4/8 5/21 1/28 Smoky Mountain Wrestling was a professional wrestling promotion that held events in the Appalachian area of the United States from October 1991 to December 1995, when it was run by Jim Cornette. First Team: 106: Aydan Mull, Tuscola. Jimmy has a temper. It didnt matter if we had 112 people in Pikeville, Ky. CORNETTE: I had visited my friend Cat, who was touring with Danzig. 11/19 From 1920 to last week. ROAD DOGG: Brian Lee was a great wrestler, a big good-looking guy and had a lot of talent. The promotion was based in Knoxville, Tennessee, with offices in Morristown, Tennessee. 5/13 7/8 It lasted almost five years and Ill never forget it. They wanted an edgier, alternative product. Thanksgiving and Christmas had been a big time of year for us, but when Thanksgiving weekend in 1995 earned us less than it had the previous year, I knew it was inevitable to halt things. 3/5 List of former Smoky Mountain Wrestling personnel, Last edited on 23 November 2022, at 01:50, "The Complete History of Smoky Mountain Wrestling", "The Name on the Marquee: Smoky Mountain Wrestling (2.22.1992)", "Smoky Mountain Fell Victim To Changing Times (Part Two)", Smoky Mountain Wrestling alumni at Cagematch.net, Smoky Mountain Wrestling alumni at OWW.com, Smoky Mountain Wrestling alumni at Wrestlingdata.com, Pro Wrestling Statistics: Smoky Mountain Wrestling (1991 to 1995), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_former_Smoky_Mountain_Wrestling_personnel&oldid=1123310255, Brian Logan / Gabriel Brimstone / The Hornet, Bob Armstrong, Brad Armstrong, Scott Armstrong, Steve Armstrong, Bobby Blaze, Tracey Smothers, and The Rock 'n' Roll Express, Federation of International Thugs and Eliminators, Bruiser Bedlam, Chris Walker, Killer Kyle, and The Funk Brothers, Moondog Rex, Moondog Spot and Moondog Splat, Gen. Jim Cornette, Lt. The Moondogs, The Dirty White Boy and The Dirty White Girl vs. Brian Lee and Tammy Fytch, The Heavenly Bodies (Tom Prichard and Jimmy Del Ray) vs. Not meant to be an exact copy, but this is basically the Palace of Versailles of Bavaria. 12/10 We knew they were going to be stars. Thanks to SMW, an eclectic mix of superstars were able to get their start. 7/19 4/10 They take their rasslin very seriously. We put baby powder on him so if he was dropkicked, dust would fly out. Though the promotion was highly thought of, it struggled to get a profitable television deal, and operated throughout a wrestling recession that would not end until the second half of 1996. WWE for the first time ever acknowledged another wrestling promotion. 10/9 Chris was really moving too fast for small towns in Kentucky. 4/22 9/5 I got this tape from a guy called Lance Storm who I saw leaping from the top rope and cutting these great dropkicks. The promotion had a brief association with the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), whose flagship promotion Eastern Championship Wrestling had split away in August 1994, leaving the NWA with no World Heavyweight Champion. SMW - Pro Wrestling The Smoky Mountain Wrestling 1991-1995 5/27 We were running 15 towns a month from three strong TV tapings, but we couldnt get into the Asheville or Lexington markets or get a better timeslot in Chattanooga. 11/9 This page is not available in other languages. CORNETTE: Buddy [Landel] shouldve been a top level performer in one of the big companies, but never got a shot because Buddy was his own worst enemy. CORNETTE: We ran shows in Marietta, Ga., wed use some of the local promoters guys and there was New Jack. 9/23 5/7 The first events and TV tapings were held in October and November 1991. 11/5 6/7 Six Pisgah wrestlers ( Kane Bryson, Cameron King, Xander Hill, Landon Pope, Tytus Bridges and Eli . Pisgah @ Smoky Mountain . 2/11 Jericho was working in Mexico and Japan at the time and he thought Smoky Mountain would get his foot in the door in the States. The Heavenly Bodies (Prichard and Jimmy Del Ray) then faced The Steiner Brothers for the WWF Tag Team Championship at SummerSlam 1993, and then defeating The Rock 'n' Roll Express at Survivor Series 1993 for the SMW Tag Team Championship. 