OAO Smoky Mountain Wrestling Review Thread

[Mad Dog]

SMW Episode 8: 3-21-92

Hosts are Bob Caudle and Dutch Mantell

Results:

Robert Gibson pinned Joe Cazana w/ a bulldog
Hector Guerrero pinned Keith Hart w/ Jalapeno Roll
Bob Holly pinned Paul Miller w/ a missile dropkick
the Maulers d. Johnny and Davey Rich when Victory pins Davey after Morgan hits him with a boot
the Fantastics d. Jimmy Golden and the Wild Bunch when Bobby rolled up Golden

Angle Development:

Commissioner Bob Armstrong has the brackets for the SMW Tag Team Title Tournament. The first round matches are as follows:

Maulers vs. Johnny and Davey Rich
Fantastics vs. Wild Bunch
Koloffs vs. Danny Davis and Joey Maggs
Bart and Brad Batten vs. Cornette's mystery team

They play a hype video for the Wild Bunch. I'm not sure who they are. They look familiar but they could be about a million long haired brown haired wrestlers. They do look interesting though as their moveset is pretty ahead of the times for 1992.

During a match Bob Caudle asks Mantell where Carl Stiles is and Mantell says that he doesn't want to talk about it. Mantell finally says that Commissioner Bob Armstrong has banned him from coming out for announcing.

Jim Cornette takes a guy, didn't catch the name, to Hooters where his team is training. All of the waitresses are running around excited about something and Cornette is upset that someone revealed that his team is there. They can't get to his team due to the mass of waitresses crowded around the table. Cornette says that this is the problem with bringing real men and superstars to the area. He'll try again next week. Funny segment as he managed to work in a crack at Jim Herd too.

Ron Wright and the Dirty White Boy complain about the fans not sending in checks for Wright's surgery. DWB says that he'll win that tournament so he can afford the surgery or he'll buy him a gold wheelchair.

The Fantastics reveal their mystery partner to be none other than Tommy Rogers. Jimmy Golden comes out and says the Koloffs wives are having kids and can't be there. Tommy Rogers comes over and punches Golden and drags him to the ring. The Wild Bunch attack the Fantastics and we have a big six man brawl going on. It turns into our new main event for the week.

After the match the Wild Bunch and Jimmy Golden beat down the Fantastics until Tim Horner makes the save.

Commissioner Bob Armstrong fines the Koloffs $500 each for no showing the match. He also says they can't compete in the tag title tournament until they pay their fines.

Overall Thoughts:

Gibson/Cazana was an energetic opener. They kept a fast pace for the match and Gibson didn't give too much to a jobber. Nice start for the show this week. *1/4.

Guerrero/Hart was too short. It was just starting to get good and they had to end it. Some nice high flying for the time. Longer would've been nice but it was just a squash match so what can you do. *.

Holly/Miller was a quick and high energy match. Holly changed it up decently and I still really like how all of his finisher are coming off of the top rope.. 3/4*.

Riches/Maulers was your standard formula match. The Maulers are Rip Morgan and Jack Victory in case you were wondering. I'd say it was worth ** for an ok match.

The main event was almost there as a good match but it was just a little too short. Great action though. The Wild Bunch are Joel Deaton and Billy Black. This was the best match so far on SMW Television. It also served the purpose of making you want to tune in next week to see their tournament match. **3/4.

Another solid show this week. Things are starting to pick up as we should have some champions within the next few months of shows. The action was really solid this week and it's really nice to see the mid-card and low-card starting to fill out a little more. This show felt a lot less top heavy talent wise. Next week join me as the Fantastics take on the Wild Bunch in a first round match in the SMW Tag Team Title Tournament.

[Mad Dog]

So what are you guys thinking of these? I notice from the views most of you check them out when I post a new one. How's the quick and dirty format working for you?

[whitemilesdavis]

I'm down with it. Keep going.

