The promotion was backed financially by music producer Rick Rubin. 1981 - 39 Disks. 4/3 4/24 Enjoy free breakfast, free WiFi, and free parking. MANTEL: Cornette started at about 14 or 15-years-old taking pictures. 7/9 Smoky Mountain was a big tag team territory and Cornette asked if wed be willing to come in as a team. Knoxville/MorristownTennessee Nobody really did that back then have wrestlers from all these different promotions come in. 10/12 CORNETTE: Rick Rubin only came to Smoky Mountain shows once. There were a lot sliced tires and keyed cars. The promotion was based in Knoxville, Tennessee, with offices in Morristown, Tennessee. (c) refers to the champion (s) heading into the match. I liked Lee with Candido a lot more than I liked Lee as a hero. Fans had rallies for us not to come to town and paid to see us lose. 2/19 220: Reese Meadows, North Henderson. It was exciting to be just getting out of the military and getting my start in wrestling. When he looked to start his own promotion he met Rick Rubin and got the funding to start SMW. JERICHO: The thing I really learned a lot about there was interviews. Acronym 7/9 There was an opening act where a guy came out in a skirt, combat boots, piercings and was spitting on the fans. The deer was strapped up and he was cutting it open at the gut. 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. Brian had worked in Memphis and had a lot of potential. 4/1 JERICHO: Our style was completely insane. MANTEL: Up there in eastern Kentucky and northern Virginia, youre back in the hills, buddy. 9/16 * Note: The was the first ever Smoky Mountain Wrestling show. 7/10 2/4 Its hard to make your product seem impressive enough when youve got WWE and WCW to compete with. What happened to Smoky Mountain Wrestling? - The Pro Wrestler They had such heat. 11/11 He wrote an article called Bobs Brigade, and thats when I first became aware of him. Bob Armstrong | Pro Wrestling | Fandom 3/18 6/24 Welcome to Corey'S Wrestling Video Archives 106 113 120 126 132 138 145 152 160 170 182 195 220 285 . 5/5 Where else could a good ole country boy from Springfield, Tenn., like Tracy Smothers have people cheer for him? Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW) Inactive promotion in the Americas region. 7/24 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. 7/17 4/8 K-Town Showdown 1/21 4/10 Watch the big Steiner Brothers vs. Heavenly Bodies match at SummerSlam 1993. Christmas Chaos - Day 3, 1/8 4/29 AWA TV. To some of them, it wasnt just entertainment. 3/29 Find the all-conference team for each sport below. It was more about the moral high ground than the action. 11/6 10/23 After years of operating in red ink, Cornette shut the promotion down in December 1995 to work full-time with the WWF. The Black Bears have won 13 of the past 16 conference championships, according to The Mountaineer. CORNETTE: We ran shows in Marietta, Ga., wed use some of the local promoters guys and there was New Jack. Wrestling was not popular in America. Cornette, Lane, and Scott had five years to try and earn the music maven some money. Fright Night 7/8 And its an art that can be lost. 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. 2023 2-Hour Segway Discovery Mnchen Night Tour - Tripadvisor TRACY SMOTHERS: They were hillbillies. 8/13 7/22 But when Jimmys on his game, hes very intense and wants it done right. Thats not something southern America in 1994 was probably ready for. This was in sharp contrast to ECW, in which edgy angles, "tweeners" and anti-heroes increasingly took precedence over clearcut heroes and villains. In hindsight, considering where we were, Jim was right. [23] Several SMW wrestlers would soon obtain work in the WWF, including Tracy Smothers, The Dirty White Boy, and Boo Bradley. The winner was Chris Candido, who defended his title mostly at SMW events. 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. Night Of Legends We were working so fast and doing all these high spots. WWE for the first time ever acknowledged another wrestling promotion. These were people that would get involved. 