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 . The promotion was based in Knoxville, Tennessee , with offices in Morristown, Tennessee .
189-846: Cornette formed the promotion in October 1991 upon leaving World Championship Wrestling , with Sandy Scott and backed financially by music producer Rick Rubin . The first events and TV tapings were held in October and November 1991. Matches from these shows were first shown in February 1992. 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 . The first Smoky Mountain Tag Team Champions were crowned in
378-450: A Falls Count Anywhere match . He then started to team with Tommy Dreamer . According to Heyman, the hardcore style differentiated Foley from other traditional wrestlers, so in ECW, Foley was right at home. However, Foley did not enjoy working with Sandman, as Sandman was often intoxicated during matches and could not perform properly; drinking large amounts of beer and smoking cigarettes made up
567-627: A dark match . The two wrestlers then faced one another in a series of dark matches and house show matches until their first broadcast match against one another at King of the Ring in June 1996, where Mankind defeated The Undertaker using the Mandible Claw after The Undertaker's manager Paul Bearer accidentally struck The Undertaker with an urn . The feud culminated in the first-ever " Boiler Room Brawl " at SummerSlam 1996 , and in addition to escaping
756-473: A falls count anywhere match , lost a stretcher match , and then fought to a double disqualification in a cage match . These matches caught the attention of World Championship Wrestling promoters, in large part due to widespread photo circulation, and in August 1991, Foley re-joined WCW. Foley returned to WCW in August 1991 as "Cactus Jack", wrestling on house shows . On September 5, 1991, at Clash of
945-654: A ratings competition against the flagship program of the WWF, Monday Night Raw , in a period now known as the Monday Night War . From 1996 to 1998, WCW surpassed their rival program in the ratings for 83 consecutive weeks. Beginning in 1999, WCW endured significant losses in ratings and revenue due to creative missteps and suffered from the fallout from the 2001 merger of America Online (AOL) and Turner Broadcasting parent Time Warner (later WarnerMedia, now known as Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD)). Soon thereafter, WCW
1134-405: A "family-friendly" orientation, and drop the reforms that turned around the company's fortunes. Concurrently to WCW beginning to struggle under the weight of its own momentum, the WWF began to turn the corner on its own reforms. Having been caught flatfooted by the total reconfiguration of WCW and the success of Nitro in 1996 and 1997, by 1998 the WWF was building its own momentum. Taking most of
1323-508: A WWE Network video, Vader admits that after seeing footage that he had indeed removed Cactus's ear. Cactus Jack and Vader wrestled their final match in WCW – a Texas death match – in April 1994, a year to the day since their first match. During the bout, Vader once again powerbombed Cactus Jack on the floor, mirroring his actions of the prior year. Upon watching the match on WCW WorldWide , Foley
1512-484: A botched move at Starrcade 1999 , followed just days later by Goldberg very seriously injuring himself during an angle on Thunder , and Hollywood Hogan seemingly quitting the company live on PPV at Bash at the Beach 2000 only seemed to further a sense that the company was spiralling out of control. By July 2000 Bischoff had walked off the job. In 2000, several potential buyers for WCW were rumored to show interest in
1701-603: A bout against Sabu at Hostile City Showdown on June 24, 1994. During a promo , Cactus Jack spat on his title belt and threw it to the ground to appeal to the ECW fans who shunned the mainstream promotions, an act for which he was later forced to apologize to booker Ric Flair. Following successful defenses against the Nasty Boys and Harlem Heat , Cactus Jack and Sullivan lost the WCW World Tag Team Championship to Pretty Wonderful at Bash at
1890-589: A considerable physical toll, eventually earning him the moniker "The Hardcore Legend". Michael Francis Foley was born in Bloomington, Indiana , on June 7, 1965. He is of Irish descent, and has an older brother named John. Shortly after his birth, he moved with his family to the Long Island town of East Setauket , about 40 miles east of New York City , where he attended Ward Melville High School . At school, he wrestled and played lacrosse , and
2079-624: A crusade to rid Bradley of his valet Tamara Fytch . He ignited a feud between Candido and Bradley when he accused Candido of having sexual relations with Fytch. Cactus Jack left SMW in December 1994 before the feud was resolved. Cactus Jack's first appearance for the NWA-affiliated Eastern Championship Wrestling (ECW) promotion came on the May 31, 1994, episode, with Cactus revealed as Sabu's opponent for
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#17327829471432268-570: A duo. The pairing was not cohesive and frequently chafed over the direction of the company. Creatively, the year 2000 saw WCW attempt numerous publicity stunts to gain traction, such as making actor David Arquette (who then had no professional wrestling experience) the WCW World Heavyweight Champion. These moves only served to push traditional wrestling fans away from WCW. Events such as Goldberg forcing WCW World Heavyweight Champion Bret Hart into retirement following
2457-547: A face. Cactus Jack won the match with a piledriver through a table. In September 1997, Foley (as Mankind) wrestled Sabu at Terry Funk's WrestleFest , an event organized to mark the retirement of Foley's friend Terry Funk . Funk, however, broke his retirement soon after the event, and in December 1997, he joined the WWF as "Chainsaw Charlie", aligning himself with Foley. At the 1998 Royal Rumble , Foley participated under all three personas, Cactus Jack (1st entrant), Mankind (16th), and Dude Love (28th). Charlie and Cactus defeated
2646-599: A falls-count-anywhere match against Orndorff at SuperBrawl III . He then moved on to face Big Van Vader. Cactus Jack wrestled Big Van Vader on April 6, 1993, winning by count-out after being severely beaten. Although talented and athletic, the 400 lb (180 kg) Vader was a notoriously stiff wrestler who had been trained in the Japanese "strong" style, and he hit so hard that most other wrestlers outright refused to work with him, out of fear of severe injury. However, Foley decided to continue his program with Vader, and as
2835-481: A fan favorite after engaging in a feud with Paul Orndorff, Harley Race, and Big Van Vader. Jack and Orndorff wrestled each other in a match for a spot on WCW World Heavyweight Champion Vader's team at Clash of the Champions XXII . After the match, Race and Orndorff beat up Jack. At the following Clash of Champions event, Cactus Jack helped Sting's team win the match. He engaged in a feud with Orndorff, winning
3024-555: A feud with the chainsaw -wielding Leatherface , whom he had betrayed during a tag team match. But perhaps the most notable matches of Foley's time in Japan were on August 20, 1995, where IWA organized a King of the Death Match tournament at their Kawasaki Dream event at the outdoor Kawasaki Stadium in its namesake city , which featured some of the bloodiest, most violent and most brutal matches of Foley's career. The tournament
3213-415: A five-match "gauntlet" challenge set upon Triple H by Vince McMahon. It was around this time that Foley began to realize he was going to have to retire soon- in addition to the massive physical toll he had inflicted on his body, Foley then began to develop cognitive problems such as forgetting simple bodily motions and trouble remembering how to write and spell basic words. Foley's last match was supposed to be
3402-492: A hardcore wrestling icon and used a slow and technical wrestling style as a way to punish the audience. He said that he was on a mission to save his partner from making the mistake of trying to please bloodthirsty fans. Foley later admitted in an interview in 2015 that after Wrestlepalooza he became indifferent toward ECW and its fanbase. The mismatched partnership between Cactus Jack and Dreamer lasted until Wrestlepalooza, when Cactus turned on Dreamer while they were teaming with
3591-428: A large part of Sandman's overall gimmick. But 1995 proved to be an interesting year for Foley, particularly during his time in ECW. Two incidents caused him to change his opinion of a promotion that most thought made him feel like he was at home. There was a sign in the front of the audience one night that said "Cane Dewey" (this was done with Foley's permission, when he didn't know what this meant, but later understood),
3780-471: A low ebb. To counter this, Bischoff felt that WCW was in need of radical reform; to this end, Bischoff sought to modernise WCW and move its image away from that of a Southern-based " rasslin " company. To achieve this, Bischoff increased WCW's production values, avoided unprofitable house shows , increased the number of WCW pay-per-views (PPVs, which were profitable), decreased the number of Southern accents on commentary, and began recruiting top stars away from
3969-497: A neck injury in a match at SummerSlam in East Rutherford, New Jersey . Dude Love feuded with Hunter Hearst Helmsley , as the two competed in a falls count anywhere match . One of Foley's most memorable vignettes aired before the match began, in which Dude Love and Mankind discussed who should wrestle the upcoming match. Eventually, "they" decided that it should be Cactus Jack, and Foley's old character made his WWF debut as
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#17327829471434158-656: A notable exception for almost a decade and a half. After the Invasion storyline concluded, the WWF divided the roster into two brands which was originally intended to revive WCW under the WWF umbrella but was instead divided into Raw and SmackDown! brands, named after two WWF's top programs at the time. Many other WCW wrestlers moved to the World Wrestling All-Stars (WWA) or the XWF and then Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) which all started after
