Chip Kessler and Les Thatcher call the action and they are still in Warrensville, North Carolina.
Opening Contest: Steve Armstrong beats Larry Santo after a flying clothesline at 2:12:
Steve is the third Armstrong brother to be featured on SMW television in 1995. During the early 1990s he wrestled with Tracy Smothers in WCW as part of the Southern Boys/Young Pistols and had a cup of coffee run in the WWF in late 1992 as a cowboy named Lance Cassidy. Steve was also part of SMW’s early years, teaming up with his brother Scott. This is part of Steve’s comeback as the Gangstas put him on the shelf with a knee injury in January. Santo gets in some toke shots and jaws with some fans but falls victim shortly thereafter to a flying clothesline.
After showing footage of Buddy Landel retaining his SMW title against Bobby Blayze on last week’s program, Landel is shown in a used car lot in Knoxville, Tennessee. Landel says he feels so bad for Blayze he is willing to buy him a car. The salesman shows Landel a few models, but Landel says that they are all too nice and he will come back next week to see if the salesman can find Blayze some “suitable transportation.”
Robert Gibson cuts a taped promo warning the Dynamic Duo that he is coming for them.
A SMW promotion video hypes the “May Mayhem Match” that will take place at SMW events during the upcoming month. Before a match, one of five cards will be drawn from a hat and that will determine the rules for the bout. The choices are a hospital elimination match (governed by first blood rules), an “I Quit” match, falls count anywhere match, taped fist match, and lumberjack match.
Boo Bradley warns Killer Kyle that he is ready for their Jersey Dog Fight match. The rules call for a dog collar to be placed in a corner, all of which will be covered by a bag. The first wrestler to get the dog collar can use it as a weapon.
Beat the Champ Television Championship Match: Bobby Blayze (7-2-1) beats Killer Kyle (Champion w/D’Lo Brown) (6-2) when Boo Bradley interferes to win the title at 3:39:
The miscounting of Kyle’s title defense continues as this is billed as his chance to win $5,000 for five successful title defenses. Kyle dominates much of the match but when the Gangstas come out to stack the deck for him, they are countered by the THUGS and Boo Bradley. Blayze misses a missile dropkick, but the referee gets distracted by a THUGS-Gangstas confrontation on the floor, allowing Bradley to clothesline Kyle with a chain and help Blayze win the title. Rating: *½
Jim Cornette sits down with Bob Armstrong, telling him that Terry Funk will be his partner at Volunteer Slam for a Texas death match against the Gangstas. Armstrong questions whether he can trust Funk because they fought in the past and Funk is crazy. SMW founder Sandy Scott shows Armstrong a check for $50,000 that will be used to refund all the tickets for Volunteer Slam if he and Funk were to lose to the Gangstas. This serves as a promise from Cornette to Armstrong that Funk can be trusted.
In a neck brace, Ricky Morton talks to fans from home as his girlfriend, Andrea, stands beside him. Morton says he has two compressed vertebrae in his neck so he cannot be back until mid-May. He asks SMW for a match with Al Snow and some guarantee that there will be no outside interference.
Thatcher interviews SMW Tag Team Champions the Dynamic Duo. Snow insults Andrea, who interrupts and has to be held back by Sandy Scott and Mark Curtis. Snow says Robert Gibson can team with Morton’s girlfriend while Morton is on the shelf.
Non-Title Match: Robert Gibson & George South defeat The Dynamic Duo (SMW Tag Team Champions) (4-3-1) via disqualification when Unabom shoves the referee at 2:59:
South is originally paired with Mike Mason, but Gibson comes out and tells Mason to leave the ring so the old NWA talents can wrestle together against the champion. The Duo work over South and prevent Gibson from getting a tag. Eventually Gibson gets incensed after a false tag spot and fights the champions two-on-one. When referee Mark Curtis tries to get things under control, Unabom shoves him and the champions lose.
After the bell, the champions try to give Gibson a spike piledriver but Andrea breaks things up and lays into Snow with some weak slaps. Like a pro, Snow sells the beating anyway and the heels flee to the announce table, where he calls Andrea “a skank of a cow.”
SMW Championship Match: Buddy Landel (Champion) (9-7-1) beats Bobby Fulton (1-0) after hitting him with a foreign object at 6:50:
Landel has vowed to be a fighting champion so this is in keeping with that gimmick. Landel begs off a lot when Fulton manages an offensive move, with the two wrestling like they are going twenty minutes. They pick up the energy near the end, with Fulton pushing Landel away when he tries to lock in the figure-four and scoring a near-fall from a crucifix pin. Landel pulls a foreign object out of his tights, though, and blasts Fulton to retain. Rating: *
Thatcher interviews the THUGS, who are wrestling PG-13 for the USWA Tag Team Championship at Volunteer Slam. PG-13 cut a taped promo where they call the THUGS a bunch of rednecks and cast themselves as representing urban culture versus the THUGS rural ways. Tracy Smothers promises pain for PG-13. The Gangstas come out and complain about not getting to face PG-13, with New Jack getting the THUGS to put their USWA tag team title shot on the line in a match against them next week.
The Last Word: The SMW title match was disappointing as Landel and Fulton’s respective styles did not translate well into a six-minute match. Putting Bobby Blayze in the television title division was a smart call, though, as he can thrive as an underdog in that environment. Using Ricky Morton’s girlfriend makes the tag team title feud more personal, but her “attack” on Al Snow was horrible and made for bad television. Finally, the show did a good job setting up next week’s main event between the THUGS and the Gangstas. It would be better for the Gangstas to win because they would make a joke out of PG-13’s street cred claims.
In addition to a free outdoor show at the University of Tennessee where the THUGS wrestled SMW Tag Team Champions the Dynamic Duo to a double disqualification in a best-of-three falls match, the company ran a couple of shows in Eastern Tennessee. Here was the result of one of those cards, courtesy of prowrestlinghistory.com:
LaFollette, Tennessee – West LaFollette Elementary School – April 28, 1995 (250): D’Lo Brown beat Larry Santo…SMW Champion Buddy Landel beat Bobby Blayze…SMW Tag Team Champions the Dynamic Duo defeated Steve & Scott Armstrong…The THUGS defeated the Gangstas.
Backstage News*: SMW had to cancel a house show at Cookeville, Tennessee on April 27 because the ring never showed up.
*Backstage news provided courtesy of Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer for May 15.
Up Next: Smoky Mountain TV for May 6!
