2/25 7/23 TRACY SMOTHERS: They were hillbillies. 6/19 We take a look back on this short-lived territory. 7/29 Brian Hildebrand was a Smoky Mountain mainstay, occupying such myriad roles as Head of Merchandise, referee (under his alter-ego Mark Curtis) and sound director. 10/7 The Heavenly Bodies (Stan Lane and Tom Prichard) vs. Thanksgiving Thunder - Day 2 A 10-man tournament was held in Cherry Hill, New Jersey in November, featuring many SMW wrestlers; the participants were Tracy Smothers, Devon Storm, Eddie Gilbert, Johnny Gunn, Chris Candido, Al Snow, Dirty White Boy, Jerry Lawler, Lou Perez, and Osamu Nishimura. Kevin opened that guy to the bone. 9/4 9/8 CORNETTE: DLo Brown was a CPA, had a good job, but he quit and moved to Knoxville to be in the wrestling business. SMW Thanksgiving Thunder 1995 | Pro Wrestling | Fandom She was a huge cornfed farmwoman and Brian Lee was trying to save Tammy without hurting her. They were heartthrobs.. It was eye-opening to see that other side of him. The first Smoky Mountain Heavyweight Champion, "Primetime" Brian Lee, won the championship in a tournament held at Volunteer Slam on May 22, 1992, in Knoxville, Tennessee. 7/8 Jericho asked me if he could go in the ring to practice some stuff. ARMSTRONG: One time, we were out back and we saw, over the hill, came an old mule. I was trying to think about wrestling in a positive way, and I had noticed that every time we ran the Civic Coliseum in Knoxville, the crowd would really like it. 10/1 Smoky Mountain Wrestling 1991-1995 - Facebook 6/12 5/7 There were zero shades of gray. 5/1 The Heavenly Bodies (Stan Lane and Tom Prichard) for the SMW Tag Team Championship, The Rock 'n' Roll Express (Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson) vs. Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW) Inactive promotion in the Americas region Overview News and Rumors History Events Event Statistics Results Titles All-Time Roster Matchguide Win/Loss Records Feuds Promos Tournaments Rivalries Ratings Comments Year: All-Time Roster Displaying items 1 to 104 of total 104 items that match the search parameters. SMOTHERS: It was originally going to be Steve [Armstrong] and I together to work a program with The Heavenly Bodies, but Steve got a job with WWE. 1/16 JERICHO: He flew us to Knoxville from Calgary. He and The Rock n Roll Express together showed how much fun a locker room can be if you dont take yourselves too seriously. My dad moved and Terry just ate the chairs. STORM: We were brought in for the Sunday Bloody Sunday show, which was Terry Funk vs. Bob Armstrong. 1986 - 30 Disks . Night Of Legends ROAD DOGG: I wanted nothing more than to go there and wrestle because my family was there. Tales From The Territories - Smoky Mountain Wrestling - YouTube 11/4 WWE now owns the SMW video library. I dont think America in 1994 was ready for it. CORNETTE: At The Night of Legends show in 94, The Heavenly Bodies were coming back from WWE to wrestle [Jericho and Storm]. 8/11 6/17 Thats how full the place is. Four years later, it was gone. Now picture a company trying to keep him in their employ. 8/9 Sign up for Peacock to watch. 12/3 King Of The Mountain Tournament 9/12 Hotels near Residenzschloss Oettingen Hotels near Der Marktplatz - Oettingen in Bayern Hotels near Stadtmauer und Holzgraben Hotels near Knigsturm Hotels near Heimatmuseum Oettingen in Bayern Hotels near Evangelische Pfarrkirche St. Jakob Hotels near Das Rathaus - Oettingen in Bayern Hotels near Katholische Pfarrkirche St. Sebastian Hotels near Vlkerkundemuseum im Residenzschloss Hotels . The Mummy was cool. I said, I loved The Mummy, too. 8/14 106 113 120 126 132 138 145 152 160 170 182 195 220 285 . 7/24 They take their rasslin very seriously. 1980 - 36 Disks. 10/9 8/19 Though they did eventually run events over that large of a region, including a few shows at the Cobb County Civic Center in Marietta, Georgia, the promotion's biggest towns included Knoxville, Tennessee, and Johnson City, Tennessee. 4/9 10/21 12/18 5/28 [6][7][22] In February 1995, however, Candido lost the belt to Ultimate Fighting Championship winner Dan Severn,[22] who as a freelancer decided to become a traveling World Champion, depriving SMW of a basis for World Heavyweight championship matches. 