[Mad Dog]

Damn, it's been 3 months. Sorry guys, work shit has really been killing me this year. I'll do episodes 9 and 10 soon.

[Mad Dog]

SMW Episode 9: 3-28-92

Hosts are Bob Caudle and Dutch Mantell

Results:

the Dirty White Boy pinned Joey Maggs w/ a side suplex
Jimmy Golden pinned Tommy Angel w/ a dropkick
Brian Lee pinned Joe Cazana w/ the Cancellation
the Fantastics d. Wild Bunch when Bobby rolled up Black


Angle Development:

Bob Armstrong is out to announce the SMW Heavyweight Title tournament. It will be on May 15th at the Volunteer Slam and will be held in Knoxville, TN. He announces the top 5 seeds in the tournament as the Dirty White Boy, Brian Lee, Tin Horner, Robert Gibson and Jimmy Golden. There also 6 wildcards for the tournament and there will be matches on tv to decide who gets into the tournamnet. Those 6 men are Dixie Dy-No-Mite, Dutch Mantell, Scott Anthony, Hector Guerrero, Buddy Landell and Paul Orndorff.

The show a news special interest thing on Tim Horner. Wow, they really are pushing Tim Horner. They show him singing country music with recording equipment that looks like some reject from 1975. Did you also know that in his spare time that Tim Horner saves kittens from being eaten by the likes of the Koloffs?

Bob Holly spins not being in the tournament by saying it's easier to just beat the guy that gets the belt instead of going through three matches in one night. You know, that's actually the smartest thing I've ever heard a wrestler say.

Robert Gibson says that he hopes he gets Jimmy Golden in the heavyweight title tournament.

The cameras are once again foiled from showing Jim Cornette's mystery tag team. The limo pulls up and they swamped by women and drive off this time. Next week he's going to try again next week.

Dutch Mantell threatens to sue SMW over not being seeded in the tournament for the heavyweight title.

Brian Lee comes over and says that he'll put his seed in the tournament on the line if Dutch Mantell will face him in the ring next week.

The Maulers rundown the Fantastics for their match in two weeks. Caudle cuts them off because it's time for the show to end.

Overall Thoughts:

DWB/Maggs was a decent little opener. Maggs usually gets a little offense in and he tends to make it interesting. The Dirty White Boy is usually game for inoffensive matches so you got this. 3/4*. Just remember this was a squash match and squashes aren't expected to be huge star affairs. You just ask for a quick pace and good execution.

Golden/Angel was picking up nicely at the end but it was really short. 1/4*. Golden beats on Angel after the fact and Robert Gibson makes the save.

Lee/Cazana. DUD. It was short and to the point. NEXT!

Fantastics/Wild Bunch was a very good match. It featured a lot of innovative offense and the only thing that was bad was the fluke roll up ending. But we get something that breaks the *** barrier finally. Just barely but we've had our first *** on SMW Television now.

Things are moving right along now. The tag tournament is going strong and they'll start building up to the heavyweight tournament. I think waiting for so long to get the belts on people has been a mistake. It really leaves everything drifting and the product was suddenly really focused once there was actually concrete these are the tournaments and who will be in them. Solid show this week. The wrestling wasn't so good but the storylines were solid and the main event was quality. So I'd say another thumbs up for SMW.

[KSSassy]

Nice review.

I don't think I have ever seen any SMW wrestling and I don't remember seeing Dutch Mantell in the ring. I picked up a few older matches on YouTube, I think, with him but they weren't the best quality. What is your take on him as a wrestler?

[Mad Dog]

He's ok. Not awesome but not terrible either. His main strengths are his mic work and that he can shift between face and heel roles flawlessly. Now at this point he's kind of sucky but he had been an active wrestler for 19 years when SMW started.

His real contributions have been other wrestlers though. One of his more notable contributions there was giving Steve Austin his ring name.

