World Championship Wrestling won the poll and will be getting the indepth reviews but I'm also going to throw SMW in the mix with more overall show reviews. I'll post the results and angle developments and then give a brief rundown of why it was good or bad. From what I can tell I do own now Episode 1 to the final show.

SMW Episode 1

Air Date: 2-1-92

Hosts are Bob Caudle and Dutch Mantell

Match Results:

Robert Gibson d. Killer Kyle
Brian Lee d. Barry Horowitz
Tim Horner d. Joe Cazana
Paul Miller d. the Black Scorpion
Bobby Fulton d. Ivan Koloff - reversed decision - main event


Angle Developments:

Bob Armstrong introduced himself as the commissioner of SMW.

Ron Wright, who's in a wheelchair, says he needs knee surgery but can't afford it. So he's going to check out the SMW roster and find men to manage. He'll take them to the top of the business so he can afford to get his surgery.

Jim Cornette had a rant about roided up wrestlers and promises that he's bringing a team to SMW that will have the same impact as the Midnight Express.

Brian Lee and Dutch Mantell got into a argument after Mantell criticized Lee's performance in the ring earlier in the show. Dutch Mantell says he'll wrestle next week to show Lee how it's done.

Bob Armstrong fines Ivan Koloff $500 for the foreign objects and signs the Fantastics vs. the Koloffs for next week's show.

Overall Thoughts:

The main event was surprisingly good considering how old Ivan Koloff was. Ron Wright got involved a few times as he distracted Fulton on the outside and then later slipped Koloff a roll of quarters. Koloff originally won but Jackie Fulton ran out and exposed Koloff's illegal tactics and the decision was reversed to a DQ win for Bobby. I believe it's Vladimir Petrov that runs in to start a big beatdown on the Fantastics as we go to break. It might've been Nikita but I'm not as familar with his looks when he wasn't roided up.

Kyle/Gibson was a nice little match. Very good back and forth action for how short the match was.

The Miller/Scorpion thing was kind of dumb. They hyped the Black Scorpion up quite a bit and then jobbed him right off the bat. I'm sure there's an angle there somewhere though. I believe the Scorpion is Tony Anthony so it's probably an angle considering the role he plays in SMW.

Brian Lee looked pretty good. He's extremely green at this point though and playing the goody goody babyface role right now.

Horner/Cazana was decent. Horner's a decent worker but really lacking in anything honestly.

Overall I'd say the show was a thumbs up. The angle development for a first show was pretty decent. They pull off that old school territory feel pretty well. The show's pacing was pretty good as they didn't stick to any one segment for too long while keeping the matches at an ok length for an hour show. A lot of promise to start, we'll see where things go. See you with the next episode as the Fantastics take on the Koloffs and Dutch Mantell makes his inring debut for SMW.

SMW Episode 2

Air Date: 2-8-92

Hosts are Bob Caudle and Jim Cornette

Match Results:

Bob Holly pinned Tim Frye after a top rope knee drop
Paul Orndorff pinned Rip Rogers after reversing a sunset flip
Scott Armstrong d. Dutch Mantell by DQ after Mantell uses Shoo Baby
the Fantastics d. the Koloffs when Jackie pinned Ivan with a cross body block off the top rope - main event

Angle Development

Ivan Koloff iontroduces his nephew Valdimir Koloff. He's pretty much trying his hardest to be Nikita and actually looks really similar to Nikita but lacks the presence that Nikita had.

Commissioner Bob Armstrong goes over some of the rules namely no piledrivers and throwing over the top rope. Danny Davis also pops up and says it's now "Nitro" Danny Davis instead of "Nightmare" Danny Davis.

Brian Lee says it's easy to sit behind a desk and criticize the wrestlers. He'll be willing to settle things with Dutch Mantell at any time.

Commissioner Bob Armstrong fines Dutch Mantell $500 for using the whip. He also announces that Dutch Mantell will face Brian Lee next week.

Jim Cornette further hypes up his new tag team.

Ron Wright tries to bleed sympathy for being crippled and to say he didn't get involved in last week's main event. He further states he's looking for wrestlers to manage so he can get his hip replacement surgery.

Tim Horner cuts a promo and proves why he never got a push in another promotion. Just terrible. He stumbles over his words and Bob Caudle has to bail him out a couple of times.

