Written by: Bob Colling
Smoky Mountain Wrestling presents Fire on the Mountain
Date: 8/8/1992
From: Johnson City, TN
Opening Contest: Buddy Landel vs. Tim Horner in an I Quit match: Buddy works over Horner in the corner with some right hands but Horner fights back with strikes and a backdrop. Horner looks to stomp Buddy on the groin but Buddy begs off and Horner settles for an elbow to the knee. The match has been clipped, which is a bummer as Landel is control with some strikes. Buddy chokes Horner over the middle rope but Horner isn’t going to give in. Buddy continues to work over Horner with basic strikes and rubs Horner face first across the ropes. Horner big boots Landel in the corner and Buddy drops the canvas. The referee is asking if these guys quit at odd moments and almost after every move. Horner stomps away on Buddy, who isn’t moving on the canvas. It looks really odd as Buddy is just laying the canvas not selling any move. Horner takes Buddy over with a vertical suplex before another clipping in the match. Buddy yanks Tim groin first into the ring post. Landel hits Horner with the microphone. Buddy is choking Horner with the microphone cord. Horner refuses to give in, though.
Horner punches Buddy several times with the microphone and whops Buddy with the microphone cord. They begin to trade right hands with Horner getting the better of the exchange with a hip toss. Horner gets an abdominal stretch on Buddy but isn’t getting a submission. Buddy gets out with a hip toss and counters a figure four attempt by yanking Horner to the canvas. Horner recovers and locks in the Sharpshooter, but Buddy reaches the ropes and has to crawl to the floor in order to break the hold. Buddy kicks Horner and gets the figure four on Horner but can’t get a submission. Horner reverses the hold but Buddy lets go. Buddy works over the left knee of Horner but again can’t get a submission. Horner attempts a scoop slam but his led gives out and Buddy chokes Horner. Buddy drives Horner to the canvas with a scoop slam and heads to the top rope but Horner hits the ropes and Buddy flips over into the ring. Horner locks in Indian death lock and Buddy submits. (*1/2. Well, there wasn’t any violence really here as they went with the submission route, which was the wrong way to go, in my opinion. Their feud was really heated on television and wasn’t conveyed properly here.)
Backstage, Paul Orndorff cuts a promo on Ronnie Garvin. Orndorff says he is the master of the piledriver and that everything in the company comes through him. He claims to have hit the piledriver on every top star in the business. Paul says that Garvin doesn’t have a chance tonight because he is the ruler of Smoky Mountain Wrestling.
Second Contest: Paul Orndorff vs. Ronnie Garvin in a Piledriver match: I’ll be honest that I am NOT looking forward to seeing Garvin wrestle as he is one of my least favorite wrestlers, ever. The match is clipped as we start with both men colliding and the referee providing a count despite the match needing to end after a piledriver, and he must realize that so he stops counting. Orndorff attempts a piledriver but Garvin blocks it and hits a backdrop. Garvin punches Orndorff to the floor and the fans erupt for that right hand. Garvin has Orndorff in the corner delivering a series of jabs that Paul can’t block. Orndorff bails to the floor after a head butt. Orndorff comes back in and stomps away on Garvin in the corner several times to get the advantage. Orndorff works over Garvin with several strikes and drops an elbow. Paul taunts the fans after an elbow strike and Garvin is dazed. Garvin fights back with a knee strike to knock Orndorff down and rakes his back before biting Orndorff!
Garvin goes for a piledriver on the floor but Orndorff counters with a backdrop on the outside. Orndorff is choking Garvin with a television cord. Garvin fights back ramming Orndorff head first into the top turnbuckle several times and proceeds to deliver the Garvin Stomp. Ron knocks Orndorff down with a right hand and attempts the piledriver after giving Orndorff a wedgie. Garvin nearly hit the move but Paul countered with a backdrop. Garvin puts a sleeper on Orndorff and he is out of it, but Garvin can’t win the match that way. Paul low blows Garvin with his head to stop Ron’s offense. Paul hits a middle rope elbow strike and drops Ron. Orndorff signals for the piledriver and nearly hits it but the referee gets knocked down. Garvin counters a piledriver by sending Orndorff over the top with a backdrop. Orndorff decks Garvin from the apron with an illegal object. Orndorff is trying to convince the referee that he hit the piledriver and the referee calls for the bell believing Orndorff. Danny Davis comes out and tells the referee what actually happened and he believes Davis so the match restarts.
