Smoky Mountain Wrestling

Acronym	SMW
Founded	October 30, 1991
Defunct	December 1, 1995
Style	Rasslin'
Headquarters	Knoxville, Tennessee Morristown, Tennessee
Founder(s)	Jim Cornette Rick Rubin Sandy Scott
Owner(s)	Jim Cornette (1991–1995)
Parent	WWE (WWE Libraries) (since the 2000s)
Successor	NWA Smoky Mountain (unofficial)

Smoky Mountain Wrestling was aprofessional wrestling promotion that held events in theAppalachian area of theUnited States from October 1991 to December 1995, when it was run byJim Cornette. The promotion was based inKnoxville, Tennessee, with offices inMorristown, Tennessee.

Cornette formed the promotion in October 1991 upon leavingWorld Championship Wrestling, withSandy Scott and backed financially by music producerRick Rubin.^[1] The first events and TV tapings were held in October and November 1991. Matches from these shows were first shown in February 1992. The firstSmoky Mountain Heavyweight Champion, "Primetime"Brian Lee, won the championship in a tournament held atVolunteer Slam on May 22, 1992, inKnoxville, Tennessee.^[2] The firstSmoky Mountain Tag Team Champions were crowned in a tournament final at a TV taping on April 23, 1992, inHarrogate, Tennessee, whenThe Heavenly Bodies defeatedThe Fantastics; the match would air on May 9, 1992.^[3]

Cornette had initially envisioned a territory reaching from Kentucky into as far as South Carolina and Georgia. 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 includedKnoxville, Tennessee, andJohnson City, Tennessee. SMW event tours also included high school gyms and fairs in cities throughoutTennessee,Kentucky,West Virginia,Virginia, andNorth Carolina.^[4][5][6][7]

In 1993, Smoky Mountain Wrestling signed deals withWorld Championship Wrestling and theWorld Wrestling Federation to showcase their wrestlers on the larger companies' shows.^[8] This led toThe Rock 'n' Roll Express wrestlingThe Heavenly Bodies (Tom Prichard andStan Lane) atSuperBrawl III in February 1993.^[9] The Heavenly Bodies (Prichard andJimmy Del Ray) then facedThe Steiner Brothers for theWWF Tag Team Championship atSummerSlam 1993,^[10][11] and then defeating The Rock 'n' Roll Express atSurvivor Series 1993 for theSMW Tag Team Championship.^[12][13]

The promotion featured a number of wrestlers who were regulars in the Southeastern wrestling scene includingthe Heavenly Bodies,Stan Lane andTom Prichard and later, Prichard andJimmy Del Ray.^[14] The Heavenly Bodies, managed by Jim Cornette, were featured heavily throughout the years as they worked storyline feuds withThe Rock 'n' Roll Express,The Fantastics and The Armstrong Family (especiallyBob Armstrong).^[14] Smoky Mountain Wrestling also featured a number of younger wrestlers who had not yet made their mark on a national stage, includingBob Holly,^[15]New Jack,Al Snow,^[16]Balls Mahoney,Chris Jericho,^[17]Glenn Jacobs (then known as Unabomb, later better known under thering name Kane),^[18]Lance Storm,^[17]Chris Candido,^[19]Tammy Lynn Sytch,^[19]Brian Girard James (B.G. James / Road Dogg) andD'Lo Brown, but ultimately, like most independents, was not financially successful. Cornette eventually signed a working agreement with theWorld Wrestling Federation to trade talent, manage and serve as an on-air talent for that company.

Brian Hildebrand was a Smoky Mountain mainstay, occupying such myriad roles as Head of Merchandise, referee (under his alter ego Mark Curtis) and sound director.

