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SMW Ongoing Thread


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So I've been talking about starting a project for several years now where I go back and watch every episode of Smoky Mountain Wrestling in order. With the summer here and a real lack of things on my DVR to watch, I thought there would be no better time than the present. I've watched the first four episodes over the last two days and here are some early impressions.

 

-The first show is all about establishing the top babyfaces that Cornette wants to build around. Brian Lee, Tim Horner, and Robert Gibson all have squash matches, and Bobby Fulton is in the TV main against Ivan Koloff. Through the early episodes, it's clear Lee is the guy that Cornette is building around as the top guy, as he's the only singles wrestler to get a program right out of the chute (vs. Dutch Mantell). It's also clear very early on that he's not a great fit for the spot. He's got a good look, but he just seems disingenuous as a top face, like he's trying too hard to be a good guy, and he isn't much in the ring at this point either. Granted, their other choices at this point aren't too great; Horner isn't a good promo at all, and clearly they had Gibson in a holding pattern waiting for Ricky Morton to get fired so they could put the Rock 'n' Roll back together.

 

Still, Brian Lee sucks. Worth pointing out: the first SMW TV taping was in October '91. Lee worked a WCW squash in November '91 and a WWF dark match in December '91. Neither company wanted him, not even to fuck with Cornette after they built an entire TV taping around his program with Dutch Mantell.

 

-Also from show #1, they establish their top heel managers, Cornette in the tag ranks and Ron Wright in the singles. I'm not sure if they knew at the time of the first TV taping who they were going to manage, as the first TV taping was about three and a half months before it aired, but it's clear both will manage top guys. Pretty sure Cornette at least knew he was going to manage a team that included Stan Lane, though, since he had spent the last year managing Lane with various partners in Global and in the USWA.

 

-They're also positioning Bob Holly to be something of a player. He looks ridiculous with that wispy mustache, though. Also, I'd think he was ripping off Bret Hart with his pink and black singlet/long tights look, but this was in '91 when Bret was still not that big of a deal yet, so I doubt he's directly influenced by him. I wonder how Holly's career would have played out had he remained here. He never did wind up being much of a promo, but working under Cornette for two years in a territory probably would have helped him. It sure feels like Holly is being set up to be the top heel here down the line from the first few shows, much like it felt like Lee was being set up to be the top babyface. Kind of a shame he couldn't make enough money to stick around.

 

-Besides Lee/Mantell, the other top feud they establish from show #1 is the Fantastics (Bobby and Jackie Fulton here) vs. the Koloffs (Ivan and Vladimir). Weird moment in the first show where Ron Wright gives Ivan a foreign object which he uses to beat Bobby Fulton, Jackie comes out and basically beats the hell out of Ivan for a solid minute or two, almost making it seem like the Fultons are giving Ivan a two on one beatdown until Vladimir comes out to even the odds (even though Bobby is selling the foreign object the entire time). Felt like Vlad missed a cue to hit the ring and made it come off awkwardly. At least Ivan and Vlad hang Jackie in the ropes with the chain to establish heeldom. Anyway, I liked the temporary Jimmy Golden/Ivan Koloff team that formed in Week 4, too bad that didn't last.

 

-The other major character they establish right out the chute is Commissioner Bob Armstrong (see avatar). I like that they're making sure he's no-nonsense and laying down the rules after every show, making every heelish action sound like it has consequences. They've done a lot to subtly tease the Armstrong/Cornette feud, which doesn't even kick off for more than a year, so it will be interesting to trace that.

 

-In show #1, a jobber named Paul Miller beats "The Black Scorpion" with an inside cradle, kicking off the first in a series of WCW inside jokes that will continue throughout the years. I'm pretty sure Black Scorpion was Carl Styles under a mask, but not sure. Hard to miss the symbolism of the little scrappy underdog overcoming the big bad gimmick guy by having superior talent and drive. Too bad for Cornette that isn't how this story ended.

