Kris is joined by Dylan Hales (Wrestling Culture) & Tim Noel (Wrestling Power) to discuss the final year in the history of Smoky Mountain Wrestling. We talk about the vast amount of new arrivals such as Eddie Gilbert, Unabomb, Al Snow, Brad Armstrong, Terry Gordy, & Tommy Rich. We talk about the formation of Cornette’s Militia as well as how the promotion changed the way they presented television. We discuss Tim attending a lot of the big shows that year and how the end was perceived by the fans. This is a tremendous show and a must listen!!!

 

http://placetobenation.com/exile-on-badstreet-22-bluegrass-brawlin-the-history-of-smokey-mountain-wrestling-part-3/

I thought "gonna have sex" was a riff on Tank Abbott saying he dreamed he was "raped by Freddie Mercury" (Dan Severn). But that fight occurred after SMW. It just seems like a Tank Abbott line.

 

As for the Gangstas and Smoky Mountain crowds in East TN/KY. Putting all possible caveats in this statement about deeper meanings, but there's a overlap of SMW cities and parts of the country where Obama lost by absurd margins in the May 2008 D primaries (and lost to literal nobodies in May 2012). TV coverage in 08 milked a segment or two out of people in Pikeville saying Obama would enslave white people. In theory, you could blame New Jack and the Gangstas gimmick for Obama's low popularity in Smoky Mountain Wrestling markets (not really, but you knew that).

Snow said it himself. It only aired on the live PPV; I've never seen it myself.

 

Something like: "Dan, surely, you've been studying Gracie Jiu Jitsu..."

 

Severn: "Uh..."

 

Snow: "What do you think he's gonna do? Go have sex?"

 

I think the legend was that the line got him the SMW spot.

Do you want to know the *real* story of why the Wolfman got a push? He had an ownership stake in the company that made "Power Maker II," which was a key sponsor of late-period SMW TV.

 

Power Maker II was sort of like ICOPRO if it were made in a moonshine till, as best I can figure.

Do we have any idea how much a full-time SMW wrestler made in a year?

HAHA that is what we were talking about the fake ICO-PRO or whatever.....I never knew Wolfman was the owner

Re: how much people made

 

There's a cancelled check on Cornette's site from Sept 5, 1993 to Tammy Sytch for $175, which I would presume is for the prior week where they ran 3 shows, the largest of which was Barbourville. So not a typical week of a big show for sure. So no one was getting rich but certainly guys made a living especially babyfaces selling gimmicks.

Really enjoyed this, and the entire series. Great stuff.

I also really enjoyed this series. I'm a few weeks back on podcasts through the PWO/PTBN network (sooo many podcasts!) but I just finished this series. I knew about SMW and have watched a few shows here and there, but this series has really sparked my interest to review the entire history of the company. Thank you guys for taking the time to discuss and share your thoughts/memories on this era.