Tenta's Promotion Tribute: Smoky Mountain Wrestling

[Tenta]

Hello, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to one of the new thread that will bring all of the promotions into the Old School. You see, as I was reading threads about the Old School, I found myself crying a tear composed of mostly blood, and a little orange juice. I sat and watched how the Old School had devolved from plenty of questions that meant something, into meaningless banter about whether names like Prince Iakeau should have been pushed. Sure, that’s great for a little while, but what real discussion does that elicit. And then, I started to really consider what was being discussed, and look into the Ops, the threads, and see what had happened to my beautiful Old School.

The results, to me, were shocking:

1. All of the discussion focused either on WCW, WWE, or ECW. While that’s well and good, there’s so much potential to discuss so many other promotions. I long for the days in which the NWA, the Mid Atlantic, the AWA, and every company was given their day in the sun. Sure, not everyone’s going to be able to discuss the promotions, but there’s plenty of people on this forum that have memories about the other promotions around the world. I know for a fact that a large contingency of the forums best posters come from Tennessee, Kentucky , and Ohio. Some of these minds, at least in theory, have to have some memory to the promotion we’re going to discuss this month. And even if many people don’t know about the other promotions of the world, hell, they can learn. That is, if I can teach it well enough, and be somewhat entertaining. I’ll try, but I make no promises.

2. With the exception of a standout few, and really, to me that means Dave and The Brain, the Original Posters of the threads didn’t know very much about the wrestler, and the promotion. To be frank, some of the OPS I’ve seen on this Old School Section are cut and paste jobs from Wikipedia. Of course, that isn’t representative of everyone, but a good portion spend their time copying-and-pasting from Wikipedia. And, when you’re talking about the three big promotions only, admittedly, the monotony breaks you.

So that’s exactly what this thread wants to break. Go beyond what’s normally expected of the Old School, and go farther into where these wrestlers come from. At some point, every wrestler you see out there in the Big promotions has come from a smaller, independent promotion. Every wrestler has had a chance to cut their teeth in front of a smaller audience. Now, unfortunately, as these promotions go the way of the dodo, less and less wrestlers have the chance to work for a smaller audience, and perfect their craft. Some will say that it shows when one sees the rookies that are promoted on professional wrestling, and quite frankly, I’m inclined to agree. So, if not at least for a little while, let’s celebrate the promotions which began the careers of so many of our favorite wrestlers. Let’s all reminisce fondly about the promotions which built the foundation of the best wrestlers going today, and the talent which has shaped the last wave of what will ultimately be a dying breed.

It’s time to discover the greatness that was

Smoky Mountain Wrestling

Smoky Mountain is, literally, nothing less than a trip back into a time machine, to the old days of professional wrestling. One of the most quaint artifacts of the 90s, this was as old school a promotion if there ever was one. Centered in the heartland of the Mid South, with a few of the Mid Atlantic states thrown in for good measure, this was the antithesis of what the WWE was going for at the time. The bookers and promoters literally decided that since the WWE had the cartoony gimmicks cornered, they would take their promotion into a far different direction. And why did it take that different direction, you ask? Well, you really have to look no further than the man who is responsible for the creation of Smoky Mountain;

Jim Cornette

My God…. I never get tired of that face, I really never do. Anyway, Cornette, along with Stan Lane and a host of others, left WCW in October of 1991, and as soon as he did so, began his dream of running his own promotion. Granted, he’d also do the same thing by being a booker for Ohio Valley Wrestling, and would get consequently fired from that position, too. Granted, there were different reasons for the firing; while in OVW he was fired for slapping a student (namely the Greatest Intercontinental Champion of all the times, Santino Marella), here Cornette watched as his business slowly disintegrate in the face of a changing wrestling business. Anyway, so Corette takes the job of owner and booker of Smoky Mountain Wrestling, in which he sees an audience that is tired of Vince McMahon’s “phony”, and quite frankly, “Yankee” product. Of course, it’s pretty funny to consider that, as Cornette has a working talent exchange deal with the WWE at the time, meaning, yes, the same Yankee promotion he was promotion an alternative to, he was working hand in hand with. And furthermore, the only true thing Yankee about Vince McMahon was that he got his start in the Northeast. In all fairness, McMahon actually grew up in the Carolinas. Meaning, yes, he was just as much a southerner as Jim Cornette was.

Still, Cornette ultimately had the dream of an older, more nostalgic feeling, and a more true, gritty feeling to the mat performances. And, to some extent, the southerners took heart to the fact that it wasn’t the WWE. Remember, this was a period in which Ted Turner was trying to create the WCW in the mold of the WWE. At the point that Cornette left WCW, Jim Herd, widely known as, to quote Dusty Rhodes “The Most Untalented Mothafucker in the history of the world”, was at the helm, and his successor, Bill Watts, wasn’t that much better as a booker, at least for WCW’s taste. So for professional wrestling fans who longed for the days of the NWA, this was actually the closest representative the fans had possible to them. Cornette knew that he had a core audience that was going to stick with his promotion, no matter what. The problem was, the professional wrestling world was about to change, but we’ll discuss that later in the month.

Thus, I’m going to offer these questions to anyone that would like to try to answer them:

1. Was Jim Cornette in the right mindset to offer something different to the WWE, at the time?

2. Was Jim Cornette ultimately successful?

Now, for me, he was successful in creating a different product, yes. He took the audience that felt alienated by Vince’s shenanigans, and created a program that ultimately was the alternative at a time when WCW was…. Well, even more dysfunctional than usual. Sadly, the problem to me was always simple; Cornette was so old fashioned, to a fault. His idea of a “cutting edge” character was one that had become passé about a decade ago. While the old school fans were sure to follow along and love the product, there was no room for growth or expansion of fans. If you’re trying to reach out to attract new fans, you have to offer them not only something different, but something that they could relate to. It’s what ECW did so well, and ultimately, what Cornette absolutely failed to do. Yes, he offered something different, but never something new, if that makes any sense. And, lest I remind you, this was the period during which ECW would become popular. It was apparent what wrestling fans wanted, because frankly, ECW gave it. Smoky Mountain, however, absolutely did not. So for me, I’m not quite sure that you can say Cornette was successful as a booker, though he did offer an alternative, which was his ultimate goal.

For now, I’ll leave it at the bare bones history of the company, because by the end of the month, we’re going to have a fleshed out history of all the important wrestlers, names, events, and history of this promotion. And we’ll start back again tomorrow, with a look at the first heavyweight champion of Smoky Mountain Wrestling, “Primetime Brian Lee”. See ya then.

 

[Ferbian]

1. Was Jim Cornette in the right mindset to offer something different to the WWE, at the time?

Arguable really. I would say while it's always nice for a bit of variation in the wrestling world. We see it today where WWE has something to offer - TNA has something completely different. We saw it in WCW back when they had the NWO and back when WWE had the Attitude Era. Variations is a great way of keeping the product alive.

However I do think that while I do not know what kind of product Smokey Mountains offered. That he tried to offer it at a time where it was very hard to compete with NWA-WCW and WWF.

Vince was running the business with his tight grip. Hogan was still rather popular. Flair had arrived in WWF and because of that it sparked fans interest for the ever so wanted Flair vs Hogan.

We didn't get it. But nonetheless the interest was there. The teases were there. And ultimately because of that Smokey Mountains must've had quite a problem properly surviving.

Especially due to the fact that he by my assumption ranted on about "we need something different!" yeah well dear Cornette. You should have thought about that before you became a developmental territory.

The mindset was there. But the question is whether it was of the right reasons. And whether the mindset was truly brought to life in the way that I could imagine Cornette wanted it.

2. Was Jim Cornette ultimately successful?

The fact that we're honoring it in this thread. The fact that people remember it as a great small promotion. The fact that he had great talent building there from guys like Lance Storm. Chris Jericho and many more. It just shows that while there might not have been that much of a success from Cornette. There were definitely some success.

 

[Tenta]

Arguable really. I would say while it's always nice for a bit of variation in the wrestling world. We see it today where WWE has something to offer - TNA has something completely different. We saw it in WCW back when they had the NWO and back when WWE had the Attitude Era. Variations is a great way of keeping the product alive.

However I do think that while I do not know what kind of product Smokey Mountains offered. That he tried to offer it at a time where it was very hard to compete with NWA-WCW and WWF.

Vince was running the business with his tight grip. Hogan was still rather popular. Flair had arrived in WWF and because of that it sparked fans interest for the ever so wanted Flair vs Hogan.

We didn't get it. But nonetheless the interest was there. The teases were there. And ultimately because of that Smokey Mountains must've had quite a problem properly surviving.

Especially due to the fact that he by my assumption ranted on about "we need something different!" yeah well dear Cornette. You should have thought about that before you became a developmental territory.

The mindset was there. But the question is whether it was of the right reasons. And whether the mindset was truly brought to life in the way that I could imagine Cornette wanted it.