 

-Speaking of, lots of promos about how wins and losses matter here, and how this isn't like those other guys, here they wrestle and don't try to sell dolls or commercials, etc. Clearly, Cornette is still smarting from both his WCW run and his talk with Vince when he was trying to woo the Midnight Express a few years earlier. Still, in hindsight, it's kind of hard to take Cornette seriously about how they're treating wrestling like a sport here, when two years later he'd be standing at ringside as The Undertaker is summoned to the heavens at the Providence Civic Center.

 

-Other guys who are here around this time: Paul Orndorff (who debuted as a face, but you can tell were kinda subtly setting up for a turn), Rip Rogers, Barry Horowitz (doing TV jobs here despite being the GWF Light Heavyweight champion at the time, and that's with the GWF still kinda/sorta meaning something at this point), Scott Armstrong (who I was surprised had worked without the mask as himself, not as Dixie Dynomite), Hector Guerrero (who facially looked like he was in his 50s, and was called "Hector Gomez" by Bob Caudle), Joey Maggs, and Killer Kyle (who had the honor of losing the first ever SMW TV match to Robert Gibson). They also started airing promos in Week 2 that featured Terry Gordy, Danny Davis, and Buddy Landell (who cut an amazing vintage coked up rambling Buddy promo about if any of the promoters in the major promotions ever stopped short, a bunch of wrestlers would break their nose, and accidentally namedropped Stan Lane despite the fact that he was supposed to be a surprise debut as part of the Heavenly Bodies) despite none of these guys having debuted on TV yet.

 

-As far as who looked good in the ring...I liked Horner's work, Hector looked pretty good, Dutch looked like he had maybe slowed down a step or two but still knew exactly what to do in there, Holly had a nice top rope kneedrop, and the Fantastics did some good work in carrying a past-his-prime Ivan and a never-had-a-prime Vladimir to a decent match. I'd say Lee was the only one who actively sucked, though Carl Styles gave him a pretty tepid beatdown in an angle on the fourth show where he debuted as Dutch Mantell's bodyguard. Not looking forward to that eventual match. Robert Gibson wasn't bad, but I kind of never want to see Robert Gibson without a tag team partner.

 

This is probably a bit more rambling than I anticipated, so sorry about that. Looking forward to watching more as storylines develop. Can't wait until the Bodies debut in a few weeks and until Dirty White Boy comes in to spice things up. Smothers and Morton will also be around before too long, so whatever issues I have with Lee as top babyface will be resolved before too long.

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Bob Holly said in his shoot Cornette saw a lot of potential in him. Early in his career Cornette told him to stop doing jobber matches in WCW because he was getting type cast.

 

 

What was the deal with Vladmir Koloff? Was he any relation to Ivan? Was he any good? I remember reading about him in magazines and expecting him to turn up in WCW at any moment to join cousin Nikita.

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To me 93 and 94 SMW was when it was at it's peak. in 93 Smothers moves over as the top face of the promotion and becomes the SMW equivalent to Steamboat in WCW. Where Smothers could work main events, tag team bouts, work underneath and get young talent over like Candidio, and Bryant Anderson, carry poor workers to good matches like Bruiser Bedlam. Beginning in 93 you had Smothers vs. DWB as the main singles feud, and in the tag ranks you had the Rock N Roll vs. The Bodies so you had 2 really hot feuds going on.

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Cornette himself has said that Brian Lee wasn't his ideal choice for top babyface. He wanted Brad Armstrong, but he was in WCW at the time.

Makes sense. It seems like Smoky Mountain's early business plan is to wait for WCW to fire their underneath guys so they can bring them in and make them stars here. They would get Ricky Morton by the summer and Tracy Smothers by the end of the year, so those were good gambles. They never did get Bobby Eaton except for a short run when they were trading talent with WCW, and didn't get Brad Armstrong until they were at the end. I kind of wonder if the original plan for the Bodies was to wait and hope Bobby Eaton would be released by the spring so they could reunite the MX, and when that didn't work out, they got Prichard.

 

The Orndorff heel turn is my favorite early SMW angle so far.

Can't wait to get to this point too. I've seen that angle and I'm a big fan too.

 

SMW is really starting to grate on me when watching in the context of the yearbook, sadly. Too many ref bumps and run-ins.