4347-628: A number of wrestlers who were regulars in the Southeastern wrestling scene including the Heavenly Bodies , Stan Lane and Tom Prichard and later, Prichard and Jimmy Del Ray . The Heavenly Bodies, managed by Jim Cornette, were featured heavily throughout the years as they worked storyline feuds with The Rock 'n' Roll Express , The Fantastics and The Armstrong Family (especially Bob Armstrong ). Smoky Mountain Wrestling also featured
4536-405: A number of younger wrestlers who had not yet made their mark on a national stage, including Bob Holly , New Jack , Al Snow , Balls Mahoney , Chris Jericho , Glenn Jacobs (then known as Unabomb, later better known under the ring name Kane), Lance Storm , Chris Candido , Tammy Lynn Sytch , Brian Girard James (B.G. James / Road Dogg) and D'Lo Brown , but ultimately, like most independents,
4725-456: A one-time TNA Legends Champion , and the inaugural WWF Hardcore Champion . Foley's Hell in a Cell match against The Undertaker is regarded as one of his most memorable and controversial matches and widely acknowledged as the greatest Hell in a Cell Match of all time. Foley's dedicated and physical style of wrestling led him to often participate in violent and brutal matches that involved him taking dangerous bumps and putting his body through
4914-460: A part of their roster . The SMW Tag Team Championship Tournament was a tournament to crown the first-ever SMW 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 and The Heavenly Bodies , decided to have the tournament final on
5103-408: A pay-per-view again. On March 16, 1994, during WCW's "Battle Stars 1994" tour of Germany, Cactus and Big Van Vader had one of the most infamous matches in wrestling history as part of WCW's European Cup tournament. Cactus began a hangman , but neither wrestler was aware that the ring ropes had been drawn extra tight before the event, and Cactus could barely move. When Cactus finally freed himself from
5292-399: A period of mainstream success characterized by a shift to reality-based storylines , and notable hirings of former WWF talent. WCW also gained attention for developing a popular cruiserweight division, which showcased an acrobatic, fast-paced, lucha libre -inspired style of wrestling. In 1995, WCW debuted their live flagship television program Monday Nitro , and subsequently developed
5481-552: A random backstage dumpster and not the original dumpster brought ringside and scheduled a rematch in a steel cage, which the Outlaws won with help from their new allies, D-Generation X . On April 6, 1998, Foley turned heel when Cactus explained that the fans would not see him anymore because they did not appreciate him, and only cared about Stone Cold Steve Austin: after a hard-fought match with Terry Funk in Albany, fans started to leave
5670-407: A reference to using a Singapore cane on Foley's real-life eldest son, who was three years old then (Foley would sometimes mention his family in his promos), and then witnessing a botch in the opening match of Wrestlepalooza on August 5, 1995, where J. T. Smith did a dive, slipped off the ring apron and landed head-first on the concrete. Smith was so severely concussed that his head began swelling on
5859-412: A result of Cactus's victory, in a rematch with Vader on April 24, the two executed a dangerous spot to sell a storyline injury. Harley Race removed the protective mats at ringside and Vader powerbombed Cactus onto the exposed concrete floor, causing a legitimate concussion and causing Foley to temporarily lose sensation in his left foot. While Foley was away, WCW ran an angle where Cactus Jack's absence
Smoky Mountain Wrestling - Misplaced Pages Continue
6048-526: A reunited nWo in the widely panned " Fingerpoke of Doom " angle. By September 1999, the rapidly declining ratings of Nitro (now half that of Raw ), drastic dropoff in revenue, and the increasing antagonism between Eric Bischoff and Time Warner executives prompted the head of Turner Sports , Harvey Schiller , to relieve Bischoff of his position. Almost immediately Schiller found a duo to replace Bischoff: former head writers for Raw Vince Russo and Ed Ferrera . Russo had just weeks prior walked off
6237-801: A seat close to the front row and is visible in the video of the event. Foley formally trained at Dominic DeNucci 's wrestling school in Freedom, Pennsylvania , driving several hours weekly from his college campus in Cortland, New York . He debuted on June 23, 1986, in Clarksburg, West Virginia , under the ring name "Cactus Jack". In addition to appearing on DeNucci's cards, Foley and several other students also took part in some squash matches as jobbers for World Wrestling Federation TV tapings of Prime Time Wrestling , WWF Wrestling Challenge and Superstars of Wrestling , where Foley wrestled under
6426-522: A segment featuring himself (as Mankind) and The Rock. The "This Is Your Life" segment aired on September 27, 1999, and received an 8.4 rating, with Yurple the Clown making another appearance. Foley briefly reverted to his Cactus Jack persona for a Hardcore handicap match against Ministry of Darkness members Viscera and Mideon on May 10, 1999, which Cactus won; the match saw Cactus enter using two basketballs as weapons. In August 1999, Foley returned after
6615-506: A significant amount of legitimate pain that's so intense it can inhibit the opponent's vision, and if applied long enough, can force the opponent to black out. The creatively inclined and dedicated Foley initially would prepare for playing Mankind by researching the character, often spending the night in the respective arena's boiler room and sometimes under the wrestling ring for the first few months, but after that, he could get into character almost instantly. His catchphrase, ever perplexing,
6804-440: A single ten-minute match was two, or sometimes three, with their hands in front of their head to ease the blow and lessen a chance of a concussion. However, Foley had taken eleven in the span of two and a half minutes, all unprotected, because he had been handcuffed just before The Rock began his repeated onslaught. Foley was originally supposed to take five chair shots to the head with the final match-ending shot being two-thirds up
6993-556: A surefire moneymaking feud as a problem that needed to be solved. The angle was awarded "Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic" by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter . In one of WCW's most violent and brutal matches of all time, Cactus Jack faced Vader in a Texas Deathmatch (a variation of a Last Man Standing match) at Halloween Havoc 1993 in New Orleans on October 24 after having a wheel being spun and
7182-472: A tag team match with Al Snow in November 1999, but with the WWF having to go on with the absence of their biggest star Stone Cold Steve Austin at the time (who was out with a broken neck), Foley felt that the company would suffer too badly if another one of its biggest stars disappeared from the roster- even with The Rock surging in popularity. So Foley, even in the poor condition he was in, decided to go on for
7371-503: A third time by pinning the reigning champion Austin. Mankind's win led to an enraged Triple H to assault Austin, justifying Austin's absence while he healed a knee injury. The next night on Raw is War , Triple H defeated Mankind to win his first WWF championship. A feud then developed between Mankind and Triple H. This included Triple H defeating Mankind in another Boiler Room Brawl on the September 23 edition of SmackDown! , as part of
7560-490: A three volume series hosted by Diamond Dallas Page called The Very Best of WCW Monday Nitro . WCW's library content would be made available with the launch of WWE Network in 2014. WWE would revive several of WCW's events, including Great American Bash in 2004, Starrcade in 2017 and Halloween Havoc in 2020. WWE also utilized the Night of Champions name and theme used on the last episode of Nitro beginning in 2001, which
7749-484: A three-month absence recovering from knee surgery to resume his feud with Triple H , who had kayfabe injured Foley's left knee with his sledgehammer. On an episode of Raw is War , Mankind drew with Triple H in a match for the number one contender for the WWF Championship, which resulted in a Triple Threat match between Steve Austin, Triple H and Mankind at SummerSlam where Mankind won the WWF Championship for
Smoky Mountain Wrestling - Misplaced Pages Continue
7938-667: A title shot against The Rock at Rock Bottom: In Your House . Mankind won the match by using his mandible claw hold (with the Mr. Socko prop on his hand) and the referee declared The Rock had become unresponsive. But McMahon overruled the title change because Mankind didn't keep his pre-match promise to make The Rock submit. After several weeks of going after the Corporation, Mankind defeated The Rock to win his first WWF Championship on December 29 in Worcester, Massachusetts . The taped show
8127-615: A tournament final at a TV taping on April 23, 1992, in Harrogate, Tennessee , when The Heavenly Bodies defeated The Fantastics ; the match would air on May 9, 1992. 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,
8316-481: A unique and popular identity by integrating and mixing wrestlers from all around the world and from vastly different wrestling styles, particularly Mexican luchadores such as Rey Misterio Jr. , Psicosis , and Juventud Guerrera , but also Japanese "Super Juniors" such as Último Dragón . North American wrestlers, such as Chris Jericho , Eddie Guerrero , Dean Malenko and Chris Benoit , who had travelled abroad to Mexico and Japan earlier in their careers and learned
8505-414: A winner, meaning that Mankind retained the title. The next night, Mr. McMahon booked a ladder match for the championship, which The Rock won with help from The Big Show . Mankind would go on to WrestleMania XV to defeat The Big Show and again at Backlash a month later in a violent and brutal Boiler Room Brawl (the first in the WWF since July 1996), where the objective of the match had been simplified from
8694-462: Is regarded as one of the company's most brutal matches. During the match, Foley took several violent and dangerous bumps from The Rock all over the arena, including repeated steel chair shots to the head and a fall from the stands onto solid electrical objects, which sparked upon impact. Although steel chair shots to the head were commonplace in the Attitude Era , the most a wrestler would take in
