The Heavenly Bodies

[The Brain]

Those that have read my threads know that from time to time I like to create a thread about a random wrestler that doesn’t get discussed much around here. Not a big name or anyone that had major contributions as a wrestler but just someone that we used to watch that may have been forgotten over time. This time I’m going to discuss a forgotten tag team from the mid 90s. The Heavenly Bodies.

I know The Heavenly Bodies had a few different members over the years. Maybe Lariat can give us a history lesson about the Smoky Mountain versions but I’m going to discuss the WWF version of Tom Prichard and Jimmy Del Ray (also competed in SMW together). The first time I ever heard of the Heavenly Bodies was in the weeks leading up to SummerSlam 93. It was announced that a team from SMW was going to be challenging the Steiner Brothers for the WWF tag team titles. This was very strange to me because the WWF never acknowledged any other promotions. Even when they had guys like Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes, and The Legion of Doom in their company other organizations were never mentioned unless it was very briefly in the most subtle way and not by name. Now all of a sudden they were not only acknowledging another company but giving a ppv title match to a couple of nobodies from that regional territory. I was not excited about the match at all and for the first time started to notice the collapse in the tag team division in the WWF. Then something unexpected happened at SummerSlam. I really enjoyed the match. I went into it not happy that some team I never heard of was getting such a big match but by the time it was over I forgot all about that. Even though the Bodies lost I thought they put on a really good match and showed that they belonged in the WWF.

The only problem was even after getting the title shot at SummerSlam they were only wrestling part time in the WWF and still spending the majority of their time in SMW. The Heavenly Bodies spent two years as part timers for the WWF. This was during a time when the WWF could have really used some solid teams. By the summer of 1994 the Steiner Brothers and Quebecers had left the company. The only real teams in the WWF were The Smoking Gunns, Men on a Mission, and The Headshrinkers, and they were all face. The only heel team besides the part time Bodies was the barely above jobber status Well Dunn. I think given the lack of heel teams at the time The Bodies would have made good champions and could have worked a program with each of the face teams mentioned above. They were certainly a good enough team to hold the straps, especially during a weak time for the division.

I thought the Bodies worked really well together and were pretty talented. I think they could have held their own in the glory days of the tag division in the late 80s but definitely could have shined during the darker days of the mid 90s. What do you think? Would you have liked to have seen the Bodies as a full time WWF team in the mid 90s? What were your overall opinions on the team?

 

[Jack-Hammer]

They always put me in mind of a poor man's version of the Midnight Express. I don't necessarily mean that in a negative way as they were a pretty decent tag team. It's just that so much about the gimmick seemed pulled straight from the Midnight Express.

There are several factors that enforce the notion, at least to me, that they were sort of an attempt at a new Midnight Express. They formed in Smoky Mountain Wrestling, which was ran by Jim Cornette. Cornette was and still is a firm believer in the old school territory style and SMW embodied that. The team originally consisted of Prichard and "Sweet" Stan Lane. Lane was a member of the Midnight Express with Bobby Eaton and was one of the most successful tag team wrestlers of the 80s. Lane would be replaced by Jimmy Del Rey about a year or so after the team formed. When they came to the WWF in the early 90s, with Jim Cornette in tow, they just came off like a half hearted attempt at a Midnight Express inspired team. Cornette was running around with his tennis racket and his various mannerisms, they used cheesy 80s style monikers like the "Doctor of Desire" Tom Prichard and the "Gigolo" Jimmy Del Rey.

The Heavenly Bodies, I think, could have been major players in Mid-Atlantic/WCW or the WWF in the mid to late 80s. As I said, so much about them was taken from the Midnight Express that I'd be surprised if they weren't a major team during that time period. By the they came along to the WWF in 1993, the whole thing seemed to be pretty dated. As a result, it came off as a bit goofy. However, there were some pretty goofy acts in WWF at the time as well, so they didn't come off like complete jokes.

I suppose they do own sort of a unique spot in the history of the business. The cross promotional deal with WWF and SMW is something that you definitely don't see anymore. It wasn't often that you saw generally non WWF wrestlers and championships on WWF television or ppv programming. The only way anything like that happens today is if WWE buys the other company.

 

[Makaveli31]

Are you kidding?!? The tag division of the late 80's early 90's was THE deepest and most talented of ALL TIME. You had to be the absolute best of the best or just to survive the ruthlessness of the tag divisions in not only the WWE and JCP but other territories as well. You had to in-ring skills, charisma, and the "look". As mentioned above...you had the Midnights, the R and R Express, the Fabulous Ones plus a young up and coming team known as the Rockers.

And they definitely could not have "shined" of the mid-90's WWF. They could have been minor players because of the lack of tag team talent but I doubt they would've been remembered as anything but "enhancement talent".

