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Smoky Mountain Wrestling- February 22, 1992

by Scrooge McSuck

- Last week on SMW TV... Ron Wright continues to be a pest at ringside, resulting in Brian Lee losing to Dutch Mantel via DQ... Ivan Koloff introduced his new partner, Jimmy Golden, with Vladimir "called back to Russia" for unclear reasons... Buddy Landel is on his way to Smoky Mountain Wrestling, assuming he doesn’t over-sleep or something... Bob Holly, Tim Horner, and Robert Gibson won squash matches, all with varying levels of performance... Rip Rogers snatched a victory over Jumpin’ Joey Maggs... there’s a Tag Team Championship Tournament coming, and Jim Cornette’s unnamed team will compete.

- Taped on November 27th, 1991, from the East High School in Morristown, TN. Bob Caudle and Dutch Mantel are calling the action, unless otherwise noted. This is the second half of a TV taping, so anything that happened last week that could possibly have a follow-up on this episode. Advertised ahead of time is a match between the Fantastics and Ivan Koloff & Jimmy Golden. Hector "Gomez" Guerrero (Caudle accidentally called him Hector Gomez before correcting himself), "Primetime" Brian Lee, and Killer Kyle will also be in action.

Hector Guerrero vs. Tommy Angel:

Hector is probably known for two things: being part of the Guerrero wrestling family and being the poor sucker under the Gobbledy Gooker costume at Survivor Series, and for a few appearances at the TV tapings and live events that followed. He’s pushing 40 here, and looks it, with the graying hair. Mantel gives Caudle crap for messing up his name. Guerrero escapes a head-lock and throws Angel around with a pair of snap mares. Angel with a bit of chain wrestling and a takedown. Guerrero pushes off the ropes to take Angel over to break out of a knuckle-lock. Guerrero follows through on a hip toss and takes Angel down with a pair of flying head scissors. Hector shows he’s a nice guy, offering a mid-match handshake and not trying any funny business. Hector with more head scissors. Angel with body presses and a slam for two. Angel gets knocked to the floor and Guerrero follows with a plancha. Back inside, Guerrero rolls Angel around the ring in a stretch cradle before getting the three count at 4:40. A little more back-and-forth than I felt was necessary, and quickly makes Hector look like mid-card fodder. His work was fine, though, and the lack of Southern style started to get over by the end.

- Bob Caudle is standing by with Ivan Koloff and Jimmy Golden for tonight’s Main Event. Ivan just talked to Vladimir, who is taking care of official business in Russia, but he will be back soon. The Fantastics were foolish to sign a contract to face them tonight. Golden doesn’t know how they got their name, because he’s never seen anything fantastic about either of them. They couldn’t win on their best day and he and Koloff plan on winning the Tag Team Titles.

- We recap what happened last week, where Ron Wright handed a weapon off to Dutch Mantel, but Brian Lee intercepted whatever it was and used it on Mantel instead. Unfortunately, he was too dumb to take it off his hand, and the referee disqualified him mid-count, awarding the match to the Dirty Dutchman. We replay the interview that followed the match, with Lee wanting another shot at Mantel in the ring. Mantel says he’s not afraid of Brian Lee, but he’s afraid of getting hurt. He was going through Murphy, NC and met a man named Carl Stiles. Mantel continues with his promo while Stiles flexes for the camera. If Lee wants a piece of Dutch, he must go through Mr. Stiles, first.

- Bob Caudle is standing by with generic "coming to your town soon" comments from Tim Horner, Robert Gibson, and Brian Lee. When Brian Lee is your strongest babyface promo in a group of three by a country mile, you might want to add some more talent to carry that load.

- Ron Wright is standing by, accusing Brian Lee of trying to maim Dutch Mantel last week. He’s broken down and crippled from a lifetime of competition, but he’s still out there looking to pick someone up to pay for his hip and knee implant surgery. Medicare and Medicaid won’t pay the whole thing, and he’s got to find the money somewhere. The Flu Season is upon us, and hopefully something comes up before it gets too cold.

Killer Kyle vs. Rikki Nelson:

Second appearance for the mysterious Killer Kyle, with the even more mysterious violin case in hand. This should be more of a showcase for him than the opening match on the premiere episode where he did the job for Robert Gibson. Nelson uses his speed to avoid locking up. Kyle finally gets his hands on him and gets a cheap shot to the midsection against the ropes. We see that Mr. Ron Wright is at ringside, scouting the action. Nelson with a body press and side headlock takeover. Kyle with shoulders to the midsection, but misses a charge across the ring. Nelson scales the ropes and they botch a flying sunset flip. Kyle counters another headlock with a back suplex. Delayed vertical suplex gets a two count. Whip to the ropes and Nelson with an axe-handle across the back. Nelson with a dropkick and charging elbow. Kyle positions himself in the corner and slams Nelson face-first into his violin case for the three count (with a handful of tights) at 3:35. Caudle credits Wright for distracting the referee, allowing the underhanded tactics. The replay indeed confirms that speculation. I’m all for giving jobbers offense, but Kyle should be destroying scrubs like this instead of selling more than half the match.

