SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
SMOKY MOUNTAIN WRESTLING
FEBRUARY 22, 1992
TAPED IN MORRISTOWN, TENN. AT EAST HIGH SCHOOL
AIRED IN SYNDICATION REGIONALLY
REPORT BY MIKE MILLS, PWTORCH SPECIALIST
SHOW SUMMARY
– Bob Caudle and Dutch Mantel kick off the show. Bob Caudle runs down the lineup of today’s action and accidently calls Hector Guerrero Hector Gomez but quickly corrects himself. Bob Caudle then throws us to the ring to get started on today action.
(1) Hector Guerrero vs. Tommy Angel
Guerrero is a fast-moving pro wrestler for that time and territory. Bob keeps up with it but still you can see how the fast paced semi-lucha style is not Bob Caudle’s expertise. I know at one point Tommy Angel takes a head scissors twice and Bob calls it twice and Dutch says I saw it Bob, you don’t have to repeat it. I saw it Bob, I’m not Hellen Keller, I saw it says Dutch. This is a quick match that is less than five minutes. Hector Guerrero wins the match with what Dutch calls a jalapeno pepper roll. I do not look for Hector to get a main push at this point in time but he is definitely not your traditional territory jobber during that time.
– Ivan Koloff and Jimmy Golden Promo. Ivan starts again by saying Vladimir is still taking care of business in Russia. Jimmy Golden and Ivan seems like a weird team at this point but I guess it’s to be seen as things develop in SMW. All that said, Jimmy Golden and Ivan Koloff deliver a good promo as they say they will defeat the Fantastics in today’s main event.
– The next segment they cut to a recap of last week where Ron Wright gives the foreign object to Dutch Mantel. Dutch plays crazy and stupid avoiding that he was given a foreign object and talks about how PBL is crazy and he doesn’t want to hear it. They re-air the Brian Lee interview where Brian Lee calls out Ron Wright and Dutch. Dutch says he’s not afraid but he’s not stupid either. He then introduces us to Carl Styles. He then says Brian Lee if you want me you got to go through Mr. Styles first. This is perfect territory days booking where the chicken heel puts a roadblock up and will not give the baby face a match without some obstacles first.
– Ron Wright Promo. Ron Wright starts his promo with, “I tell you something, it really broke my heart last week the way that Brian Lee took that foreign object and tried to maim poor old Dutch like he did. It’s a crying shame Brian Lee is allowed to do this. It’s a crying shame but I’m still trying to find me some talent to help me get this surgery for this hip and knee implant that Medicaid and Medicare won’t take care of. And you know it’s a shame because the flu season is coming up and I hope we can get something taken care of before this Flu comes through.” The flu comments at the end of this are definitely strange from Ron but again I will repeat, stay with this Ron Wright guy and you will be very satisfied with how his character and angle plays out
(2) Killer Kyle vs. Rikki Nelson
Killer Kyle gets a nice little cheer as he comes out. I mean more than he got in episode 1 especially as the heel here. He’s got the violin case again which of course means trouble in 1980s or 90s territory wrestling even though we know this is 1992. They show Carl Styles guarding Dutch at the old-school announcer desk. Ron Wright is back at ring side. Caudle says, there Ron Wright is again. What’s he doing out there? Dutch and Bob get to talking it up about Ron Wright. Dutch starts saying how he feels sorry for him and they continue to talk about how bad Medicare is and how it won’t help him with his hip replacement. Bob Caudle doesn’t give a care about Wright nor is he buying Wright’s medical issues. He sells it like the straight good guy announcer would back then. Kyle gets the win when Ron Wright distracts the referee as Kyle sends Nelson into the violin case. As Nelson takes a bump Kyle jumps on him to get the pin. Once again Ron Wright rolls away from the scene of the crime.
– Hollywood Bob Holly Promo. Bob Holly uses the term hillbilly immediately during the promo. It’s obvious the key word to insult the good people in the SMW territory is to reference them as hillbillies. Holly promises that he will be the SMW champion. He wants the good people of the hillbilly towns to know what a real movie and Hollywood star looks like (which he insinuates is himself). Then he tells a story about him being in Hollywood last week where Jack Nicholson saw him and asked him why he wanted to be a wrestler when he could actually make millions in Hollywood making movies. Holly says he likes beating people up and he doesn’t talk just to talk. It is important to note here that we are still in the very early stages of SMW and character development is in its very early stages. Early on in the promotion Bob Holly is semi being built as a nice mid-card talent.