8883-405: The 1998 Royal Rumble , making Foley the only competitor to enter the same Royal Rumble match three times under different personas. Foley is a four-time world champion (three WWF Championships and one TNA World Heavyweight Championship ), an 11-time world tag team champion (eight WWF Tag Team Championships , two ECW World Tag Team Championships , and one WCW World Tag Team Championship ),
9072-573: The 2000 edition of WWE's premier annual event, WrestleMania . He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2013 . Foley has wrestled under his real name and various personas. His main persona during his time in WCW and ECW from 1991 to 1996 was Cactus Jack , a dastardly, bloodthirsty and uncompromisingly physical brawler from Truth or Consequences, New Mexico , who wore cowboy boots and often used sharp metallic objects, such as barbed wire, thumbtacks, and trashcans. When Foley first appeared in
9261-564: The ECW World Heavyweight Championship . During their match at Barbed Wire, Hoodies & Chokeslams , Cactus knocked Sandman unconscious and was declared the winner. Referee Bill Alfonso , however, reversed his decision because the title cannot change hands by knockout. Foley then continued to have a series of violent encounters with the Sandman while challenging him and claiming that he had never been beaten in
9450-578: The Headhunters , and Bob Bargail for multiple runs at the W*ING World Tag Team Championship , and a few runs at Tarzan Goto 's IWA World Heavyweight Championship . True to his hardcore style, other matches Foley took part in were more deathmatches that involved objects like bricks, body bags, thumbtacks, barbed wire and window panes, and some matches even involved fire. He would continue wrestling in Japan until June 1996;
9639-769: The Hostile City Showdown event on June 24 at the ECW Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania . After being part of a talent exchange between ECW and WCW, Foley brought his WCW World Tag Team Championship belt and spit on it for a recorded ECW TV segment. Foley continued with ECW and began a feud with Sabu . Foley then began working the ECW tag team division on teams with Terry Funk , Mikey Whipwreck , and Kevin Sullivan . Cactus had two ECW World Tag Team Championship reigns with Whipwreck while in ECW, while at
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#17327829471439828-669: The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), whose flagship promotion Eastern Championship Wrestling had split away in August 1994, leaving the NWA with no World Heavyweight Champion . A 10-man tournament was held in Cherry Hill, New Jersey in November, featuring many SMW wrestlers; the participants were Tracy Smothers , Devon Storm , Eddie Gilbert , Johnny Gunn , Chris Candido , Al Snow , Dirty White Boy , Jerry Lawler , Lou Perez , and Osamu Nishimura . The winner
10017-656: The Sharpshooter , McMahon ordered the timekeeper to ring the bell even though Mankind did not submit, a reference to the Montreal Screwjob from the year before. As a result of the Survivor Series, Mankind officially turned face, while The Rock turned heel and became the crown jewel in McMahon's new faction, the Corporation . After weeks of trying to get his hands on the Corporation, Mankind received
10206-536: The Turner Broadcasting System following publications of controversial comments made by Watts--had called the Gangstas gimmick racist. 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
10395-549: The USA Network . The meeting led to Turner greenlighting the creation of WCW Monday Nitro , which would air on TNT on the same day and in the same time slot as Raw . Nitro would debut on September 4, 1995, and directly lead into the Monday Night War era of professional wrestling, in which WCW Nitro and WWF Raw would fiercely compete to beat each other in the Nielson ratings each and every week. The struggle between
10584-772: The United States Wrestling Association in Dallas, where he wrestled both as "Cactus Jack" and under a mask as "Zodiac #2". In July 1990, he wrestled for Tommy Dee at the Riverhead Raceway in Riverhead, New York , where he met his future wife Colette Christie. In September 1990, he began appearing with the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania -based Tri-State Wrestling Alliance (TWA), the precursor to Eastern Championship Wrestling , whose high-impact and violent wrestling style fit Foley well. In
10773-553: The United States Wrestling Association . He eventually lost the belt to Jerry Lawler on December 30, 1995. World Championship Wrestling World Championship Wrestling ( WCW ) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System , through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) territory Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP) (which had aired its programming on TBS ). For all of its existence, WCW
10962-767: The X Division . Throughout the 2000s, WWE would incorporate elements into their shows formerly associated with WCW. Former WCW Championships such as the WCW World Heavyweight Championship , the WCW United States Championship and the WCW Cruiserweight Championship would be reactivated in WWE, with their WCW lineages acknowledged. The Cruiserweight division concept was introduced to WWE in 2002 and since then has been used intermittently throughout
11151-400: The boiler rooms of buildings, constantly squealed (even throughout his matches), randomly shrieked "Mommy!" , spoke to a rat named George, regularly took to acts of masochism (such as by pulling out his hair), and wore a mask seemingly constructed of oddly shaped pieces of leather that were patched together with rivets. Mankind's finishing move was the " Mandible Claw ". The move is based on
11340-607: The independent circuit , Foley began receiving offers from various regional promotions, including Bill Watts ' Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF). In 1988, he joined the Memphis, Tennessee -based Continental Wrestling Association (CWA), where he teamed with Gary Young as part of the Stud Stable . Cactus and Young briefly held the CWA Tag Team Championship in late 1988. In November 1988, Foley left
11529-414: The "Mandibular Nerve Pinch", a finishing move developed and utilized by former osteopathic physician and neurosurgeon-turned-wrestler, Sam Sheppard . This finishing maneuver is a nerve hold that's applied when the aggressor plunges their middle and ring fingers into the opponent's mouth, under their tongue and into the soft tissue at the bottom of the mouth, while simultaneously forcing their jaw upwards with
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#173278294714311718-523: The 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s, including WCW Wrestling , WCW SuperBrawl Wrestling , WCW vs. the World , WCW vs. nWo: World Tour , WCW/nWo Revenge and WCW Mayhem . Mick Foley Michael Francis Foley (born June 7, 1965) is an American retired professional wrestler and author. He is currently signed to WWE , under the company's "Legends" program, acting as a company ambassador. Foley worked for many wrestling promotions, including
11907-488: The 1996 match to only having to escape the boiler room. Shortly after, Big Show would team with Mankind, Test and Shamrock to take on the Corporation at Over The Edge. Later in the year, Foley and The Rock patched up their friendship and teamed up to form a comedy team called the Rock 'n' Sock Connection , becoming one of the most popular teams during that time. The pair won the tag team titles on three occasions. One notable match
12096-580: The 2000s, 2010s and 2020s from 2002 onwards. Some WCW mainstays such as Booker T, Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho were able to achieve long-term top positions within WWE by the mid to late 2000s. Similarly, promotions such as Total Nonstop Action would also make use of former WCW talent when possible and also continued the legacy of the Cruiserweight with their X-Division. WWE has since released various WCW documentaries, anthologies, and compilations, including The Rise and Fall of WCW , and
12285-502: The April 23, 1992 TV taping, which aired on May 9. The King of Kentucky Tournament was a one-night single elimination tournament held in Hazard, Kentucky on June 24, 1993. The NWA World Heavyweight Championship Tournament was a one-night single elimination tournament held in Cherry Hill, New Jersey on November 19, 1994, to decide a new NWA World Heavyweight Champion . The previous champion Shane Douglas had infamously "threw down"
12474-647: The Beach in July 1994. After turning on Sullivan, Foley wrestled his final match for the company at Fall Brawl '94: War Games in September 1994, losing to Sullivan in a "loser leaves WCW" match . In October 1994, Foley joined Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW) as Cactus Jack, causing Boo Bradley to lose the SMW Beat the Champ Television Championship . He often teamed with Brian Lee to feud with Bradley and Chris Candido . Cactus then began
12663-463: The Beach series of shows with AEW Bash at the Beach on January 15, 2020. However, a lawsuit by WWE prevented further reuse of that branding. Beginning in 2021, AEW began presenting their own version of WCW's WarGames match , held at the AEW Blood & Guts event. Who Killed WCW? , a four-part documentary series based off the downfall of WCW premiered June 6, 2024 on Vice TV . The series
12852-571: The Bulldog alone the next week. Halfway into the match, however, Foley debuted a new face persona known as "Dude Love", who helped Austin take the victory, becoming the new Tag Team Champions. Dude Love had some new and renamed moves, such as the "Love Handle" (a renamed Mandible Claw) and "Sweet Shin Music" (a simple kick to the shins, a play on Shawn Michaels's superkick finishing move). Austin and Foley vacated their tag team titles when Austin suffered
13041-737: The CWA for the Texas-based World Class Wrestling Association (WCWA). In the WCWA, "Cactus Jack", billed as "Cactus Jack Manson", was a major part of Skandor Akbar 's stable (the addition of "Manson" to Foley's name, due to its implied connection to Charles Manson , made him uncomfortable). Foley also won several titles, including the WCWA World Light Heavyweight Championship and WCWA World Tag Team Championship . He left