2/26 It was me, New Jack, Mustafa, Unabomb, Chris Jericho lived there at one point, Balls Mahoney and another kid who was Little Snot Dudley in ECW. MANTEL: I used to tell some of the guys in the locker room, The crowd is aggressive towards you because you might be the biggest stars theyll ever meet. Rock stars dont play concerts back in those hills. It was special. 8/21 I used to say on commentary, A lot of these people have never left this town. Bob Caudle would say, What do you mean? Id say, Because they dont have a Rand McNally road map to know how to get out of this place.. Cornette, a traditionalist, catered to fans that Mick Foley described as "old-time fanswho still believed in good guys and bad guys, and to whom cheating was still reason to get upset." Plus, get every WWE Premium Live Event, your favorite shows, new movies, live sports, and more. CHRIS JERICHO: Jimmy was a great wrestling mind for that area. CWA MEMPHIS. CORNETTE: I couldnt believe the sight of it. 3/27 8/21 Thanksgiving Thunder - Day 3 6/3 ARMSTRONG: I was commissioner, so Jimmy and I were always at each others throats. 7/21 7/19 Anything you wanted Dirty White Boy to do, he was there to do. Its very obvious and straight-forward. How to Explore Bavaria in One Week: 4 Complete Itineraries CORNETTE: I got a building rent free and made two TV pilots, which ended up being show No. 10/15 I looked at his arm and there was a dent where one bone was supposed to be and he could bend his forearm in the middle. ARMSTRONG: He worked himself to death. 10/9 3/12 7/22 Smoky Mountain Wrestling was very much southern rasslin. CORNETTE: I met Rick Rubin through Cat Collins, a DJ friend of mine that had worked for Rubin at American Recordings. They wanted an edgier, alternative product. The winner was Chris Candido, who defended his title mostly at SMW events. 11/25, 5/16 Smokey Mountain Wrestling was a wrestling promotion founded by Jim Cornette, Rick Rubin and others. [23] Several SMW wrestlers would soon obtain work in the WWF, including Tracy Smothers, The Dirty White Boy, and Boo Bradley. 11/20 4/15 3/25 9/19 MANTEL: The wrestling business was in transition at the time. Legends like the Rock And Roll Express extended their runs as well as perennial Journeyman like Tony Anthony, one of the regions hottest heels - The Dirty White Boy (WWE fans would know him as the Plumber, TL Hopper). CORNETTE: I met [Chris] Candido and his girlfriend, who were teenagers, in New Jersey. However, in April 1995, The Rock 'n' Roll Express won the NWA World Tag Team Championship for the fifth time, giving SMW a handful of World Tag Team championship matches. 6/4 6/16 Tales From The Territories - Smoky Mountain Wrestling - Full Episode 12/30 Original Wrestling Documentaries 62.6K subscribers Subscribe 4K 429K views 5 years ago #TalesFromTheTerritories Follow. The promotion featured a number of wrestlers who were regulars in the Southeastern wrestling scene the Heavenly Bodies, Stan Lane and Tom Prichard and later Prichard and Jimmy Del Ray. 5/1 4/1 Brawl In The Hall 8/11 The Gangstas (New Jack and Mustafa) for the SMW Tag Team Championship, Bobby Blaze and The Rock 'n' Roll Express (Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson) vs. D-Lo Brown and The Gangstas (New Jack and Mustafa) for the SMW Tag Team Championship, The Heavenly Bodies (Tom Prichard and Jimmy Del Ray) vs. The OJ car chase had just happened and Rodney King a few years before that, so I came up with The Gangstas from South Central LA. It didnt matter if we had 112 people in Pikeville, Ky. CORNETTE: I had visited my friend Cat, who was touring with Danzig. 3/26 The Rock 'n' Roll Express (Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson), Shawn Michaels vs. 1/16 9,102 likes. The hero is going to be very much Clark Kent, straight and honest. per night. 5/21 5/13 Watch a Tammy Sytch manage Brian Lee in a Coal Miner's Glove Match. 126: Damon Landreth, West Henderson, Matthew Mehaffey, Pisgah. 