Well, again, as you point out, so much had changed in the landscape of professional wrestling. I do believe, frankly, it'd been easier to run his promotion had two national companies not been available. At the time, because it was a national company, people simply assumed that the WCW was a natural alternative to the WWE. The truth was, however, that the WCW was attempting to copy everything the WWE had done, up until Bill Watts cam to power. I think one can legitimately make the case that if Bill Watts had not come to power, perhaps Smoky Mountain's "alternative" mindset for his company may have been smarter.

However, it's really simple; it's hard to go back to the future in wrestling. It's almost impossible to pretend the innovations of professional wrestling hadn't occurred before, and take your company into the past. That, in essence, was what Jim Cornette tried to do. And for me, that's ultimately why his company floundered.

The fact that we're honoring it in this thread. The fact that people remember it as a great small promotion. The fact that he had great talent building there from guys like Lance Storm. Chris Jericho and many more. It just shows that while there might not have been that much of a success from Cornette. There were definitely some success.

Which is ultimately the point of this thread; to point out that no talent ever has one place of origin. The fact is, without Smoky Mountain, Jericho would not be the talent he is. Jericho even says so much in his book, in which he credits Cornette for helping improve his mic skills "1004" percent. The truth was, Jericho was extremely green on the mic in SMW, and was probably best to let his ring work do the talking for him. Still, SMW provided him the seasoning that he would need to be ready for the WCW, and eventually, the WWE.

One of the things I plan on doing is how the wrestler was great in the promotion, what he'd improve on, and what he'd still lacked after he left. Jericho was the perfect case of such a thing. He was great in the ring, worked on his promos, and still lacked a connection with the audience. In this, and every other promotion we're going to discuss, you'll rarely find a perfect wrestler. However, in these promotions, you'll find they evolve closer to the superstar they'd eventually come. This month long tribute hopes to show the development of our favorite wrestlers.

 

[Ferbian]

Well, again, as you point out, so much had changed in the landscape of professional wrestling. I do believe, frankly, it'd been easier to run his promotion had two national companies not been available. At the time, because it was a national company, people simply assumed that the WCW was a natural alternative to the WWE. The truth was, however, that the WCW was attempting to copy everything the WWE had done, up until Bill Watts cam to power. I think one can legitimately make the case that if Bill Watts had not come to power, perhaps Smoky Mountain's "alternative" mindset for his company may have been smarter.

Smokey Mountains would have become an amazing territorial promotion with the legacy and greatness of some like Mid-west (I'll assume it was a great one. Heard a lot about it. My lack of knowledge for the old-school limits me here). However, it was not during the territorial period. And because of that Smokey Mountains legacy as well as the fact that it had potential. Had great talent. It fades.

I think the reason people assumed WCW was the opposition to WWF if you didn't like WCW or didn't like WWF. The other was there. And it all comes down to one specific little detail - National television. TNA has it. WWF has it.

NWA had it (to some extend) and WCW had it. And these are the promotions in many years we will remember as the great ones. Because their legacy. Their history. And their widespread and access to this knowledge is that much bigger.

And it doesn't help remembering the developmental territories because what did they have? a once a month taping show and 50-100 people at live crowds? Sure that's 50-100 people remembering it. But is it enough people to show off to the world what they had? no. Because the shows is not gonna be available for viewing to get a proper understanding.

However, it's really simple; it's hard to go back to the future in wrestling. It's almost impossible to pretend the innovations of professional wrestling hadn't occurred before, and take your company into the past. That, in essence, was what Jim Cornette tried to do. And for me, that's ultimately why his company floundered.

It's mostly because you shouldn't try to bring your company back to the past. the territorial systems were slowly failing. Smokey Mountains I would assume tried to harvest the greatness of what once was. There's a reason something goes down. Why try to make it great again?

It's like bringing back the CD and saying "This is the future" - No silly Blu-Ray is running circles around your product and giving it a wedgie afterwards.

Which is ultimately the point of this thread; to point out that no talent ever has one place of origin. The fact is, without Smoky Mountain, Jericho would not be the talent he is. Jericho even says so much in his book, in which he credits Cornette for helping improve his mic skills "1004" percent. The truth was, Jericho was extremely green on the mic in SMW, and was probably best to let his ring work do the talking for him. Still, SMW provided him the seasoning that he would need to be ready for the WCW, and eventually, the WWE.

That's true. the bigger talents always comes from numerous places. Would Benoit, Guerrero and Chris Jericho be such technical greats in the ring had it not been because they adapted to various styles? No.

But then again the majority of talent comes from one place to move on to another. OVW has a lot of people that went straight to WWE and stayed there. Some are great talents. Some are limited talents (Orton compared to Batista. Orton is the in-ring talent of those two there's no denying that).

And I'm not saying that Batista could've been a giant Benoit had he gone to Japan and Mexico as well. Trained in the Dungeon. But he would have learned some stuff perhaps.

One of the things I plan on doing is how the wrestler was great in the promotion, what he'd improve on, and what he'd still lacked after he left. Jericho was the perfect case of such a thing. He was great in the ring, worked on his promos, and still lacked a connection with the audience. In this, and every other promotion we're going to discuss, you'll rarely find a perfect wrestler. However, in these promotions, you'll find they evolve closer to the superstar they'd eventually come. This month long tribute hopes to show the development of our favorite wrestlers.

While I have no doubt that you could probably do it. I think that the scenario you try to play out of going through every wrestler in their improvements and lacking might be a hard job to do. Because there's always gonna be a small thing we might miss.

And I agree you rarely do find a perfect wrestler. Take Bret Hart - Lacked proper microphone skills. Don't get me wrong he was decent. But he wasn't Jericho. He wasn't Shawn.

It might be the little mark in me, But I feel theres 3 people in this world that we could call close to the perfect wrestler. Guerrero, Angle and Shawn. And even Guerrero still wasn't perfect in the ring. But these 3 are the closest we could get.

 

[Tenta]

Smokey Mountains would have become an amazing territorial promotion with the legacy and greatness of some like Mid-west (I'll assume it was a great one. Heard a lot about it. My lack of knowledge for the old-school limits me here). However, it was not during the territorial period. And because of that Smokey Mountains legacy as well as the fact that it had potential. Had great talent. It fades.

Not if you keep rotating the talent, enough so that the fans are interested.

That, too, was another issue; Jim went by his boys, and his boys only. He had a great eye for talent, but Cornette also had a habit of playing favorites. Sure, he brought in the WWE guys, but with an indy promotion, you need more shakeup, and you need new faces popping in and out. Otherwise, the fans lose interest quickly.

And it doesn't help remembering the developmental territories because what did they have? a once a month taping show and 50-100 people at live crowds? Sure that's 50-100 people remembering it. But is it enough people to show off to the world what they had? no. Because the shows is not gonna be available for viewing to get a proper understanding.

Now this one, I'm going to debate a smidge. Yes, the typical shows were run on high school gyms, and you may have a point as it pertains to how many people are in the audience. However, I feel that they did, in fact, get national exposure via way of their talent exchange program with the WWE. Sure, it was subtle, but there were instances in which SMW was referenced on WWE Television, and where the WWE allowed advertisements of the company on their show. Teams like The Heavenly Bodies would come in, as would Well Dunn, and how about Cornette himself?

Now, in reality, the WWE may have helped out the USWA more. But bringing in guys like Jerry Lawler, Brian Lee, and the like from SMW did, in fact, give Smoky Mountain some type of national exposure. From there, a wider audience, I feel, is found, rather than the 50-100 people that were at house shows.

That's true. the bigger talents always comes from numerous places. Would Benoit, Guerrero and Chris Jericho be such technical greats in the ring had it not been because they adapted to various styles? No.

But then again the majority of talent comes from one place to move on to another. OVW has a lot of people that went straight to WWE and stayed there. Some are great talents. Some are limited talents (Orton compared to Batista. Orton is the in-ring talent of those two there's no denying that).

And I'm not saying that Batista could've been a giant Benoit had he gone to Japan and Mexico as well. Trained in the Dungeon. But he would have learned some stuff perhaps.

Well, true. But then again, Batista is an odd case. I've talked about lengths about power wrestlers, and how they should learn less than the typical wrestler. Batista is a perfect example. Why should he travel the world to learn submission holds, when his brute strength in and of itself tells more of a story than any wrestling hold could? Guys like Punk, Jericho, and Benoit- they needed the seasoning, because otherwise, they'd have nothing. You see what I'm saying?

While I have no doubt that you could probably do it. I think that the scenario you try to play out of going through every wrestler in their improvements and lacking might be a hard job to do. Because there's always gonna be a small thing we might miss.

And I agree you rarely do find a perfect wrestler. Take Bret Hart - Lacked proper microphone skills. Don't get me wrong he was decent. But he wasn't Jericho. He wasn't Shawn.