Cornette, a traditionalist, catered to fans thatMick Foley described as "old-time fans...who still believed in good guys and bad guys, and to whom cheating was still reason to get upset."Bob Caudle, who was the play-by-play announcer on the TV program, would also proclaim at the beginning of each show that Smoky Mountain Wrestling was "professional wrestling the way it used to be, and the way you like it." This was in sharp contrast toECW, in which edgyangles, "tweeners" and anti-heroes increasingly took precedence over clearcut heroes and villains. Smoky Mountain was, however, the birthplace of the controversial "Gangstas" gimmick, where black wrestlersNew Jack andMustafa would cutpromos about activistMedgar Evers, while also using fried chicken and watermelon as props. The gimmick, among other things, led to the end of the friendship between Cornette andMark Madden and their ongoing feud to this day, as Madden--who at the time was coming off the heels of gettingBill Watts fired from WCW after informingHank Aaron of Watts' employment within theTurner Broadcasting System following publications of controversial comments made by Watts--had called the Gangstas gimmick racist.^[20][21]The promotion also caused controversy when they gave Chris Powers "The StormTrooper" gimmick, whose uniform, including mask were emblazoned with Swastikas, and upon entering the ring, would raise their arm to the crowd.

The promotion had a brief association with theNational Wrestling Alliance (NWA), whose flagship promotionEastern Championship Wrestling had split away in August 1994, leaving the NWA with noWorld Heavyweight Champion. A 10-man tournament was held inCherry Hill, New Jersey in November, featuring many SMW wrestlers; the participants wereTracy Smothers,Devon Storm,Eddie Gilbert,Johnny Gunn,Chris Candido,Al Snow,Dirty White Boy,Jerry Lawler,Lou Perez, andOsamu Nishimura. The winner was Chris Candido, who defended his title mostly at SMW events.^[6][7][22] In February 1995, however, Candido lost the belt toUltimate Fighting Championship winnerDan Severn,^[22] who as a freelancer decided to become a traveling World Champion, depriving SMW of a basis for World Heavyweight championship matches. However in April 1995,The Rock 'n' Roll Express won theNWA World Tag Team Championship for the fifth time, giving SMW a handful of World Tag Team championship matches.

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. After years of operating in red ink, and the loss of financial backing from Rubin, Cornette shut the promotion down in December 1995 to work full-time with the WWF. The last SMW show was held on November 26, 1995 inCookeville, Tennessee (though it had been announced on SMW TV's November 25, 1995 episode that upcoming shows were to be held at the Collett Street Rec Center inMorganton, North Carolina on December 1, 1995, and at Cloudland High School inRoan Mountain, Tennessee the following night), and featured the entire SMW roster attackingJim Cornette, who was then pinned by refereeMark Curtis.^[23] Several SMW wrestlers would soon obtain work in the WWF, includingTracy Smothers,The Dirty White Boy, andBoo Bradley.WWE now owns theSMW video library.

BothCurtis Comes Home and the2005 sequel show, held in memory of SMW head refereeMark Curtis are considered "unofficial" reunion shows.^[24][25]

Smoky Mountain Wrestling held a variety of professional wrestling tournaments between 1992 and 1995 that were competed for by wrestlers that were a part of theirroster.

TheSMW Tag Team Championship Tournament was a tournament to crown the first-everSMW Tag Team Champions. 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 andThe Heavenly Bodies, decided to have the tournament final on the April 23, 1992 TV taping, which aired on May 9.^[26]

TheKing of Kentucky Tournament was a one-night single elimination tournament held inHazard, Kentucky on June 24, 1993.^[27]

TheNWA World Heavyweight Championship Tournament was a one-night single elimination tournament held inCherry Hill, New Jersey on November 19, 1994, to decide a newNWA World Heavyweight Champion. The previous championShane Douglas had infamously "threw down" the NWA title in favor of theECW World Heavyweight Championship after defeating2 Cold Scorpio at theNWA World Title Tournament three months earlier.^[28]

TheCarolina Cup Tag Team Tournament was a one-night single elimination tournament held at theGrady Cole Center on August 13, 1995.^[29]

† After SMW closed, Brad Armstrong declared himself SMW champion and defended the SMW Heavyweight Championship in theUnited States Wrestling Association. He eventually lost the belt toJerry Lawler on December 30, 1995.^[2]

• List of independent wrestling promotions in the United States

• Kayfabe Memories
• The History of Smokey Mountain Wrestling

• Smoky Mountain Wrestling
• Independent professional wrestling promotions based in Tennessee
• Entertainment companies established in 1991
• Entertainment companies disestablished in 1995
• Companies based in Knoxville, Tennessee
• 1991 establishments in Tennessee
• WWE mergers and acquisitions
• Defunct professional wrestling promotions

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