presents...
General Jim Cornette and Lieutenant Nature Boy Buddy Landell, 1995 (Photo courtesy Tommy Noe)
In the first half of the 1990's, there was a pro wrestling
promotion centered in Knoxville, Tennessee (actually, the main offices were in
Morristown, Tennessee) called Smoky Mountain Wrestling. SMW was, in all
probability, the next-to-last of the full-time regional wrestling promotions
(the last was the old Memphis circuit), in that they held cards several times a
week in a particular geographic region of the country, and they did a weekly,
local TV show through which fans could see why so-and-so was feuding with
so-and-so, and they could also see fast-paced, competitive wrestling action.
There were regular stars who more or less stayed in SMW, like the Rock 'N' Roll
Express, Dirty White Boy, Tracy Smothers, Bullet Bob Armstrong, and manager Jim
Cornette, and others who moved on to the proverbial "greener pastures", like
Chris Candido, Tammy "Sunny / Tammy Lynn Sytch" Fytch, Al Snow, Chris Jericho,
Lance Storm, and the Heavenly Bodies, plus occasional appearances by
international stars like Dory & Terry Funk, Macho Man Randy Savage, the
Undertaker, Arn Anderson, Rick & Scott Steiner, and Shawn Michaels. The
pages linked to from here are my own tribute to the last remnants of the "good
old days" of professional wrestling, when the wrestlers worked hard and traveled
hard for their money, and, most of all, when fans BELIEVED. (Trust me, the fans
who witnessed Smoky Mountain Wrestling in person on a regular basis were a
spectacle in and of themselves, and I say that with great affection.)
(BIG OL' NOTE: THIS IS NOT THE OFFICIAL SMW WEBSITE!!! THESE
PAGES DEALING WITH SMOKY MOUNTAIN WRESTLING ARE DONE WITHOUT THE OFFICIAL
SANCTION OF ANYONE AFFILIATED WITH SMOKY MOUNTAIN WRESTLING, OR WITH ANY PAST OR
PRESENT PRO WRESTLING PROMOTION, FOR THAT MATTER. THESE PAGES ARE ONE FAN'S
TRIBUTE TO THE BEST DARN WRESTLING IN AMERICA FROM 1991 TO 1995.)
Former SMW announcer Tommy Noe, WWF
announcer/manager Jim Cornette, and Brian "Mark Curtis" Hildebrand, in the
one-of-a-kind Stone Cold Steve Austin Pickup Truck, Thanksgiving 1997 (Photo
courtesy of Tommy Noe)
SMW King Of The Mountain, Morristown, TN--August 13, 1994
SMW Super Bowl Of Wrestling, Knoxville, TN with Pre-Show Meet & Greet--August 4, 1995
SMW FanWeek Picnic & house show, Barbourville, KY--August 5, 1995
SMW vs. USWA, Louisville, KY--August 6, 1995
SMW house show, Marion, VA--August 7, 1995
E-mail messages are ALWAYS welcome at smokyrobmoore@yahoo.com