Orndorff attacks Danny Davis and hits the piledriver on him! That doesn’t end the match because he needs to hit it on Garvin, who is still laid out from the illegal shot. The referee takes a chair out of the ring and Garvin begins to fight back with several strikes. Um, the referee awards the match to Ron Garvin despite NOT hitting the piledriver. (DUD. This match accomplished nothing. It wasn’t going bad, but the bullshit finish of just awarding the match to Garvin annoys me greatly. It was a match that I thought was decent going and it is one that got plenty of TV time to buildup. If anything, Orndorff should have gotten the cheap win with the referee believing him. This was a waste of twenty minutes for a non-finish.)
Backstage, Ron Garvin is interviewed and he even says nothing was settled. Garvin is going to get Paul Orndorff and he is going to splash Orndorff on the concrete if he needs to. Garvin doesn’t need brass knuckles and he is still coming after Paul Orndorff.
Backstage, the Rock N’ Roll Express are interviewed and they are excited to be back together. Ricky Morton is on a road for redemption and they are going to show why they were four time tag team champions.
Third Contest: The Rock N’ Roll Express vs. The Stud Stable: All four men go at it to start the match which provided a much needed energy boost. Morton and Gibson hammer away on Golden and Fuller sending them into each other and they bail to the floor. Gibson and Golden start off with Gibson hitting an atomic drop to send Golden into Fuller on the apron for another collision. Morton tags in and double teams Golden briefly. Golden works over Morton with a few strikes but Morton hits a dropkick and follows up with an arm drag. Gibson and Morton are working over the left leg of Golden as the fans are eating all of this up. Morton and Gibson have dominated the match knocking Golden down with a clothesline and Fuller knocked off the apron again. Golden kicks Morton away into his corner and Fuller hammers away on him to gain the cheap advantage.
Fuller hammers away on Morton, who is now busted wide open. Golden sends Morton into the ropes and hits a big boot. Morton is double teamed while the referee is distracted by Gibson on the apron. Golden has a bear hug locked in and Fuller enters to get the referee out of position and doesn’t see that Gibson got the tag. Fuller legally enters and drives Morton down with a slam for a near fall. Morton gets a near fall on Golden with an inside cradle. Gibson gets the tag and hammers away on the heels. Gibson gets a near fall after a cross body on Golden. Fuller enters and holds Gibson but Golden accidentally hits Fuller with a right hand. Morton and Gibson hit a double dropkick and Golden is nearly pinned but Fuller pulls the referee out of the ring. Morton hammers away on Fuller on the outside while Gibson had a cover on Golden. Gibson gets a sleeper hold on Golden but here comes Fuller to hit a middle rope axe handle. Golden is on top of Gibson but Morton switches it with the referee turned around and Gibson pins Golden with Fuller unaware of the switch. (*1/2. Jesus, this show is a full of disappointment so far. I wasn’t expecting the RNR to lose by any means, but that was a lame finish.) After the match, Fuller and Golden attack the RNR because they are pissed and heels. Morton tries to help Gibson but they continue to be attacked. Morton was put in the tree of woe and left hanging upside down for a little while. The heels leave proud of their work.
Backstage, Jimmy Golden and Robert Fuller are interviewed. Golden says they didn’t lose nothing and they will give the Rock N’ Roll Express any kind of match they want. Fuller says the war between these two teams have just started. Fuller says their tails are cooked when messing with him.
Backstage, Ron Wright talks about being really nervous about the title match because he doesn’t want his boy to leave the area. Wright is going to take care of his boy and hopes to get enough money to pay for the surgery on his hip. Dirty White Boy promises to get the title and the operations will take place to allow Wright to be well again.
Fourth Contest: SMW Heavyweight Champion Brian Lee vs. Dirty White Boy: Lee starts the match with an atomic drop and press slam before sending White Boy over the top to the floor with a clothesline and gets the fans behind him. Lee brings White Boy back into the ring from the apron with a vertical suplex for a near fall. Ron Wright tries to trip Lee and that allows White Boy to clothesline Lee from behind over the top to the floor. White Boy works over Lee on the apron and drops Lee throat first across the top rope. White Boy continues his offense with a swinging neck breaker and follows up with a forearm drop for a two count. White Boy plants Lee with a DDT but can’t get a three count. White Boy hammers away on Lee to maintain his early advantage. Lee gets a near fall with a sunset flip but White Boy comes right back with a second DDT for a near fall. Lee fights back with a swinging DDT of his own and plays to the crowd looking for a running clothesline and hits a couple of them. Lee continues with a standing dropkick and a big power slam for a near fall.