11/5 Hotels near Gasthof Alte Schreinerei, Steinsfeld on Tripadvisor: Find traveler reviews, 386 candid photos, and prices for 842 hotels near Gasthof Alte Schreinerei in Steinsfeld, Germany. DLO BROWN: [Cornette] was a good character and a good entertainer, but he also knew TV stations, syndication, how to book venues and how to promote. Then he studied under Bill Watts, who had a great wrestling mind. He never went out to any bars on the road. Chris was really moving too fast for small towns in Kentucky. It was a good chance to get promoted on national television, but I was afraid that if I showed up, people would think I was leaving Knoxville and it would hurt shows, so Bruce got Vince to agree that we could mention Smoky Mountain on WWE TV. 6/24 The early 1990s saw Jim Cornette launch his own wrestling promotion, Smoky Mountain Wrestling. Bob Armstrong, The Armstrong Brothers (Scott Armstrong and Steve Armstrong) and The Rock 'n' Roll Express (Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson) vs. Jim Cornette, The Heavenly Bodies (Tom Prichard and Jimmy Del Ray) vs. 3/26 The Heavenly Bodies (Prichard and Jimmy Del Ray) then faced The Steiner Brothers for the WWF Tag Team Championship at SummerSlam 1993, and then defeating The Rock 'n' Roll Express at Survivor Series 1993 for the SMW Tag Team Championship. I learned how to perform a basic, good guy interview and get some personality and charisma involved as well. I didnt want it to get to a point where I owed talent money. Smoky Mountain Wrestling was a professional wrestling promotion based in Knoxville, Tennessee from 1991 to 1995. This page is not available in other languages. List of former Smoky Mountain Wrestling personnel - Wikipedia Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW) Inactive promotion in the Americas region. Christmas Chaos - Day 3 10 Things Fans Should Know About Chris Candido - TheSportster And the stories were good in Smoky Mountain. Thanksgiving Thunder - Day 1 7/10 Charlotte Memories Bob Armstrong | Pro Wrestling | Fandom Thats how they got there in Smoky Mountain. This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Here are the Mountain 7 conference teams from winter sports in 2022-23, Here are the 2022-23 All-WNC boys basketball teams, player of the year and coach of the year, Here are the 2022-23 All-WNC girls basketball teams, player of the year and coach of the year, All-WNC wrestling 2023: Kage Williams' perfect season highlights another strong year, Here are the Mountain 7 conference teams from winter sports in 2022-23. 120: Gunnar Marshall, East Henderson, Cooper Williamson, Tuscola. Parent Six Pisgah wrestlers ( Kane Bryson, Cameron King, Xander Hill, Landon Pope, Tytus Bridges and Eli . Smoky Mountain was, however, the birthplace of the controversial "Gangstas" gimmick, where black wrestlers New Jack and Mustafa would cut promos about activist Medgar Evers, while also using fried chicken and watermelon as props. But if there was ever anything wrong with the paychecks, hed make it good. WNC high school sports: Wrestling, swimming 2023 conference championships Learning when to do things, why to do them and getting the crowd to react the way you want. Fright Night I worked with my dad in a Loser Leaves Town Match dressed up as a ninja.. For a guy who sometimes feels some on his roster are too southern, at various points Vince McMahon employed an awful lot of guys who had plenty of experience wrestling along the Appalachian Trail. He was paying. 285: Eli Frizzell, Pisgah. Im a country boy, but that was too much. ROAD DOGG: I got to travel with my family, do what I love to do and be with the people I love. 5/20 [3], Cornette had initially envisioned a territory reaching from Kentucky into as far as South Carolina and Georgia. I knew we could get him back in the ring after someone pushed him too hard, which likely would be me. Rubin was technically one of Jerichos bosses in wrestling; the producer was a financial backer for the short-lived regional promotion - Smokey Mountain Wrestling. And that ended up as our territory. James / The Road Dogg) and D'Lo Brown, but ultimately, like most independents, was not financially successful. History and overview [ edit] Formation [ edit] 6/10 6/11 1/28 It was an invaluable experience. She was still in school, and stayed in school at UT while