[Mad Dog]

SMW Episode 10: 4-4-92

Hosts are Bob Caudle and Dutch Mantell

Results:

Dixie Dy-No-Mite pinned Barry Horowitz with the Confederate Kick
Tim Horner pinned T.J. Travis with the Natural Bridge
Killer Kyle pinned Keith Hart with a spinebuster
Dirty White Boy pinned Paul Miller with the Buck Snort Blaster
Brian Lee pinned Dutch Mantell with a roll up

Angle Development:

Bob Armstrong does an anti-steroid rant. Yep, total anti-Vince rant there considering the steroid trial was going on at the time. He made a direction shot that SMW doesn't care what you look like as long as you can wrestle.

Brian Lee, Robert Gibson and Tim Horner are out with Bob Caudle to hype the Volunteer Slam. Horner cuts a horrible promo about being in the Heavyweight Title tournament.

They once again try to meet Jim Cornette's new tag team and once again are foiled as women are in the room and won't let them in. Cornette promises that next week he will have his tag team here live.

Bob Caudle tries to ask Killer Kyle why he didn't enter the heavyweight tournament and gets no response. He also asks about the violin case and gets no response either.

They replay Orndorff's interview where he complains about not being allowed to use the piledriver and use the opportunity to once again go over the SMW rules.

They go over the SMW Tag Team Tournament. The Maulers and Fantastics won their first round matches. Next week will be the next two matches in the tournament. The Koloffs will take on Davis and Maggs while the Battens will take on Cornette's mystery team.

Wright complains that none of the hillbilly SMW have sent him any money. The DWB goes off about the Heavyweight Tournament. He runs down all of his opponents until Brian Lee comes out. They go nose to nose and Lee says he hopes they get to wrestle in the tournament. This was a really good segment.

Jim Cornette hypes up the May 15th Volunteer Slam in Knoxville, TN.

As the show ends Bob Armstrong fines the DWB $500. He reminds the Koloffs that they're out of the tournament unless they pay their fines. He also tells Cornette that his team is out of the tournament if he doesn't produce them next week.

Overall Thoughts:

Dixie/Horowitz had some good energy as an opener. Horowitz yet again shows he's a really solid inring guy. Dixie (Scott Armstrong) blew a pretty big spot in the middle of this. Horowitz kind of steals the show here. He really shows off a great offense and some good heel tactics. Dixie wasn't quite as impressive as they were hoping for him to be though. * for a solid opener despite the horrible blown spot.

Horner/Travis had a hot start and a pretty good end. The middle dragged a little if you ask me. Horner kept things moving as he mixed some high spots in with his mat work. Travis looked pretty solid too. 3/4*.

Kyle/Hart was your typical big man beating an undersized jobber match. My main complaint is that they're trying to push Killer Kyle as a monster but he gives too much up to smaller opponents in the match. This was mostly filler to me. DUD.

DWB/Miller was an absolute mauling. Miller had a few hope spots but the DWB was quick to cut him off at every turn. Now this is how you make a guy look like a monster. I have to say, The Dirty White Boy is a really great talent. His offense looks great and he moves really well in the ring. I'd give this 1/2*.

An old lady was absolutely thrilled to see Brian Lee come out and it was pretty hilarious. The DWB attacks Lee before the match until Armstrong gets him to the backstage area. You can hear the old lady yelling for Brian Lee almost the entire match and see her for most of the match because of her clothes. It's actually fairly hilarious the whole way through. As to the actual match, it was mostly an in the ring brawl. It was okay when Mantell was in control but Lee was really not good in this match. He did some really awkward stuff in there and the ending was out of nowhere and kind of silly. I'd give it *1/2.

This show felt like it was at the end of a long tv taping. The energy just didn't seem to be there in the promos or in the matches. The focus of the show has completely shifted to everyone trying to position themselves for the heavyweight tournament which is a good thing. Brian Lee also looked really stupid in the main event. He's putting his seed on the line against Mantell, then mouths off to the Dirty White Boy right before the match and he's surprised when he gets attacked? He also looked even worse when Bob Armstrong bailed him out. The booking for Brian Lee isn't really helping to make him the top face in the company. Next week's episode should be some good stuff though. We'll get to see the Heavenly Bodies and we're quickly closing in on crowning the tag team champions. I'd say this is a slight thumbs down episode.