It might be the little mark in me, But I feel theres 3 people in this world that we could call close to the perfect wrestler. Guerrero, Angle and Shawn. And even Guerrero still wasn't perfect in the ring. But these 3 are the closest we could get.

Could see that. But again, look at their journies to get to the path they wanted to. Guerrero wasn't perfect at all; as a matter of fact, before he reached the WWE, he had plenty to work on in terms of his ring psychology, and his charisma. And that was something that went unnoticed in his stints in ECW and other promotions, because his in ring work was good enough to get the pop. When he came to a company in which people had heard of his work already, he had to add a new facet to his character to make sure that the fans wouldn't get complacent.

 

[Ferbian]

Not if you keep rotating the talent, enough so that the fans are interested.

That, too, was another issue; Jim went by his boys, and his boys only. He had a great eye for talent, but Cornette also had a habit of playing favorites. Sure, he brought in the WWE guys, but with an indy promotion, you need more shakeup, and you need new faces popping in and out. Otherwise, the fans lose interest quickly.

You don't necessarily have to keep rotating the talent. But you do need to remember to add fresh blood. Bryan Danielson has made it years in ROH. And there's a lot of people that have made it in the big. But the promotion dies if it's just them all the time.

We always scream for new blood in the main event. And it's a testament to how we need to keep adding. Keep adding and oh. Keep adding.

We can't get stuck in the same talent all the time. And that is what I would assume Cornette did. As well as you cannot stick someone to doing the same thing over and over again. Sure Vince might play favorites as well - Look at Triple H, Sheamus and Drew McIntyre. But Vince still knows when. And now to variate the product.

Now this one, I'm going to debate a smidge. Yes, the typical shows were run on high school gyms, and you may have a point as it pertains to how many people are in the audience. However, I feel that they did, in fact, get national exposure via way of their talent exchange program with the WWE. Sure, it was subtle, but there were instances in which SMW was referenced on WWE Television, and where the WWE allowed advertisements of the company on their show. Teams like The Heavenly Bodies would come in, as would Well Dunn, and how about Cornette himself?

I myself am only taking shots in the dark. I don't know about the crowds or live locations for Smokey Mountains. But by assumption to how FCW as well as OVW was run when they were a part of WWE's developmental (or is apart of) promotions. It's not a big crowd. And I seriously doubt there's more than 50-100 people there.

Yes perhaps they had national exposure through that. But did we really care about the promotion where they came from unless you're a hardcore fan? does the little kid in the crowd care that Wade Barrett spend years training in FCW and OVW? I don't think so. And it's due to the fact that we do not get those national exposure on television.

Sure they also get exposure through the advertisements and all. But it's a small way of advertising it. A small reference to something "he came from ..." is not gonna turn the crowds attention to the place he came from. At least not enough to create a buzz for the promotion and it's product.

Now, in reality, the WWE may have helped out the USWA more. But bringing in guys like Jerry Lawler, Brian Lee, and the like from SMW did, in fact, give Smoky Mountain some type of national exposure. From there, a wider audience, I feel, is found, rather than the 50-100 people that were at house shows.

Don't forget The Undertaker also came from USWA. Although he did have a period with WCW before WWF.

Yes that might be possible. The USWA is probably also the promotion we're gonna remember more. Mostly because they did get that national exposure. I mean for the love of god Vince stood there with their championship belt! Lawler made appearances (Didn't he?) while under WWF contract.

Well, true. But then again, Batista is an odd case. I've talked about lengths about power wrestlers, and how they should learn less than the typical wrestler. Batista is a perfect example. Why should he travel the world to learn submission holds, when his brute strength in and of itself tells more of a story than any wrestling hold could? Guys like Punk, Jericho, and Benoit- they needed the seasoning, because otherwise, they'd have nothing. You see what I'm saying?

Batista made it through being a power wrestler indeed. But Undertaker by definition would also be considered a power wrestler. But he could grapple the shit out of Batista. Now that's not a fault on Batista's side. Or well it might be. But that's another story.

And yes the smaller guys need to variate their move set a lot more. That's a primary attribute in the wrestling handbook ala Vince McMahon. Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart are prime examples of this. Sure Bret was pretty damn well build for his size and such. He could've made it no matter what. But Shawn couldn't had he not had the talent in the ring.

Could see that. But again, look at their journies to get to the path they wanted to. Guerrero wasn't perfect at all; as a matter of fact, before he reached the WWE, he had plenty to work on in terms of his ring psychology, and his charisma. And that was something that went unnoticed in his stints in ECW and other promotions, because his in ring work was good enough to get the pop. When he came to a company in which people had heard of his work already, he had to add a new facet to his character to make sure that the fans wouldn't get complacent.

Yes that's true Eddie wasn't perfect in WCW. He wasn't perfect in ECW neither. But people improve. He was great in WWE with his Latino Heat and Lie Cheat and Steal gimmicks.

And that goes for everybody. Improvement is made whenever you go to new places obviously. You simply get better seasoned wrestlers if they work different placed. A guy like Shawn might be an exception but not even that because he still worked in different promotions. Being in one promotion kinda ruins it all for you. At least in some cases. Because again. Randy is nowhere near a lost case. And he only had OVW. But people would argue his charisma is a bit lacking although.

 

[The Brain]

Another good thread, but I can’t contribute too much because I never saw Smokey Mountain Wrestling. I didn’t have cable as a kid so my limited knowledge of SMW came through Pro Wrestling Illustrated. I enjoyed reading about Brian Lee, Chris Candido and Tammy Fytch, and the Gangstas. There were more, but I sometimes get SMW mixed up with the USWA so rather than making a mistake I’ll leave it at that.

I think Cornette had a good idea in offering an alternative to the WWF and WCW. The WWF was losing some of its audience with the departure of Hulk Hogan. A lot of people didn’t care for the new generation as a lot of the wrestlers were more cartoonish than when there actually was a cartoon show. WCW was at a low point with ridiculous stories like white castle of fear and the bomb on the boat. They had the talent, but creative was just awful. An alternative was a fine idea, but no matter how good the good old days were you just can’t go backwards in wrestling. I look at the Hulkamania era as the good old days. I liked Superstars and Wrestling Challenge. They were one hour shows full of squash matches that occasionally had something big to advance a storyline. The wrestlers were not overexposed. Even though those were “the good old days” I recognize that WWE can never go back. It simply wouldn’t work. Cornette tried to take wrestling backwards, and while he had some decent talent and some good ideas the promotion folded after four years.

I think Cornette’s real problem was the other alternative. SMW didn’t want to be like WWF and it wasn’t. ECW didn’t want to be like WWF either and it wasn’t. The problem for Cornette was ECW was the alternate the fans wanted. Cornette wanted to distance himself from the WWF style, but he went the wrong way. It’s like the fans were a kid who wanted an alternate from their breakfast cereal. They liked their cereal, but wanted something different. Cornette was offering fruit while Heyman was offering ice cream. Cornette just couldn’t wrap his head around serving ice cream for breakfast.

Was Cornette successful? I guess it depends on how you measure success. You could say running a territorial promotion that lasted only four years is not very successful. I think Cornette measures success differently. I think he would rather do things his way remaining true to his wrestling roots and go broke than go against his vision and make millions. He got to run his promotion his way for four years. My guess is regardless of how much money SMW made or lost Cornette had a great time during those four years. That makes him at least somewhat of a success.

 

[starlite lounge]

This is a great thread. I was living in Baltimore at the time and wasn't exposed to SMW's regular product but followed through the Apter Mags and later watched several shows via video and youtube clips. SMW was simply an amazing promotion for fans. Cornette had a great eye for talent and first exposed wrestling fans to a large core of ECW's later roster including New Jack, Balls Mahoney, Candido, Lance Storm among many others. Also, let's not forget the fantastic SMW vs. USWA. "Smokey Mountian is hot- USWA is NOT!"



1. Was Jim Cornette in the right mindset to offer something different to the WWE, at the time?

I'm not sure that Cornette fully expected to compete directly with the WWF. I am much more inclined to believe that Cornette was interested in becoming a regional powerhouse rather than an international promotion ala WCW and WWF. He sure wasn't attempting to take on Vince directly as he worked for Vince and had a talent exchange with the WWF at this time.

As far as Cornette's mindset is concerned, if one was to believe that Cornette was only interested in controlling the territory around Middle Tennessee, then yes, Cornette did have the right mindset in showcasing traditional, old school wrestling.

2. Was Jim Cornette ultimately successful?

Unfortunately, it's hard to imagine that anyone could venture to say that a wrestling promotion that was out of business just four years after running their first show was successful.

While not being financially successful, SMW opened the doors for a lot of young talent that may not have gotten a place to work otherwise, breathed new life into workers like Tracy Smothers, gave the territorial system one more shot, and proved you didn't need Vince (well at least for four years or so).

