Written by: Bob Colling
Smoky Mountain Wrestling presents Thanksgiving Thunder
Date: 11/28/1992
From: Johnson City, TN
This event was a commercial release from Smoky Mountain. There were a couple of matches not on the release. Tracy Smothers defeating Robbie Eagle, and the Stud Stable defeating Bobby Fulton & Dixie Dynamite were not aired on the release.
Backstage, Paul Orndorff is interviewed regarding his handicap match. Orndorff agrees that the match is handicap match because of what he did to Danny Davis. He is confident that he can beat both Davis and Ron Garvin at the same time. Orndorff says this is going to be the last night that Garvin will be able to wrestle.
Opening Contest: Paul Orndorff vs. Danny Davis & Ron Garvin in a handicap match: Garvin started the match with Mr. Wonderful. The match appears to be heavily clipped as Garvin is now choking Orndorff as the announcer reminds the fans about the time limit for the match. I wonder if the match was that awful to cause this extended amount of clipping. I’m not complaining because I have very little interest in this match, but seems strange to clip the match so much on a special release. Garvin attempted a piledriver but Orndorff countered with a backdrop. Garvin performs the Garvin Stomp after putting Orndorff down with a sleeper hold. Davis gets the tag and attempted a rollup but Orndorff blocked it and clotheslines Danny on the back of his head. Paul focuses his attack on Danny’s neck. Orndorff counters a piledriver with a backdrop but Davis comes in to clothesline Paul and allows Ron to get the victory. (NR. Considering the amount of clipping I can’t possibly rate this, but the match seemed to be rather dull.) After the match, Orndorff knocks Garvin to the floor and spikes Davis with another piledriver! Orndorff goes for a piledriver on Garvin but Tim Horner runs into the ring to make the save.
Backstage, SMW Heavyweight Champion Dirty White Boy suggests that Tim Horner be ready for a beating of his life because the championship means more to him than anything else in his life.
Second Contest: SMW Heavyweight Champion Dirty White Boy vs. Tim Horner in a lumberjack match: Dirty White Boy continues to get some cheers on at least the big event releases. Ron Wright was not ringside as Horner dropkicks White Boy to the floor but the champ is quickly rolled back into the ring. White Boy is scoop slammed by Horner a couple of times and White Boy tries to go to the floor but stays in the ring. White Boy gets control of the match following a scoop slam but didn’t followup on the advantage. Horner blocks being sent to the floor and sends White Boy to the floor again. Horner hammers away on White Boy with right hands. Horner gets a two count following a scoop slam on the champ. Horner punches White Boy to the floor but he falls on the side of his friends but Horner’s buddies come over for a brief scuffle. Horner brings White Boy back into the ring from the apron with a suplex for a near fall. White Boy lifts Horner into the air and the challenger crashes to the canvas gut first.
White Boy drives Horner down to the canvas with a side slam and hits a leg drop for a two count. Horner is sent to the floor and the heels seem to get a few shots in on Horner before rolling the challenger back into the ring. White Boy sends Horner over the top to the floor and there is another scuffle on the floor. White Boy plants Horner with a DDT to counter a backdrop attempt and gets a near fall. White Boy hammers away on Horner in the corner with right hands but Horner comes back with a few strikes of his own. White Boy sends Horner to the floor where Horner is just rolled back into the ring. Horner nearly pins White Boy with a rollup but gets ran over by White Boy with a clothesline. White Boy low blows Horner while the referee was distracted by a lumberjack. White Boy rams Horner face first into the corner a few times but Horner is getting a second wind. Horner comes firing back with right hands to knock White Boy down. Horner backdrops White Boy and connects with a couple of running clotheslines. Horner is sent to the floor where the heels continue to get several shots in on him. Horner has to deal with Paul Orndorff on the apron but White Boy gets brass knuckles. Orndorff holds Horner as White Boy hits Horner with the brass knuckles and retains the title. (*1/2. For as good as the feud had progressed on television, this match didn’t deliver a satisfying match. I think the lumberjack match was a poor stipulation as the wrestlers depended on the guys on the outside too much and the match never got a pace going. A disappointing title match for a feud that had plenty of heat and interest from me, at least.)
Backstage, Paul Orndorff and SMW Heavyweight Champion Dirty White Boy claim there is a conspiracy and Orndorff says he didn’t help the champion because the champ doesn’t need his help! White Boy taunts Tim Horner for not being the champion and is happy to have Paul Orndorff by his side.