I can't really argue with this. I've watched the first four episodes, and they've all featured some sort of screwy finish. In episode one, Ron Wright gives Ivan Koloff a foreign object which he uses to KO Bobby Fulton (though the ref eventually finds it and DQ's him). In episode two, Dutch Mantell uses his whip as a weapon in full view of the referee and loses to Scott Armstrong by DQ. In episode three, Ron Wright again gives a wrestler a foreign object, this time Dutch Mantell, but they change it up some this time with Brian Lee taking it from Mantell and getting caught with it for the DQ. Episode four has two screwy finishes, with Ron Wright distracting the ref so Killer Kyle can throw a jobber into his violin case for the win, and then Vladimir Koloff making a "surprise" run-in to cost the Fantastics a match against Ivan Koloff and Jimmy Golden.

 

That said, I'm more accepting of a screwy finish than most, as long as it leads somewhere. The Ron Wright stuff is all building to something at least, where he eventually debuts his first wrestler. The Vladimir Koloff run-in continues the Koloffs/Fultons feud, though I don't know why they went through the trouble of saying that Vladimir Koloff was in Russia and introducing Jimmy Golden as Ivan Koloff's new tag team partner since that comes off as a particularly silly ruse. Only the Dutch Mantell DQ win against Scott Armstrong comes off bad to me, but even that one continues the Brian Lee/Dutch Mantell program, though I think they could have let Mantell beat Scott Armstrong before Brian Lee makes the save. It would be nice if they went one TV show without doing a cheap finish for sure.

 

What was the deal with Vladmir Koloff? Was he any relation to Ivan? Was he any good? I remember reading about him in magazines and expecting him to turn up in WCW at any moment to join cousin Nikita.

I'm guessing Ivan introduced a new Koloff so he could work tags as he was pretty old by this point. I don't think he's related. He looks a lot like Nikita, actually, but isn't very good at all. He's lumbering and clumsy and seems like he's constantly out of position.

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If you are who I think you are, sure.

Should I be worried if I am who you think I am or If I am not who I think I am. Or who I think I was? I'm confused now.

 

Yes this is Justice, I really wanted to see Smokey Mountain especially the Gangstas run.

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Yeah I just got done watching every bit of SMW that could be scrounged up so I am happy to see this being discussed.

 

The one thing that really stands out to me with SMW is that it was a "promo" territory. There were plenty of good matches and some really great angles, but when I think about SMW I primarily think about how many awesome talkers were there. Everyone from Ron Wright to Cornette to DWB to Bob Armstrong to Morton to New Jack. Just a loaded roster of guys that could talk really from the beginning of the run to the end.

 

I would pretty easily rate Smothers as the best in ring talent in the history of the company with Morton second. After that I could see a case for several people. On the more surprising side I found that Cornette was actually quite good in the ring and the Gangstas were not just a great act (though they were a GREAT act and Jack was probably the best promo in wrestling from late 94 through when they left in 95), but were really competent in the ring too. In fact, I think a strong case could be made that the best match in company history was between the The Thugz and The Gangstas. Only the better Smothers v. Candido matches (which is the best program in company history - yes better than the Bodies and RnR's) are even on the same level.

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Somewhere out there, the entire house show run of SMW '94 exists on tape, as one of my friends has all of the tapes and I've been trying for years to get him to send them to me so I can convert them to DVD. Hopefully, maybe someday we will finally be able to put this together.

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If you are who I think you are, sure.

Should I be worried if I am who you think I am or If I am not who I think I am. Or who I think I was? I'm confused now.

 

Yes this is Justice, I really wanted to see Smokey Mountain especially the Gangstas run.

 

That's what I thought. Note to self: don't bury Blackhearted Justice on PWO. :)
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Having been a big SMW fan back in the day and living very close to the territory, very happy to see this thread as well. Honestly Brian Lee wasn't that objectionable back in the day, sure he wasn't great, but people looked at things differently back then. He was somewhat green but it was no surprise for someone of that look & size to get a push. Don't know if I'm necessarily representative of the SMW fanbase since I was a sheet reader, but I didn't mind Lee at all until the Candido/Lee team split. By that point he had just worn out his welcome by being so limited. Another point from above, the promotional wars weren't nearly as bad back then, it really wasn't until the Monday Night Wars era that the big 2 really tried to raid each other much less try to pick the lesser promotions dry. I'm honestly surprised to read Lee was on anyone's radar at that point.