 

[WWFNWA78]

Well,

First and foremost, SMW was a great small time promotion, and Jim Cornette did a decent job running the promotion. at first the promotion was associated with WCW in early 93, but later in the year the best thing for SMW was to be aligned with the WWF. Cornette did play favorites, but you can't knock his eye for talent, and we saw Chris Jericho, Lance Storm, Cactus Jack, Chris Candido and the lovely Tammy Lynn Sytch..saw boo bradley who became balls mahoney, and the rock n roll express and the heavenly bodies and all of the armstrongs except for brad.

It's too bad that the promotion went under, but it offered fans in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia a taste of old school wrestling that was an alternative to the WWF and WCW....there was some great talent, but it just couldn't compete with the big two.

I Had the pleasure of watching SMW in Virginia when i lived out in that area, and when i moved back to California, kept up with it by reading the apter mags.

Thanks for posting this, as this gave me fond memories of a really small, but terrific option other than WWF or WCW.

 

[Kenny Powers]

Smoky Mountain Wrestling wasn't successful on a national level like WWE or NWA, but I would have to say they were a successful promotion for their area. I loved Smoky Mountain Wrestling because it was the only place where I could see wrestlers from NWA, WWF, and ECW wrestle in my area.
If I wanted to see a live WWF event or any other wrestling event, I would have to travel hundreds of miles to see them. It was great to not only see your favorite wrestlers but be able to take pictures and get autographs of them.

I still have autographed pictures of The Undertaker, Jim Neidhart, Greg Valentine, the Rock and Roll Express, and even Balls Mahoney when he was known as Boo Bradley. I even remember seeing Road Dog, Goldust and Marlena at an event. I probably saw New Jack, Mick Foley, and even Ric Flair there and didn't notice them. Smoky Mountain Wrestling was the ECW for people that lived in the mid south region of Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, Virginia, and Ohio. SMW for me was as special as ECW was for the guys in New York and Philly that got to watch their favorite stars on their cable TV and in their home town.

I would watch the Smoky Mountain Wrestling show on cable TV and I would always be excited to see them live. It was a very fan friendly experience. I even remember going backstage eating Papa John's pizza with Ricky Morton and Tracy Smothers. Even though SMW ultimately folded, it launched a lot of careers. If you are able to watch old footage of SMW, you would be amazed about the talent there. The Road Warriors, Chris Jericho, Chris Candido, and even Kane and Lance Storm.

 

[Tenta]

Welcome back to our month long tribute to the promotions of the past. Yesterday, we set up a very bare bones picture of what exactly Smoky Mountain Wrestling was. To put it simply, it was as old school as they come, with the stereotypical good looking babyface always taking on the evil and insidious heel. It was the counter to what the WWE had to offer at the time, and as Kenny pointed out, to many in the Mid South, it was there ECW. Thus, in this case, it would only make sense that Jim Cornette would take the prettiest blonde hair wrestler he could find, and make him the first champion of Smoky Mountain Wrestling. Strangely enough, however, it wasn't as a face he'll be most remembered, but rather as a heel, working with Sunny and Skip before they were even Sunny and Skip. Today, we'll take a look at one of the most consistent performers of SMW, and since he was the first world champion, it pretty much fits.

Primetime Brian Lee

Now, who was he, you ask? Well, to be quite honest, he was the Undertaker's best friend.

I wish that wasn't his biggest claim to fame, but sadly, it really is. Brian Lee was a decent wrestler, and had a good look to him. But part of what got his foot into the business, at least in SMW, was the fact that when both were in the USWA, Taker and Brian Lee were biffles for liffles. Hell, he was The Undertaker's best man at his first marriage.

Which, by the way, Taker, hope that tattoo was worth it. And while we're here and on the subject, let's just analyze something real quick. This was The Undertaker's first wife:

Not exactly the pick of the litter, and when compared to this...

Yeah..... I can tell, just from the brides, Brian Lee was not the best man for this wedding. Perhaps, because, unlike Taker's last marriage, this one actually looks like a keeper. And most things that I associate with failure can be tied to Brian Lee.

Ok, ok, maybe that's unfair of me. I should really say, instead, that I always found Lee to be a natural heel, and really, a failure as the face of the company, which I believe Cornette wanted to turn him into. They gave him an angle against "Dirty White Boy", who I guess you should assume was, well, a dirty heel, and then gave him another, more infamous angle, against "The Master". I think it was at this point that Jim Cornette realized that Brian Lee was not going to be the face of his company, because quite simply, he didn't have the charisma as a face. So, instead, Jim Cornette went into rehabilitation mode, and paired Brian Lee with Chris Candido, and, well....

Look, I don't need to tell you how much of a Goddess this woman was, you all can put the pieces together, really. Her list of wrestlers banged reads pretty much like a Smarks Hall of Fame list, and with good reason; she was really, really, really hot. Unfortunately, she was also really, really, really bad at cutting promos. Lee wasn't horrible, and you can absolutely see that he was miles better as a heel than as a face. And, thus, that would be part of the reason why he would be a heel throughout the rest of his career, in the WWE, ECW, and TNA. I have a direct theory, though, that the reason he played a heel in all of these promotions was because of how abject a failure he was as the face of Smoky Mountain Wrestling.

Still, as a heel, he was pretty good, and when left with the ability to expand beyond Jim Cornette's restrictive standards of what a heel should be, I'd even argue he was great. I would say that Brian Lee was a great performer in ECW, and while he may have gotten by on weapons and gimmicks, it worked perfectly for him to in ECW. In fact, if you all remember, it was him that provided us this moment in ECW lore:

[YOUTUBE]5avGE0U2sAw&feature=related[/YOUTUBE]​

But let's be honest; there was only so much Jim Cornette was going to allow him to do. Weapons weren't prohibited, but were definitely not as highlighted as other promotions. And this left us with merely Brian Lee, who had a charismatic approach to him as a heel, and was part of a great tag team with Chris Candido. Other than that, he would really not amount to much more than anyone else in the company, and as I've said before, kinda got by on the fact that he was The Undertaker's friend. Which brings us to... Sigh....

look, this gimmick was bad. It was so bad, I'm about to do research on how bad, to present in the JTMFTG this Friday. But then again, knowing Brian Lee, it was the only way that he could've fit and been successful. He was never that great on the mic, and his in ring work was good, but he needed a gimmick that would make it so he didn't have to speak. And this actually fit, in some weird twisted way. I'll save more for my review of the gimmick later, but I really can't fault Lee for how the gimmick failed.

So, on to you all. To you, was Brian Lee a success in SMW? And what about him do you think made him good enough to be in the WWE? For that matter, if he weren't paired with the Underfaker gimmick, did he stand a chance of getting over?

As for tomorrow, I'll go with Chris Candido, his partner. And realistically, I have to say, there's no way you can do a Chris Candido thread, without including Tammy Sytch. So we'll explore these tomorrow, as we dig deeper into the heart of SMW.

 

[Ferbian]

First off I just wanna say I fucking love you Tenta for those pictures (Not that I couldn't find them by myself. But it's nice material when reading a long post)

So, on to you all. To you, was Brian Lee a success in SMW?

Looking at the accomplishments that Brian Lee managed to get during his time with Smokey Mountains I would say yes he was definitely a success. He was a two times heavyweight champion. A tag team champion and a two times tag team champion.

The fact that he was given the Heavyweight championship as the very first one proves that he was a success. You don't rest your top belt on someone that's not over or has the potential to be a successful and over champion.

And what about him do you think made him good enough to be in the WWE?

I would say the sheer fact that he got over in Smokey Mountains. And that he was able to wrestle (I don't know whether he had a great move set. But he could wrestle) was probably more than enough to get him into the WWF and get him over.

And as you mention. He was a great friend of Mark Callaway (The Undertaker for the unknowing) and because of that Undertaker could have a bit of a pull in it. I mean he was getting over incredibly (Undertaker was) and was respected backstage already in 94 when Brian Lee got pulled into the WWF.

Undertaker could easily have had a pull in it. But just as well Brian Lee could have gotten himself noticed.

For that matter, if he weren't paired with the Underfaker gimmick, did he stand a chance of getting over?

That's a good question. He did get over with Smokey Mountains. And I do believe all depending on whether someone is booked right and properly - Anybody can get over. I would assume with a bit of pull here and there. And the proper push mixed with gimmick he could easily have gotten over.

Yes he stood a chance of getting over. But I think being paired with The Undertaker helped him a lot because of Undertakers immense popularity.

 

[KingTrail78]

Awesome thread and I was a big fan of SMW. I live in Virginia and I got to watch alot of it and thanks to YouTube I still can to this day. They did create and or refresh alot of characters some that come to mind are The Gangstas I mean they were based in the south and New Jack and Mustafa were so contriversial and cutting edge that im actually suprised they made it out of that fed alive but I loved watching them because they were just flat out insane. The Rock and Roll Express were reborn there and new teams were created like the Heavenly Bodies and Kane was first introduced as Unibomb. The fed was great and I do miss it but I like I said still get to watch it online so the memories remain.