she was working for me. 3/19 Cornette, Lane, and Scott had five years to try and earn the music maven some money. Show me what you got. I guess he liked what he saw because I started working for the company two weeks later. It doesnt matter what kind of match I prefer, I have to deliver the kind of match that the people who bought the tickets want. 9/4 Fire On The Mountain 7/2 ROAD DOGG: Money has definitely got to be one of the big factors. JERICHO: Our style was completely insane. This led to The Rock 'n' Roll Express wrestling The Heavenly Bodies (Tom Prichard and Stan Lane) at SuperBrawl III in February. Christmas Chaos - Day 3, 1/8 However in April 1995, The Rock 'n' Roll Express won the NWA World Tag Team Championship for the fifth time, giving SMW a handful of World Tag Team championship matches. (c) refers to the champion (s) heading into the match. We cut all the expenses that we could cut, but I had pride. Thats Jim in a nutshell. Its an art. 2/18 Smoky Mountain Wrestling was short-lived, but made a big impact. 4/30 It was the night Terry Funk did his first-ever top rope moonsault and I think he was 50 at the time. The Heavenly Bodies (Stan Lane and Tom Prichard) and Jim Cornette for the SMW Tag Team Championship, Bobby Eaton and The Heavenly Bodies (Stan Lane and Tom Prichard) vs. Arn Anderson and The Rock 'n' Roll Express (Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson) vs. Dutch Mantell and The Stud Stable (Robert Fuller and Jimmy Golden), Brian Lee, The Rock 'n' Roll Express (Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson) and The Stud Stable (Robert Fuller and Jimmy Golden) vs. Kevin Sullivan, The Tazmaniac, Killer Kyle and The Heavenly Bodies (Stan Lane and Tom Prichard), Tracy Smothers vs. Smokey Mountain was the exact opposite of that, so even at the time, as a teenager, it felt like watching wrestling that my parents might have liked. 5/29 IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, SMW Beat the Champ Television Championship, SMW United States Junior Heavyweight Championship, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. Watch The Thrillseekers' amazing video package including riding bumper cars and at a petting zoo. 4/18 Thats what Cornette did. And, for a while, they were successful in doing that. 4/23 At Bluegrass Brawl in Pikeville, Ky., Dirty White Boy and I had a Chain Match and a member of the Ku Klux Klan showed up at my merch table. Prince Kharis - Online World of Wrestling Smoky Mountain Wrestling - Wikipedia They were close to 60-years-old at the time and he was doing moonsaults off the top into those chairs. Sunday Bloody Sunday There were a lot sliced tires and keyed cars. What Smoky Mountain was trying to do was to find that market. SMW 11/14 7/1 ROAD DOGG: Terry Funk stacked about 40 chairs in the middle of the ring. CORNETTE: We got Knoxville straight off the bat on the Fox station on Sunday mornings, and we also got WCYB, which was the NBC affiliate in the Tri-Cities Bristol, Kingsport, Johnson City. 10/9 9/10 Cornette eventually signed a working agreement with the World Wrestling Federation to trade talent, manage and serve as an on-air talent for that company. ROAD DOGG: My dad was already getting up there in years and there were a lot of young guys, so he became the commissioner. ROAD DOGG: Once my skills were improving and could carry the Armstrong name, I started wrestling as Brian Armstrong and tagging with my brothers. There was one caveat - he wasnt going to continuously invest in the product (and lose money). Here are the Mountain 7 conference teams from winter sports in 2022-23 1/15 8/5 Theres a difference between country people and hillbillies and they were bona fide hillbillies. 7/3 In 1974, The Mummy was fantastic, but I was 12 and times have changed. But Rick wanted a mummy. Eddie left without telling me, so I needed a cocky guy to be Unabombs partner. Two kids were on the mule, they rode up, got off, slapped him on the ass, and he went back over the hill and the kids came to the wrestling match. 3/12 They could get pretty rowdy. 2023 2-Hour Segway Discovery Mnchen Night Tour - Tripadvisor 4/14 12/11 Of course, 90% of the shows were in small little towns and rec centers and community clubs. 