4/8 ARMSTRONG: You have to show southern fans you know what youre doing and The Mummy made it really hard to do that. AWA TV. CORNETTE: Nobody knew what the hell we were doing because we werent talking with any wrestlers. 8.8/10 Excellent! Thats why it was cutting-edge and ahead of its time. Rick Rubin was a big wrestling fan and he had just made like $100 million from CBS Records. 4/9 Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW) Play all Shuffle 1 SMW Episode 1 2/1/1992 Old School Rasslin! 9/17 Thanksgiving Thunder - Day 1 Chris had dual-citizenship. 6/4 4/18 The day-long Smoky Mountain Bigfoot Festival will be 10 a.m.-6 p.m. May 6 at the Townsend Visitors Center, 7906 E. Lamar Alexander Parkway, after the Bigfoot 5K race at 9 a.m. 5/21 9/11 4/23 4/22 Youre not going to see that in Madison Square Garden, I can assure you. 8/20 Volunteer Slam III 9/3 5/5 He was tailor-made for the region. They voted for ours, but WWE stayed on the air anyway. What was I gonna do? If Cornette gave up some of the reigns to Sandy Scott or Mark Curtis, they probably could have taken care of some stuff. Christmas Chaos - Day 3, 1/15 5 Things Jim Cornette Gets Right About Modern Wrestling (And 5 He's Wrong About), Jim Cornette, SMW was very much an analogue to ECW the same way that its promoter is and was an analogue to Paul Heyman, Jim Cornette over the past decade or two then you already know how bombastic the guy is, 9 Wrestlers We Forgot Were Managed By Jim Cornette, 5 AEW Stars That Jim Cornette Hates (& 5 He Actually Likes), a guy who sometimes feels some on his roster are too southern,. Cornette, a traditionalist, catered to fans that Mick Foley described as "old-time fanswho still believed in good guys and bad guys, and to whom cheating was still reason to get upset." 6/18 7/10 It was my proving grounds and learning period. 7/4 I looked at his arm and there was a dent where one bone was supposed to be and he could bend his forearm in the middle. So I thought to myself, Well at least Knoxville is still an old-time wrestling town. I started booking a territory in my mind to keep myself from going crazy. People had never seen it before. 2/6 11/13 5/8 He started with us and was there when we closed. Thanksgiving Thunder. CORNETTE: [Dirty White Boy] was the perfect villain for the territory from the start. 2/6 7/3 9/10 They could get pretty rowdy. Who is after two or three years in the business? Christmas Chaos - Day 3 CORNETTE: Scott [Armstrong] wrestled under a mask as Dixie Dynamite. The outdoor festival . He faced off against Bruiser Bedlam, someone with multiple title reigns in multiple promotions, though he never made it big in WWE. 4/15 And that created a lot of controversy. Enter Jim Cornette. ARMSTRONG: One time, we were out back and we saw, over the hill, came an old mule. In Kentucky, you get the same reaction with a hiptoss or a slap to the face. Cornette formed the promotion in October 1991 upon leaving World Championship Wrestling, with Sandy Scott and backed financially by music producer Rick Rubin. If youre thinking Rubin produced a Fozzy album at some point, youd be wrong. Recently, music producer extraordinaire Rick Rubin was a guest on his former employee, Chris Jerichos podcast. They had been bugging me to come down to Smoky Mountain, so I said, Youve gotta wear dresses. You couldve heard a pin drop. The first Smoky Mountain Tag Team Champions were crowned in a tournament final on April 23, 1992, in Harrogate, Tennessee, when The Heavenly Bodies defeated The Fantastics. 8/7 4/17 1/23 Christmas Chaos - Day 3, 1/8 Smoky Mountain Wrestling is a little-known wrestling promotion that was founded in 1991 by Jim Cornette who had, at the time, just left WCW. Results ; Team Name . With this upheaval also came the near-overnight disappearance of the territorial era when local stars and fanbases migrated to the increasingly global organizations of WCW and WWE. At Bluegrass Brawl in Pikeville, Ky., Dirty White Boy and I had a Chain Match and a member of the Ku Klux Klan showed up at my merch table. He really did. 6/5 11/8 He liked southern territory wrestling, wild stuff, big heat, that type of thing. CORNETTE: We would get VHS tapes from wrestlers who wanted to come to Smoky Mountain. [9] The Heavenly Bodies (Prichard and Jimmy Del Ray) then faced The Steiner Brothers for the WWF Tag Team Championship at SummerSlam 1993,[10][11] and then defeating The Rock 'n' Roll Express at Survivor Series 1993 for the SMW Tag Team Championship.