 

[mikeyboy]

great thread and thank you for reminding us of the greatness of smokey mountain wrestling , iwas lucky enought to live in an area that carried the weekly tv show and i was able to catch a few live events in a local high school gym i got to sit on the front row interact with the wrestlers it was fantastic.
as for the question was it a success i say yes, no they were never going to take over wwf or wcw but that was not their goal, the goal was to offer a old school style territorial wrestling promotion and they did that rather well.

 

[Tenta]

Hello again, and welcome to our daily installment of Smoky Mountain Wrestling. So far, we've went over the promoter of the company, and his decided first champion. Now, let's go into the partner of that champion, and arguably, the person who benfited most from Smoky Mountain Wrestling. This is the case of wrestling's true tragedies; excluding Owen Hart, I sympathize for this wrestler's death more than any other wrestler in history. Stories of wrestlers like Eddie Guerrero and Road Warrior Hawk may have been sad, but this was a tragedy in every sense of the word. As a matter of fact, I'd argue that this wrestler, more than any other wrestler in the history of professional wrestling, has gotten the short end of the stick. This was a man who, arguably, was one of the most talented wrestler of the nineties, who ran afoul of the wrong members of the wrong group, and thus, his wrestling was never all it should have been. And why did he run afoul of these wrestlers? Well, it's quite simple; his girlfriend was smoking hot. I'll probably get many arguments about this, but his girlfriend was the hottest woman of professional wrestling, and of course this generated legitimate jealousy. Still, that doesn't separate the wrestler from the fact that he was damn good in the ring, and never got his due. Of course, Smoky Mountain would be where he got his name out on the national name, and he would eventually wrestle in the WWE and ECW. Still, one can never forget that Smoky Mountain was what made these two names nationally recognized. That would be:

Chris Candido and Tammy Sytch

Which brings me to this little point; Ferb pointed out that, you know, it never hurts to have half nekked women in these long posts. Well, if I may point out, you don't have to worry about having a shortage of these today. Oh, there will be plenty of pictures thrown in the midst of this.

Still, I have to do Candido justice, because the man was a fantastic wrestler in the ring. Known as "The Suicide Blonde", and working initially with his tag team partner in Eastern Championship Wrestling, with his partner Johnny Hotbody. Yeah, there weren't always subtle names in SMW wrestling, I suppose. Cornette took one look at Cornette, and decided that he could make Candido the workhorse of his company. Except, before all of that, Cornette booked him to be somewhat of a goof. I remember distinctly a gimmick which forced him to wear a bonnet while wrestling, until he won a match. Now, of course, this brings me the ever present question of who wears a bonnet in the 90s, but whatever, it was Jim Cornette booking. This saw Candido go through a bit of a losing streak, until this fateful match against "The Dark Secret".

[YOUTUBE]BBP9uoMlK1M[/YOUTUBE]​

Yeah.... There's absolutely a reason Cornette's nickname is "Corny". Besides, you know, his last name. Now, why did Cornette do this to an obviously talented wrestler? Eh, I dunno. I can only assume that Cornette was leery of the fact that Candido was only 5'8". Cornette didn't exactly have a size prejudice, but you could tell that the taller wrestlers were more prone to being in the main event. While Primetime Brian Lee was supposed to be the face of the program, Chris Candido, a much better wrestler, was languishing in the mid card. Until.....

Um......

[YOUTUBE]ap5Sw3xsZhU[/YOUTUBE]​

Yeah, even Florida, a kind, heterosexual woman can't deny the sexual appeal of Tammy Sytch. This woman was, well, let's face it, hot. She was absolutely astonishing. Now, why Tammy wasn't allowed to tour with Chris in the damn beginning is a good question. But she only served to make his heat go through the roofs. I mean, this short little pipsqueak was hitting that piece of ass? And for that record, Tammy really brought the arrogance out of Chris perfectly. Tammy was that stuck up girl who knew she was better than you in high school, and Chris was the guy that banged her. Words can't describe how much heat that alone garnered him. Unfortunately, not only did it work that way in the ring, it also worked that way backstage. Though Chris was one of the nicest guys in the business. The problem was, his girlfriend was so damn attractive, and that made enemies with the worst people to make enemies of backstage. For all Tammy did for helping Candido get his career off the ground, in the long run, she might have done him more harm than help. One could really argue that without Tammy, Candido definitely would not have had to deal with the political backstabbing backstage by the likes of Shawn, Razor, and the Klique. Shawn, specifically, buried Chris Candido, and there's absolutely no denying that. He did so because he wanted Sunny to leave Chris and be with Shawn, and in spite of her infidelities, it was very apparent that these two loved one another. Chris had to have, with all the patience he had for her, and while it's difficult to prove Tammy loved Chris by her actions, one can only assume with how hard his death affected her, that she loved Chris Candido dearly. Makes no bones about it, Sytch and Candido were a beautiful couple, who happened to run in the way of political bullshit from Shawn Michaels, who is personally not only responsible for ruining careers, but also lives. No HBK fan can prove to me that he didn't ruin Chris' career, and probably did so to the likes of Shane Douglas, and pretty much anyone he didn't like.

So, did having Tammy get him more heat? Oh, you bet your ass it did. Did it stop the insane booking of Candido? Yeah, not really at all. Check out this angle that was run when Cactus Jack made a stint in SMW, as he would mentor the young Boo Bradley, better known as Balls Mahoney today. For the record, yes, this was a blatant rip off of Boo Radley from To Kill a Mockingbird. But I want you to notice other things about the character, and we'll see if we can't connect a few dots.

[YOUTUBE]bbvJPoFYN6s&feature=related[/YOUTUBE]​

Hmm.... Let's see.... Lived in a boiler room... Social Outcast.... Had an animal as his close friend. Yeah, this gimmick wouldn't be shamelessy ripped off years later:

I'll save this for tomorrow's review, but there's way you can't convince me that Mankind was a terrible rip off of the Boo Bradley character. Still, I'll explain the premise of this feud. It basically amounts to character, Boo Bradley, being locked away in Candido's boiler room. He was the only "friend" that Bradley had, which of course meant that Candido would turn on him and turn Bradley face. He would be mentored by Cactus Jack, as he got over the loss of his beloved cat, Boots. Admittedly, this was a shameless rip off of a gimmick donw three years ago, between Jake Roberts and Earthquake. Except, unlike the Roberts/Quake feud, this feud actually had a blow off. And boy, did it crescendo quite well. And though I can't find that match, I have something that's actually probably better. That would be his match with, well, Mick Foley himself. This can actually be found in Foley's "Hit and Miss" DVD.

[YOUTUBE]IQv7Ocn9RDg[/YOUTUBE]

[YOUTUBE]aFxqVPysKDY&feature=related[/YOUTUBE]​

Yeah.... Cornette had plenty of friends in the business to call on, Jim Ross of course being one of them. Still, as we can see, Candido really did have it all. As said before, he was a great technician, and played the Coward role so well. His promos were pretty good, but they never set your world on fire. He was a great hand, and with the right political clout, he could've at least been a mid card champ, and made a great living. Except, well, that didn't happen. Candido ran into Shawn and co. and because Shawn was perhaps the biggest asshole in the business at the time, Candido suffered. Again, he died in a way not involving steroids, or pain pills, but rather from an accident in the ring. Through no fault of his own, his life was lost, and we could never see his full potential.

With that, there's really only two questions to ask here.

1. Did Chris Candido need Sunny?

2. If he didn't run into The Klique, what could have become of Chris Candido.

And that will be all for today. Tomorrow, we'll explore.....

Boo Bradley: Or, Mick Foley, You Stealing Son of a Bitch​

 

[Ferbian]

You've done it again Tenta. Another great post. And better yet - Questions!

1. Did Chris Candido need Sunny?

Not necessarily. I would assume that Chris did have some help getting over due to Sunny. Everybody could get over with that girl. Everybody can get over in some manner with the proper companion. Sunny was that proper companion.

But I also think that anybody with the right booking. Right potential as well as right ability as a wrestler can get over in any given situation. And looking at the accomplishments - Well he must've gotten over somehow. As I said about Brian Lee. You do not put the biggest championship on a guy that can't make it draw. Can't be entertaining. It's simply the formula for being world champion. Drawing.

Chris was talented in the ring. Talented on the microphone I can only assume. But he was definitely worth giving the championship to. And being champion in WWE as well helps prove that.

2. If he didn't run into The Klique, what could have become of Chris Candido.

I'm assuming it's due to Tammy's relations to Shawn Michaels that got him in a bit of problems. Chris having been in a relationship with Tammy before WWF I think could definitely have hurt him a bit.