13230-546: The Cell and landed on the ring mat, losing a tooth. Mankind lost the match to conclude their storyline. Following a couple of months of teaming with Kane who together won the WWF Tag Team Championship on two separate occasions and various feuds with Kane, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and The Undertaker, Foley decided that crowds might respond better if Mankind were more of a comedy character, and so he abandoned
13419-424: The Champions X: Texas Shootout , where he took a particularly brutal bump backward off the 3 feet (0.91 m) high apron and landed on the concrete floor, with his head and back taking the impact. Later that month, he formed the villainous " Sullivan's Slaughterhouse " stable with Kevin Sullivan and Bam Bam Bigelow and began a long feud with Norman the Lunatic . At the Capital Combat pay-per-view in May 1990,
13608-565: The Champions XVI: Fall Brawl , Cactus Jack burst out of a giant box and attacked Sting , the then- WCW World Heavyweight Champion . After feuds with Van Hammer and Abdullah the Butcher , Cactus Jack faced Sting in a non-title falls count anywhere match at Beach Blast in 1992, which Sting won. For a long time, Foley considered this the best match he ever worked. Unlike Jack's first stint in WCW, where his personality
13797-735: The Dallas-based Global Wrestling Federation , where he formed a short-lived tag team with Makhan Singh known as "Cartel". Cartel took part in a tournament for the newly created GWF Tag Team Championship , losing to Chris Walker and Steve Simpson in the semi-finals. Foley also competed in a tournament for the GWF North American Heavyweight Championship , losing to Terry Gordy in the quarter-finals. In August 1991 at TWA's Summer Sizzler event, Cactus Jack and Eddie Gilbert had three matches in one night: Cactus won
13986-431: The ECW fanbase everywhere he went. In February 1996 at CyberSlam , Cactus Jack was booked to face WWF hater Shane Douglas , who won after he handcuffed Cactus and then hit him with no fewer than ten consecutive chair shots, and when he put Jack into a figure four leglock , this allowed Mikey Whipwreck to get into the arena and land one last hard chair shot to Cactus's face, knocking him unconscious. Foley's last ECW match
14175-654: The Hall and Nash debuts as it gave the show an unscripted, "anything can happen at any time" feeling to the television audience. The start of the nWo angle, which immediately proved immensely popular and intriguing to wrestling fans, was part of a wider shift in the WCW presentation still being pursued by Eric Bischoff. As part of his overhaul of WCW, Bischoff wanted to grow WCW's audience amongst 18 to 35-year-olds . To that end, he alongside WCW's booker Kevin Sullivan began grounding WCW characters and storylines more in reality, utilising real names and darker themes in contrast to
14364-459: The Mat , which shows the impact the match had on Foley, his family, and even the rest of the audience at ringside, and at one point Foley's wife Collette and five-year-old daughter Noelle both cried and screamed in horror, with Noelle believing her father was dying as The Rock pummeled Foley with repeated chair shots. The match at this point had become so brutal that some people in the audience sitting in
14553-423: The NWA and becoming a standalone wrestling promotion. In February 1993 former commentator Eric Bischoff was appointed as Executive Producer of WCW, and by 1994 he had been promoted once again to Senior Vice President, a position which gave Bischoff both creative and financial control of WCW. At this point, the promotion was struggling financially and was widely perceived within the wrestling industry to be at
14742-641: The NWA title in favor of the ECW World Heavyweight Championship after defeating 2 Cold Scorpio at the NWA World Title Tournament three months earlier. The Carolina Cup Tag Team Tournament was a one-night single elimination tournament held at the Grady Cole Center on August 13, 1995. † After SMW closed, Brad Armstrong declared himself SMW champion and defended the SMW Heavyweight Championship in
14931-515: The Nasty Boys in a violently brutal and chaotic tag team Chicago Street Fight , where Cactus Jack lost the match after he was shoved off a 3 feet (0.91 m) high stage and landed back first on the concrete. Later that month, Cactus Jack formed a tag team with Kevin Sullivan , with the duo feuding with the Nasty Boys. Cactus Jack and Sullivan were scheduled to win the WCW World Tag Team Championship at Slamboree in May 1994. Foley had to choose between surgically reconstructing his ear or wrestling at
15120-473: The New Age Outlaws at WrestleMania XIV in a dumpster match to win the tag team titles (which was originally supposed to be a barbed-wire rope match- but this often violent and bloody match was scrapped due to the high-profile appearance of Mike Tyson taking part at the event). The next night, however, Vince McMahon stripped them of the belts, citing that Charlie and Cactus had put the Outlaws in
15309-642: The Pitbulls against Raven, Stevie Richards and the Dudley Brothers ( Dudley Dudley and Big Dick Dudley ). Cactus DDT'ed his partner and joined Raven's Nest , as he wished to serve Raven 's "higher purpose". He remained one of Raven's top henchmen for the remainder of his time in ECW. On August 28, Cactus beat the previously undefeated 911 . As part of Foley's heel gimmick , he began praising WWF and WCW on ECW television, which angered ECW fans. Their anger intensified once word began to spread that Foley
15498-558: The Ring 1998 in Pittsburgh 's Civic Arena on June 28, the two performed in the third Hell in a Cell match , which became one of the most notable matches in professional wrestling history. Foley received numerous injuries and took two dangerous and highly influential bumps – the first being tossed off the top of the 16 feet (4.9 m) high Cell by The Undertaker, crashing through the Spanish announcer's wooden table and landing on
15687-634: The Slaughterhouse lost to Norman the Lunatic and the Road Warriors in a six-man tag team match . It was during this period that Foley was involved in a car accident that resulted in the loss of his two front teeth, adding to the distinctive look for which he is famous. Foley left WCW in June 1990 after a conversation with booker Ole Anderson in which Anderson critiqued his style. After leaving WCW in June 1990, Foley briefly returned to
15876-579: The United States in April 1991, Foley resumed wrestling for TWA and the UWF. In May 1991 at the TWA's "Spring Spectacular II" event, Foley faced Eddie Gilbert in a barbed wire match – a sight not often seen in professional wrestling in the United States, and an object Foley would often be associated with. Barbed wire would be wrapped with the ropes all around the ring, and Cactus and Gilbert both bled heavily;
16065-489: The WWE immediately and participated in The Invasion storyline as part of The Alliance which lasted until the end of 2001, however many of WCW's top stars had contracts with AOL Time Warner rather than WCW itself that the WWF did not acquire, and most choose to sit out the length of their contracts rather than breaking them in order to work for the WWF. Most would eventually find their way to WWE, although Sting remained
16254-531: The WWF World Heavyweight Championship, which Undertaker had won at WrestleMania 13 . Undertaker won the match and Bearer took a leave of absence, continuing the feud. Jim Ross then began conducting a series of interviews with Mankind. During the interviews, Ross brought up the topic of Foley's home videos, the hippie-inspired character he played in them, Dude Love, and his tormented journey in wrestling. The interviews also affected
16443-581: The WWF free to acquire the key assets of WCW through its new subsidiary W. Acquisition Company, which was renamed WCW Inc. afterwards. AOL Time Warner sold the rights to the World Championship Wrestling name, branding, championships, and all other remaining assets aside from the talent roster and video library to WWF for $ 2.5 million in March 2001. Shortly afterwards WWF paid an additional $ 1.8 million to cover costs to AOL Time Warner in
16632-448: The WWF in 1996, he debuted the persona known as Mankind , an eerie, masochistic , mentally deranged lunatic who was masked and spent his spare time dwelling in mechanical rooms . The following year, Foley debuted Dude Love , a relaxed, fun-loving, jive-talking, tie-dyed shirt-wearing hippie . These personas were known as the "Three Faces of Foley", with Cactus Jack making his debut in the WWF also in 1997. All three characters appeared in
16821-498: The WWF in January 2000, an incident which resulted in a number of firings amongst WCW management. With shakeups to WCW management becoming more and more frequent, the WCW talent began to lose any sense of leadership or direction, which in turn caused them to form bickering political cliques amongst themselves. In April 2000, WCW attempted to resolve its creative issues by asking Eric Bischoff to return but work alongside Vince Russo as
17010-616: The WWF owner as a father figure, into doing his bidding. McMahon created the WWF Hardcore Championship and awarded it to Mankind, making him the first-ever champion of the hardcore division. Mankind was then pushed as the favorite to win the WWF Championship at Survivor Series , as McMahon appeared to be manipulating the tournament so that Mankind would win. He and The Rock both reached the finals, where McMahon turned on Mankind. As The Rock placed Mankind in
17199-564: The WWF seizing back the ratings lead as well as WCW's own internal problem caused tension amongst both the on-screen talent and management. By November 1998 Kevin Nash had become head booker of WCW, overseeing the creative direction of both Nitro and Thunder . Nash's tenure was fraught with unpopular decisions, such as the move that saw the popular undefeated streak of WCW Champion Goldberg ended by Nash himself, who then became champion, only for Nash to then lay down for Hollywood Hogan and reform