[12][13]. Cornette, Lane, and Scott had five years to try and earn the music maven some money. MANTEL: The style was what they now call old school. Telling a story doesnt have an era. Matches from these shows were first shown in February 1992. It wasnt big enough to take that next step. 6/5 1/29 8/19 The Thanksgiving Thunder 1995 was a Professional wrestling event of Smoky Mountain Wrestling which was taped on November 23, 1995. The company was being mismanaged and we were arguing about our contracts. The Dirty White Boy for the SMW Heavyweight Championship, The Dirty White Boy vs. Bruiser Bedlam and Jim Cornette, Bambi and The Rock 'n' Roll Express (Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson) vs. Tammy Fytch, Chris Candido and Brian Lee, The Dirty White Boy vs. Chris Candido for the SMW Heavyweight Championship, Bob Armstrong, Tracy Smothers and Road Warrior Hawk vs. Bruiser Bedlam and The Funk Brothers (Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk), The Dirty White Boy, Tracy Smothers and The Rock 'n' Roll Express (Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson) vs. Boo Bradley, Bruiser Bedlam and The Gangstas (New Jack and Mustafa), The Gangstas (New Jack and Mustafa) vs. 9/12 ROAD DOGG: Jim Cornette gave me the name The Dark Secret, because it was a dark secret that the Commissioners son was the one under the hood. 10/29 During the late eighties, as wrestling got more cartoonish, Rubin did what any fan with money would do - he forked over some money to Cornette to start a traditional territory like the ones they both had grown up with. Bluegrass Brawl II A 10-man tournament was held in Cherry Hill, New Jersey in November, featuring many SMW wrestlers; the participants were Tracy Smothers, Devon Storm, Eddie Gilbert, Johnny Gunn, Chris Candido, Al Snow, Dirty White Boy, Jerry Lawler, Lou Perez, and Osamu Nishimura. There were a lot sliced tires and keyed cars. Brian had worked in Memphis and had a lot of potential. The signal up in those mountains went 100 miles in almost any direction. He had so much heart and loved wrestling more than anybody Ive ever met. As the founder of Def Jam Records and producer of practically half of every album produced over the last forty years or so, Rick Rubin is also just like the rest of us mere mortals. Thanksgiving Thunder - Day 2 LANCE STORM: It was clean-cut. STORM: I told Jericho that I was talking to Jim Cornette about going to Smoky Mountain. Matches from these shows were first shown in February 1992. Night Of Legends But when Jimmys on his game, hes very intense and wants it done right. The Heavenly Bodies (Stan Lane and Tom Prichard) vs. Smoky Mountain Wrestling was an organization staging professional wrestling in the Appalachian area of the United States from October 1991 to December 1995, when it was run by Jim Cornette. And the stories were good in Smoky Mountain. It would get scary. Owned by the trio of Sweet Stan Lane, Sandy Scott, and Jim Cornette, SMW was very much an analogue to ECW the same way that its promoter is and was an analogue to Paul Heyman. Thanksgiving Thunder - Day 4 Contents 1 History and overview 1.1 Formation 1.2 Territorial reach Cornette was able to broker deals with both WCW and WWE, bringing talent like the highly understood Heavenly Bodies to both promotions to get a big look. CORNETTE: I had to get Lance paperwork to work in America. ARMSTRONG: One time, [my son] Scott and I were trying to find a building. Sign up for BINGE to watch. Fire On The Mountain 6/16 The Heavenly Bodies (Stan Lane and Tom Prichard) and Jim Cornette for the SMW Tag Team Championship, Bobby Eaton and The Heavenly Bodies (Stan Lane and Tom Prichard) vs. Arn Anderson and The Rock 'n' Roll Express (Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson) vs. Dutch Mantell and The Stud Stable (Robert Fuller and Jimmy Golden), Brian Lee, The Rock 'n' Roll Express (Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson) and The Stud Stable (Robert Fuller and Jimmy Golden) vs. Kevin Sullivan, The Tazmaniac, Killer Kyle and The Heavenly Bodies (Stan Lane and Tom Prichard), Tracy Smothers vs. 9/4 6/8 I had wrestled in Knoxville many times before, but it had been a while since Id been back. You can take five minutes for the villain to pull the hair and the crowd would get really upset about it. 3/18 JERICHO: He would micro-manage it. My dad moved and Terry just ate the chairs. It was me, New Jack, Mustafa, Unabomb, Chris Jericho lived there at one point, Balls Mahoney and another kid who was Little Snot Dudley in ECW. 6/11 I didnt want it to get to a point where I owed talent money.. MANTEL: Up there in eastern Kentucky and northern Virginia, youre back in the hills, buddy. It presented a great product for a particular region in the world and gave a place for many to work and hone their craft when there was only a few big promotions to earn a living in. Twenty-eight wrestlers from 16 schools made this year's All-WNC wrestling list, led by Robbinsville junior Kage Williams' 57-0 campaign. [26], The King of Kentucky Tournament was a one-night single elimination tournament held in Hazard, Kentucky on June 24, 1993. 11/13 ARMSTRONG: It was really bad. 5/1 4/1 Watch Cornette go too far in his verbal attacks on the Armstrong family. We did the match and it had a crazy emotion to it.We were wrestling against WWE Superstars and founding members of Smoky Mountain Wrestling. 106 113 120 126 132 138 145 152 160 170 182 195 220 285 . Jim Cornette had to fight his way out of more than one of those towns. Warren went 22-3 at 185 pounds with a win at the Smoky . I hit him with a pair of brass knux and he had to leave town. 7/10 12/4 9/23 CORNETTE: Rick Rubin only came to Smoky Mountain shows once. 4/23 3/4 6/26 Brawl In The Hall 9/3 8/21 10/23 Cornette said, Kid, you got eight minutes. Not wrestling heat. 11/6 I think he was the longest tenured roster member. [29], After SMW closed, Brad Armstrong declared himself SMW champion and defended the SMW Heavyweight Championship in the United States Wrestling Association. He never went out to any bars on the road. Big Apple Grapple Jim CornetteTim HornerStan LaneSandy Scott Every night he went out there and busted his hump. 2/26 Its hard to make your product seem impressive enough when youve got WWE and WCW to compete with. He was just intimidating. 10/7 It was a personality-driven territory. 5/27 10/23 Just give it a try, he said. 10/2 3/11 Summer Blast Bob Armstrong, The Armstrong Brothers (Scott Armstrong and Steve Armstrong) and The Rock 'n' Roll Express (Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson) vs. Jim Cornette, The Heavenly Bodies (Tom Prichard and Jimmy Del Ray) vs. SMOTHERS: It was originally going to be Steve [Armstrong] and I together to work a program with The Heavenly Bodies, but Steve got a job with WWE. 7/24 He had people screaming during a Chain Match in Pikeville, Ky., population: 6500. Alumni [ edit] Male wrestlers [ edit] Female wrestlers [ edit] Popular attractions Heimatmuseum Oberstdorf and Neue Skischule . 7/7 He has a bad temper and sometimes he lets it get the best of him. 3/18 The Rock 'n' Roll Express (Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson) for the SMW Tag Team Championship, The Dynamic Duo (Al Snow and Unabomb) vs. Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW) Inactive promotion in the Americas region. 6/10 The Gangstas (New Jack & Mustafa), Jim Cornette and The Heavenly Bodies (Tom Prichard and Jimmy Del Ray) vs. D-Lo Brown and The Gangstas (New Jack & Mustafa), Tracy Smothers and The Undertaker vs. D-Lo Brown and The Gangstas (New Jack and Mustafa), Bob Armstrong, Tracy Smothers and The Undertaker vs. D-Lo Brown and The Gangstas (New Jack and Mustafa), The Dynamic Duo (Al Snow and Unabomb) vs. He had all the rebel gear on, and the son had it on, too. 7/31 (c) refers to the champion (s) heading into the match. I used to say on commentary, A lot of these people have never left this town. Bob Caudle would say, What do you mean? Id say, Because they dont have a Rand McNally road map to know how to get out of this place.. 