- Bob Caudle is in the ring with White Lightnin’ Tim Horner, the pride of Morristown, TN. He’s also joined in the ring by Don Cunningham, who has an award for Horner for his community work. Horner looks bored out of his mind and looks like he’s about to fall asleep. I swear, I saw him yawn. He accepts the plaque and is happy to give back to a community that gave him so much. Maybe he can push children in the right direction in life.

- Bob Holly is standing by with comments. Fans came up and asked what he was doing in a hillbilly town, and says he wanted to give people what a movie star looks like. He talks about bumping into Jack Nicholson, and Jack asked him what he’s doing in a business like professional wrestling when he can be in movies and commercials. He likes to beat people up for a living, and wants to show hillbilly hicks what a real star looks like, and what a real star can do.

"Primetime" Brian Lee vs. Brad Anderson:

Dutch Mantel and Carl Stiles are sure to be watching this one closely from the announcers table. Lee quickly grabs a side headlock as Mantel suggests Lee has potential to be a Serial Killer. Lee with a slam and hip toss. Anderson whiffs on a punch and gets taken down with a pair of atomic drops. The second was so brutal, Lee fell, too! Whip and Lee with a clothesline. Mantel orders Stiles to get a closer look so they can identify him in a police lineup. Anderson uses the distraction to get some blows in. Snap mare out of the corner, followed by a pair of elbow drops. Caudle lets us know that Brad is the son of Gene Anderson. Neck breaker for two. Mantel comes up with a joke about Lee being declared legally stupid in the state of Florida. Lee elbows his way out of a chin-lock. Whip is reversed, boot to the midsection, and the Cancelation finishes at 3:47. This is how they should’ve put Killer Kyle over. Dominate most of the action and only give up a little offense, with minimal selling.

- Post-match, Carl Stiles gets in the ring and they get into a shoving match. Lee gets the better of a slugfest and hits him in the corner with a clothesline. Stiles avoids a second clothesline and hits Lee with his own while Mantel barks orders from ringside. Lee rolls away from an elbow drop and we get heel miscommunication, allowing Lee to stand triumphant in the ring when all is said and done. The rivalry between Lee and Mantel seems to still have legs to stand on.

The Fantastics vs. Ivan Koloff & Jimmy Golden:

TV Main Event. On February 1st, Bobby Fulton beat Ivan Koloff by reverse decision, and on February 8th, the Fantastics defeated Ivan and his nephew, Vladimir. Last week (February 15th), Ivan introduced us to Jimmy Golden, with Vladimir called back to Russia on official business. Will this be the blow-off to a rivalry one month in the making? Bobby and Ivan start things off and go through a series of chain wrestling and counters. Bobby with a hip toss into the arm-bar. Koloff rolls through and counters with a knee-bar. Jackie comes off the top with an elbow and picks up where Bobby left off. Jackie wins a slap fight and it’s a twisting body press for a near fall. Crisscross and Jackie with a monkey flip before going back to the arm. Golden with an elbow and slam. Jackie reverses a whip to the corner and traps Golden in a short-arm scissors. Koloff gets caught in the wrong side of town and double-teamed. Bobby tosses him to the floor and sends him to the post.

Golden lures Jackie into the ring to distract the referee and assaults Bobby from behind with knees. Koloff is bleeding from the forehead, but the big picture right now is Bobby getting worked over in the corner. Golden shoots him across the ring for a hard bump to the corner. Bobby ends up on the floor and Koloff gives him a receipt. He tries fighting back, but Golden rakes the eyes and slams him into the corner. Golden covers, but Bobby gets a boot on the rope. Bobby fights off Koloff, sending him to the turnbuckle, and tags out to Jackie. The Fresh Fulton dominates with slams and dropkicks. He climbs the ropes and hits Golden with a flying body press for two. Bobby and Ivan have the referee preoccupied, allowing Vladimir to run in (the heels were... LYING!?!), hit Jackie with his boot, and Golden lands on top of Jackie for three at 9:14, all while a geriatric woman is having a fit in the front row. **1/2 Fine work, which is something I feel like is going to be said often throughout the history of the promotion. Golden came across more watchable here than for most of his WCW run as Bunkhouse Buck, with a few notable exceptions, of course.

- Bob Caudle is standing by with comments from Mr. Ron Wright, Bob Holly, and Jim Cornette. This same video was featured on last week’s episode.

- The Koloffs and Jimmy Golden are celebrating their victory. Vladimir made the last flight out of Moscow to be here. Bobby Fulton doesn’t take kindly to what took place and picks another fight. The Fultons do their best to fight the odds, but the Koloffs and Golden quickly take advantage of the numbers game. Tim Horner runs out to make the save, probably because he’s the hometown boy. He singles out Koloff while Jackie Fulton KO’s Vladimir with an unprotected chair shot. All six men continue to brawl around ringside while the credits roll. Ivan gets a chair shot to the head, too.

Final Thoughts: Not the greatest show this week, but the 47-minutes flew by without me begging for the end to come. They continue to push the Fantastics vs. Koloffs (and Golden) program, which seems like a short-term option while they build other stars up. In another "keeping people warm" scenario, we’ve got potential #1 babyface Brian Lee dealing with color commentator Dutch Mantel and his new protégé, Carl Stiles. Mr. Ron Wright is still making his presence felt at ringside, despite not having anyone officially signed. No new details on either the Heavyweight or Tag Team Title Tournament situation, and we didn’t get any new information from Jim Cornette on his new tag team.

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