9/23 The first Smoky Mountain Heavyweight Champion, "Primetime" Brian Lee, won the championship in a tournament held at Volunteer Slam on May 22, 1992, in Knoxville, Tennessee. He broke in under Jerry Jarrett, who, at one time, was one of the most creative guys I knew. 3/25 Cornette had initially envisioned a territory reaching from Kentucky into as far as South Carolina and Georgia. I didnt like the masks, but I liked their work. 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. SMW Night Of Legends is a Professional wrestling event of Smoky Mountain Wrestling which was taped on August 5, 1994. The palace sits on an island in the middle of the lake and requires a ferry for access. WCW was struggling with management issues, WWE was moving away from Hulkamania's golden age and the glory days of ECW were still years away. The two companies were very diverse and gave a lot of opportunities to some people that have gone on to be cult heroes and legendary icons. 2/26 Jericho asked me if he could go in the ring to practice some stuff. King Of The Mountain Tournament 6/12 SMOTHERS: That was different. Not meant to be an exact copy, but this is basically the Palace of Versailles of Bavaria. October 1991 Pro Wrestling is a FANDOM Lifestyle Community. ROAD DOGG: Brian Lee was a great wrestler, a big good-looking guy and had a lot of talent. People were scared of them. And the stories were good in Smoky Mountain. 11/19 Smoky Mountain Wrestling - Alchetron, the free social encyclopedia 10/2 Thanksgiving Thunder - Day 3 Results ; Team Name . Thanksgiving Thunder - Day 1 Watch The Rock 'n' Roll Express battle The Heavenly Bodies in a Loser Leaves Town Steel Cage Match. 10 Things Fans Should Know About Chris Candido - TheSportster BROWN: We had what was called the Smoky Mountain Flophouse in Morristown, Tenn., close to Cornettes house. He beat up my dad and put him down on the chairs and went to do a moonsault off the top. 12/18 5/21 7/10 4/22 5/7 CORNETTE: I couldnt believe the sight of it. December 1995 The Undertaker walked out and Im like, Wow, oh my God, Im about the wrestle The Undertaker. You can feel the people breathing. 5/28 He has a bad temper and sometimes he lets it get the best of him. We take a look back on this short-lived territory. For a guy who sometimes feels some on his roster are too southern, at various points Vince McMahon employed an awful lot of guys who had plenty of experience wrestling along the Appalachian Trail. He was just taking photographs. The same show that we would do live in Memphis every Saturday morning would then show the following week in Louisville. MANTEL: I used to tell some of the guys in the locker room, The crowd is aggressive towards you because you might be the biggest stars theyll ever meet. Rock stars dont play concerts back in those hills. My dad moved and Terry just ate the chairs. What Smoky Mountain was trying to do was to find that market. 10/1 10/15 Contents Formation Territorial reach Notable talent 10/9 4/8 STORM: Jericho made the show and just had a plastic splint on his arm. CORNETTE: In one of my late night phone calls with Rubin, he said, I think we ought to have a mummy. CORNETTE: We had a deal with the CBS affiliate in Roanoke, Va. 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. Its very obvious and straight-forward. 9/8 8/27 (1) I wanted Brad Armstrong in that spot from the start, but hes one of the only ones I couldnt get from WCW. CORNETTE: All the talent in Smoky Mountain either got their big opportunity later, like Al Snow, Candido or Unabomb, or already had their opportunity, such as The Rock n Roll Express and Bob Armstrong. 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. 12/25, 1/8 Day 3: Herrenchiemsee Palace. Cornette took all he learned growing up on Memphis TV and brought his own southern-style to the masses of the region. 1/18 Knoxville was their biggest market, but its not a big enough market to sustain a wrestling company. 6.7K views 3 years ago 2 Smokey Mountain Wrestling Episode 2 Back in Time Wrestling 1.1K. 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. 6/17 Every Version Of Jim Cornette, Ranked From Worst To Best - TheSportster Watch the infamous and controversial Prince Kharis in action. 