 

[THTRobtaylor]

The Bodies were very much victims of Cornette's attempts to keep SMW afloat, had they gone full time they did have a shot at the WWE Title but as it was SMW guys were "free jobbers" guys who Vince could feed even to his jobbers... The other issue they had was the teams they would have worked well with had either left or were on the way. Take The Beverly Brothers, they and The Bodies could have had some great matches, Bloom and Enos had been epic in the AWA but Vince never got behind them either, Power and Glory would also have been great opponents.

They came along at a time where tags were not only declining but Vince seeing them purely as a source of singles stars or bust...every team of that era was more about creating a singles star as an end product or using those who were failing as singles. MOM, The Gunns, Bam Bam and Tatanka, even The Barbarian in the Headshrinkers...

 

[berlinbrawler]

I remember the Summerslam 1993 match. I remember being a 13 year old kid and not being impressed/being repulsed by their looks and gimmick and really not wanting those guys to get the tag team titles from the Steiners, who I thought where the greatest thing since sliced bread. I remember my heart sinking into my pants when they hit Rick Steiner with a tennis racket (I think) and went for the cover. I remember being very relieved that the Steiners won anyway. That concludes everything I remember of the Heavenly Bodies that I haven't read somehwere else. Certainly not enough to form a definitive opinion on them. They just never were on my radar ever again.

 

[MrMojoRisin]

They always put me in mind of a poor man's version of the Midnight Express. I don't necessarily mean that in a negative way as they were a pretty decent tag team. It's just that so much about the gimmick seemed pulled straight from the Midnight Express.

There are several factors that enforce the notion, at least to me, that they were sort of an attempt at a new Midnight Express. They formed in Smoky Mountain Wrestling, which was ran by Jim Cornette. Cornette was and still is a firm believer in the old school territory style and SMW embodied that. The team originally consisted of Prichard and "Sweet" Stan Lane. Lane was a member of the Midnight Express with Bobby Eaton and was one of the most successful tag team wrestlers of the 80s. Lane would be replaced by Jimmy Del Rey about a year or so after the team formed. When they came to the WWF in the early 90s, with Jim Cornette in tow, they just came off like a half hearted attempt at a Midnight Express inspired team. Cornette was running around with his tennis racket and his various mannerisms, they used cheesy 80s style monikers like the "Doctor of Desire" Tom Prichard and the "Gigolo" Jimmy Del Rey.

The Heavenly Bodies, I think, could have been major players in Mid-Atlantic/WCW or the WWF in the mid to late 80s. As I said, so much about them was taken from the Midnight Express that I'd be surprised if they weren't a major team during that time period. By the they came along to the WWF in 1993, the whole thing seemed to be pretty dated. As a result, it came off as a bit goofy. However, there were some pretty goofy acts in WWF at the time as well, so they didn't come off like complete jokes.

I suppose they do own sort of a unique spot in the history of the business. The cross promotional deal with WWF and SMW is something that you definitely don't see anymore. It wasn't often that you saw generally non WWF wrestlers and championships on WWF television or ppv programming. The only way anything like that happens today is if WWE buys the other company.

That's pretty much it.

I liked them though as an old school style team in a time when those types of teams were going out of style, and I absolutely loved all the little cross promotions like the SMW/WWF one that first introduced these guys to the WWF.

Lane probably made the team more marketable, although I believe by this time, he was actually in the WWF himself doing some announcing work. Del Ray was the better worker though, and I always found it pretty amusing that a guy that looked like Jimmy Del Ray would be a part of a team called the Heavenly Bodies.

A lot of what to like about them though was the Midnight Express feel that they had to them... and that's just a team that more guys should have emulated over the years. The Midnights were simply one of the best ever.

 

[Slash-LN]

I was young enough when they debuted (7) that I bought into hating them. Mostly because I thought Jim Cornette was incredibly annoying. I did expect them to be good though since they had the flashy robes and stuff which wasn't a staple anymore by the time they got there. It made me think of guys like Rick Rude and Ric Flair and those guys has personality and put on good matches so being young and naive I thought these guys must certainly be good too. I didn't know what a gigolo was at the time and thought it was funny when I heard it. I wondered why Dr. Tom Prichard didn't dress like a doctor. As MrMojoRisin said in his post I thought it was odd/funny that they were called The Heavenly Bodies when Del Ray's physique wasn't anywhere near heavenly.

 

[It's...Baylariat!]

The original Heavenly Bodies were Stan Lane (one half of the Midnight Express with Bobby Eaton) and Dr. Tom Pritchard. They were pushed as the main stars on Smoky Mountain Wrestling, despite having the likes of Paul Orndorff, a very young and green 'Prime Time' Brian Lee, Dirty White Boy (very, VERY underrated promo and in-ring worker), and others.