9/24 The promotion was based in Knoxville, Tennessee, with offices in Morristown, Tennessee. 8/19 Being around veterans who had been there, done that, they were willing to share what they had learned. ARMSTRONG: I was commissioner, so Jimmy and I were always at each others throats. Folded 7/9 Bankrolled by an LA-based music genius who produced Eminems latest album, the fiery Louisville Slugger founded Smoky Mountain Wrestling as a throwback to what he believed to be the lost art of southern-style rasslin. How did it gain national attention? Knoxville/MorristownTennessee I couldnt believe it. Smoky Mountain was, however, the birthplace of the controversial "Gangstas" gimmick, where black wrestlers New Jack and Mustafa would cut promos about activist Medgar Evers, use fried chicken and watermelons as props and win matches as a result of a two count (rather than the conventional three count), which the Gangstas (kayfabe) insisted on due to Affirmative Action. He was paying. The last SMW show was held on November 26, 1995 in Cookeville, Tennessee, and featured the entire SMW roster attacking Jim Cornette, who was then pinned by referee Mark Curtis. Cornette eventually signed a working agreement with the World Wrestling Federation to trade talent, manage and serve as an on-air talent for that company. When you see guys later in a WWE locker room, theres an instant connection that you did time in the territory together. CORNETTE: We had a deal with the CBS affiliate in Roanoke, Va. He had a good match, was a great kid, came to eat ribs with us and I liked the way he carried himself. And why did it close so quickly? Smoky Mountain was a big tag team territory and Cornette asked if wed be willing to come in as a team. He was such a class act. That memory will always stick with me. Being commissioner, they knocked me out and painted an X on my back. The promotion was based in Knoxville, Tennessee, with offices in Morristown, Tennessee . MANTEL: When you take the demographics into consideration, Tracy fit it perfectly. I took the nickname of a high school friend. CORNETTE: Hes an Armstrong. 5/14 DUTCH MANTEL: Sometimes the best baseball managers are not the greatest players, but they spend their playing days in the dugout watching the manager manage the game. 2/6 For everyone who has paid a lick of attention to Jim Cornette over the past decade or two then you already know how bombastic the guy is. 4/24 The Black Bears have won 13 of the past 16 conference championships, according to The Mountaineer. 7/31 He and The Rock n Roll Express together showed how much fun a locker room can be if you dont take yourselves too seriously. 12/31, 1/7 10/12 I liked Lee with Candido a lot more than I liked Lee as a hero. Thanksgiving Thunder - Day 1 3/6 Rasslin' 2/13 Both Curtis Comes Home and the 2005 sequel show, held in memory of SMW head referee Mark Curtis are considered "unofficial" reunion shows.[24][25]. Rick Rubin on loving pro wrestling, learning from Ric Flair and how "Rowdy" Roddy Piper turned the Beastie Boys Bad. ROAD DOGG: I wanted nothing more than to go there and wrestle because my family was there. 12/3 It was sold out with like 5,000 people. 1981 - 39 Disks. From what I understand, Jim paid really well. Its an art. 7/29 7/9 2/27 BOB ARMSTRONG: Cornette was a fan club president of mine when I was in Memphis. 8/22 We take a look back on this short-lived territory. TV Taping 10/30/91 in Greeneville, SC @ the Memorial Auditorium Recently, music producer extraordinaire Rick Rubin was a guest on his former employee, Chris Jericho's podcast. 11/18 Plus, get every WWE Premium Live Event, your favorite shows, new movies, live sports, and more. The Gangstas (New Jack and Mustafa) for the SMW Tag Team Championship, Bobby Blaze and The Rock 'n' Roll Express (Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson) vs. D-Lo Brown and The Gangstas (New Jack and Mustafa) for the SMW Tag Team Championship, The Heavenly Bodies (Tom Prichard and Jimmy Del Ray) vs. 8/5 ARMSTRONG: You never knew what he was going to do next and I always had to be on my best. If he was seven-foot and 300 pounds, hed kill 20 people. 