6/6 [8] This led to The Rock 'n' Roll Express wrestling The Heavenly Bodies (Tom Prichard and Stan Lane) at SuperBrawl III in February 1993. 8/27 (1) ARMSTRONG: Tracy actually pinned a bear and the guy who owned the bear came to me the next day and said, Please tell Tracy to take it easy on my bear. He was a fantastic wrestler. Cable was not that widespread, a lot of people used antennas in the hills. 11/6 Smoky Mountain Wrestling: All Episodes - Trakt 6/25 9/7 This is somebody you have to worry about., Watch The Gangstas address The Undertaker from a southern graveyard. He really did. The first Smoky Mountain Tag Team Champions were crowned in a tournament final on April 23, 1992, in Harrogate, Tennessee, when The Heavenly Bodies defeated The Fantastics. 4/22 From 1920 to last week. BROWN: Balls Mahoney had just gotten hired to be Boo Bradley in Smoky Mountain, but he didnt have a drivers license, so he was asking around for someone to drive him from New Jersey to Knoxville, Tenn. We drove all night and he said in exchange for driving him down he would talk to Cornette about giving me a match. 5/15 The promotion was based in Knoxville, Tennessee, with offices in Morristown, Tennessee. 2/11 9/22 He unmasked himself when I called him out for being ashamed of his father. The company honored the traditional wrestling sensibilities Cornette came up with, and continued to espouse long after, with a focus on realistic action featuring legitimate tough guys. SMW Tribute Page for the history and memories of Smoky Mountain Wrestling!! Jericho was working in Mexico and Japan at the time and he thought Smoky Mountain would get his foot in the door in the States. 3/6 2/19 6/21 2/5 The Last Tango In Tennessee 7/1 12/17 The Dirty White Boy for the SMW Heavyweight Championship, The Dirty White Boy vs. Bruiser Bedlam and Jim Cornette, Bambi and The Rock 'n' Roll Express (Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson) vs. Tammy Fytch, Chris Candido and Brian Lee, The Dirty White Boy vs. Chris Candido for the SMW Heavyweight Championship, Bob Armstrong, Tracy Smothers and Road Warrior Hawk vs. Bruiser Bedlam and The Funk Brothers (Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk), The Dirty White Boy, Tracy Smothers and The Rock 'n' Roll Express (Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson) vs. Boo Bradley, Bruiser Bedlam and The Gangstas (New Jack and Mustafa), The Gangstas (New Jack and Mustafa) vs. 8/7 Enjoy free breakfast, free WiFi, and free parking. ARMSTRONG: I got to wrestle with all four of my sons at one time or another while Smoky Mountain was going on. I hit him with a pair of brass knux and he had to leave town. 9/16 The Rock n Roll Express and Tracy Smothers could give you an education you cant get in the ring. It wasnt big enough to take that next step. Ever since WWE became a national promotion in the 1980s, wrestling promotions have risen to present themselves as alternatives to Vince McMahon's pro wrestling empire, if not direct competition. 8/5 SMOTHERS: I was there the night Kevin [Sullivan] cut up [W*ING] Kanemura. Former employees in SMW consisted of professional wrestlers, managers, play-by-play and color commentators, announcers, interviewers and referees . Brian had worked in Memphis and had a lot of potential. 8/22 6/4 His talent was great, but the fans didnt know exactly how to take him. 11/5 12/3 It was pretty crazy. 8/5 One of the Largest collections of Wrestling footage. SMW event tours also included high school gyms and fairs in cities throughout Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina. Sullivan got at him with this spike, and we had to censor it because it was so gross. Jimmy did it all. 6/12 Jim CornetteTim HornerStan LaneSandy Scott 8/20 MANTEL: Up there in eastern Kentucky and northern Virginia, youre back in the hills, buddy. 11/13 SMW Night Of Legends is a Professional wrestling event of Smoky Mountain Wrestling which was taped on August 5, 1994. 