Written by: Bob Colling
SMW House Show
Date: 3/10/1994
From: Marietta, GA
Opening Contest: Bobby Blaze vs. The 1-2-3 Kid: They shake hands before the bell to show some mutual respect. They counter a few holds on the canvas before having a standoff. Back to the canvas where they trade arm holds until Kid gets momentum with an arm drag but they have another standoff. Kid trips Blaze from behind and get control on the mat, again. It’s a rather slow start to the match with a heavy focus on the mat wrestling, which is something I wasn’t expecting. Kid nails Blaze with a spin kick, though it looked like Blaze was supposed to catch the kick. Blaze power slams Kid but Kid quickly comes back with an arm drag and kicks in the corner. Kid misses a leaping knee strike in the corner and crashes to the canvas. Blaze continues with a high knee lift and keeps Kid on the mat with a headlock. Blaze is keeping Kid on the mat with a headlock. Blaze stops Kid with another knee to the midsection and plants Kid with a power slam followed by a forearm drop for a two count. Kid misses a spinning heel kick and Blaze nearly wins with a super kick. Blaze goes to the top rope but Kid dropkicks Blaze to crotch him on the top rope. Kid goes for a superplex but Blaze shoves him off and leaps off the top only for Kid to hit a dropkick in midair for a near fall. Blaze almost wins with a rollup. Kid gets a two count with a side Russian leg sweep as two minutes remain in the match. Kid nails Blaze with a spinning heel kick for a two count. Kid boots Blaze in the corner and hits a top rope moonsault for another near fall. Blaze takes Kid over with a northern lights suplex for a two count. Blaze hits a running forearm shot and they are both down with thirty-seconds left in the match. Kid runs the ropes and they run into each other. They are laid out in the middle of the ring and the match ends in a draw. (**. The finish didn’t get over with the crowd and felt really flat. I get they are both good guys, but the fans wanted a clear winner of the match. I’d assume that Blaze didn’t/wouldn’t pass Kid’s test for the Kliq to see if he’s a good worker for them in the bigger company, WWF. Kid wasn’t used as the high flyer and the mat worked didn’t hold my interest. A rather disappointing start to the show.)
Second Contest: NGWA Champion New Jack vs. Hillbilly Festus: Jack backs Festus into a corner but Festus comes out with a series of strikes to knock the champ down. Festus knocks one of Jack’s buddies off the apron, which I think was Mustafa. Festus hits the crew on the floor with a few strikes and plays to the crowd in the ring. Festus brings Jack into the ring from the apron with a suplex. Festus continues to hammer away on Jack in the corner. Jack comes charging out of the corner with a clothesline to finally get some offense in the match. Jack comes off the ropes to clothesline Festus. Jack complains to the referee that it was a three count. Jack slams Festus goes to the top rope and hits a diving head butt! Jack has the cover but Festus kicks out at two. Festus absorbs a few right hands and clobbers Jack with a clothesline. Festus nails Jack with a kick to the face and knocks Jack’s buddy off the apron. Jack hits a German suplex and gets a three count. However, the referee has awarded the match to Festus since Jack had his shoulders down on the canvas during the pin and Festus didn’t. (*1/4. I really don’t understand why there can’t be a simple decision thus far on the show. I suppose it protects Jack, but Festus seems rather over with the crowd and Jack is more than capable of getting his heat back at some point. This was just an unnecessary usage of a cop out finish.)
Third Contest: Chris Candido vs. Tracy Smothers: Smothers gets the biggest pop of the night thus far. Candido attacks before the bell trying to send Tracy over the top to the floor but Smothers pulls himself back in and backdrops Candido after a few chops. Smothers knocks Candido to the floor following a leaping kick to the face. Candido controls Smothers in the corner with a series of strikes. Smothers gets a few shots in as well. Smothers hits a twisting cross body off the top and nearly pins Candido. Smothers kicks Candido under the middle rope to the floor and shoulder blocks Candido from off the apron to the floor. Smothers rams Candido head first into the railing, but Candido does the same and drops Smothers. Candido seems to be fine with taking a count out victory, but Smothers gets to the apron only to be knocked off by Candido. Candido runs the ropes but Smothers nearly wins with a slingshot cross body into the ring from the apron. Smothers suplexs Candido while on the apron from the ring to the floor and quickly hits a baseball slide. Smothers super kicks Candido for another two count. Smothers rams Candido into the corner a few times to keep control of the contest. Smothers attempts a leap frog but Candido hits a power bomb to stop Smothers momentum. Candido leaps off the middle rope with a fist drop for a two count. Candido keeps Tracy on the canvas with a sleeper.
Smothers fights back with strikes but gets caught in the corner. Smothers shoves Candido into the corner chest first but runs into knees on a charging attempt. Smothers counters a suplex attempt by hitting a belly to belly suplex and goes for a splash but Candido got his knees up. Candido stops Smothers on the top rope and hit a hurricanrana! Candido goes to the top missing a diving head butt attempt! Smothers hits a leaping uppercut to stagger Candido into a corner and delivers more rights in the corner. Smothers kicks Candido on the back of the head and goes to the top rope again. Tracy gets met with a shot to the midsection and Candido puts Tracy on the top rope. Candido gets knocked off and Smothers nails Candido with a twisting uppercut off the top to win the match! (***. Thankfully, this was a solid match between these two and the match had a decisive finish. The crowd was into it and popped for an actual finish to the match. Considering the action, this would have been better suited as an opener. Still, this was fun.)