Backstage, Kevin Sullivan is interviewed regarding his match with the Stomper. Sullivan had a dream of heads rolling and death which he loved dreaming about. Kevin says that the Stomper has become weak due to becoming American and watching MTV. Sullivan claims that he is a normal man.
Third Contest: Kevin Sullivan vs. The Mongolian Stomper: They quickly go at it on the floor with Stomper sending Sullivan into the crowd and they brawl up into the stands. They are trading right hands as they are up at the nosebleed seats. Sullivan goes to the backstage area but there isn’t a camera to see but they do return rather quickly to the arena view. Kevin appears to be busted open already but I’m not sure what caused the bleeding to happen. They make it to the ring where Stomper begins to deliver stomps on Sullivan. Kevin comes off the middle rope with an overhand strike to drop Stomper and gain control of the match. Stomper no sells several strikes but is stopped by an eye rake. Stomper has a cobra clutch on Sullivan but here comes the Nightstalker to cause a disqualification. (*. Early on the fans were interested in the brawling in the crowd but in the ring it was nothing more than strikes. The match proved that they were far too limited to produce anything of significant entertainment.) After the match, several baby face wrestlers come into the ring but it takes Tracy Smothers to come in to make Sullivan leave the ring. Stomper attacks the people who just helped him!
Fourth Contest: Battle Royal: The final three people in the battle royal is the Nightstalker, Dirty White Boy and Tracy Smothers. Smothers is double teamed by Nightstalker and White Boy as expected. White Boy plants Smothers with a DDT as the heels are having their way with Smothers. Nightstalker takes Smothers over with a snap power slam. Smothers hangs on from being tossed over the top and goes after the heels with dropkicks. Tracy is stopped quickly as the heels regain control of the match. Nightstalker lifts Smothers up by the throat and slams Tracy to the canvas. Smothers counters being thrown over the top by both men and is able to clothesline them both over the top to the floor to win the battle royal.
It should be noted before the main event that the Rock N’ Roll Express won the SMW Tag Team Championships on November 27th in a Texas death match. That was match two of the four match series that have stipulations that the teams are competing in at this point.
Main Event: SMW Tag Team Champions The Rock N’ Roll Express vs. The Heavenly Bodies in a street fight: Morton and Gibson hit the Bodies with a trash can and trash can lid to get the early advantage in the street fight. Express work over Lane and Pritchard with Morton hitting Lane with a stick that Lane tried to use. Pritchard appears to be bleeding already. Pritchard hits Gibson with a trash can and chokes him in the corner. Gibson sends Lane to the floor with a trash can shot to the head. Express backdrop Tom but Lane enters and uses a belt on Morton to whip him. Gibson hits Tom with a trash can and the same for Stan. Morton clotheslines Lane with his bandana while Gibson and Pritchard brawl on the floor. Everyone is on the floor where Lane sends Morton into a table.
Morton is sent into the table by Cornette and Lane. Gibson sends Pritchard into the ring post face first. Cornette throws powder into Gibson’s face and Cornette uses his tennis racket on Morton. Jim punches Ricky with the microphone a few times as well. Morton is being tied around the throat across the bottom rope. Morton has been busted wide open and is being pummeled on the floor. Gibson is being double teamed in the corner as Morton is freed from the bottom rope. The Bodies put a plastic bag over Gibson’s head! Morton recovers and enters with a chair and whacks the challengers over the head with the chair. Gibson sends Lane and Morton sends Pritchard into the table in the corner. Cornette gets flipped into the ring by Gibsond and Robert hits Tom with a racket. Gibson goes towards Jim but i stopped by Pritchard. Tom runs over Cornette with a clothesline on accident. Express hit a double dropkick on Pritchard but Lane makes the save. Pritchard puts something on his boot to make it loaded and hits Gibson right in the chest. Pritchard covers and pins Gibson to win the titles. (***. A fine brawl between these two teams that always warrants the hardcore violence. The crowd was into it and it was by far the best match on the card.)
Before the release ends, we see the closing moments of the barbed wire cage match that happened the next night. The Rock N’ Roll Express regained the SMW Tag Team Championships when Morton pinned Pritchard.
Final Thoughts:
I was again disappointed with this super card event. I was hoping for a better White Boy/Horner match but they went about it the wrong way with the lumberjacks. The main event delivered but that wasn’t ever a question. This wasn’t a strong show despite some decent television leading into it.
Thanks for reading.