 

When SMW started, it was really more an extension of the 80s, heels cheated a lot more then just for the sake of being heelish. It wasn't so much the idea of getting out of a match or cheating the fans out of anything, that's just the way wrestling was done then.

 

Sorry if this comes off as too much of an SMW apologist, but it was a different world back then when by & large fans weren't as "smart", as in obsessed with work rate, knowing about how the business worked, etc.

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The run ins didn't really bother me. In the territory it was a way to put heat on the heels, and not kill off your main baby faces.They only had x amount of wrestlers on their roster. Also with Cornette running the territory with exception of Prince Kharis their really wasn't any bad workers in SMW. The t.v show had good angles, great promos, and usually a good main event. Hell Cornette and DWB blow away most of today's talkers.

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Alright, I'm eight episodes in now, and they aren't running tapes from quite so long ago anymore.

 

-Great promo work from Ron Wright and Bob Armstrong to set up Dirty White Boy debuting as Wright's new wrestler. Seriously, Bob Armstrong might be the best guy to ever pull off the no-nonsense commissioner role of all time. Also, you gotta love how politically incorrect the Ron Wright angle is. Here is a guy who is crippled and confined to a wheelchair, and somehow they've made him a heel out of all of this.

 

-Kind of a shame the Koloffs missed a TV taping, which kept them from blowing off the Kolofs/Golden vs Fantastics feud. Nice to see Tommy Rogers back in the ring, as he looks fitter than either Fulton brother. Was he working anywhere at this point? Kind of weird that this was his only match here in SMW, and he did have that weird career revival in 1997 where he wrestled Fulton on Raw and then had a run in ECW.

 

-Also a shame that Terry Gordy wound up going to WCW before the SMW heavyweight title tournament, as they pushed him for a few weeks as a major name to watch for in that tournament. I wonder how that affected plans? I'm guessing Gordy probably goes to the finals and loses to Lee, since his All Japan commitments would keep him from being in the territory regularly.

 

-Loved the Rip Rogers/Tim Horner squats mini-angle, with Rip Rogers doing squats using a chair over the course of an entire episode of TV and then Tim Horner kicking the chair out right as he's about to end the show. Normally that would be kind of a dick heel move, but Rogers really sells being an annoying ass throughout the hour so by the time Horner kicks the chair out, you're begging somebody to do something similar. Just a nice little effective angle. I kind of hope Rogers is sticking around for a while.

 

Overall, it feels like they're still trying to establish the guys in the territory and find roles for everybody, very much a feeling out process early on. The first couple of shows had the Fultons/Koloffs feud and the Mantell/Lee feud but those both feel as though they've largely been dropped by this point and there isn't a whole lot going on. I expect business to pick up with the tag team tournament starting. Very weird to see Rip Morgan and Jack Victory here in 1992, as I had no idea they were teaming this late, or that Rip Morgan was even still in the US at this point.

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Another I have always loved the t.v. Though Meltzer was saying that SMW put on the best houseshows on a regular basis. Having watched a ton of the houseshows I would agree. Another for the most part the company really delivered in spades on the big shows.

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I've watched all of the TV leading up to the Volunteer Slam, which I'll watch either tomorrow or Tuesday.

 

-Paul Orndorff's heel turn was done really well. He went into a segment as a face, turned heel on the fans and Hector Guerrero, and it ended with four babyfaces laid out in the ring from the piledriver. In a promotion without any particularly big guys (well, Terry Gordy was around for a taping, but is already gone by this point), the piledriver almost makes Orndorff into a monster heel with the way it is protected and sold as a lethal move. He's also doing some pretty good dickhead heel promos too.

 

-Doug Furnas makes a random TV appearance. I don't think he comes back again until '94 to introduce his brother Mike, who as far as I know, never really made it anywhere outside a small prelim role here.