[Mad Dog]

SMW Episode 11: 4-11-92

Hosts are Bob Caudle and Dutch Mantell

Results:

Bob Holly pinned Ben Jordan with a top rope knee drop
Danny Davis and Joey Maggs d. the Koloffs when Davis pins Ivan after Ivan ran head first into his chain
Paul Orndorff pinned Hector Guerrero after rolling through a cross body block and grabbing a handful of tights
The Heavenly Bodies d. Bart and Brad Batten when Lane pinned one of the Battens after a double suplex

Angle Developments:

Carl Stiles makes his return as Mantell's bodyguard and Mantell won't answer any questions as to where he's been.

The Koloffs are out and have paid their $500 fines. He mentions that the Fantastics couldn't get to them so now they're going to beat everyone in the tournament and become the champs.

Commissioner Bob Armstrong wants to announce that the Volunteer Slam will now be on May 22nd because people from a Japanese promotion want to come and watch the champion crowned. He is also going to add the tag team tournament final to the event. This Japanese organization will also be sending some talent over as well and they'll be sending talent to Japan. He also lets Orndorff know that he doesn't have to explain why the piledriver is banned because he's the Commissioner.

Tim Horner cuts a horrible promo to hype SMW coming to Chattanooga. Lee cuts a slightly less awful promo about it. The Fantastics save the segment by cutting a decent promo about wrestling in Chattanooga.

Bob Caudle and Dutch Mantell review the results of the tag team title tournament thus far. The Maulers beat the Riches and the Fantastics beat the Wild Bunch.

They recap the confrontation between Lee/DWB last week and DWB attacking Lee before his match. They come back with Ron Wright who complains that he had to stick to generic heart medicine because of the fine Bob Armstrong levied against him. He has the DWB training as hard as possible for the Volunteer Slam. Ron Wright might honestly be the most brilliant character I've ever seen. And the recap just reminded me of how great the DWB's promo was last week. It almost hurts the faces like Horner and Lee when the heels are cutting such great promos in comparison.

Paul Orndorff, Dixie Dy-No-Mite and Hector Guerrero are out for an interview. Dy-No-Mite is happy to be in the tournament. Hector says he's honored to be a wild card entrant. Orndorff ruins the good vibes by saying it's an insult to be here. He goes off about all of the people he's beaten and the fact that he's wrestled all over the world. Hector and Orndorff get into a bit and they take it to the ring.

Brian Hildebrand makes his referee debut for SMW this week.

Dutch Mantell, Jimmy Golden and Ron Wright all cut promos about coming to Chattanooga

The Heavenly Bodies are interviewed after their victory over the Battens. Prichard says they're here for titles and money after a lengthy rip on the fans.

Overall Thoughts:

Holly/Jordan is notable because Holly's ring gear is a shameless rip off of Bret Hart's ring gear. I mean absolutely shameless. This was an effective opener as it really showcased Holly's offense and the fact that he's a cocky heel. 1/2* for a fun little squash. I was surprised to see Holly as I thought he had left already. I do believe that this might be his last tv taping though.

Ironically, they changed the date to the Volunteer Slam was changed under the guise of Japan and then they had to scramble and have the tag team tournament final on television because the Fantastics had Japanese commitments.

Koloffs/Davis/Maggs was a tale of two matches here. The match was pretty good when Ivan was in the ring and absolutely terrible when Vladimir was in the ring. Vladimir actively made this a bad match as he was noticeable out of place at least twice during the hot tag portion of the match. Davis and Maggs made this match though as they were pinballing and bumping like made men for the Koloffs. Unfortunately, Vladimir really drug the match down with some huge screws up during the home stretch. *1/2 because Davis and Maggs worked that hard.