Shawn was a bastard backstage during that period of time. He definitely had the influence to get Chris out of the way. And I'm assuming thats what he did. I think it's a shame although. I definitely could see him going places. He might never have main evented. But a solid singles competition mid-carder.

He went on to do stuff in both WCW and TNA. And I definitely could have seen him having a decent career with WWE. Might even have saved his life had he never gone to TNA and still been with WWE.

But that's of course hypothetical. There's no telling what could've happened. He could've gotten released no matter what as well. So we can only keep believing and guessing.

 

[Tenta]

Not necessarily. I would assume that Chris did have some help getting over due to Sunny. Everybody could get over with that girl. Everybody can get over in some manner with the proper companion. Sunny was that proper companion.

Spartan Ron Simmons disagrees with your notion that Sunny can get anyone over. So does the LOD 2000.

Yes, she was very pretty, but her mic skills were never that good. She always seemed so forced, really. It seemed that only thing that she had going for her was that she was hot. Candido probably could have worked by himself, as you'll come to say.

But I also think that anybody with the right booking. Right potential as well as right ability as a wrestler can get over in any given situation. And looking at the accomplishments - Well he must've gotten over somehow. As I said about Brian Lee. You do not put the biggest championship on a guy that can't make it draw. Can't be entertaining. It's simply the formula for being world champion. Drawing.

The problem was, his height. As long as he was five eight, he was going to have issues winning the world belt. He could have done fantastically in the mid card, but never a world champion, in my eyes. There's only so much he could have done in that era that would have gotten him over, I guess, and though his ring work spoke for itself, that height was impossible to get around.

I'm assuming it's due to Tammy's relations to Shawn Michaels that got him in a bit of problems. Chris having been in a relationship with Tammy before WWF I think could definitely have hurt him a bit.

Shawn was a bastard backstage during that period of time. He definitely had the influence to get Chris out of the way. And I'm assuming thats what he did. I think it's a shame although. I definitely could see him going places. He might never have main evented. But a solid singles competition mid-carder.

He went on to do stuff in both WCW and TNA. And I definitely could have seen him having a decent career with WWE. Might even have saved his life had he never gone to TNA and still been with WWE.

But that's of course hypothetical. There's no telling what could've happened. He could've gotten released no matter what as well. So we can only keep believing and guessing.

I guess that' the main point, is that no one knows what could have happened. He had all the talent, with none of the physical traits. Another thing that should be pointed out was how skinny he was, and how much muscle he lacked. This was during a time where Vince was resistant to go against his bigger, stronger wrestlers, so you may have a point. If he were put into Razor Ramon's body, he could have been world champion, definitely.

But his lack of physical prowress killed him. Another thing to consider is how he'd do now, as you pointed out. If he were still alive, maybe he'd be over in either of the Big 2. He was young when he passed away. So, Ferbs, can you see him getting over in today's wrestling?

 

[Big Sexy]

1. Did Chris Candido need Sunny?

Did he need her to make it in the wrestling industry? No. Did he need her to become as successful as he did? Yes. With a guy Candido's size you need to have something that helps you stand out and nothing could help more then having one of the hottest women in wrestling history by your side. Especially with his WWE/F gimmick it was important to have her there. She was not only good to look at but she could also hold her own on the mic.

2. If he didn't run into The Klique, what could have become of Chris Candido.

Maybe a mid card title reign but not much more then that. I highly doubt he ever would have made it past the mid card. Even just judging by what he did in other promotions like WCW it's obvious he would never be more then a mid carder in the major promotions. Backstage politics in both WWE and WCW stopped his runs short but there was no indication he would make it big and be a main event guy.

 

[Ferbian]

Spartan Ron Simmons disagrees with your notion that Sunny can get anyone over. So does the LOD 2000.

Yeah okay my mistake on that. Nearly everybody.

Yes, she was very pretty, but her mic skills were never that good. She always seemed so forced, really. It seemed that only thing that she had going for her was that she was hot. Candido probably could have worked by himself, as you'll come to say.

Might be. But I guess it's by association that you could get over with her. I mean it's like Lita. Edge was better on the microphone. But the power couple part of it helped them both get over.

Sunny I would assume was somewhat of a power couple with Chris.

The problem was, his height. As long as he was five eight, he was going to have issues winning the world belt. He could have done fantastically in the mid card, but never a world champion, in my eyes. There's only so much he could have done in that era that would have gotten him over, I guess, and though his ring work spoke for itself, that height was impossible to get around.

That's true. But it succeeded for many people. Eddie Guerrero was that high. But as I said he could've become an accomplished mid-carder. I don't believe he could've made it in the main event card. Especially not looking at the competition he had to deal with. And especially not in a world where the smaller guys were getting over. But getting over due to in-ring talent. Shawn and Bret Hart's in-ring talent could run circles around Chris Candido's

Yes he probably wouldn't have been too much of a success during his time where he was actually WWE employed but he could've gotten somewhat over. It was before the time with the Attitude Era and it was a time where the smaller talent was given time to flourish. There could've been a chance of getting over. And getting championship reigns.

I guess that' the main point, is that no one knows what could have happened. He had all the talent, with none of the physical traits. Another thing that should be pointed out was how skinny he was, and how much muscle he lacked. This was during a time where Vince was resistant to go against his bigger, stronger wrestlers, so you may have a point. If he were put into Razor Ramon's body, he could have been world champion, definitely.

Had he stuck around a few years he could've gotten over. It was nearing the period where guys like Shawn got over. Shawn wasn't a big guy either. And Chris Candido could've made it work.

But he could also have flunked harder than ever. It's all about what booking and chances you're given.

He could perhaps have been world champion. Depends whether he got Scott Halls traits as well. But yes the body in Scott was definitely there. The charisma as well. Scott screamed world champion. Problem was the alcohol.

But his lack of physical prowress killed him. Another thing to consider is how he'd do now, as you pointed out. If he were still alive, maybe he'd be over in either of the Big 2. He was young when he passed away. So, Ferbs, can you see him getting over in today's wrestling?

He wrestled for TNA and was doing decent I would assume. I never checked him out in TNA. Probably never will. But if he has in-ring talent and had the ability to make the crowd care. Then he could get over in any era.

And especially today. I still believe with any given person it all depends on the booking and how he's pushed. And you can always get over with the right booking and push. That is a theory I will never give up.

 

[Tenta]

Hello, and welcome back to our day-by-day exploration of the names and faces that made up Smoky Mountain Wrestling. Except, well, we missed a day. And there's a simple reason for that; I just didn't feel I had enough to write about today’s topic. Not that the wrestler isn't interesting, because the truth is, he is actually pretty interesting. He's also pretty weird, too; numerous of rumors have circulated about the guy, ranging from the guy has a Prince Albert, to that the guy is a Satanist. Strangely enough, we're not even talking about Kevin Sullivan on this one. Still, there's not really too much to write about this man's stint in SMW. He was an interesting character, but I have always held that he is the most untalented wrestler in the history of the world. I'm not sure exactly why I dislike the guy so much, but there's just something about him that rubs me the wrong way. Even in ECW, where I marked out for everybody, this was the only guy I ever felt indifferent to. But, he's notable for one reason; Mick Foley absolutely ripped off his gimmick, and presented it to the WWE, in something I've felt is the most blatant case of plagiarism in professional wrestling. But, because this took place in a smaller promotion, and Mick Foley took this to a larger promotion, everyone seems to neglect it. So let's just get through as much as we can of;

Boo Bradley, or as I Like to Call it, Mick Foley, You Stealing Son of a Bitch!

And, of course, there's no picture of the guy to put up, so I'll put the picture of his more famous personality, Balls Mahoney. Though, I guess if I wanted to, I should have used this picture instead;

Now, before I get ripped for knocking the almighty Foley, let's first put this character into perspective. Boo Bradley, a take off the famous character from To Kill a Mockingbird, Boo Radley, was a socially isolated freak, for lack of better word. He was kept in the boiler room of Chris Candido's house, who he manipulated to believe was his only friend, beside his loving cat, Boots. He played the psychotic character who liked to inflict pain upon people, and had no problem decimating his opponents, and then sitting down in an almost fetal position.

And that isn't the Mankind character, right down to the psychotic personality, now is it? How about this for further evidence; When Chris Candido eventually turned on his "friend" Boo, who was it that took Boo under his wing, and him his protégé? That's right....

Again, Cornette and Foley were biffles at the time, and probably still are, because they are kinda old school like that. Now, I'm going to give his dues, and say that Foley played the character infinitely better than Mahoney did. He wrestled better matches, cut better promos, and even had a better fitting outfit than Bradley did. I never thought of Bradley as a menace, so much as a predecessor to The Blue Meanie. And that could probably because absolutely everything about Balls Mahoney sucks. His in ring skills suck, his promos suck, he's just not that good of a wrestler. Seriously, someone tell me the best thing Balls Mahoney has ever done for professional wrestling? Aside from his feud with Mike Knox, or something like that, I can't really remember a damn thing that Balls has done in wrestling.