 

-The Heavenly Bodies won a tag team tournament that I'm guessing was all sorts of fucked up. First, the Koloffs missed a TV taping, which meant that in addition to the Fultons/Koloffs feud never getting a proper blowoff, they had one show with no tag team title tournament matches and another show with two (since Cornette was saving the debut of the Bodies for last). Then, I'm guessing the Fultons got pulled from the Volunteer Slam by AJPW (after Cornette had already moved the date once because of what he claimed were Japanese commitments) so instead of the tournament finals being at the Volunteer Slam, they were held in an impromptu match on TV which the Bodies won, and then they "injured" Jackie Fulton to keep them out for a while. Oh welll, at least they got the belts on the Bodies, even if the Volunteer Slam tag title match went from Bodies/Fantastics to Bodies/Rich Cousins, which is a lower marquee title match.

 

-Feuds are starting to round into form. DWB/Lee is set up as Lee's first title defenses, Jimmy Golden/Robert Gibson is setting up the return of Ricky Morton down the road, the Bodies/Fantastics feud is starting to round into shape...with most of the top personalities set, it gives Cornette a chance to tell some stories now, so the TV, while not bad, should get better from here.

 

-Brian Lee has looked a little better than he did at the beginning. I'm guessing getting regular work here is helping. I'll stop ripping on him for now, but I wish he would keep his height consistent in his promos. In one promo, he's 6'7", in another, it's 6'8".

 

-Buddy Landell did a pretty hilarious interview leading up to the Volunteer Slam talking about his experiences in the other promotions where he was scolded for hitting other wrestlers too hard and the wrestlers crying backstage, "Daddy says sell! Daddy says sell!" Since this was a few months before Erik Watts debuted, I'm guessing he's talking about Dustin here? He also made reference to needing extra thick kneepads to work for the other company. Man, I loved Buddy Landell. I have to get that promo up on YouTube sometime. And of course, he brings the pain in the squash matches.

 

-Speaking of bringing the pain in squash matches...man, Bob Holly killed poor Ben Jordan with a nasty top rope kneedrop during a squash match. Did the same to Bart Batten and he looked pretty pissed about it, kicking out right after the pin and no-selling it. And at this point, Bob Holly was pretty blatantly ripping off Bret's tights, wearing a black tanktop with the pink long tights. The only thing his gear was missing was "HITMAN" on his ass. Alas, I think Hollywood Bob has quit SMW by this point to go back to his stupid welding job, as they've stopped listing him for matches he was announced for a few weeks ago.

 

-Something that could never happen today, and was pretty questionable even in 1992: Jimmy Golden using a dropkick as his finisher. Granted, Jimmy Golden throws a hell of a dropkick, especially impressive for a guy his size, and because he's so big, it looks believable enough for a guy with that height to be able to generate good power on a dropkick. But still...I'm guessing this is pretty much the last time any wrestler ever used a dropkick as a finish ever again, at least until I talk somebody in UWC into using it as a finish.

 

Overall, fun stuff...I'm looking forward to checking out the Volunteer Slam.

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Oh, and two things I left out of the original post:

 

-Stan Lane's rug keeps distracting me. His hair suddenly and inexplicably became ten times thicker from one taping to the next. Even accounting for the time period and accounting for it being a rug, that hair style is ugly as hell.

 

-Twice now, SMW has ran graphics saying "Jimmy Golden is hard to handle." Now, granted, he's using the Black Crowes song as his entrance music, but when you're a Fuller cousin and you're described as "hard to handle," well the jokes kind of write themselves.

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He's talking about Nick Gulas's son George Gulas. He was infamous for whining "Daddy said sell!" or "Daddy said bump!" to the heels when he was on offense.

I know that's where the phrase "Daddy says sell!" originates, but I don't think Buddy was frustrated in other promotions for having to wrestle George Gulas. :)

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He's almost definitely talking about Dustin. He worked a mini program with Dustin right before he got fired from WCW, back when Dustin was still taking some shit for being pushed hard by Dusty. He might have taken the "Daddy say sell" line from George Gulas but it seemed pretty clear he was bitching about Dustin to me.

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