Orndorff/Guerrero was a really solid match. Orndorff was out to punish Guerrero and Guerrero made a miscalculated high risk move. After the match we had into famous territory. Orndorff attacks Guerrero after the match and gives him the banned piledriver. Ben Jordan, Reno Riggins and Joey Maggs all try to run out for the save and get a piledriver each for their touble. Orndorff grabs a chair and piledrives Hector right onto the chair. What can I say, that segment was freaking awesome. Now that's how you do a heel turn. This was probably the highlight of the early SMW shows so far. ** for the match.

Bodies/Battens was an excellent debut for the Bodies. It really set the tone for what they could do as a team. The Battens also held up their end of the match. Overall, a solid match that I'd give **1/2

This was a really great episode from start to finish. The Orndorff angle was just well played out over the course of the segment and watching him just laying people out with the piledriver was great booking. The Heavenly Bodies have also debuted and are slated to be major players in SMW. It took a few months but SMW finally has a lot of the pieces in place to set the tone until the next wave of talent starts to come in during the summer. This was easily the best episode that SMW has done thus far and really shows some of the potential the promotion has at this point. Big thumbs up for this episode. Next week we get Carl Stiles vs. Dixie Dy-No-Mite and Paul Orndorff vs. Davey Rich.

[Mad Dog]

SMW Episode 12: 4-18-11

Hosts are Bob Caudle and Dutch Mantell

Results:

Robert Gibson pinned Rip Rogers with the Bulldog
Paul Orndorff pinned Davey Rich with a clothesline
Buddy Landell submits Reno Riggins with the Figure Four Leglock
Dixie Dy-No-Mite pinned Carl Stiles with the Confederate Kick

Angle Development:

Caudle and Mantell recap the awesome Paul Orndorff from last week's episode. I'll take the moment to say, it was an awesome heel turn and I loved watching Orndorff just laying out guys with the illegal piledriver. They're really selling how dangerous the piledriver is here. Hector in a neck brace says when he comes back he'll be coming after Orndorff. Orndorff cuts a great promo until Bob Armstrong comes out and says he's never going to legalize the piledriver and fines him $2500. Orndorff laughs it off and Armstrong tells him every piledriver will result in $2500.

Bob Caudle hypes up the Volunteer Slam. Two champions will be crowned. Tim Horner comes out in a dreadful pink sweat shirt and talks about being in the tournament. At this point, you can guess how that went. Brian Lee comes out and does a pretty crappy promo. The faces tend to look pretty stupid when they can't cut a promo to save their life and you have heels like Ron Wright, DWB and Orndorff cutting brilliant promos every week.

Ron Wright is out and talks about the DWB's training. He's turning the DWB into an absolute savage. They show some footage of the DWB wrestling. Wright says that he's going to unleash the DWB at the Volunteer Slam.

Jim Cornette and the Heavenly Bodies are out for an interview. They watch a promo from Davis/Maggs. Maggs sells the neck which is good. Davis says no one gave them a chance last week and look what happened. Jim says the Bodies are going to be the first ever SMW Tag Team Champions. Lane complains about sexual harassment from the female fans of SMW. He's tired of being groped and pawed at by the female SMW fans. They face Danny Davis and Joey Maggs on next week's show.

Buddy Landell cuts a brief promo to say that he's going to be the first ever SMW Champion.

Ron Wright and Jimmy Golden are out to hype the Volunteer Slam. Again, the heels are much better promos.

The Fantastics and Brian Lee are out to hype the Volunteer Slam.

Overall Thoughts:

Gibson/Rogers was an okay opener. Rogers argued with the ref after only getting a two count after a DDT and Gibson used the lapse in judgement to hit the Bulldog for the win. Some good energy here as the crowd was pretty hot for the match. I'm a little lost on how they're using Rip Rogers though. He's not a jobber but he's lost on tv a lot so far. *3/4 for the match.

