Smoky Mountain Wrestling

Smoky Mountain Wrestling, SMW short, is the name of a US-based wrestling promotion that was based in Knoxville, Tennessee. Promoter was Jim Cornette.

History

The history of the promotion starts in October 1992. Since Ted Turner's World Championship Wrestling promotion had started from August 1991 to separate from the National Wrestling Alliance and to organize under their own banner, Cornette came there in the fall of 1992 from his post as Booker back. Together with Tim Horner and Sandy Scott he exhibited in Tennessee on the NWA banner Smoky Mountain Wrestling, which should now succeed the retiring WCW.

Cornette's SMW still began in October 1991 to record the first TV shows. But as yet there was no active TV contract with a transmitter, these were broadcast in March 1992. But the new NWA Smoky Mountain project developed into a financial failure. The promotion had no lucrative TV contracts, even though they could come up with a variety of prominent wrestlers and talented young wrestler. Thus, included performances by Terry Funk, Cactus Jack and Chris Candido to at SMW.

Co - operation with the World Wrestling Federation

Since 1993 was a strong competition to the NWA Eastern Championship Wrestling, which was one of the best known sub-organization of the National Wrestling Alliance at that time. Then there was also the mutual dislike of Jim Cornette and Paul Heyman and the fact that the ECW SMW had slowly poached the big names. To be able to offer the native to Pennsylvania doctoral enough Paroli, SMW now needed a strong partner. This Cornette believed to have been found in the World Wrestling Federation. So he went in 1993 a co- operation with the home to Connecticut in a promotion.

SMW has now an unofficial development territory of the WWF and so were the then reigning SMW Tag Team Champions The Heavenly Bodies consisting of Stan Lane and Tom Prichard, in WWF shows on. But was Cornetts booking style with the audience as obsolete, this measure was ineffective for the SMW. The promotion was not able to be against the big two, the WWF and WCW, prevail.

End of the promotion

On August 27, 1994, a tournament for the vacant NWA World Title was held in the ECW, at the end of the exit of the promotion of the NWA followed. So SMW lined up a new tournament on the again vacant Championship, which now allowed Chris Candido win. But were ultimately counted the days of SMW. In December 1995, sold Cornette and Sandy Scott, the highly indebted to the promotion run by Jerry Jarrett and Jerry Lawler United States Wrestling Association.