17388-742: The WWF throughout 2001. The storyline began proper at the WWF Invasion pay-per-view, which received 775,000 buys and became one of the highest-grossing wrestling pay-per-views of all time. Although WWF was able to recruit many of those on the WCW roster at the time of the purchase, it was unable to secure the use of most of its top-level stars, as they were signed to long-term contracts with AOL-Time Warner rather than WCW. As such, these stars could remain inactive but still continue to be paid, and were not incentivized to join WWF until those contracts expired. It would not be until 2002 onwards that headline WCW stars such as Goldberg or Scott Steiner would join
17577-453: The WWF to fight a proxy war. They also alleged that they would soon be joined by a third major figure; this "third man" was eventually revealed to be Hulk Hogan at Bash at the Beach 1996 . A major advantage WCW Nitro initially had over WWF Raw was that Nitro was live-to-air every week, while Raw alternated between live episodes and ones taped in advance and aired the following week. Nitro ' s live atmosphere enhanced segments such as
17766-538: The WWF's first-ever empty arena match in Tucson, Arizona , on January 31. After 20 minutes of brawling in the ring, the empty grandstands, a kitchen, the arena's hallways, an office, and the catering hall, Mankind took a filthy sock off his foot and stuffed it into The Rock's mouth and then used a forklift to pin a subdued Rock in a basement loading area. The two then competed in a Last Man Standing match at St. Valentine's Day Massacre: In Your House , which ended without
17955-673: The WWF. The last SMW show was held on November 26, 1995 in Cookeville, 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 in Morganton, North Carolina on December 1, 1995, and at Cloudland High School in Roan Mountain, Tennessee the following night), and featured the entire SMW roster attacking Jim Cornette , who
18144-508: The World Wrestling Federation (WWF). This led to marquee names such as Hulk Hogan and "The Macho Man" Randy Savage joining WCW's ranks and helping to supplement its business. In 1995, during a face-to-face meeting with Ted Turner, Bischoff was able to convince Turner that in order for WCW to become competitive with the WWF, WCW would require an equivalent to WWF's new flagship cable show WWF Raw , which aired on
18333-410: The World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), and National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), as well as numerous promotions in Japan. He is widely regarded as one of the biggest stars of the Attitude Era and one of the greatest wrestlers in the history of professional wrestling, and headlined
18522-624: The X-Division was considered a direct spiritual successor to the style developed in the WCW Cruiserweight division and became influential in its own right. WWE and TNA/Impact have continued to experiment and use the Cruiserweight/X-Division concept on and off throughout the 2000s and 2010s and into the 2020s. Mid 20th Century 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s WCW
18711-529: The acquisition of WCW by WWF/WWE in 2001, WWE revived the Cruiserweight division in 2002 to be a feature of its Smackdown brand, with the WWE Cruiserweight Championship being deemed by the promotion to be the direct lineal successor to the WCW title. Simultaneously, the newly formed Total Nonstop Action wrestling promotion heavily featured their X Division , which did not limit participants by weight but rather by style. Nonetheless,
18900-409: The airport to take him back to his Long Island home, and immediately smelt something unusual. When Foley got home, his father and wife kept asking him about the awful smell, but he would not say anything, not wanting them to worry. After his father left, his wife persisted, so he revealed the burns to her. Foley continued wrestling in Japan, Later on, he teamed with Tracy Smothers , Tiger Jeet Singh ,
19089-450: The arena a minute or so before their match ended. Howard Finkel, the ring announcer there announced that Austin, who was the hottest wrestler in the WWE at the time would be making an appearance- and the crowd exploded at the news, and many rushed back to their seats. Foley later admitted that this crowd reaction emotionally hurt him, that his hard work could not compete with Austin's popularity and that he would be just another wrestler to face
19278-413: The arena's boiler room, the combatant also had to reach the ring and take the urn from Paul Bearer. After more than 20 minutes of brawling in the boiler room, the backstage corridors, and the entrance ramp, and both men taking some bumps involving metal trash cans, tables, ladders, metal poles, hot coffee, and the exposed concrete floor, The Undertaker appeared to have won, but Paul Bearer refused to hand him
19467-403: The arena's concrete floor. Barely five minutes after the first bump, Foley, with a separated shoulder, climbed back up to the top of the Cell structure after Terry Funk and others tried to stop him. The second bump, which was an unplanned botch , occurred when The Undertaker chokeslammed Foley and the fenced panel Foley landed on broke and gave way. Foley then plunged 13 feet (4.0 m) through
19656-496: The battle for the largest television audience. However, in June 1996, Nitro would begin a streak of 83 constructive victories over Raw , initially sparked by the start of the New World Order (nWo) storyline. The start of the nWo angle saw former WWF talent Scott Hall and Kevin Nash unexpectedly leave the WWF to come to Monday Nitro on consecutive episodes, and each time insinuate that they were there on behalf of
19845-496: 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. The gimmick, among other things, led to the end of the friendship between Cornette and Mark Madden and their ongoing feud to this day, as Madden--who at the time was coming off the heels of getting Bill Watts fired from WCW after informing Hank Aaron of Watts' employment within
20034-696: The circuit. WCW also had a presence in NASCAR from the mid-1990s to 2000, sponsoring the #29 team in the Busch Grand National Series full-time and the #9 Melling Racing team in the Winston Cup Series part-time. In 1996, Kyle Petty 's #49 car in the Busch Grand National series was sponsored by the nWo, and Greg Sacks briefly drove a WCW-sponsored for Galaxy Motorsports. Several WCW video games were made in
20223-423: The closure of WCW, several new professional wrestling promotions would launch featuring former talent associated with WCW. The most prominent of these, Total Nonstop Action (TNA), was founded by Jeff Jarrett in 2002 and would attempt to take over WCW's market position in the mid-to-late 2000s using some former WCW stars such as Sting. TNA would also adopt their own version of the Cruiserweight division, branded as
20412-466: The company in August 1989 after losing a loser leaves town match to Eric Embry in nine seconds. He then briefly competed in Alabama's Continental Wrestling Federation . In November 1989, Foley began wrestling for World Championship Wrestling (WCW) as "Cactus Jack". His debut match, which aired on NWA World Championship Wrestling , saw him partnered with a one-time jobber named Rick Fargo to face
20601-454: The company initially less dependent on the nWo storyline for ratings. However, beginning in Spring 1998, WCW began an angle which saw the nWo split into a heel faction, nWo Hollywood (centered around "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan), and the rival face nWo Wolfpac (consisting of stars such as Kevin Nash, Sting, Lex Luger and Konnan ). Speaking in hindsight in 2023, Eric Bischoff has said the angle
20790-512: The company solely as the NWA, reasoning that "it has become apparent that the NWA and the World Championship area are one and the same." By late 1988, JCP was financially struggling after further territory acquisitions. Ted Turner , the namesake principal owner of Turner Broadcasting System, formed a new subsidiary in October 1988 to acquire most of the assets of JCP. The acquisition was completed on November 2, 1988. While initially
20979-496: The company went from struggling financially as late as 1995 to generating $ 55 million in profit in 1998. December 1997's Starrcade pay-per-view (PPV) event became the highest-grossing PPV of all time for the company, thanks in large part to the show being billed as the culmination of a year-and-a-half feud between Sting and "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan. 1996 and 1997 had been banner years for WCW, with profits and popularity soaring. 1998 saw profits continue to rise. However, maintaining
21168-456: The company's megastar. Vince McMahon explained to Austin the next week that he would face a "mystery" opponent at Unforgiven: In Your House . That opponent turned out to be Dude Love, who won the match by disqualification, meaning that Austin retained the title. McMahon, displeased with the outcome, required Foley to prove he deserved another shot at Austin's title with a number one contenders match against his former partner, Terry Funk. The match
21357-615: The company. At the No Way Out pay-per-view in February 2002, WWE began their own version of the new World order centered around Hogan, Nash and Hall, but later incorporating former WCW stars the Giant (now known as the Big Show) and Booker T as well as WWE talent such as Shawn Michaels . Throughout the early 2000s, many former WCW headliners found it difficult to integrate into WWE, as there continued to be legitimate tensions between
21546-457: The company. Ted Turner, however, did not hold influence over Time Warner before the final merger of America Online (AOL) and Time Warner in 2001, and most offers were rejected. Eric Bischoff, working with Fusient Media Ventures, made a bid to acquire the company in January 2001. One of the primary backers in the WCW deal backed out after AOL Time Warner refused to allow WCW to continue airing on its networks, leaving Fusient to take that offer off
21735-505: The cruiserweight division and the talent represented therein probably had as much to do with the success of Nitro as the nWo storyline and Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall, and Kevin Nash. I don’t think people recognize it. The talent in that division not only helped Nitro consistently defeat WWE...that talent forced WWE, as much as the nWo, to change the way they were presenting the product. The Cruiserweight division would continue to directly influence North American wrestling for many decades. Following