Overall Thoughts

Holly/Frye was an energetic opener and it followed the Mid-South style of squash match where the jobber puts up a decent fight. Holly did a beautiful knee drop off the top rope and was his usual stiff self. But I tend to enjoy Holly as a worker more than the average smark does. I'd say this was worth a * rating. Ron Wright was also at ringside checking things out.

Orndorff/Rogers was an excellent match. Just nonstop action for this one and fairly hard hitting. I'd give it a solid **1/4.

Mantell/Armstrong was just kind of there. They stuck to the arm work for most of the match and Mantell went for his whip Shoo Baby right when things started to pick up. It wasn't bad or anything just uninteresting. Brian Lee runs in to make the save and Mantell tells him to stop messing with him. Call it 1/2* I guess.

Fantastics/Koloffs was your strandard formula match. I'd give it *1/2.

Final thoughts. Another solid show though I liked the first episode a bit better. I felt the squashes were serving them better on the first show than having so many feature level bouts this time out. Cornette and Armstrong are carrying the promos at this point but a lot of the promos right now are "Hi, my name is so and so and I'm here to wrestle in SMW." Those will stop eventually and then we'll see how they carry the promos. Thumbs up for this show though. Next time out Brian Lee vs. Dutch Mantell.

Did Barry Horrowitz ever win a match in any promotion he was in? Minus upsetting Chris Candido, of course.

Yes. He was also known as Jack Hart in the Florida area and was actually a higher card talent then. He's held the Florida Heavyweight Title, the Southern Tag Team Titles in Memphis and also held the GWF Light Heavyweight Title.

SMW Episode 3:

Air Date: 2-15-92

Hosts are Bob Caudle and Jim Cornette

Match Results:

Bob Holly pinned Pat Rose w/ a flying knee drop off the top rope
Rip Rogers pinned Joey Maggs w/ the Ripperplex
Robert Gibson pinned the Mighty Yankee w/ the Bulldog
Tim Horner pinned Barry Horowitz w/ the Natural Bridge
Dutch Mantell d. Brian Lee by DQ - main event

Angle Developments:

Ivan Koloff has a new tag team partner to face the Fantastics with tonight. Vladimir Koloff was been called back to Russian which is on air speak for he left the promotion. His new partner is Jimmy Golden. If you don't know who Golden is he's a member of the Fuller Family was Bunkhouse Buck in WCW. Now granted. He did suck in WCW but he was way past his prime then.

Jim Cornette further hypes the debut of his new tag team.

More bleeding for sympathy from Ron Wright. Dutch Mantell offers to let him come down to ringside with him for the main event. Wright accepts.

Next week's main event will be the Fantastics vs. Ivan Koloff and Jimmy Golden

Buddy Landell introduces himself to the fans. He's here to wrestle in SMW because he can be himself and not have to suck up to get ahead. Now that's how you introduce yourself in a promotion.

Brian Lee demands a rematch.

Overall Thoughts:

Holly/Rose was a decent match considering it was a squash and that Rose could barely move. It was looking to be * but they botched a back body drop which will knock it down to 3/4*.

Rogers/Maggs was a great little match. High energy and it was balls to the wall for about 5-6 minutes. Solid back and forth action. The Ripperplex is just a Superplex. **1/4.

Gibson/Yankee was your typical squash where the jobber gets a little offense in. We'll call it 1/2*.

You know, a bridged roll up is pretty lame for a finisher. Oh well. Decent enough match as Horowitz showed off some nice offense in the ring. Horner then manages to not butchered his promo this time around. I'll give the guy credit there and I will defend him. How can you be decent on the mic when you never got mic time your entire career. I'll throw the match a *.

Brian Lee got DQed for getting caught with a pair of brass knuckles. Ron Wright snuck them to Mantell and Lee managed to get them. He clocked Mantell and went for the pin but the ref saw the knuckles and DQed Lee for obviously using them. Pretty average main event. *1/2 I'd say. I wasn't really expecting anything from them though.

They kept things in the ring more this week than doing angles. That works for me. The wrestling was decent for an hour long show. Things are slowly building up as the big players are appearing and some angles are starting to gain a little steam. They're still keeping it simple which I prefer. The promos have been great though and are really the strength of the shows right now. Cornette, Wright, Landell and Mantell all brought their A game. I'd say this was the best overall show so far.