11/8 8/20 Rick Rubin on loving pro wrestling, learning from Ric Flair and how "Rowdy" Roddy Piper turned the Beastie Boys Bad. Thats Jim in a nutshell. They think its broken, but hell be back.. He eventually lost the belt to Jerry Lawler on December 30, 1995.[2]. SMW event tours also included high school gyms and fairs in cities throughout Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina. Of course, 90% of the shows were in small little towns and rec centers and community clubs. The company honored the traditional wrestling sensibilities Cornette came up with, and continued to espouse long after, with a focus on realistic action featuring legitimate tough guys. We knew they were going to be stars. 6/19 9/16 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. I thought it would be great if we paired Eddie, this cocky little guy who could talk, with this big enforcer guy that we called Unabomb. 6/8 ARMSTRONG: It was really bad. 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. 7/4 LANCE STORM: It was clean-cut. 2/5 7/17 Thanksgiving Thunder - Day 2 Thanksgiving Thunder - Day 1 STORM: Tracy Smothers was so much fun to be around. 9/18 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. 8/21 12/9 The outdoor festival . 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. Smoky Mountain Wrestling (1991-1995) A firm believer in "old-school" territorial wrestling, Cornette began the Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW) promotion in 1991. CORNETTE: We would get VHS tapes from wrestlers who wanted to come to Smoky Mountain. 6/1 WCW was struggling with management issues, WWE was moving away from Hulkamanias golden age and the glory days of ECW were still years away. Christmas Chaos - Day 1 4/14 3/18 Christmas Chaos - Day 3, 1/15 Thanksgiving Thunder - Day 4 The promotion was based in Knoxville, Tennessee, with offices in Morristown, Tennessee. 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." ARMSTRONG: One time, [my son] Scott and I were trying to find a building. STORM: We were brought in for the Sunday Bloody Sunday show, which was Terry Funk vs. Bob Armstrong. 2/19 MANTEL: The style was what they now call old school. Telling a story doesnt have an era. Watch WrestleMania and other WWE Premium Live Events on Flow. 9/22 6/20 5/1 The Rock n Roll Express and Tracy Smothers could give you an education you cant get in the ring. 6/16 SMW - Pro Wrestling The Smoky Mountain Wrestling 1991-1995 SMW Night Of Legends | Pro Wrestling | Fandom CORNETTE: I had to get Lance paperwork to work in America. Smokey Mountain Wrestling was a wrestling promotion founded by Jim Cornette, Rick Rubin and others. James / The Road Dogg) and D'Lo Brown, but ultimately, like most independents, was not financially successful. . Fire On The Mountain LAWLER: There were some backwoods fans, rednecks and coal miners that would come over from Virginia. 113: Kane Bryson, Pisgah, Davey McCoy, Smoky Mountain. 8/11 Thanksgiving Thunder - Day 1 11/10 He faced off against Bruiser Bedlam, someone with multiple title reigns in multiple promotions, though he never made it big in WWE. WWE now owns the SMW video library. The Heavenly Bodies (Stan Lane and Tom Prichard) vs. Warren went 22-3 at 185 pounds with a win at the Smoky . Learning when to do things, why to do them and getting the crowd to react the way you want. And that ended up as our territory. 3/5 2/5 Flash Flanagan defeated Thrasher Sgt. 9,102 likes. You can take five minutes for the villain to pull the hair and the crowd would get really upset about it. 12/10 Bluegrass Brawl II Theres a difference between country people and hillbillies and they were bona fide hillbillies. 7/30 It was a match made in heaven. 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. [26], The King of Kentucky Tournament was a one-night single elimination tournament held in Hazard, Kentucky on June 24, 1993. Hotels near Residenzschloss Oettingen Hotels near Der Marktplatz - Oettingen in Bayern Hotels near Stadtmauer und Holzgraben Hotels near Knigsturm Hotels near Heimatmuseum Oettingen in Bayern Hotels near Evangelische Pfarrkirche St. Jakob Hotels near Das Rathaus - Oettingen in Bayern Hotels near Katholische Pfarrkirche St. Sebastian Hotels near Vlkerkundemuseum im Residenzschloss Hotels . JERRY LAWLER: Jim Cornette grew up in Louisville watching our Memphis wrestling company. 