Fourth Contest: Kevin Sullivan vs. Ron Garvin: Sullivan attacked before the bell and they trade strikes until Garvin headbutts Sullivan to the floor. They begin brawling on the floor for a few moments. Sullivan sends Garvin into the railing and uses a chair on Garvin, as well. Garvin slams Sullivan’s face onto the apron and they continue to trade shots on the floor. Sullivan has a stick of some kind and whacks Garvin several times with it. They get back into the ring where Garvin is working over Sullivan with strikes, but Sullivan comes back with strikes of his own. Garvin is keeping Sullivan on the canvas and soon attempts a piledriver, but Sullivan counters with a backdrop. They go back to the floor trading more chops. They are brawling into the crowd now but that doesn’t last too long. Sullivan works over Garvin with some basic strikes in the corner. Garvin sends Sullivan into the corner, but Sullivan doesn’t bounce out and there’s an awkward moment between the two. Garvin punches Sullivan to the apron and they brawl more on the outside. The referee hasn’t counted at all while on the floor. Instead, he gets hit on the floor and calls for the bell and gives the match to Ron Garvin. (1/2*. If they cut this match from ten minutes to about four minutes it goes a lot better. The brawling at the start had me interested, but they relied on going to the floor to go ten minutes. There wasn’t much wrestling moves and the crowd didn’t seem interested after about six minutes of the action.)
Fifth Contest: Lex Luger vs. IRS: Luger goes to attack IRS, but he cowards into the ropes to avoid any punishment. Luger wrenches on the arm of IRS taking him down to the canvas. IRS goes to the ropes again to break the hold. IRS continually goes to the ropes to stop any kind of momentum that Luger gets. Luger grabs IRS by his tie and drops him throat first over the top rope. Luger continues with a hip toss and a running clothesline causing IRS to roll to the floor to regroup. IRS goes under the ring and appears to have grabbed something but I can’t tell what it is. The referee is checking IRS as the fans are trying to snitch on him. IRS gets away with it and the match continues. In the corner, IRS nails Luger with the object while the referee was out of position. IRS keeps control of Luger with a back elbow shot. IRS puts an abdominal stretch on IRS but isn’t going to get a submission. Luger nearly wins with a sunset flip. IRS keeps Luger on the canvas with a sleeper and uses the ropes for leverage briefly. Luger rams IRS head first into the corner and delivers a series of right hands. Luger shoulder blocks IRS and connects with a power slam for another two count. IRS kicks Luger in the corner and uses the ropes for leverage to get a three count, but the referee sees it and the match continues. Luger comes from behind and gets a three count on IRS with a rollup. (*1/4. What is with the finishes on this show not being just simple? Does IRS really need to be protected on a SMW show in front of 700 fans against a guy main eventing WrestleMania? I don’t think so. It’s a relatively boring match, as expected.)
Sixth Contest: SMW Heavyweight Champion Dirty White Boy & Dirty White Girl vs. Brian Lee & Tammy Fytch: White Girl is in the ring wanting Tammy, but Brian Lee isn’t leaving the ring. White Boy works over Lee with a few strikes and pokes him in the eyes. White Boy holds Lee to allow White Girl to slap him. Lee isn’t happy about the double team. Lee gets a few shots in on White Boy and holds him for Tammy, but Tammy accidentally slaps Lee! Tammy distracts the referee and White Girl punches Lee in the face again. Tammy tries to do the same thing that White Girl just did but instead jumps on Lee’s back and he crashes to the canvas. Lee holds White Boy and this time a slap from Tammy connects. White Girl gets tagged in and that means Tammy has to come in as well, which got a good pop from the crowd. Tammy misses an elbow drop on White Girl after Lee delivered a cheap shot. Lee decks White Boy and they continue the action. Lee power slams White Boy and gets a two count. White Boy is choked over the top rope by Tammy while Lee distracted the referee. White Boy comes off the ropes and hits a leaping clothesline. White Boy hammers away on Lee and delivers a big boot. White Boy backdrops Lee but Tammy gets involved to stop White Boy. Tammy and White Girl are busy on the floor while White Boy gets a three count on Lee with an inside cradle. (*1/2. This is mostly just a singles match between Lee and White Boy, which bugs me when it’s advertised as a mixed tag match. Some parts were entertaining like the heels not being able to outsmart the faces. However, the action was rather boring and Tammy didn’t get involved much despite being quite over with the crowd. If she had been tackled by White Girl or something the place would have gone nuts for it.)
