Grim Rates Smoky Mountain Wrestling Matches

[Bobby Barrows]

So as you can see, this is a thread about the famous 4th biggest company in the US during the early-to-mid 90's (behind WWF, WCW, and ECW); Jim Cornette's attempt at a territorial company, Smoky Mountain Wrestling. This won't be anything special or long, but it'll be mostly a quick reference for how I feel about matches at the time. We will be going by this reference sheet for my match ratings:
​

Matches:

SQ - Squash Match
N* - Awful Match
* - Bad Match
** - Average Match
*** - Good Match
**** - Great Match
***** - Perfect Match

Promos/Segments:

N* - Awful Segment
* - Bad Segment
** - Average Segment
*** - Good Segment
**** - Great Segment
***** - Perfect Segment

 

[Bobby Barrows]

Smoky Mountain Wrestling TV #1
2/1/1992​

Killer Kyle vs. Robert Gibson - **

Fantastics Promo on Koloffs - ***

Bullet Bob Armstrong Tells the Rules - ***

Barry Horowitz vs. Brian Lee - ***

Ron Wright Needs a Client - **

Joe Cazana vs. Tim Horner - **

Jim Cornette Says He's Bringing a Team - ****

Paul Miller vs. Black Scorpion - ***

Brian Lee Promo Interrupted by Dutch - **

Ivan Koloff Promo on Bobby Fulton - **

Ivan Koloff vs. Bobby Fulton - ***

Fantastics/Koloffs Brawl - ***

Bob Armstrong Announces Fantastics/Koloff Match - **

Koloffs Rant About Koloffs - ***

Notes:

Killer Kyle using "Green Onions" as his theme is great. Robert Gibson pulls an upset by beating Killer Kyle with a roll-up: the deadliest maneuver.

Fantastics have a decent promo talking about the Koloffs.

Bob Armstrong gonna lay down the law.

Horowitz and Lee had a pretty good match. Brian Lee pulls out the win. On commentary, Dutch Mantell is unimpressed by Lee.

This version of Ron Wright is the best version.

Tim Horner is decent, but only just. Beats Cazana relatively quickly.

Cornette shows he's the best talker in the company. He also hints at his new team.

Black Scorpion has an AWESOME theme. Another upset though as Scorpion loses to Miller via roll up. Scorpion had been dominating the match before that.

Brian Lee and Dirty Dutch are gonna have a pretty lengthy rivalry.

"Ivan Koloff has a standard rah rah Russia #1" promo.

Ivan Koloff, even in his late 40's, is AWESOME; he legitimately can still go effectively and realistically. During the match, Ron Wright scouts out the two guys. The ending sees Wright hand Koloff something to win, Jackie Fulton comes in to defend his brother and beat down Koloff, revealing the hidden object to give Fulton the win. A brawl with the Fantastics and the Fultons ensue.

The Fantastics rant and rave about the Koloffs trying to hang Jackie Fulton on TV, and they want a piece of the Koloffs' asses next week.

 

[Bobby Barrows]

Smoky Mountain Wrestling TV #2
2/8/1992
​

Tim Fry vs. Bob Holly - **

Koloff Promo About Fantastics - **

Robert Gibson Promo - **

Rip Rogers vs. Paul Orndorff - ****

Danny Davis Promo - ***

Bob Armstrong Promo - **

Brian Lee Promo on Dutch Mantell - **

Scott Armstrong vs. Dutch Mantell - ***

Bob Armstrong Books Mantell vs. Brian Lee - **

Jim Cornette Promo on His New Tag Team - ****

Wally Yamaguchi Promo - *

Ron Wright Promo - **

The Koloffs vs. The Fantastics - ****

Jim Cornette Promo on Dirt Towns - ***

Terry Gordy Promo - ***

Tim Horner Promo - *

Notes:

Bob Holly is pretty geeky here. : He beats Tim Fry in a somewhat competitive fashion.

The Koloffs are a great team, honestly. Koloff cuts a pretty okay promo talking about what they'll do to the Fantastics tonight.

Robert Gibson desperately needs Ricky Morton. He feels so out of place in this promo without Ricky.

Rip Rogers vs. Orndorff was a great match. Those two could go! Orndorff wins despite the piledriver being banned, which is gonna be a huge story for Orndorff.

Danny Davis is a pretty good gimmick.

Brian Lee looks like a deer in the headlights and I can't believe he goes on to be a champion. He does talk about Dutch Mantell though.

Dutch goes uber heel with the bullwhip after dominating and runs when Lee shows up. Mantell cowers to the back, not wanting to deal with Lee.

Jim Cornette once again the best talker this week. He says that, like Bob Armstrong getting in Dutch's business, everyone has been in his business about his new tag team. He promises that in good time he'll bring his team to the forefront.

Poor Wally Yamaguchi. Just a bad promo all around. No real reason for this promo either. Wally never shows up again so it's a wonder why this was brought in.

Ron Wright says he's never harmed anyone in his lifetime. Which is the irony of the gimmick since he was one of the most despised heels during the 60's and 70's. Which is hilarious.

Koloffs vs. Fantastics started as a big brawl and slowly devolved into a tag team match. As things should start, instead of a tag team match that devolves into a brawl with a blood feud like this. Great match regardless. Koloffs lose after Ivan gets pinned with a nice finish by Bobby Fulton.

Cornette hates backwater towns. He says he refuses to go to some of these hick towns.

Terry Gordy cuts a promo that I cannot tell if it's so bad it's good or so good it's bad. Man looked intense though. From Freebird Mountain to all over the world. From Freebird Mountain, to all over Japan. He then says it's the first time he's been from Freebird Mountain... to Smoky Mountain. Then he segues into bombs dropping. Just insanity.

Then the show ends with a shit Tim Horner promo. Man cannot talk to save his life.

 

[Chris]

Terry Gordy cuts a promo that I cannot tell if it's so bad it's good or so good it's bad. Man looked intense though

Never seen a more accurate statement in my life

 

[Kiffy Lube]

Just wait until you get to the show where Dutch Mantell says Brian Lee looks like someone who would shoot up a cafeteria