21924-479: The end of WCW. In the spring of 1996, WCW introduced its "Cruiserweight division", a segmented portion of the roster featuring smaller, faster and more agile wrestlers that contrasted starkly, both visually and stylistically, with their heavyweight counterparts. Although weight categories were not a new concept in wrestling or even WCW, the WCW Cruiserweight Division was quickly able to form
22113-481: The entrance ramp; but, after the sixth shot, Foley was still at ringside and, even after Foley signaled to The Rock to hit him in the back, The Rock decided to keep to the match's brutal tone based on Foley's previous on-the-fly calling of similar shots on the spot, and he hit Foley five more times in the head until they got to the two-thirds mark. This match is featured in Barry Blaustein's documentary Beyond
22302-660: The events that became known as Black Saturday , in which GCW and its television program briefly came under the ownership of the WWF, the promotion was eventually purchased by Charlotte, North Carolina-based Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP), the promoter of the Mid-Atlantic territory immediately north of Georgia. Influential wrestling magazine Pro Wrestling Illustrated and its sister publications thereafter habitually referred to JCP as "World Championship Wrestling", "WCW" and most commonly "the World Championship area" and continued to do so until early 1988 when it began referring to
22491-551: The fans, who began cheering Mankind, even though he was still a heel at this point. Around this time, Stone Cold Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels won the WWF Tag Team Championships from Owen Hart and the British Bulldog , but Michaels was injured and could no longer compete. Mankind tried to replace him, but Austin said he wanted "nothing to do with a freak" and resigned himself to facing Hart and
22680-424: 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
22869-519: The first-ever buried alive match at In Your House 11: Buried Alive . Undertaker won the match, but Paul Bearer, the Executioner , Mankind and other heels attacked The Undertaker and buried him alive. Afterward, The Undertaker challenged Mankind to a match at Survivor Series 1996 , which the Undertaker won. The feud continued after another match at In Your House 14: Revenge of the 'Taker for
23058-400: The front furiously showed signs of disapproval at The Rock and shouted at him and the referee to stop the match. The match ended after Mankind lost consciousness, and The Rock's allies played a recording of Mankind saying "I Quit" from an earlier interview he did with Shane McMahon. Mankind won the title back in a rematch on Halftime Heat, which aired during halftime of Super Bowl XXXIII , in
23247-546: The innovations WCW had implemented and reapplying them to their own presentation, WWF began its " Attitude Era ". Building around newly emerging stars such as Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock , as well as WWF promoter Vince McMahon becoming a major on-screen character himself, the WWF finally ended Nitro ' s 83 weeks of ratings victories on April 13, 1998. For the next four months, Nitro and Raw would trade wins until October 26, 1998, when Nitro scored its last-ever ratings victory over Raw . The combined pressure of
23436-441: The job at the WWF after a dispute with Vince McMahon over work hours, and Ed Ferrera soon followed. Russo and Ferrera were heralded at the time as the main drivers in the turnaround at WWF over the previous two years with their writing philosophy of "Crash TV", a presentation style that emphasized Soap opera style storylines, lengthier non-wrestling segments, frequent heel/face turns, an increased amount of female representation on
23625-603: The larger companies' shows. This led to The Rock 'n' Roll Express wrestling The Heavenly Bodies ( Tom Prichard and Stan Lane ) at SuperBrawl III in February 1993. The Heavenly Bodies (Prichard and Jimmy Del Ray ) then faced The Steiner Brothers for the WWF Tag Team Championship at SummerSlam 1993 , and then defeating The Rock 'n' Roll Express at Survivor Series 1993 for the SMW Tag Team Championship . The promotion featured
23814-450: The last notable match Foley had as Cactus Jack in Japan was a "Caribbean barbed wire barricade glass deathmatch" against W*ING Kanemura , which Cactus won. In 1996, at the persistence of Jim Ross , whom Foley had known in his days in WCW, WWF head Vince McMahon had Foley sign a contract with WWF, and this time it wasn't to use Foley as " enhancement talent ". McMahon was not a fan of Cactus Jack and wanted to cover up Foley's face, so he
24003-436: The local styles were also able to thrive in the division. The division as a whole became a showcase of a fast-paced, aerial and athletic style of wrestling which became highly influential in both the short and long term in the industry. Eric Bischoff has credited with the division as becoming a defining feature of Monday Nitro that was as fundamental to the late 1990s popularity of WCW as the New World Order faction: I think
24192-434: The match ended when Gilbert threw Cactus into the ring ropes and he did a hangman — a planned move where a wrestler's head is tangled between the top two ring ropes – only this time his head was tangled with the ring ropes and barbed wire. The following month, at UWF's Beach Brawl pay-per-view, Foley teamed with Bob Orton in a loss to Wet 'n' Wild (Steve Ray and Sunny Beach ). In July and August 1991, Foley appeared with
24381-545: The match's no disqualification and no count-out rules. The objective of the match, in most cases, was to escape the boiler room first. On the April 1, 1996, episode of Monday Night Raw in San Bernardino, California , the day after WrestleMania XII , Mankind debuted on television and defeated Bob "Spark Plug" Holly , quickly moving into a feud with The Undertaker . At In Your House 7: Good Friends, Better Enemies later that month, The Undertaker defeated Mankind in
24570-575: The match, both men were covered in blood, ravaged by flesh cuts from the wire, and badly burned by the C-4 explosions. Foley later said that he only received $ 300 (equivalent to $ 600 in 2023) for the entire night. After the tournament, Foley's right arm had second-degree burns from the C-4 explosions from the match with Funk and his arm smelt of explosive chemicals. After a 14-hour flight from Tokyo 's Narita Airport to JFK Airport his father picked him up from
24759-453: The more cartoon-like presentation which had dominated wrestling in the 1980s and early 90s. An example of this shift in tone was seen in the transformation of top WCW star Sting over the course of 1996 following the start of the nWo angle, whose persona shifted from a colorful and cheerful clean-cut face to a dark, depressed and brooding antihero inspired by the 1994 film The Crow . Another major innovation occurring concurrently in WCW
24948-419: The negotiations, bringing the final tally of WCW's sale to $ 4.3 million. AOL Time Warner maintained its subsidiary, which reverted to its original legal name of Universal Wrestling Corporation, to deal with legal obligations and liabilities not acquired by the WWF. The UWC was listed as a subsidiary of Time Warner until 2017, when it was merged into Turner Broadcasting System. Some of the WCW wrestlers joined
25137-430: The network for the first time since WCW's closure. On January 5, 2022, Dynamite moved to TNT's sibling network, TBS, marking the first time TBS has aired wrestling programming since the March 21, 2001, episode of WCW Thunder . TNT has also broadcast AEW's second show, AEW Rampage , since August 13, 2021, and added another AEW show with the June 17, 2023, debut of AEW Collision . In 2020, AEW revived WCW's Bash at
25326-421: The other trucks is most prominent with Goldberg. Driven by to great success by Tom Meents (including Monster Jam World Finals championships both years the truck ran), after the end of the sponsorship Meents continued to run the truck as "Team Meents" in 2002 before debuting its new name Maximum Destruction in 2003. Max-D continues to compete in the series and rivals the legendary Grave Digger in popularity on
25515-507: The pay-per-view and winning the titles. Foley opted to wrestle and won his only championship in WCW, defeating the Nasty Boys in a " Broad Street Bully match " with Dave Schultz as the special guest referee. During Cactus Jack's reign as WCW World Tag Team Champion, WCW shared a brief co-promotion with ECW during this time in which Cactus Jack represented WCW on ECW Hardcore TV as the WCW Tag Team Champion, culminating in
25704-483: The point that they offered Foley a contract, and Foley finally found some financial stability after years of hardship. Over the following months, Cactus Jack would generally team with jobbers. When the jobber would lose the match for the team, Cactus Jack would attack his partner, throw them out of the ring, and deliver his infamous ring apron flying elbow drop onto the concrete floor. Foley's biggest match to date came in February 1990 against Mil Máscaras at Clash of
25893-479: The promotion's biggest towns included Knoxville, Tennessee , and Johnson City, Tennessee . SMW event tours also included high school gyms and fairs in cities throughout Tennessee , Kentucky , West Virginia , Virginia , and North Carolina . In 1993, Smoky Mountain Wrestling signed deals with World Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation to showcase their wrestlers on
26082-513: The quality of the shows became difficult, particularly after WCW's owners Time Warner Entertainment (who bought Turner Broadcasting System in 1996) ordered the creation of a second live cable WCW program WCW Thunder , to air on Thursdays on TBS Superstation starting on January 8, 1998 , as well as ordering a third hour to be added to Nitro ' s runtime. Nonetheless, the creation of new major headline babyface stars such as Diamond Dallas Page and Goldberg were causes for optimism, making
26271-592: The ratings indicate that large numbers of viewers switched from Nitro to Raw to see him win the title and took great personal pride from this – and WCW never beat the WWF in the television ratings ever again. Mankind lost the WWF Championship to The Rock in an "I Quit" match (a type of submission match ) at the Royal Rumble at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim, California , near Los Angeles , in what