11/11 Christmas Chaos - Day 1 STORM: It was one of the most amazing matches Ive ever been involved in, in that it never should have been that good. 2/19 12/1 Related: 5 Things Jim Cornette Gets Right About Modern Wrestling (And 5 He's Wrong About). A 10-man tournament was held in Cherry Hill, New Jersey in November, featuring many SMW wrestlers; the participants were Tracy Smothers, Devon Storm, Eddie Gilbert, Johnny Gunn, Chris Candido, Al Snow, Dirty White Boy, Jerry Lawler, Lou Perez, and Osamu Nishimura. In 1974, The Mummy was fantastic, but I was 12 and times have changed. But Rick wanted a mummy. 10/13 He wrote an article called Bobs Brigade, and thats when I first became aware of him. BROWN: [Smoky Mountain] was like my first year in college. STORM: Like ECW, Smoky Mountain was too big to be small and too small to be big. Smoky Mountain Wrestling was a professional wrestling promotion based in Knoxville, Tennessee from 1991 to 1995. 3/19 Volunteer Slam I STORM: Chris was trying to do a Shooting Star Press, bailed on it and landed as if he was trying to do a dropkick off the top rope. Era, SMW did exactly what it needed to do. 5/15 Here are a few things fans should know about Jim Cornette's promotion. 5/20 12/24 I dont know how they got home. 1994 saw Randy Savage head to Smoky Mountain Wrestling to compete at their Volunteer Slam 3 PPV. Sunny, New Jack, D-Lo Brown, Lance Storm, Chris Jericho, and more were able to first get noticed due to their time with Cornette. Four years later, it was gone. He was used as a star of yesteryear that still had it in him and had the crowd on the edge of their seats the whole time. It was held between March 12 and April 23, 1992; the finals of the tournament was originally scheduled for Volunteer Slam on May 22 in Knoxville, but the teams that made the finals, The Fantastics and The Heavenly Bodies, decided to have the tournament final on the April 23, 1992 TV taping, which aired on May 9. STORM: It was the time where I realized that its more about the people in the seats than it is about the people in the ring. Displaying items 1 to 100 of total 637 items that match the search parameters. 11/7 11/6 11/5 MANTEL: Cornette started at about 14 or 15-years-old taking pictures. 11/21 8/9 7/1 ROAD DOGG: We worked high school gyms in small towns, but they were always packed and they were always the best fans. If you're thinking Rubin produced a Fozzy album at some point, you'd be wrong. 5/7 During the bout, Bruiser got off to a slow start, as would be expected considering Savage's stature. CORNETTE: I met [Chris] Candido and his girlfriend, who were teenagers, in New Jersey. James / The Road Dogg) and D'Lo Brown, but ultimately, like most independents, was not financially successful. I didnt like the masks, but I liked their work. . Summer Blast The promotion had a brief association with the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), whose flagship promotion Eastern Championship Wrestling had split away in August 1994, leaving the NWA with no World Heavyweight Champion. Pisgah Smoky Mountain. 9/6 4/23 10/9 8/5 10/7 Rock, and The Dynamic Duo, This page was last edited on 23 November 2022, at 01:50. Smoky Mountain Wrestling was very much southern rasslin. SMOTHERS: In 1993, Dirty White Boy burned the rebel flag in a trash can while I was handcuffed. Find the all-conference team for each sport below. 3/25 There, he functioned as both a singles competitor and a tag team specialist, capturing pretty much every title one could win in the company save for the Heavyweight Championship. Parent 9/2 11/14 2/4 STORM: Jericho made the show and just had a plastic splint on his arm. 8/7 And its an art that can be lost. 5/4 It was pretty crazy. SMOTHERS: He never came back to the dressing room. 8/27 (1) [27], The NWA World Heavyweight Championship Tournament was a one-night single elimination tournament held in Cherry Hill, New Jersey on November 19, 1994, to decide a new NWA World Heavyweight Champion. 160: Xander Hill, Pisgah, Jaime Vega, North Henderson. He was the best performer of the three of them, so I made him their posse member. He eventually lost the belt to Jerry Lawler on December 30, 1995.[2]. 