SMW Episode 4

Air Date: 2-22-92

Hosts are Bob Caudle and Dutch Mantell

Match Results:

Hector Guerrero pinned Tommy Angel w/ a roll up
Killer Kyle pinned Rikki Nelson after slamming him into the violin case
Brian Lee pinned Brad Anderson w/ the Cancellation
Ivan Koloff and Jimmy Golden d. the Fantastics when Golden pinned Bobby after Vladimir hit him with a boot

Angle Developments:

Dutch Mantell feels unsafe and brings Carl Stiles to be his personal bodyguard from Brian Lee.

Ron Wright updates us that he's still searching for his man to manage. He hope he finds them because flu season is coming up. Just a note. This was taped back in like September so that's why he made those comments.

Tim Horner gets an award for his community work. Just so you know, Horner was a financial backer which is why he's getting this push on tv.

Bob Holly cuts a pretty good promo. The Hollywood gimmick is kind of lame but he plays it up really well. I think he's pretty much gone after this or the next set of tapings so don't get used to him being there.

Vladimir made his return to SMW in the main event and cost the Fantastics the match.

After the fact a huge brawl erupts. It's a 3 on 2 beatdown until Tim Horner runs in to even up the odds. All six men continue to brawl throughout the arena while the credits roll.

Overall Thoughts:

You can really see a lot of Eddie in the movements of Hector. They share a lot of the same mannerisms and move around the ring the same way. Mantell also gets huge bonus points for busting out a Helen Keller reference during the match. This match served mostly to showcase Guerrero's high flying offense. This was a nice little match but Guerrero was really lacking the high impact offense. It seemed like all set up offense and then he got a roll up for the win. Still a solid squash match though. *1/2.

Kyle/Nelson was your typical Kyle squash. The lighter and quicker face outsmarts and out runs Kyle before Kyle catches him and ends the match. I've only seen a handful of his matches and they all follow this formula with the same spots and same pacing. It's not bad though. This one was pretty dull to start but really picked up for the last 30 seconds or so. 1/2*. Ron Wright was also at ringside for the match.

Lee/Anderson. Whatever. Crap. Dud. Stiles and Lee get into it after the match and a nice brawl erupts. It ends with Styles accidentally hitting Mantell and Lee clearing the ring.

The Fantastics vs. Koloff/Golden was your standard formula. It was ok but not great. I'd give it *1/4.

Overall this was a forgettable show until the end. The brawl to end the show was awesome and well done. I'd say this was a thumbs in the middle show. Not actively bad but nothing was good per say. I will say the Ron Wright stuff is brilliant. The heels all feel sympathy for the guy while the fans and faces all feel he got what he deserved for being such a horrible man in his younger days. Well until the next episode.

Good, quick, precise stuff.

When are the NWA "world championship wrestling" reviews coming?

Probably next week.

I finally got all the World Championship Wrestling DVDs after it took fucking forever in the mail. So be on the lookout for the first one soon. SMW will also continue. Work and life have just been a little crazy lately so I haven't been able to sit down and watch stuff.

SMW Episode 5

Air Date: 2-29-92

Hosts are Bob Caudle and Dutch Mantell

Match Results:

Danny Davis pinned Barry Horowitz w/ a small package
Bob Holly pinned Tommy Angel w/ a missile dropkick
Carl Stiles pinned Reno Riggins w/ a powerslam
Robert Gibson d. Jimmy Golden by DQ when the Russians attacked - main event

Angle Developments:

They recap the awesome wild brawl that ended the show the week before. This was just crazy as they went all over the place.

The Fantastics have a prerecorded promo. They're off to Japan for a couple of weeks. They say they'll be on the phone every day finding a third man to even the sides up.

Commissioner Bob Armstrong comes out. He fines all of the men involved $500. He also makes a match of the Koloffs and Golden vs. the Fantastics and a partner of their choosing. He tells Mantell that Lee won't bother him at the announce booth but he's on his own when he gets in the ring.

Paul Orndorff hypes up the SMW Heavyweight Title Tournament that will take place in May. He also says he wants to find out why they made the Piledriver illega. This leads to Caudle running down the rules for SMW word for word:

Grounds for Automatic DQ:
1. throwing opponent over top rope
2. low blow
3. using a piledriver hold

Grounds for DQ & $500 Fine:
1. hitting the referee
2. using a foreign object during a match

Ron Wright reads a letter from a fan. It's an obvious fake letter and the fan sent him money and suggests other fans send in money.