Seventh Contest: Owen Hart & Well Dunn vs. Brian Armstrong, Scott Armstrong & Steve Armstrong: Dunn and Brian start the match with Dunn going to the ropes to break a hold at the start. Dunn eye rakes Brian, but Steve comes off the top to hit a cross body to take the heels out. Owen and Steve are now in with Owen controlling with a headlock. Steve dropkicks Owen but Owen rolls to the floor to regroup. Steve controls Owen’s arm and they trade hammerlocks on the canvas. Owen gets double teamed with chops and is nearly pinned. Brian tags in and gets worked over by the heels with strikes. Brian comes out of corner and clotheslines Dunn. Steve gets tagged in and cleans house with strikes. Steve shoulder blocks Dunn but gets pulled to the floor by Owen. Owen sends Steve shoulder first into the ring post. Steve is double teamed briefly and Owen gets a two count. Owen drives Steve down with a back breaker and comes off the top with a head butt. Owen dropkicks Steve and tags in Dunn. Well helps out his partner with choking Steve in their corner for a few moments while the referee was distracted. Brian gets the hot tag and cleans house with right hands. All six men are in the ring. Steve leaps off the tops and dropkicks Dunn while Scott held him and they win the match. (*1/2. I’d be lying if I said I was able to maintain interest in this match. The only guy who entertains me is Owen and he had a limited role in the match to begin with. I don’t believe Scott Armstrong really did anything in the match. This just felt like filler.)
Eighth Contest: SMW Tag Team Champions The Heavenly Bodies vs. Rock N’ Roll Express: Gibson and Pritchard kick off the title match with Gibson controlling Pritchard with a head scissors on the canvas. Gibson taunts Del Ray and Morton enters to keep control of Pritchard on the mat. Pritchard hammers away on Morton but gets monkey flipped off the ropes. Morton continues with a hurricanrana and decks the champs to the floor. Pritchard drops Morton in the corner following a knee lift and continues to pummel Morton with right hands. Gibson prevents Morton being sent into the corner. Del Ray tries the same but Gibson kicks Del Ray while laying over the top turnbuckle and the champs get dumped to the floor. Del Ray and Gibson are now the legal men. Gibson takes Del Ray over with a head scissors and tags in Morton to continue their offense. Morton pummels Del Ray in the corner with right hands and decks Pritchard, too. Gibson stomps Del Ray on the midsection and they knock Pritchard off the apron with a right hand. Morton and Pritchard run the ropes until Morton leaves to chase Jim Cornette into the ring causing Pritchard to collide with his manager!
Cornette trips Morton from the floor and that allows Pritchard to dump Morton over the top to the floor. Cornette jabs Morton with his tennis racket. Morton kicks out on a cover attempt moments later. Del Ray comes off the middle rope hitting an axe handle. Morton is getting double teamed and Gibson is being stopped from helping. Pritchard power slams Morton but only manages a two count on the cover. Pritchard controls Morton with a surfboard but isn’t able to get a submission. Del ray enters and helps Pritchard beat on Morton. Del Ray plants Morton with a sit down power bomb for another two count. Morton has a sunset flip on Del Ray but Pritchard breaks up the pin attempt. Morton continues to be worked over by the Bodies. Gibson gets tagged in and he cleans house on the champs with right hands. Gibson kicks Pritchard and gets a two count. Gibson gets stopped by Cornette with a tennis racket shot to the back. Morton and Gibson dropkick Del Ray for a two count. Gibson and Pritchard are brawling while Morton slingshots Cornette into the ring. Del Ray tries to use the tennis racket but is stopped by Morton and the match ends in disqualification. (**1/2. A decent tag match but they have certainly done so much better on regular SMW shows.)
Time to setup the cage for the main event which appears to be quite the process.
Main Event: Bob Armstrong vs. Jim Cornette: Cornette tries to get out of the match claiming an injury, but Armstrong isn’t going to let that happen. Armstrong decks Cornette with a right hand and beats on his rival for a few moments. Cornette manages to get some strikes and kicks on Armstrong. Cornette delivers an elbow drop but misses a second attempt. Cornette keeps control of Armstrong with a sleeper hold and knees to the back. Cornette leaps off the middle rope but Armstrong moves and works over Cornette with strikes of his own. Armstrong stops Cornette on the top rope and slams Cornette to the canvas. Del Ray tosses Cornette a tennis racket and hits Armstrong over the back. Armstrong doesn’t budge from the shot. Armstrong pummels Cornette with right hands. Armstrong rams Cornette into the cage head first several times. Heavenly Bodies and the Armstrong Brothers are brawling on the floor at this point. Armstrong sends Cornette into the cage a few more times. Bob stomps Cornette three times and wins the match easily. (DUD. I’d imagine this was designed to put over Armstrong since it was an event putting the family over anyway. It just felt like a flat main event and not a suitable ending, really.)
Final Thoughts:
I thought maybe the WWF guys would make this a more memorable show, but this was rather lackluster and uninteresting. Candido/Smothers is the best match, but it doesn’t set the world on fire or anything. They actually drew close to 1,100 and when they returned in May with Savage and Jake Roberts, they didn’t draw more than 400. So, safe to say they didn’t impress the area.
Thanks for reading.