26460-525: The ring names "Jack Foley" and "Nick Foley." Notably, a ring announcer once mispronounced Foley's last name as "Faley" before a match against Kamala on a 1987 episode of WWF Wrestling Challenge. In another match (the second episode of Superstars ), Foley and Les Thornton faced the British Bulldogs , during which the Dynamite Kid (who had a long earned reputation as a stiff worker in
26649-437: The ring) clotheslined Foley with such force that he was unable to eat solid food for several weeks. During these squash matches, Foley also faced other top-level talents at the time, such as Hercules Hernandez . His run would not last long, as he had not signed a contract with the promotion at the time. During this run, he was also billed from different hometowns and at different weights. After two years of relative obscurity on
26838-465: The rising tag team of brothers Rick Steiner and Scott Steiner – two of the stiffest and toughest workers in wrestling at the time. After taking brutal bumps from both Steiner brothers and losing the match, Cactus then began fighting with Fargo, and then jumped nearly 12 feet (3.7 m) off the apron to elbow Fargo in the abdomen, per Kevin Sullivan's instructions. Lead WCW booker Ric Flair , Sullivan, and other WCW executives were impressed with this to
27027-436: The ropes and fell out of the ring, his ears were badly split at the back. When Cactus re-entered the ring, the two wrestlers began trading blows. During this time, Vader reached up and grabbed Cactus's right ear, and ripped it off. The two men continued wrestling as the referee picked up the ear and gave it to the ring announcer. Vader claimed for years after that the ear had come off during the botched Hangman maneuver, however in
27216-461: The same month he began wrestling for Herb Abrams ' Reseda, California -based Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF), appearing on its UWF Fury Hour program. Foley wrestled for both the TWA and the UWF until March 1991. In March 1991, Foley (as Cactus Jack) made his first excursion to Japan, wrestling for Giant Baba 's All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) promotion as part of its Champion Carnival round-robin tournament . He scored zero points in
27405-493: The same time he was training the young Whipwreck. After a stint in Smoky Mountain Wrestling , Foley returned to ECW to feud with The Sandman . Funk returned to team up with Sandman, and during a particularly violent spot, the pair hit Cactus Jack with a kendo stick forty-six times in a barbed wire rope match. Cactus then defeated Funk at Hostile City Showdown 1995 . Later, he repeatedly fought Sandman for
27594-509: The seating area amongst the crowd, with folding chairs flying everywhere. After several brutal spots involving flaming chairs, flaming iron rods, Funk Hip-tossing Cactus into a flaming chair and Funk slamming Cactus's head into a wooden table, Funk reversed a Spinebuster by Cactus into a DDT and pinned him to win the match. In 2010 Foley wrote that, "looking back that match in Honjo is probably the performance I'm proudest of." Cactus Jack later began
27783-555: The show, expanded storyline depth, frequent title changes, and a greater focus on developing mid-card talent. The tenure of Russo and Ferrera at the creative helm of WCW was short-lived; by March 2000 the pair had been suspended from their positions as their provocative and edgy angles caused constant protest from AOL Time Warner executives. AOL and Time Warner had merged in January 2000 and, according to Bischoff and Russo, headquarters′ eagerness to tone down WCW had only grown more intense because of this. Mounting frustrations amongst
27972-527: The sock on his hand before applying his finisher, the Mandible Claw , stuffing a smelly sock in the mouths of opposing wrestlers. Mankind also became a smelly sock puppeteer, having the sock “speak” in a high-pitched voice. The sweatsock became massively popular with the fans, mainly because it was marketed (mostly by Jerry "The King" Lawler during the events) as being a dirty, smelly, sweaty, repulsive, and vile sock. McMahon manipulated Mankind, who saw
28161-471: The special referee. However, the Undertaker came to ringside to ensure McMahon called the match fairly, and with his presence, Dude Love lost the match and was "fired" by McMahon on the June 1 episode of Raw . On that same episode of Raw , Foley reverted to his Mankind character, who had become a more human and less creature-like character and began wearing an untucked dress shirt with a loose necktie, and also resumed his feud with The Undertaker. At King of
28350-435: The spot, and the audience's response to Smith's botch was "you fucked up". These incidents angered the normally jovial Foley so much that he furiously cut several memorable and scathing promos during this period to channel his intense frustration and anger toward ECW fans, who he felt asked too much from him and the ECW roster. Foley then began a gimmick where he criticized hardcore wrestling and sought to renounce his status as
28539-509: The subsidiary was incorporated as the "Universal Wrestling Corporation", following the purchase the decision was made to utilize the familiar "World Championship Wrestling" as the name for the promotion. In late Summer/early Autumn 1993, a behind-the-scenes dispute between WCW and the NWA Board of Directors over who had the right to authorize NWA World Heavyweight Championship title changes ultimately resulted in WCW formally withdrawing from
28728-523: The table while it attempted to bring a new deal around. In the meantime, Jamie Kellner was handed control over the Turner Broadcasting division in 2000, eventually succeeding Ted Turner on March 7, 2001. Along with AOL Time Warner, Kellner deemed WCW, along with Turner Sports as a whole, to be out of line with its image and saying that it "would not be favorable enough to get the 'right' advertisers to buy airtime" (even though Thunder
28917-399: The talent resulted in many leaving WCW for the WWF; The Giant and Chris Jericho were the first major talent to "jump" to the WWF in 1999, but they were soon followed by many others. Chris Benoit (WCW World Champion at the time), Dean Malenko , Eddie Guerrero and Perry Saturn , who performed together on WCW television as " The Revolution ", all collectively walked out of WCW and over to
29106-438: The thumb or palm of the same hand; clamping pressure is then applied between the fingers inside the mouth, and the thumb or palm under the jaw. If applied genuinely and correctly, it purportedly compresses the two nerves within the tissues of the mandible which render the opponent's jaw paralyzed, thus preventing the opponent from breaking the hold by biting the aggressing wrestler's fingers. Its proper application purportedly causes
29295-404: The tortured soul characteristics and became more of a goofy, broken down oaf. He began the transition into this character following SummerSlam in 1998 after Kane turned on him and the two lost the tag team championships. The following month, Foley began an angle with Vince McMahon, with Mankind trying to be a friend to the hated Mr. McMahon. On the October 5 episode of Raw is War , while McMahon
29484-719: The tournament, losing to Jumbo Tsuruta , Danny Spivey , Johnny Smith , Toshiaki Kawada , Akira Taue , and Danny Kroffat . In addition to competing in the tournament, Foley and Texas Terminator Hoss wrestled several tag team matches, facing opponents including André the Giant , Dory Funk Jr. , Terry Funk , and Johnny Ace . During one bout, Foley accidentally broke the elbow of Ace – the favorite wrestler of Giant Baba's wife – which Foley attributes to his not being invited back to AJPW, coupled with Baba's reservations about Foley's dress sense and wrestling style (which had drawn unwelcome comparisons to Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling , regarded by Baba as garbage wrestling ). Returning to
29673-432: The two groups. Former WCW performers such as Diamond Dallas Page (who had accepted a WWF contract in 2001) were perceived to be intentionally poorly used as part of a "victory lap" by WWF. In turn, this dissuaded some WCW stars from trusting WWE; for example, Sting choose to remain out of WWE until 2014, and even when he did join, WWE was criticised using Sting to perform yet another victory lap at WrestleMania 31 . After
29862-467: The two promotions, each one attempting to produce the best television show possible each week, led to an explosion in the popularity of professional wrestling in the United States and in hindsight is widely considered a golden era. WCW Monday Nitro proved a success for the company, which was immediately able to create a television audience of an equivalent size to WWF Raw . Between September 1995 and May 1996, Nitro and Raw regularly traded victories in
30051-455: The urn, allowing Mankind to win, thus (for the time being) ending the relationship between Paul and The Undertaker. While Paul Bearer was Mankind's manager, Mankind referred to him as "Uncle Paul". Mankind then became the number one contender to face the then WWF Champion Shawn Michaels at In Your House: Mind Games . Michaels won by disqualification via interference by Vader and The Undertaker. The Mankind and Undertaker rivalry continued with
30240-454: The wheel stopping at this match choice. Race won the match for Vader by using a stun gun on Cactus, knocking him out. The level of violence and brutality involved in this match left the crowd and commentators Tony Schiavone and Jesse Ventura in stunned disbelief; both did not commentate much throughout the second half of the match. It also caused WCW, a promotion marketing itself as family friendly to refuse to book Cactus Jack against Vader on
30429-450: Was "Have a nice day!" and his association with boiler rooms led to his specialty match, dubbed the boiler room brawl . This specialty match is chaotic and dangerous with significant violent use of weaponry all taking place inside an arena's mechanical/boiler room. Combatants involved made use of everything from foreign objects to all sorts of exposed metal piping with large bolts, concrete flooring to solid electrical equipment, all allowed by