Brian Lee reacts to the ruling of SMW Commissioner Bob Armstrong. Mantell also starts faking sick so he doesn't have to wrestle tonight. He has Karl Styles wrestle in his place.

Brian Lee comes out to the ring and challenges Dutch Mantell. Karl Styles attacks him and they brawl. Why would he come out while Styles was still in the ring?

Jim Cornette complains that Bob Armstrong won't allow him to enter an unnamed team into the SMW Tag Team Title tournament. He says he plans to do it anyway.

Commissioner Bob Armstrong, Brian Lee and Robert Gibson are out for an interview. Armstrong says he might look the other way if Lee and Gibson want to even the odds up against the Russians. Gibson calls out Golden and Lee calls out Mantell. Caudle announces next week's main event as Brian Lee vs. Carl Stiles.

Overall Thoughts:

Davis/Horowitz was a nice little opener. Great back and forth flow and they kept a fast pace for the entire match. It also got the crowd hot for the rest of the show. Davis got a small package to win in his debut match. I'd give ** for a fast paced match.

Holly/Angel was another good little match. Holly was in trouble at one point but Ron Wright got involved and Holly keeps his undefeated streak going. *. I don't know if having to cheat to beat the likes of Tommy Angel is really how you get one of your heels over though.

Stiles/Riggins. I admit I was stunned. Stiles gave off the appearance of being some musclehead that can't wrestle and he was actually halfway decent in the ring. He moved well and he seemed to have at least the basics down. Match was nothing though. Typical squash. 1/4*

Gibson/Golden was pretty formula for a TV main event. Decent action. The moves were crisp and they built up the comeback decently. Of course, this is old school so there was a no contest to end it. That gets old kind of quickly but I understand why they do it. You want to give the crowd a taste but not give it all away. ** due to the non-finisher.

Overall this was a solid show. They keep slowly building the angles and they're starting to build some tensions between various guys. Now they just need to expand the roster out by a few guys and get some legit top of the card guys on the shows like Terry Gordy. Join me next time.

SMW Episode #6: 3-7-92

Hosts are Bob Caudle and Dutch Mantell

Match Results:

Bob Holly pinned Joey Maggs w/ a flying elbow drop
Terry Gordy pinned Tommy Angel w/ a powerbomb
Paul Orndorff pinned Barry Horowitz w/ a back slide
Brian Lee pinned Carl Stiles w/ a powerbomb - main event

Angle Development:

Rip Rogers claims to be the most fit man in wrestling and that he'll be doing squats for the whole hour.

Tim Horner comes out for an interview but Rip Rogers interrupts him. Horner says he doesn't think Rogers can do squats for the whole hour and puts $500 on it. Anything that keeps Horner from saying much is a good thing.

Terry Gordy says there's not a man alive that can beat him in the ring. He says that if there's a title in SMW then it's his. Even the commissioner has his money on that.

Commissioner Bob Armstrong announces that in two weeks the SMW Tag Team Title Tournament will start. He also bans Ron Wright from ringside until he actually signs someone. Wright comes out and tries to argue but Armstrong just rips him apart on the mic about how brutal of a wrestler he was. Armstrong has enough and wheels Wright to the back. Good segment.

Paul Orndorff complains further about the piledriver being banned.

Jim Cornette complains that Bob Armstrong wants him to reveal the identity of his team. He says that if he would reveal there names that no one would want to face them.

Rip Rogers taunts Tim Horner so Horner kicks the chair out from under him with 59 seconds left and keeps his $500.

Overall Thoughts:

Holly/Maggs was completely paint by numbers. There was no extra effort from either wrestler and it was a typical squash. I do like how all of Holly's finisher's are top rope moves. 1/2*.

Gordy/Angel was a pretty typical squash. Though this match shows the importance of announcers. They made Gordy seem like a huge deal as a wrestler by talking about his accomplishments and just by focusing on the match. 3/4*.

Orndorff/Horowitz was a good squash match. The storyline was excellent as Orndorff had to find another way to finish the match since he can't use the piledriver. Horowitz so far has been the most consistent inring guy and his matches have been the best so far. **.