Orndorff/Rich did a good job of establishing Orndorff's new heel persona. Other than that, this match was a little too long for what it was. Rich wasn't going to win right after Orndorff's big turn. It really started dragging towards the end. *1/4 for this one.

Landell/Riggins made Landell look like a big deal which is a good thing. Caudle and Mantell really did a good job of establishing that he's been around. Match had some good energy and Landell looked really good. *

Dy-No-Mite/Stiles was just there really. Mantell got involved and that led to the Dy-No-Mite Confederate Kick. Other than that Stiles is just too limited to make this a worthwhile match. 1/2*.

Overall, kind of a slow and boring show this week. A lot of time was spent reacting to Orndorff's awesome turn the week before and also dealing with the Heavenly Bodies debut. The wrestling wasn't terrible but it wasn't particularly good. Things should pick back up next week as the Volunteer Slam will be getting ever nearer. Thumbs in the middle for this.

[torturedsoulv1]

Not that I ever watched SMW, but I did follow it in the Apter mags


Had no clue Carl Styles was in SMW at one point.

Rogers, Riggins and Davey Rich are three guys that got pushes in places like the USWA or GWF or CWF, but whenever they were in WCW or WWF, they were jobbers

[Mad Dog]

Riggins is a jobber that gets offense here essentially.

The tv is really fun though and these episodes are before they get the real talent infusion later in 1992. When that happens, then things get really interesting.

[Scrooge McSuck]

I must've been away for a while when you first started this thread. I like the bullet points to sum things up. Works wonders for a promotion I've little knowledge of. Helps not having to sift through paragraphs of incoherent nonsense... no, I wasn't refering to myself, either. :P

[Mad Dog]

SMW TV #13: 4/25/92

hosts are Bob Caudle and Dutch Mantell

Results:

Bob Holly pinned Bart Batten with the Top Rope Knee Drop
Jimmy Golden pinned Davey Rich with the Dropkick
Brian Lee pinned Joe Cazana with the Cancellation
Killer Kyle pinned Reno Riggins with the Rub Out
Heavenly Bodies d. Danny Davis and Joey Maggz when Prichard pinned Maggs with a faceslam

Angle Developments:

Commissioner Bob Armstrong is out with an announcement. The first round matches for the Heavyweight Tournament at the Volunteer Slam are as follows:

Robert Gibson vs. Jimmy Golden
Tim Horner vs. Paul Orndorff
Buddy Landell vs. Brian Lee
Dixie Dy-No-Mite vs. Dirty White Boy

Armstrong says that both the heavyweight and tag team champions will be crowned tonight. He calls Orndorff onto the set and says he won't get anywhere near the final of the tournament if he sees one piledriver that night. Orndorff says that there won't be one piledriver. He says that Horner doesn't know what he's getting into. He tells Horner he's in his way and reminds him of what he did to several people a couple of weeks ago.

The Battens, Brian Lee and the Fantastics all cut promos for a local show. Fantastics vs. the Heavenly Bodies, Battens vs. Killer Kyle and Joe Cazana and Brian Lee vs. the Dirty White Boy with Commissioner Bob Armstrong as the guest referee.

Jimmy Golden stops by for an interview and Robert Gibson comes out. Gibson says he got his wish and he's going to kick Golden's butt. Golden says he kicked Gibson's brother's butt years ago and he'll kick Gibson's butt too.

Brian Lee is out for an interview but Buddy Landell interrupts. Lee cuts him off and says that he might be a good wrestler but he's not ready for Primetime. Landell asks Caudle if Lee was talking to him. Lee is not a good talker.

Bob Caudle asks Carl Stiles where he had been for the last couple of weeks. Stiles says that he's been in jail because he had an unpaid speeding ticket. He thought Dutch would help him out but he didn't.

Ron Wright is out. Someone wrote the AARP and got his discount revoked. DWB is still out in the back alleys training and he's going to win the SMW Heavyweight Title.

Jim Cornette and the Heavenly Bodies cut a promo about facing the Fantastics at a local show.