(3) Brian Lee vs. Brad Anderson
PBL gets a nice little cheer from the fans. This may only be the fourth SMW episode but these fans in Morristown are buying Brian Lee and are behind him. The match starts and Dutch starts talking and says Brian Lee is the next serial killer and he is pretty sure he’s going to hear about Brian Lee being the next person to bust into a cafeteria with an AK47 and start mowing people down. Bob says, whoa wait a minute Dutch. But they just keep it moving and get back to the match which is uneventful. They revisit this serial killer comment later in the match where Dutch again says Brian Lee is going to kill a bunch of people. He calls Brian Lee an assassin and claims that Brian Lee has tried to kill him! I point this out because I’m willing to bet that you would never hear this on any wrestling TV show today. Dutch also delivers another a zinger when he says that a judge in Florida says they’ve declared Brian Lee legally stupid. The match ends in less than dramatic fashion with Brian Lee getting the win. Styles (Dutch’s new henchman) gets in the ring and starts slugging it out with Brian Lee. Caudle is losing his mind screaming and yelling they need help as the bell is ringing continuously. What are we going to do says Bob Caudle? Dutch hits the ring to assist Styles but Brian Lee ends up clearing the scene of both Dutch and Styles. The wonderful fans at East High School Gym go crazy as Brian Lee clears the ring. The match outcome here with Lee getting the win isn’t the story here. The story here is that they’re progressing the feud with Dutch and Brian Lee. Maybe it’s me but I love the slow old school build of only one hour of TV each week.
(4) Ivan Koloff & Jimmy Golden vs. The Fantastics (Bobby and Jackie Fulton)
The match gets started as Dutch during the match says I hate people with long hair as he references that Jackie Fulton needs to cut his hair. Dutch’s commentary is so good it’s hard to explain in this written walk through. Dutch is a great heel announcer. Apparently as Dutch talked about Bobby’s hair being long he doesn’t realize that he’s making fun of himself because Dutch has tons of hair and facial hair at this time. Middle of the match Dutch continues just no selling the match and says you know Bob they got some ugly women here in Morristown TN. I mean these women are ugly. Bob Caudle tries to ignore it as best he can as he calls the match. The match is a typical heel vs. baby face tag match but eventually things break down. Ivan gets sent to the outside. I knew what was coming when I saw Ivan hit the post. We have our first bit of blood with Ivan Koloff getting busted open as he goes into the ring post on the outside. Bob Caudle immediately brings notice to Ivan being “opened up” as Bob Caudle says. Bob Caudle says that was a “BELL RINGER” when he went into that post. The match continues for a little while longer when we get our first surprise of SMW when Jackie Fulton has Jimmy Golden in a sleeper and Vladimir comes out of nowhere and gives an old-school cowboy boot to the back of Jackie Fulton’s head that the referee does not see. Bob Caudle says, “Vladimir is supposed to be in Moscow, what the heck is he doing here?” There is an old lady on the outside who is losing her mind behind Vladimir cheating. We go to a quick commercial.
After the commercial and a few repeat promos of Ron Wright, Bob Holly, and Cornette, we go back to the old school wooden desk where Bobby Fulton viciously attacks the Koloffs and Golden as they are just getting interviewed by Bob Caudle after the match. They all fight to the ring. Jackie and Bobby are truly getting the best of the Koloffs and Golden. Tim Horner hits the ring to assist The Fantastics. They go off air with all 6 men fighting in the crowd and slugging it out big time. One of the last shots is Bobby Fulton hitting Ivan Koloff and nailing him in the head with a metal folding chair. I promise you, you will not see that nowadays the way Ivan took that head shot. Dutch says, I’m writing Bob Armstrong a letter. That’s got to be a fine! At that point the show goes off air.
Final Thoughts
We continued the progression of Ron Wright appearing to assist another heel with a victory. We also see Dutch Mantel involved with a henchman named Carl Styles. It appears Styles is a bit of a bodyguard of sorts right now for Dutch. It’s to be seen how Styles fits into the feud that Dutch is now involved in with Brian Lee. To me, the biggest news of the episode was the main event tag match. I truly thought when I originally watched this that Vladimir Koloff was gone from the territory for good. I loved how Vladimir comes out and hits one of the Fulton’s with an old-school boot in the back of the head to help his team get the win. I also enjoyed how they went off air with chaos ensuing in the arena. The last thing to remember is Bullet Bob Armstrong was firm in some earlier episodes that SMW would be family friendly where fines would be levied when foreign objects are used. There were lots of foreign objects used at the end of this episode which leaves us wondering how will Bob Armstrong levy out fines either next week or the weeks that follow. The end of this episode and the way it went off the air was certainly the highlight of this week’s SMW TV from February 22, 1992.
Mike Mills is a PWTorch.com Smoky Mountain Wrestling TV Flashback Specialist, providing his point of view on Smoky Mountain Wrestling TV that aired between February of 1992 through November of 1995. You can follow Mike at @BTT_Podcast and @Mike504Saints on Twitter. An audio version of the Smoky Mountain flashbacks are also available at mikemills.podbean.com. You can e-mail Mike at BookingTheTerritory@gmail.com
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