Chip Kessler and Les Thatcher are doing commentary and they are still taped from Warrensville, North Carolina.
Opening Contest for the Beat the Champ Television Championship: Bobby Blayze (8-2-1) pins Mike Mason after a Northern Lights suplex at 2:14:
Blayze dominates Mason even though he has trouble getting up for a spinning heel kick in the corner. The Northern Lights suplex allows Blayze to defend the title for the first time and earn $1,000.
In a taped segment, Blayze calls out NWA World Champion Dan Severn and vows to upset him when they face off in Charlotte on May 20.
After recapping last week’s events between the Dynamic Duo and Andrea, Thatcher interviews the Duo with Sandy Scott. Ricky Morton also joins via the phone. Scott hands Thatcher a note that books Morton against Snow in a scaffold match at Volunteer Slam on May 19. Morton is shocked about the stipulation but says he has experience with scaffold matches. Snow complains about possibly getting a nosebleed and alleges a conspiracy against him.
Boo Bradley (11-4) beats Larry Santo after a top rope splash at 1:51:
Bradley gives his stuffed animal to a young girl during his entrance, allowing Santo to attack him before the bell. Santo lays in some punches before Bradley shrugs it off, slams Santo, and splashes him off the top rope for the win.
Thatcher interviews Bradley, who says that Cactus Jack says hello. He hypes the Jersey Dog Fight match he is going to have against Killer Kyle at Volunteer Slam, arguing that Asbury Park is a rougher place to be than Hell’s Kitchen, New York.
The card so far for Volunteer Slam in Knoxville, Tennessee on May 19 is as follows: Bradley against Kyle in a Jersey Dog Fight match, Bob Armstrong & Terry Funk against the Gangstas in a Texas death match, Buddy Landel defends the SMW title against Steve Armstrong, PG-13 defend the USWA tag team titles against the THUGS, Robert Gibson faces Unabom in a May Mayhem match, and Ricky Morton faces Al Snow in a scaffold match.
Terry Funk cuts a taped promo with a hunting rifle in his hands. Classical music plays over a meandering promo where Funk talks about he and Armstrong’s ages, the Mai Lai Massacre, and the Viet Cong.
Bob Armstrong does a locker room promo, vowing to take out the Gangstas so long as Funk does his part in the Texas death match.
Jim Cornette talks with Thatcher, recapping how he has put up $50,000 to ensure an Armstrong/Funk victory over the Gangstas at Volunteer Slam.
Robert Gibson (0-1-1) defeats the Wolfman via disqualification when the Dynamic Duo interfere at 2:39:
Gibson is better suited for tag team wrestling, slowly working over the Wolfman with a headlock and pounding away until he catches the jobber in a sleeper hold. Before the Wolfman passes out, the Duo interfere so Gibson wins his first singles match of the year via disqualification.
After the bell, Larry Santo and Mike Mason try to make the save but Unabom unabombs Mason and Snow gives Santo a piledriver. The Duo renew their assault on Gibson until the THUGS and Bobby Blayze make a successful save.
SMW Champion Buddy Landel is back at the used car lot, finally stumbling on a car that Blayze can use. The car is wrecked and the salesman refuses to sell it to him. Landel makes a parallel between the wrecked car and Blayze’s career.
Thatcher interviews Steve Armstrong, who says his knee is in better shape. He puts Landel on notice that he is coming for the SMW title. Landel interrupts and they argue over who has the best figure-four leg lock. Landel says he will give Armstrong a title shot on next week’s show and break his leg.
USWA Tag Team Champions PG-13 say that they do not look forward to Volunteer Slam because they have to be around the rednecks in Knoxville. They put over the USWA as the better federation.
Winner Faces PG-13 for the USWA Tag Team Championship at Volunteer Slam: The THUGS (1-0) beat the Gangstas (w/D’Lo Brown & Killer Kyle) (4-1-1) when the Dirty White Boy pins New Jack after heel miscommunication at 7:58:
Even though this match was framed as who gets the USWA tag team title shot at Volunteer Slam, the announcers never discuss that stipulation throughout the contest. The Gangstas struggle until Brown and Kyle interfere from the floor, allowing Tracy Smothers to be placed in peril. Mustafa misses a reverse splash to trigger a hot tag and Brown grabs a chair. However, the White Boy reverses a New Jack whip into the object and that allows the THUGS to stay undefeated. The crowd was hot for this match, which helped how it came across on television. Rating: **
After the match, the Gangstas, Brown, and Kyle lay waste to the THUGS as the show goes off the air.
The Last Word: Next week’s match for the SMW title between Buddy Landel and Steve Armstrong has promise because Armstrong was more proficient in the ring by 1995 than Bobby Fulton. Time seems to be winding down for the Gangstas as they have not been given a lot of interview time for Volunteer Slam and they struggled a lot in the main event today. They are heat magnets in the promotion so their departure would be a big loss, but SMW has been bleeding a lot of talent since the beginning of the year so it would be in keeping with the company’s trajectory.
SMW maintained its regular house show loop through Eastern Tennessee and here were the results of some of their shows, courtesy of prowrestlinghistory.com:
Kingston, Tennessee – Roane County High School – May 4, 1995: Bobby Blayze pinned D’Lo Brown…The THUGS beat the Gangstas…Steve Armstrong beat SMW Champion Buddy Landel via disqualification…SMW Tag Team Champions the Dynamic Duo beat Robert Gibson & Boo Bradley…Steve Armstrong won a “pole battle royal.”
Johnson City, Tennessee – Freedom Hall – May 6, 1995 (650): Bobby Blayze pinned George South…Boo Bradley beat D’Lo Brown in a falls count anywhere match…Steve Armstrong beat SMW Champion Buddy Landel via disqualification…The THUGS beat the Gangstas in a double chain match when the Dirty White Boy pinned Mustafa…Ricky Morton wrestled Al Snow to a no contest in a steel cage match.
Backstage News*: Ricky Morton’s return in Johnson City saw Robert Gibson and Unabom handcuffed to the cage to prevent interference in his match with Al Snow, but Unabom wore a mask to hide the fact that it was not the real Unabom and was actually North Georgia independent wrestler Sam McGraw. The real Unabom came up through the ring at the end of the match and the Dynamic Duo destroyed Morton when successive babyface efforts to get into the cage, whether over the top or underneath the ring, failed.
*The company drew its standard crowd of 650 in Johnson City as company officials feel they can draw 500 to 600 fans with their existing talent but can only draw higher than that if they bring in a big name from the WWF.
*Ricky Steamboat pulled out of appearing on the Charlotte legends show on May 20 and SMW is worried the World 600 race that same day could dent their attendance. Legends scheduled to appear include Nelson Royal, Tim “Mr. Wrestling” Woods, Johnny Weaver, Swede Hanson, Abe Jacobs, Magnum T.A., Tommy Young, and Sandy Scott.
*Backstage news provided courtesy of Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer for May 15.
Up Next: Smoky Mountain TV for May 13!