Jim Cornette pushed them to the moon because ... well SMW was his baby. He brought the Fantastics and eventually the Rock n Roll Express to feud with his tag team, and eventually they ended up remaining a major focus of the promotion.

The reason why Gigolo Jimmy Del Ray joined the team was due to the mounting injuries suffered by Lane, which forced him to retire.

I remember their run in the WWF and seen both sides of the fence when it came to SMW broadcasts and WWF Superstars broadcasts. The Del Ray/Pritchard tag team seemed generic compared to the likes of the Steiner Bros. But saying the Lane/Pritchard team was a lite version of the Midnight Express would be underrating a great tag team.

The irony of the whole thing with Del Ray was his physique was quite atrocious compared to Lane and Pritchard, but Bobby Eaton wasn't exactly a cover boy for FLEX magazine, either.

I think the Bodies did as well as they possibly could have in the WWE at the time. It would have been nice to see them in an era of Demolition, Hart Foundation, and other great tag teams.

Alas, they did the best they could.

 

[Mr. Piledriver]

To me it was a team just as R&R express that was from the South had more of a Southern flavor, And Vince hates anything Southern so he made sure he squashed them slowly but surly.

 

[Mustang Sally]

This was very strange to me because the WWF never acknowledged any other promotions..... Now all of a sudden they were not only acknowledging another company but giving a ppv title match to a couple of nobodies from that regional territory.

I used to love watching Smoky Mountain. They advertised themselves as offering "Wrestling in the old style..... and the way you like it." and I found it to be just that. After the glitz and glamour of WWE and WCW, it was terrific to watch a TV production that was so low-budget it featured only one camera fixed on the ring.

The thing is, I don't know what financial or creative relationship WWE had with Smoky Mountain, but the bigger company was certainly interested in the smaller one's survival, sending down guys like Randy Savage to perform in Smoky Mountain.....and even having him lose to someone named Bruiser Bedlam. The WWE-SMW alliance seemed unusual because we were used to seeing WWE swallow up rival promotions in the 80's, rather than helping them survive as separate entities.

Smoky Mountain had a bunch of soon-to-be-famous guys passing through, including a very young Chris Jericho and Lance Storm as "The Thrill Seekers." That was the problem, though.....everyone was just passing through and as soon as any kind of storyline was built around them, they were gone before it completed.

The Heavenly Bodies featured this way, too. Stan Lane and Tom Prichard had gained reputations in other wrestling organizations and were in on the early doings of Smoky Mountain. I have no idea why Lane left and Jimmy Del Ray joined Prichard, but it was the latter two who wound up in WWE, just as everyone who played Smoky Mountain parlayed their appearances there into more lucrative jobs elsewhere.

The Heavenly Bodies arrived in WWE before the company insisted on their performers possessing.....well, heavenly bodies. In my view, Prichard and Del Ray were too soft-looking and on the pudgy side to have made it in today's WWE. Chemically speaking, we know how a lot of the guys achieved the look WWE wanted in the late 90's and beyond......and had The Heavenly Bodies still been employed by the time the company morphed into Physique Central, it would have been interesting to see if they would have participated in that "culture."

As it was, Prichard and Del Ray were decent workers, old pros who knew their way around the ring and delivered some good matches. Thing was, they were better suited to the small arenas of Smoky Mountain than the big time of WWE, but that could be said for a lot of SMW performers who used that federation as a steppingstone to bigger things.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Perhaps thw crucial reason the Bodies got the push over others was that Tom's brother Bruce was 3rd in command back then behind Patterson and Vince...

On balance SMW was the first proper go at a Developmental territory... they had tried with the USWA but the politics of Lawler/Jarrett got in the way. I have no reason to think anyting other than Vince bankrolled SMW for a big portion of it's run, or paid Cornette enough kickbacks to keep him happy. Vince knew he'd be getting talent who would "learn right" from being around Cornette, they'd have tradtional values but not be averse to making fools of themselves and most importantly be trained in how to work the camera/gimmicks so that when they came up to the WWF of the time, they could in the main hit the ground running with just a couple of vignettes or none at all...

If you take what Jericho and Kane did alone, the two most notable guys to come via SMW, then Vince got his money back... factor in these guys title reigns/draw and you have a much bigger return:-

Road Dogg
D. Lo Brown
Lance Storm
Bob Holly

and not to mention that SMW supplied a healthy supply of jobbers from TL Hopper to Adam Bomb to Bull Buchanan...

But the Bodies opened that door, they were perhaps the "NXT Winners" of their day in the Kaval sense rather than the Wade Barrett sense...