But that shouldn't excuse Foley for blatant plagiarism. Let's call him to the carpet on something; Mankind is a shameless rip off of Bradley, admittedly done better. Thus, I'll go into the only question that I can think of:

1. If Boo Bradley happened in a bigger promotion, would Foley be called out for plagiarism? Furthermore, is this, in your mind, a blatant rip off? And, if it weren't Mahoney, would this gimmick have actually gotten over, instead of floundering?

Well, tomorrow we go from the worst worker of SMW, to potentially the best workers in SMW. Today, we finally go over, *Squeal*, The Thrillseekers.

See ya then.

 

[Tenta]

Hello again, ladies and germs, and welcome to our daily dissection of the names and legends to come out of other promotions. This month, we're looking into Smoky Mountain Wrestling, and though we've gone through some decent names, we haven't really reached anyone of significance yet. I mean, for the love of God, the biggest name we've talked about so far is Chris Candido, and right after that, it goes to Balls Mahoney. Yeah, I said it; Balls Mahoney isn't a star. Wanna fight aboudit? Still, I must admit, we haven't exactly hit for Star Power yet. We haven't seen a name like an Austin, or a Michaels, or anyone else that we knew were a product of the teritorries. Though there are plenty of stars who got their start elsewhere, we've yet to actually go over them.

Which brings us to an interesting query I pondered a couple days ago; the people in which Cornette based his promotion around were ok names, but they weren't big names for the future. Could that have had something to do with the failure of Smoky Mountain Wrestling? Is it possible that the reason SMW failed was because they focused on the wrong people? For me, I can absolutely see this being the case. Again, keep in mind that Jim Cornette, at least initially, built his company around the Undertaker's biggest ass kisser. After that, he handed the reigns over to a guy named "Dirty White Boy". One could really make the case that the people Cornette was placing at the top just weren't good enough to warrant their spots. Again, when you're resorting to Dirty White Boy in your main events, you probably won't be able to keep many fans happy. And ultimately, that's what happened. SMW didn't keep their fans happy, and the company eventually went belly under. So quick question to consider here, and I'll even quote it, for funzies.

Did Cornette push the wrong people?

Now, that isn't to say that SMW wasn't chock full of talent, because it was. Plenty of legendary names would pass through the doors of SMW, so to say that the talent wasn't there just isn't right. Of course, one can argue that the talent wasn't ready yet, and realistically, that may be true. It can definitely be said for the next act to follow. Here, we have a group of talented workers, who just didn't have the promo skills to make it just yet. Don't worry, one of them would gain those promo talents. The other? Well.... He was a fantastic worker, now wasn't he? Anyway, let's look into the subject for today:

The Thrillseekers

Right, unless you're blind, in which case, what the fuck are you doing here, that is a team of the uber young Lance Storm, and the uber younger Chris Jericho. Actually, Jericho takes an entire passage of his book, a Lion's Tale to discuss his time in Smoky Mountain Wrestling. He started in Germany, working with sixty year old Argentenians. Oh, Chris Jericho, how far you'd come. Anyway, he got the call from Lance Storm that Jim Cornette wanted a tag team known as "The Thrillseekers". This tag team would compose of doing such debacherous acts as, I dunno, fishing and go carting and shit. Now, I have to do Corny justice here, because frankly, this was what Cornette thought young, hip, good looking (Well... In Jericho's case) twenty year old men did. Plus, that's the image he wanted to portray to his crowd; a pair of squeaky clean boys who liked to have fun. Now, of course, given the time and context, we all know that this was a recipe for failure. In no way, shape, or form, was a squeaky clean babyface like that going to get over, and Jericho and Storm didn't really do any favors with their horrible acting. Still, it was good money for both, and Jericho wanted to wet his feet into American wrestling, so Cornette had his new tag team.

And my, How Thrillseeking they were! Take a look at the vignette for yourself.

[YOUTUBE]LEtPbvLlUJ0&NR=1&feature=fvwp[/YOUTUBE]​

Yeah.... First two things that popped into my head about that video.

1. Why did Jericho knock on his own door? To be polite? If he had the key, why didn't he just fucking go in.

2. Theoretically, I get the vibe Storm was waking Jericho up that morning. Why's he wearing the same clothes? Did he only bring one pair of clothes to change into? Or did he simply go back to his room, shower, go to bed, wake up, and put back on his old clothes again?

Anyway, as you can tell, The Thrillseekers were booked to be... Well, anything but Thrillseeking. I blame Cornette, but you can answer the question of.

Was this type of babyface ever going to fucking get over?

So yeah, in case you didn't get it from the video, Chris was to play the role of the foolhardy partier with an edge for fun, and Lance was the straightlaced, uptight guy with the high top. Kind of like Bert and Ernie, except less gay...

Yeah.... Ok, maybe I shpuld retract that. But it's not like they were gay, they were just booked that way. Really. Cornette wanted them to do photo shoots with Jorts that looked more like male thongs. However, that was just the way of selling Merch, apparently. It was a way to keep women interested, which quite frankly, that was who was being marketed to. Cornette knew the team could attract women.

And by women, I mean gay men. That's more the truth, really. There was something always a little homoerotic about the team. Enough to the point that.... Well, yes this team does warrant this.

[YOUTUBE]ZEAYcR8w_tE[/YOUTUBE]​

I'm so glad I finally got to use that clip. Anyway, while Jericho and Storm were good in the ring, it's clear that there promos were anything but. They could wrestle a good match, but that was all, really. They couldn't sell tickets, and both would need time to become the stars they would eventually become. Again, let's just consider the tale of the tape here. Watch the promo and then watch the match.

[YOUTUBE]NIuHCJ7fMlE[/YOUTUBE]

[YOUTUBE]PCVcb38TMXM[/YOUTUBE]​

You see what I mean? Great wrestling, shit promos. And at the time, Cornette had plenty of times that could work. He had the R'n'R Express, Well Dunn, The Heavenly Bodies, all of them under contract, and the Thrillseekers were probably the worst at promos. It's like watching The Dudebusters now, really; decent to good matches, but my god are the promos bad. Now, again, that can't be blamed on both of them, as they were used to working in other countries. This was their first trip to Mick Foley's fabled Promoland, and they were stuck at the kiddie rides, because they just weren't tall enough. Soon enough, both would learn, with Storm cutting serviceable promos, and Jericho becoming fantastic at the mic. But that was definitely the thing in which SMW taught them both; how to work the mic, and work the crowd. Even now, Jericho credits Cornette with being the man to help him learn how to cut promos, and get people to pay attention to him. Jericho would evolve over time, and so would Lance, as well, so you can't say this was a bad outing for them. But to hear that both of these men would be Champions in America... Well, you wouldn't believe it, really. The Thrillseekers stand out as the first breakout group of SMW, which brings up this question.

What if Jericho and Storm were that good younger? Could they have kept alive SMW?

As for tomorrow, well, we'll go into the legends that Cornette brought in, and continue with the Rock N' Roll Express. I'll see y'all there.

PS. Well.... While we're on Chris Jericho... He's the man responsible for this viral video of Cornette. It really goes to show how comically pissed Cornette he can be, and why honestly, I can't take him seriously. Have fun

[YOUTUBE]Id4rZhN_LEg[/YOUTUBE]​

 

[jmt225]

Loved your Chris Candido post, Tenta. He's easily one of the most underrated wrestlers of all time as far as I'm concerned.

Anyways, you pretty much took care of Candido, so I want to talk about another person to come from SMW, who I doubt would make your list of wrestlers you're focusing on. Who is that you ask? Well, take a look for yourself:

That's right, my main man Tracy Smothers.

Tracy Smothers, Chris Candido, and the Gangstas (who I might cover later on Tenta decides not to do them) are the only people who've ever worked for Smokey Mountain Wrestling where I sought out to find their stuff, whether on the internet or DVD.

Now, as I'm sure you know, SMW was out of Kentucky, so they loved them some redneck wrestlers, and that's what Tracy basically was in the company: A lovable redneck. He wore a jacket to the ring with the confederate flag on it, and he was just a "Good Ol' Southern Boy." People just adored him. In fact, I could argue that he was one of the most over babyfaces in the company's history. He was to that fanbase like what the Von Erichs were to the WCCW fanbase.

Anyways, what stuck out most during his tenure there was his feud with Chris Candido, where they had an absolutely superb, fun ass ladder match at the climax of it. Check it out for yourself:

[YOUTUBE]WvkApJsiWHM [/YOUTUBE]​

Smothers also had some great stuff with Brian Lee and the Gangstas. He also played a major part in the feud between SMW and USWA (which, unfortunately, I haven't seen much of, but I hope Tenta will cover it before he's done with this thread).