Tim Horner is out for an interview... oh joy. He says that Orndorff has no regards for the rules. He says that Paul Orndorff will know who he is at the Volunteer Slam. Well, he stuttered his way through that promo anyways.

Overall Thoughts:

Holly/Batten was an energetic opener. Holly missed the knee drop pretty badly and it was more of a splash when he landed. Solid work though. Batten pushed him nicely and came across like tougher competition than Holly had been facing in previous weeks. *1/4.

Golden/Rich started off quick but slowed to a crawl as the match progressed. Golden really didn't do a lot with his moments on offense. He worked the leg heavily. Really though, who thought using a dropkick as a finisher in 1992 was a good idea. This was a little better than your standard squash but it dragged in the Golden control portions. 3/4*

Lee/Cazana was one of the first matches that really made Lee seem like one of the top stars in SMW. He dominated, showed off some moves and looked like a force in the ring. They've really showed a lack of faith in him as their top guy thus far and it was nice to see him get a strong win on television for once. 1/4*

Kyle/Riggins was the typical Killer Kyle squash. Dud

Bodies vs. Davis/Maggs was a solid main event. Caudle and Dutch really sold the strategies of both teams well. Davis got the better of both teams and Maggs took a beating for most of the match. Solid main event for this week. **

Pretty dull show this time out. It feels like things are just in a holding pattern until they get the champions crowned and can snag a few more WCW firings to fill out their roster. I've mentioned it before but the heels are just so much more compelling than the faces when it comes to talking. The heels are all great talkers and guys like Brian Lee and Tim Horner are just terrible talkers. It makes it hard to care about the good guys. Thumbs down for an uneventful show this week.

[Mad Dog]

SMW TV #14: 5/2/92

hosts are Bob Caudle and Dutch Mantell

Results:

Fantastics d. the Maulers with a cross body block

Angle Developments:

Bob Caudle and Dutch Mantell recap some of the first round matches from the tournament. They show clips of the entire tag tournament.

Brian Lee, Tim Horner and the Fantastics are with Bob Caudle to hype a local show in Beckley, West Virginia. Tim Horner actually cuts an almost passable promo here.

Bob Caudle and Dutch Mantell review the first round matches of the heavyweight title tournament. Mantell picks Golden, Orndorff, Landell and the Dirty White Boy to win in the first round.

They play a taped statement from Bob Armstrong against steroids. Considering the timing of this, it's a very thinly veiled shot at the WWF and the steroids scandal going on. Waste of time here. I think they played this a couple of weeks ago.

Jim Cornette and the Heavenly Bodies are out. Cornette runs down both the Maulers and the Fantastics as not being ready to take on the Bodies. Lane says they're the best looking team in wrestling today. Prichard calls Cornette a genius for putting together such a great tag team. He says the tag team championship is their one and only goal and it doesn't matter if it's the Maulers or the Fantastics.

Jim Cornette and the Heavenly Bodies hate Beckley, WV. I mean, they REALLY HATE Beckley, WV. This is the promo they showed last week.

The Fantastics are with Bob Caudle. They're going to Knoxville, TN to meet the Heavenly Bodies for the tag titles. They cut a pretty good promo about facing off with the Bodies here.

Overall Thoughts:

Fantastics/Maulers was kind of a disjointed mess. I was hoping for a good match but it never really got going. The Fantastics seemed really off their game this week. The Maulers didn't really help matters much either. *1/4 for a disappointing semi-final.

We're 14 episodes into SMW and we just had a total filler episode. It feels like they were either having budget issues and trying to run this taping on the cheap or they had to scramble because All Japan needed the Fantastics for a tour. I'm not totally sure though. This episode was not good though. Things should really be heating up for the Volunteer Slam but it feels like everything has just gone into a holding pattern until they can get belts on people. It's really frustrating as I was really starting to get into the shows and it's kind of slowed to a crawl. Here's hoping the next tapings are better.