White Boy falls to the floor after a back elbow shot and White Boy gets an object from Ron Wright. White Boy nails Lee with a chain and crawls over for the cover but Lee kicks out at two. Lee hits a leaping clothesline and goes to the top rope but misses a knee drop. On the floor, Lee sends White Boy head first into the ring post. Lee rolls White Boy into the ring and goes for the Cancellation which he hits! The referee is distracted by Ron Wright as the Mongolian Mauler comes out and hits Lee with a running clothesline. White Boy covers Lee and gets the win and title! (**. Well, it wasn’t a bad brawl of a match and the title change is the first in SMW history. White Boy got a pop for the win, so it looks like Lee wasn’t connecting with the fans all that well. Anyway, the debut of the Mauler isn’t appealing at all. I’m interested in the heel run for White Boy as Lee’s reign lost steam very quickly and didn’t have many opponents for him.)
Backstage, Brian Lee is interviewed about being attacked by a random freak. Lee says that there was something in that arm that hit him. Lee says there will be hell to pay if White Boy or Ron Wright were behind it.
Main Event: SMW Tag Team Champions The Heavenly Bodies vs. The Fantastics in a barbed wire steel cage match: The cage is a bunch of 2x4s with barbed wire instead of steel, so it looks kind of weird. I thought it would have been the ropes barbed wire, but it is only 1992. Cornette runs down the cans prior to the event and rips on special referee Bob Armstrong saying he will take him to court to overturn this match.
The Fantastics chase them around ringside until the champs enter the ring and they pummel the challengers to start off the title match. The champs are sent into each other and the Fantastics hit a double dropkick on Lane. They are trying to send each other into the barbed wire but nobody hits it early on. Bobby hammers away on Lane while Jackie tries to send Pritchard into the barbed wire to no success. Jackie gets a near fall on Pritchard following a slam. Pritchard tries to send Jackie into the barbed wire but can’t do it. Pritchard gets a near fall after a suplex on Jackie. Pritchard sends Bobby head first into the barbed wire and he is busted wide open. Lane has gotten Jackie to hit the barbed wire so the challengers are both bleeding at this point.
Lane sends Jackie head first into the barbed wire a second time and we get a close up of Jackie hitting the barbed wire again. The champs have kept control of the match for quite sometime just using basic strikes and sending the challengers into the barbed wire. The Fantastics begin to get a second wind and get up but the champs drop them back down. The champs have sleeper holds on the Fantastics, who begin to power up. The challengers begin to fight back and now Pritchard is trying to leave the cage but without any luck. Pritchard is sent face first into the barbed wire! Cornette throws powder into Jackie’s eyes but Tom only gets a near fall. Bob Armstrong notices the powder and sends Cornette to the backstage area. Lane has his headgear yanked off and is sent into the barbed wire too! Everyone in the ring has been busted wide open, which was expected. Pritchard hits a sit down power bomb on Jackie but only gets a near fall. Lane hits a side Russian leg sweep on Bobby and Pritchard hits a vertical suplex on Jackie. Lane misses an elbow drop off the middle rope. Cornette is back and tosses the tennis racket to Pritchard. Armstrong takes it away and Bobby rolls Pritchard up for the victory. (**. The brawls leading into the match were may more exciting than what we got here. I think they were restricted from what they could do and that’s what prevented them from putting on a high quality match that I was hoping for. The crowd was sent home happy with the big title change.) After the match, Cornette flips out and has a huge temper tantrum.
Backstage, Jim Cornette and the Heavenly Bodies are interviewed. Pritchard thinks this was a conspiracy with Bob Armstrong wanting the belts off of them. Cornette says that the one time that Pritchard got something he had it taken away from him. Jim wants a rematch within 24 hours and he will sue Bob Armstrong quickly.
Backstage, the new SMW Tag Team Champions the Fantastics are interviewed as well. They talk about the match they just had being the toughest matches of their careers. They say the match proves that when Cornette can’t get in the ring that the Heavenly Bodies can be beaten. Bobby really hypes up the brutal match they just had and is going to make the Heavenly Bodies wait thirty days before they defend the titles. They could wrestle some other team anyway. The Heavenly Bodies are going to have to wait for a title shot.
Final Thoughts:
Well, I was quite interested by the show due to the great angle progression, but this one failed to deliver in a lot of ways. The opener needed to be brutal and violent and it wasn’t even close. Horner should have been out for blood since Buddy had talked about his wife. The awful finish between Garvin and Orndorff still annoys me. The Stud Stable/RNR match was basic and didn’t offer too much. The one positive was the title win for Dirty White Boy as it freshens that up and gets the belt off Brian Lee. The main event was a let down as they were mainly trading strikes and trying to send each other into the barbed wire. A bad show for SMW and a major disappointment.
Thanks for reading.