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MANIAK MOMENTS |
EPISODE 9: MATCH 1 |
Episode: 9 Match: 1
Chuck E. Smooth vs. Luther
Event: GATHERING OF THE MANIAKZ
Date: 08/16/01
Duration: 8:21
(*Audio Disclaimer: The audio is jacked up. It’s probably best to watch it with the audio up to a lower level. If you adjust a little, it works and you can still hear some commentary, the crowd, and the bump sounds. This is a horror of dealing with old VHS tapes. I suppose it’s good that I’m transferring these over to some form of digital copy before these tapes turn to ash or something. Sorry about that, but it’s still definitely worth checking out. *)
This is MEW’s very first show. A match was going on and Chuck E. Smooth came in out of nowhere and beat the hell out of Chayne Wylde and Eddie Jacobs with a wiffleball bat with a whole lot of thumb tacks sticking out. He then cuts a promo on them in old school Chuck Smooth fashion. Then outcomes his long time friend and rival Luther. The match starts and hell breaks loose. The gentleman who shot this didn’t keep the camera on for the entire match, but rather bits and pieces of the match. What we get is a highlight reel of a train wreck. This was the typical shocking type of hardcore stuff going on in wrestling at the time. IWA ran in this same building a few years after this and I’m sure did much worse. At the time it was appalling and shocking to everyone. No could believe the carnage. Smooth and Luther were vets of the local area and guys most of us watched before getting into the business ourselves. At the time there was this whole aura and mystique to them. The Chuck Smooth stories went around the Chicagoland indie scene like folklore. The dude was great on the mic and got that old ECW Dudley Boy type of heat, but things never really materialized. He wrestled in a lot of places and got his name out there, but he never made TV or Japan. To most people now the fact he was/is/who knows now boys with CM Punk and toured around with Punk, Colt Cabana, Ace Steel, and all those cats. Smooth was around for two shows but he’s someone that I’d always wandered about booking again. He brought something to a show that was hell on promoters, but added a weird tension to the shows that made for a great experience for the fans. If Smooth was on the show, good or bad the fans would have no choice on talking about him on the way home. One of the most entertaining parts of the whole thing is the end. We see Luther backing up towards the entrance as PT Hustler and Devon Fury come out all serious-like to get him to the back. Then Smooth wraps it up with “the great Chuck E. Smooth”. I remember how pissed most of us were about the light tube use, but after about nine years I’m over it and am removed enough from it to finally be able to say this is very enjoyable.
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