2/21 11/6 1/17 5/14 The promotion was based in Knoxville, Tennessee with offices in Morristown, Tennessee. 9/1 4/30 10/21 9/25 The promotion was backed financially by music producer Rick Rubin. The basketball teams are voted on by league coaches. We got to the point where we were too small to be big, but too big to be small. 8/11 We used those shows to go to stations to sell a wrestling TV show. 7/3 1/22 BROWN: Ill never forget the whole buildup when The Undertaker came down for a couple of shows and we were going to wrestle in a Six-Man Tag Team Match. 11/27 6/12 Watch The Rock 'n' Roll Express battle The Heavenly Bodies in a Loser Leaves Town Steel Cage Match. Alongside his on-screen managerial duties, being the US spokesman for Yokozuna, Corny would start helping with the booking and he was able to help Vince McMahon usher in The Attitude Era before some other Vince came along to drive Cornette insane. The Rock 'n' Roll Express (Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson) vs. 3/25 $159. 10/28 5/29 Related: 9 Wrestlers We Forgot Were Managed By Jim Cornette. In 1993, Smoky Mountain Wrestling signed deals with the World Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation to showcase their wrestlers on the larger companies' shows. 6/18 Smoky Mountain Wrestling 1991-1995. 3/5 I offered Chris and his girlfriend Tammy to come to Knoxville. But Cornette wanted to have a hand in everything. Later, Mark Curtis came running up to me saying, Jericho went to the hospital. Cornette was really . 1/21 The Undertaker walked out and Im like, Wow, oh my God, Im about the wrestle The Undertaker. You can feel the people breathing. 4/29 People didnt just want to see them get their @$$es kicked, they didnt want to see them period. CORNETTE: I got a building rent free and made two TV pilots, which ended up being show No. Ever since WWE became a national promotion in the 1980s, wrestling promotions have risen to present themselves as alternatives to Vince McMahon's pro wrestling empire, if not direct competition. SMOTHERS: Some of the best matches Ive ever had were with Chris. STORM: Jericho was still going back and forth to Mexico and Japan, so he was going 100 miles an hour in one territory and 10 in the other. Flash Flanagan defeated Thrasher Sgt. 3/6 8/12 CORNETTE: Tracy Smothers was the epitome of the perfect Smoky Mountain hero. Later on, he turned into Jim Cornette the manager. Similar to the promotion in Philadelphia that has now earned mythic status, Cornette and SMW were able to do many of the same things that Happy Heyman was able to pull off in ECW. 6/4 People can watch it on Monday night for nothing, so its hard to get people to come out and pay to see you, especially in the towns and smaller venues we were running. Cable was not that widespread, a lot of people used antennas in the hills. 3/18 12/5 Thats not something southern America in 1994 was probably ready for. The Dirty White Boy for the SMW Heavyweight Championship. 10/14 2/20 4/16 Learning when to do things, why to do them and getting the crowd to react the way you want. When I went to Smoky Mountain, it was totally different than what I remembered Knoxville wrestling being like. He knew how to work the people, because he was a southern boy and catered to that crowd. 4/20 2/13 Though they did eventually run events over that large of a region, including a few shows at the Cobb County Civic Center in Marietta, Georgia, the promotion's biggest towns included Knoxville, Tennessee, and Johnson City, Tennessee. 7/1 In hindsight, considering where we were, Jim was right. 7/2 7/23 6/3 9/22 And that ended up as our territory. Rubin was technically one of Jerichos bosses in wrestling; the producer was a financial backer for the short-lived regional promotion - Smokey Mountain Wrestling. 126: Damon Landreth, West Henderson, Matthew Mehaffey, Pisgah. 7/30 He talked like one of the people because he was one a plumber from east Tennessee. [4][5][6][7], In 1993, Smoky Mountain Wrestling signed deals with World Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation to showcase their wrestlers on the larger companies' shows.
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