10/14 They rode their mule to the wrestling matches. The Black Bears have won 13 of the past 16 conference championships, according to The Mountaineer. CORNETTE: We led up to a World Tag Team Title Match against The Steiner Brothers at SummerSlam. Plus, get every WWE Premium Live Event and the worlds best TV and movies. Smoky Mountain Wrestling (1991-1995) A firm believer in "old-school" territorial wrestling, Cornette began the Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW) promotion in 1991. We were working so fast and doing all these high spots. I didnt want to eat very much, because hed push you to your limits. 8/19 We were trying to be a little more serious than the colorful world of WWE. It was held between March 12 and April 23, 1992; the finals of the tournament was originally scheduled for Volunteer Slam on May 22 in Knoxville, but the teams that made the finals, The Fantastics and The Heavenly Bodies, decided to have the tournament final on the April 23, 1992 TV taping, which aired on May 9. 11/8 The Rock 'n' Roll Express (Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson) for the SMW Tag Team Championship, The Dynamic Duo (Al Snow and Unabomb) vs. 10/7 He broke in under Jerry Jarrett, who, at one time, was one of the most creative guys I knew. If you're thinking Rubin produced a Fozzy album at some point, you'd be wrong. Hes a creative genius bordering on insanity, which is the best kind of genius. I spent all of 1991 going back and forth to California to talk with Rick. 1/14 Warren went 22-3 at 185 pounds with a win at the Smoky . The Heavenly Bodies (Tom Prichard and Jimmy Del Ray), Brian Lee vs. Tracy Smothers vs. 5/21 He was just intimidating. 6/5 People were scared of them. 1/14 Learn the amazing story of Smoky Mountains rise and fall from the men who lived it, including an exclusive conversation with Jim Cornette himself, speaking to WWE.com for the first time ever. We got lost in the mountains, came back and he was giving the meat to kids. 3/19 8.8/10 Excellent! First Team: 106: Aydan Mull, Tuscola. Jimmy has a temper. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. Raw results, April 24, 2023: Bad Bunny challenged Damian Priest to a Street Fight at WWE Backlash in Puerto Rico! Every night he went out there and busted his hump. 6/5 Related: 5 Things Jim Cornette Gets Right About Modern Wrestling (And 5 He's Wrong About). It didnt mean anything for the average Smoky Mountain Wrestling fan, but it was the tape traders that were the ones watching this stuff because they knew who Kanemura was. Every Version Of Jim Cornette, Ranked From Worst To Best - TheSportster Wrestling was not popular in America. Knoxville was their biggest market, but its not a big enough market to sustain a wrestling company. 9/11 12/4 9/5 In hindsight, considering where we were, Jim was right. CORNETTE: All the talent in Smoky Mountain either got their big opportunity later, like Al Snow, Candido or Unabomb, or already had their opportunity, such as The Rock n Roll Express and Bob Armstrong. They used to call us the flying squirrels and mean it. He has even stated on several podcasts that he to his day watches eight hours of wrestling a week (Dont hold that against him, the man has a job and cant sit on the couch ALL day to watch). In Kentucky, you get the same reaction with a hiptoss or a slap to the face. * Note: The was the first ever Smoky Mountain Wrestling show. 10/8 He was such a class act. WWE for the first time ever acknowledged another wrestling promotion. Bluegrass Brawl III 7/4 Who is after two or three years in the business? 7/16 7/2 7/3 9/4 Wrestling and swimming are determined based on votes from coaches and conference championship results. That memory will always stick with me. Like many territories in a post Vince McMahon Jr. 6/7 152: Cameron King, Pisgah. A lot of experience. The Mountain 7 has released its all-conference teams for the 2022-23 winter sports seasons. 12/3 9/23 One time, before I took the hood off, I worked with my dad in a Loser Leaves Town Match dressed up as a ninja. He knew those people so well, what they wanted and when they needed it. When Kanemura came backstage from the ring, I couldnt believe what I saw. It was a personality-driven territory. 9/24 8/20 8/26 CORNETTE: I had to get Lance paperwork to work in America.

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