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. 11/21 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. He knew how to work the people, because he was a southern boy and catered to that crowd. And that created a lot of controversy. Smoky Mountain was, however, the birthplace of the controversial "Gangstas" gimmick, where black wrestlers New Jack and Mustafa would cut promos about activist Medgar Evers, while also using fried chicken and watermelon as props. STORM: I told Jericho that I was talking to Jim Cornette about going to Smoky Mountain. 1/28 3/6 8/20 All-WNC wrestling 2023: Top high school wrestlers from Western NC Tennessee, Kentucky and all those places that we used to go to, he really knew what people wanted to see there and he was really smart with it. 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. 8/7 9/25 7/29 That was a crossover time in wrestling where WWE and WCW were getting ready to go head-to-head and a lot of the regional promotions had folded. 8/5 4/2 8/27 [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. 3/20 11/6 Matches from these shows were first shown in February 1992. 3/12 1/21 9/30 . He was so knowledgeable, dedicated and determined. Those Appalachian people are a little bit different than everybody else. 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. 3/11 From 1920 to last week. 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. He rolled out of the ring and had a weird look on his face. 6/11 9/12 3/26 12/3 (c) refers to the champion (s) heading into the match. 9/24 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. 5/7 5/21 I couldnt believe it. The Dirty White Boy for the SMW Heavyweight Championship. 5/8 5/22 Last updated by Sean Sweeny on April 28, 2014 Title History Career Highlights 1993: Rob Mayze wrestled as "Prince Kharis" in Jim Cornette 's Smokey Mountain Wrestling managed by Daryl Van Horn .. November 26, 1993 - Thanksgiving Thunder: Pince Kharis (debut) defeated Tim Horner with the sleeperhold.. 5/3 I had wrestled in Knoxville many times before, but it had been a while since Id been back. 3/13 The OJ car chase had just happened and Rodney King a few years before that, so I came up with The Gangstas from South Central LA. What made this small, regional organization so memorable? Sign up for BINGE to watch. 3/21 7/1 7/2 10/29 It wasnt by accident that he became next in line. 4/21 Unfortunately, four years in, Smokey Mountain had to close its doors in 1995. That really raised my opinion of him right there, when he did that. 11/26 The early 1990s saw Jim Cornette launch his own wrestling promotion, Smoky Mountain Wrestling. 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. Thats why it was cutting-edge and ahead of its time. 8/6 Recently, music producer extraordinaire Rick Rubin was a guest on his former employee, Chris Jerichos podcast. 10/13 IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, SMW Beat the Champ Television Championship, SMW United States Junior Heavyweight Championship, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. He was legitimate. 2/27 7/1 3/27 We also got WYMT in Hazard, Ky., so we had eastern Kentucky covered, too, with those three stations. 3/19 11/6 Its an art. JERICHO: He would micro-manage it. Add to history Add to collection Add to watchlist Recommend this Hes a creative genius bordering on insanity, which is the best kind of genius. 10/14 9/4 CORNETTE: Nobody knew what the hell we were doing because we werent talking with any wrestlers. 11/18 12/12 It was pretty crazy. 1/23 12/30, 1/14 2/13 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. ARMSTRONG: He worked himself to death. In February 1995, however, Candido lost the belt to Ultimate Fighting Championship winner Dan Severn, who as a freelancer decided to become a traveling World Champion, depriving SMW of a basis for World Heavyweight championship matches. 6/25 Both Curtis Comes Home and the 2005 sequel show, held in memory of SMW head referee Mark Curtis are both considered "unofficial" reunion shows.
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