But yeah... Smothers is the man. Since SMW you might not think much of his work, but fuck that... he was great in ECW as part of the Full Blooded Italians, and he's been the one consistent on the indy scene since ECW went out of business. If Tracy Smothers is on your card, then you're in for an entertaining show, period. Not to mention that Smothers has been a mentor to COUNTLESS indy workers these past 10 years or so. I watch a lot of shoot interviews and every single one of them with indy workers... they all have Tracy Smothers stories and they all love the guy to death. He's helped so many in the business, and without his work in SMW... I don't think there's anyway he would have been around to do such things.

So that's all I have to say about Smothers. Like I mentioned earlier though, my SMW knowledge is limited to Smothers, Gangstas, and Candido. Outside of them, a couple of other random matches, and stuff I've just learned from shoot interviews and reading different stuff on the 'net... that's all I know about the company. However, from what I've seen and read.. it definitely had some great shit over the years and Cornette deserves a lot of credit with what he was able to pull off with it. He started that place from scratch, in a city that I believe didn't even have a territory before the WWF takeover. That's way more impressive than anything the USWA ever did, who basically rehashed everything from the CWA and was nothing more than a developmental place for future WWF Superstars. Smokey Mountain was a real promotion, with real characters and storylines. There's absolutely no comparison between the two.

 

[Tenta]

Dude.... Tracy Smothers is a wrestler who, for so long, I idolized, and never wonder why he never got more national exposure. As a matter of fact, I've come to the conclusion; it has to be The Southern Accent.

The Wild Eyed Southern Boy was probably the best man in the history of SMW as it comes to promo. He was someone that you felt, right away, just had a charisma and a charm to him that made him indelible in your mind. I always loved Smothers for the fact that he, like no one else, knew how to sell a match to the fans. As a matter of fact, I'd argue he did it better than anyone in his era, and defintely did it better than anyone in Smoky Mountain Wrestling. As a matter of fact, when I was a kid, Smothers was one of my marking out sessions; for all the wrong reasons. When I was a kid, I didn't know any better as to different characters in different companies. I figured if I saw someone on one TV Screen, I'd see that same person on another promotion. It actually caused mad confusion with the Outsiders came to WCW. Anyway, I remember seeing Smothers there, and saying "Tracy's on TV! Yay!" And then I saw the name:

Freddie. Joe. Floyd.

What the fuck? Seriously, what happened to my man that came out in the confederate flag? Where was the guy that was as tough as tacks? Where's the guy that made me so damn interested in whatever he was talking about?

That man, unfortunately, was taking a Pedigree from Hunter Hearst Helmsley.

I still think it was his southerness. At the time, McMahon didn't want that to be the image of his company. It wasn't fair, and it still isn't. Tracy had all the fucking tools to make it in the ring, and for some reason, Vince wasn't having any of it. A damn shame, because that guy knew how to sell, sell, sell, and in an era where no one was selling tickets (Cough.... Diesel.... Cough, Shawn....) Tracy could have been the guy to do it. Sadly that wasn't the case.

JMT, I'm not sure if you've ever seen this, man. But you wanna know how tough Tracy was? He fought a bear, man. a fucking unmuzzled bear. For you, I'll present this match. Not a great technical affair, but just a showing as to how much of a man this guy really was.

[YOUTUBE]25BIVy7g0X8[/YOUTUBE]​

 

[Tenta]

Damn. This thing made it to the Second Page of the Old School. It would appear as though my hopes of reviving this little place seem to have come true. That, or I didn't post yesterday. Yeah, it's probably more that. Realistically, I justified it by saying that JMT and I gave you an induction of Tracy Smothers, who for my money was one of the most wasted talents in the WWE. However, today we're back, and we're going to go over a team that, well, caused a little controversy in SMW. So before we do anything else, allow me to introduce to you:

The Gangstas

This is a team that, at the least, played upon the racist images of the SMW crowd. I'm going to begin this segment by saying, and acknowledging, that I found nothing racist about this gimmick. As a matter of fact, Cornette really played the tendencies of the SMW crowd perfectly; he knew that having these strong, outlandish, vocal black men in SMW was going to already get heat, and decided to make them the black militant group. Of course, we'd never see that gimmick played again...

[YOUTUBE]RPYrHsO_-H0&feature=related[/YOUTUBE]​

I'm also going to say this; once again, we have a complete case of gimmick infringement. Not that the Nation of Domination stole everything from the Gangstas, but you have to admit, they share plenty of the same traits. You have a black, militant group, in which demanded the world on a silver platter, merely because they're black. Yes, that's putting it a bit vaguely, but you know what? That's pretty much the truth. As a matter of fact... Mankind, the Nation of Domination.... Does anyone else realize that a lot of the gimmicks we've gone over in SMW have been used, or at least referenced, in either the WWE or WCW? Again, I really can't complain, as they were Cornette's ideas, and realistically, all he did was bring his gimmicks to the WWE once he was done with SMW. Still, when one looks at this, it helps you realize the WWE had alot more help in the battle with the WWE than one usually likes to admit. Which brings me to this question.

First Mankind, now the Nation of Domination... Does anyone else see blatant gimmick infringement here?

Anyway, this may or may not be the last time I reference the Nation of Domination, because in something that's either really humorous, or downright stealing, SMW launched the career of D'lo Brown, who also happened to play in his stint in Smoky Mountain, yes, you guessed it, the bodyguard to the black militant group. Well, credit The WWE... At least they gave him the chest protector, for some reason. I believe that D'lo Brown has actually played more characters that have to do with race, or who demand something because of race, than anyone else in professional wrestling. I may be wrong, but you had him in SMW, him with the Nation of Dominance, and then he was also in a Middle Eastern team with Chaz from the Beaver Cleavage fame. Yes, that gimmick didn't last very long. Anyway, I've pretty much already presented The Gangstas, but haven't even introduced the actual group yet. What we basically have here is the case of New Jack and Mustafa pretty much doing everything that they did in ECW, except far more... Well, politically, if that makes any sense. While The Gangstas pretty much played violent gangsters... Which, yeah, is pretty much New Jack in a nutshell, in ECW, Mustafa and New Jack made sure the highlight the fact that they were educated, articulate black men, who simply chose the Gangster life to fuck with the white man. For every bit that the Thrillseeksers sucked on the mic in SMW, New Jack and Mustafa, mainly New Jack, were Gods on the mic. My God, the heat these two men got while speaking was unheard of at the time. It really did trump anything I ever heard, and was just flat out phenomenal. New Jack knew how to really work a crowd, which was something that was somewhat lost for most wrestlers in this teritorry. Say what you will about New Jack the man, but my God was he great at building up heat, and getting the crowd to hate him. He really is a man that in the midst of the ECW Revolution, really gets overlooked. Now the reason for that is simple... New Jack is a hateful motherfucker, who just doesn't give a damn about anyone in the world. That's also partially the reason why New Jack wouldn't last long in SMW. He always claimed he didn't get his money, which I buy, frankly. I don't think Cornette ever paid his talent as much as they were promised, and New Jack is a money man, pure and simple. Hell, just watch the brilliance of this ECW promo.

[YOUTUBE]b2qleFWwhiM&feature=related[/YOUTUBE]​

The sheer irony of this is that while he was doing this promo, Paul Heyman was busy not paying his talent, just like they accused Cornette of. I guess Raven was right... You could walk into a meeting wanting to shoot him, and walk out with his cock in your mouth. Still, as I've ever said before, I'm not sure to buy if Cornette was an undercover racist, because it is New Jack talking, and I'm having trouble deciding if he's the most honest man in wrestling, or the craziest man in wrestling. Cornette did include for The Gangsta gimmick to be able to win by two counts, because of Affirmative Action, and the group did bring watermelon and fried chicken to the ring. I always believed it was because they were angry black men, who wanted to get back at the white folk by parodying all of the stereotypes of black men. Hell, just watch this promo.

[YOUTUBE]fDSifDk_xQ0[/YOUTUBE]​

By the way, how funny is it to watch Jim Ross say "Gangstas"? Anyway, this brings me to another question, before I wrap this up. Tomorrow we'll actually do the R'n'R Express, I just coudn't resist doing the Gangstas.

Plain and simple... Do you believe this gimmick was racist, and do you think Jim Cornette was racist

Well, that's all folks. See you tomorrow

 

[Digging4Plunder]

ehh.. Gonna say no to being racist. Sure, it was a stereotype but I don't really think it pushed the envelope as much as it did play with emotions. I believe, well at least by judging how the guys act, New Jack and Mustafa wouldn't do a gimmick perceived as racist. They are simply being themselves and being proud African Americans mad at the white people for racis... oh, okay. Yeah this gimmick's kind of racist.

Is Jim Cornette intentionally being racist? Probably not. He knew that you had to get people emotionally involved into the stories too. So why not have a group of "Gangstas" who wanted to do nothing more than beat the holy hell out of the "da white man".