dutch will be running the show today.

 

Armstrong vs Funk is joined in progress. Armstrong has the sleeper on Funk and Cornette beckons for help from the back. Out comes Tom Prichard and Armstrong lets go of the sleeper and goes after him. Scott Armstrong comes out to counter Prichard’s interference, but in turn is followed by one of the Bruise Brothers, Ricky Morton, Jimmy Del Ray, Brian Armstrong, the other Bruise Brother and finally Robert Gibson. Big stomp to the chest of Funk by The Bullet and goes for the pin. Cornette gets involved and prepares to nail him with his tennis racket but he sees him coming and gets in first with a low blow. Armstrong pulls off Cornette’s neck brace and is about to piledrive him when Funk hits him with the branding iron (Mark Curtis is distracted by everyone fighting at ringside) and covers him for the pin and win.

 

The match was overbooked with all those run ins (after the second you knew how it was going) which were unnecessary. Don’t know why Cornette didn’t just limit it to the Bodies interfering and the Armstrong boys saving their father, really no need to get the Bruise Brothers and the Rock & Rolls involved. The action between Bob and Funk was good, but no surprise whatsoever that this didn’t end cleanly.

 

Cornette and Funk are in the dressing room and he can’t thank Funk enough. It was worth every penny of his mama’s money to get this Commissioner’s cap on his head. Funk is so happy that he could come up with that victory over Armstrong as he’s got the brains of a jackass, the speaking ability of stuttering Sam and it’s a wonderful thing to do all these moronic fools of Tennessee a favour by defeating that imbecile and has been Bob Armstrong! Cornette says that now he’s running things, Smoky Mountain Wrestling is going to be a little different, while Funk confirms that for the right price he would only be too willing to help out Jim Cornette again if he has any more problems that need sorting out.

[garretta]

The more interference, the less the result means in the grand scheme of things, or something like that. That's the only explanation I can come up with for what we saw here. Corny knew that a Funk victory and its consequences couldn't possibly stand up longterm, so he felt free to turn the whole thing into bullshit. It couldn't be clearer that nothing's been settled, nothing's changed, this is just a temporary setback for Bullet Bob. Corny gets to wear the goofy cap for a couple of weeks and crow about Bob Caudle being fired when he was probably either going on vacation or taking care of Senator Helms' business anyway. No big deal.

 

The promos and the segments with Corny, Dutch, and Terry were what made this. No one gloats quite like Corny, no one grovels quite like Dutch, and no one insults quite like Terry. The brains of a jackass and the speaking ability of Stuttering Sam, whoever that is? Professional comedy writers couldn't come up with stuff better than that. Seeing Dutch is his tux and white gloves was priceless, and Corny was gold all the way through as he comes to realize that even his victory doesn't mean that he can change everything​. Rock 'n' Roll are still the tag champs, and Robert's going to challenge Jigolo Jimmy for the TV title whether he likes it or not.

 

Nice to see the future Road Dogg coming to his dad's rescue. I wonder how Bullet Bob felt about his son being part of a group that got over in part due to lewd gestures such as crotch chops and the phrase "Suck it!" I wouldn't think he'd necessarily object​, but he had to wonder just what the hell was happening to the wrestling business, just like a lot of others were, including Corny.

 

I guess that only leaves the loser leave town match for Bullet Bob against Corny's "secret weapon". I already know it's nobody big, but I want to see how (or even if) Corny tries to explain how all he could get with his mama's money was a nondescript guy called the Black Ninja.