Lee/Stiles wasn't good or anything but it was good to see a main event actually end with a finish. It was mostly brawling and storyline and nothing memorable considering the guys in the ring. 3/4.

Overall, a good show. The wrestling sucked but the angle development is really starting to take off. The main players are now in place and they don't have to use the Fantastics as main event talent like they were a few weeks ago. I'm excited for the Tag Title tournament so we can get the Heavenly Bodies out there.

The stuff with Ron Wright and Rip Rogers doing SQUATS sounds hilarious.

It was pretty good as they would be doing a promo and you would just see him to the side doing the squats or you would hear him counting as he went along. Also during the matches you would hear him from time to time as Dutch Mantell would check in with him. And Horner kicking the chair away was hilarious as Bob Caudle had turned his back at the time.

The Ron Wright stuff is pretty well done. He comes and tries his best to bleed sympathy from everyone. The heels all say you need to feel sorry for such a nice guy and the faces pretty much say he was a brutal wrestler and crippled a lot of wrestlers during his career.

Right now they just need a more filled out roster. They haven't done enough to separate the main eventers from the mid-carders and so on.

SMW Episode 7: 3-14-92

Hosts are Bob Caudle and Dutch Mantell

Results:

Hector Guerrero pinned TJ Travis w/ a rolling roll up
the Koloffs and Jimmy Golden d. Reno Riggins, Rocky Patterson and Ben Jordan when Ivan hits Jordan with a clothesline
the Dirty White Boy pinned Rikki Nelson w/ a lariat to the back of the head
Killer Kyle pinned Jerry Lynn w/ the Bossman Slam
Tim Horner pinned Rip Rogers w/ a sunset flip - main event

Angle Development:

The Fantastics have a mystery partner to take on the Koloffs and Golden on next week's show.

Jimmy Golden says they don't care about any mystery partner. They'll win no matter who it is.

Ron Wright announces that he's signed a wrestler and they'll wrestle tonight. After the commercials it's announced as the Dirty White Boy. After the match the Dirty White Boy says that if Ron Wright is happy then he's happy. He says that with the guidance of Ron Wright he'll be unbeatable in the ring.

Bob Holly wants to correct some rumors. He's not going to marry Julia Roberts. Their just good friends.

Terry Gordy comes out and says he can't be beat and he'll back it up. He likes to take about bombs dropping during his interviews for whatever reason. Solo promos are not his strong point.

Rip Rogers says that Tim Horner owes him $500 because he did the squats for the entire hour. He's going to get his money and revenge in the main event.

Commissioner Bob Armstrong complains about Cornette not revealing his team. He wants to know their identity before allowing them in the tournament. Cornette comes in and says he'll have a video tape of his team for next week's show.

Overall Thoughts:

Guerrero/Travis was a little more low key than the last Guerrero match. Mantell was brilliant here though. He managed to criticize Guerrero while still hyping him up as a great wrestler. Travis was kind of a warm body in there to just roll around though and added nothing. *.

The six man tag was a standard squash. Nothing memorable other than an awesome dropkick from Jimmy Golden. Mantell has been really good for the announce booth this week. Dud.

DWB/Nelson was a total mauling. Hell yes to finally having the Dirty White Boy finally on the show. He's one of the main cogs in the wheel of the promotion and it's good to finally see him on the shows. Nothing match though but a good debut. 1/2*.

Kyle/Lynn was the typical Kyle squash where he gets outsmarted by the quicker wrestler. Yes, it's that Jerry Lynn. He doesn't get a push in SMW or anything. He pretty much does jobber duty. This match is on the SMW Before They Were Famous DVD if you want to see it. 1/2*.

Horner/Rogers was a fairly solid main event. The action had a good pace and no one lost anything by having a winner. Mantell was again very good here as a commentator. He was pro Rogers but gave Horner his due. I'd say ** for a solid match.

Good show this week. The action was decent enough but more importantly the Dirty White Boy debuts. The angles are really starting to amp up and Mantell was just a great heel color commentator this week. This was probably the strongest all around show since it started. Join me next time for Jimmy Golden and the Koloffs vs. the Fantastics and a mystery partner.

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.

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?

I'm down with it. Keep going.

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.

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.

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?

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.