30618-487: Was Chris Candido, who defended his title mostly at SMW events. 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. However in April 1995, The Rock 'n' Roll Express won the NWA World Tag Team Championship for
30807-432: Was a Buried Alive match that pitted the Rock 'n' Sock Connection against The Undertaker and The Big Show, who were out for revenge after losing the tag titles one week earlier. This match included a spot where The Big Show tossed Mankind off the stage, landing hard on the dirt and falling into the grave- Mankind traveled nearly 25 feet (7.6 m) in total. Foley then helped Raw is War achieve its highest ratings ever with
30996-550: Was a classmate and wrestling teammate of actor Kevin James . In October 1983, while a student at the State University of New York at Cortland , Foley hitchhiked to Madison Square Garden to see his favorite wrestler, "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka , in a steel cage match against Don Muraco . He has said that Snuka's flying body splash from the top of the cage inspired him to pursue a career in professional wrestling. He had
31185-471: Was a television show produced by Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW) since 1982. Jim Barnett (who had briefly owned the Australian promotion of that name ) came to Atlanta in the 1970s during an internal struggle for control of GCW. Barnett ultimately became majority owner of the promotion, and began using his previous promotion's name for GCW's weekly Saturday television program in 1982. Following
31374-605: Was against Whipwreck on March 9, 1996, at Big Ass Extreme Bash , and he recounts that he was not looking forward to it due to the increasingly hostile reactions he got even when he wasn't in character. The ECW fans, who knew that this was Foley's last match, finally returned his affection. They cheered him throughout the match and chanted, "Please don't go!". After the match, Foley told the audience that their reaction made everything worthwhile and made his exit by dancing with Stevie Richards and The Blue Meanie to Frank Sinatra 's song " New York, New York ". Foley has said that this exit
31563-634: Was at a much higher level than in Western promotions (except for ECW), something Western wrestlers were not accustomed to. Cactus faced Funk in a No Ropes Barbed Wire Scramble Bunkhouse Deathmatch at the Honjo Gymnasium in Saitama , just north of Tokyo in front of 150 people in a match that involved barbed wire as the ring ropes and objects set on fire. This turned out to be a particularly chaotic and brutal match where Foley and Funk mostly brawled in
31752-558: Was both the WWF's first-ever " hardcore match " and the first time that Foley wrestled under his name. Foley won, and after the match, a proud McMahon came out to Dude Love's music and presented Foley with the Dude Love costume. At Over the Edge: In Your House , Dude Love took on Austin for the title. McMahon designated his subordinates Gerald Brisco and Pat Patterson as the timekeeper and ring announcer and made himself
31941-449: Was broadcast on January 4, 1999, so that is the date WWE recognizes as beginning the title run. Having title changes on broadcast television rather than pay-per-view was uncommon in professional wrestling, but because of the Monday Night War , television ratings became more important. The head of rival promotion WCW Eric Bischoff , attempting to take advantage of the fact that their show Monday Nitro aired live while Mankind's title victory
32130-559: Was disgruntled by the commentary of Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan , which failed to reference the events of the prior year. Frustrated by WCW and the company's new head Eric Bischoff 's reluctance to work a storyline with Vader around losing his ear. This frustration turned into a realization for Foley- after being unable to see a positive or lucrative future for himself with Bischoff in charge, Foley decided not to renew his contract with WCW. At Spring Stampede in April 1994, Cactus Jack and Maxx Payne faced WCW World Tag Team Champions
32319-457: Was explained with a farcical comedy storyline in which he went crazy, was institutionalized, then escaped, and then developed amnesia. Foley had wanted the injury storyline to be serious and generate genuine sympathy for him before his return. The comedy vignettes that WCW produced instead were so bad that Foley jokes in Have a Nice Day that they were the brainchild of WCW executives who regarded
32508-416: Was extremely influential within professional wrestling in the 1990s and several elements innovated and introduced by WCW would continue to be used in professional wrestling decades after its closure. In the immediate aftermath of WWF's purchase of WCW, a significant portion of WCW's active roster was integrated into the WWF. These former WCW talents would be used as part of a "WCW vs WWF" storyline that ran in
32697-520: Was his favorite moment in wrestling. In 1995, during his time in ECW and other promotions in the United States, Foley also went to Japan and wrestled in International Wrestling Association of Japan (IWA Japan), where he engaged in feuds with Terry Funk and Shoji Nakamaki. During his brief stint in Japan, Foley had the nickname "Tsunami Stopper." The level of violence and brutality in hardcore wrestling matches in Japan
32886-446: Was in a hospital nursing wounds suffered at the hands of The Undertaker and Kane, Mankind arrived with a female clown called Yurple in an attempt to cheer him up. Having succeeded only in irritating McMahon, Mankind then took a disgusting sock off his foot and placed it on his hand to create a sock puppet named "Mr. Socko". Intended to be a one-time joke and suggested by Al Snow , Socko became an overnight sensation. Mankind began putting
33075-521: Was later known as Clash of Champions , similarly named from WCW's Clash of the Champions . In 2017, WWE held its first annual NXT WarGames event for its NXT brand , with that's year's event featuring the first WarGames match since the September 4, 2000, episode of Nitro . In 2019, new promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW) formed a partnership with WarnerMedia to air their flagship show, AEW Dynamite , on TNT, returning professional wrestling to
33264-428: Was leaving to join the WWF (In Have a Nice Day , Foley recounted an incident where he asked an ECW roadie to sell T-shirts for him at an event held in a Queens, New York venue where he had been popular even as a heel; the man came back after being spat upon numerous times by angry fans, who made him fear for his life ). Even when he tried to give sincere good-byes to the fans, Foley was met with chants of "You sold out" by
33453-516: Was not financially successful. Cornette eventually signed a working agreement with the World 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 that Mick Foley described as " old-time fans...who still believed in good guys and bad guys, and to whom cheating
33642-415: Was one of the two top professional wrestling promotions in the United States alongside the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE), at one point surpassing the latter in terms of popularity. After initial success through utilization of established wrestling stars of the 1980s, the company appointed Eric Bischoff to executive producer of television in 1993. Under Bischoff's leadership, the company enjoyed
33831-486: Was presented by Dwayne Johnson and featured former WCW personalities including Bill Goldberg , Eric Bischoff , Bret Hart , Booker T , Kevin Nash , amongst others. From 2000 to 2001, Monster Jam had a series of monster trucks based on wrestlers' names. These included the nWo , Sting , Nitro Machine, Madusa and Goldberg . Following the end of WCW, Debrah Miceli , the only one of the truck's namesakes to actually drive them, remained in monster trucks. The legacy of
34020-554: Was quieter, he was now outwardly maniacal; laughing hysterically, shrieking into the air while choking his opponents and yelling his signature catchphrase "Bang-Bang!". At Clash of the Champions XX in September 1992, Cactus Jack unsuccessfully challenged Ron Simmons for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. After spending a year and a half with WCW as a heel, Cactus Jack transitioned into
34209-487: Was rushed, ill-conceived and had no long-term direction. By this point, many critics began to argue that WCW was now completely overreliant on the nWo storyline and unable to pivot to a new grand concept. Additionally, beginning in the summer of 1998, Bischoff has claimed that Time Warner Entertainment management began to increasingly micromanage WCW and meddle in its presentation. Executives at Time Warner Entertainment began to increasingly advocate that WCW should pivot to more
34398-544: Was seen live by tens of thousands of people, and each level of the tournament featured a new and deadly gimmick : Cactus Jack's first-round during the day was a barbed-wire baseball bat, thumbtack deathmatch, in which he defeated Terry Gordy; the second round was a barbed-wire board, bed of nails match where Cactus Jack defeated Shoji Nakamaki. At night against Terry Funk, the final was a barbed-wire rope, exploding barbed wire boards and exploding ring time bomb deathmatch, which Cactus Jack won with help from Tiger Jeet Singh . After
34587-493: Was shown several designs for a new heel character–a man with a leather mask and chains, called "Mason the Mutilator". However, WWF decided that character as a whole was too dark and only kept the mask. Although interested in the concept of the character, Foley did not like the name, so he came up with the new name "Mankind", which McMahon liked and approved of. Mankind was an eerie and mentally deranged miscreant who dwelled in
34776-583: Was shut down, and the WWF purchased select WCW assets in 2001, including its video library, intellectual property (including the WCW name and championships), and some wrestler contracts. The corporate subsidiary, which was retained to deal with legal obligations and reverted to the Universal Wrestling Corporation name, officially became defunct in 2017. Its headquarters were located in Smyrna, Georgia . "World Championship Wrestling"
34965-490: 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 to ECW , in which edgy angles , " tweeners " and anti-heroes increasingly took precedence over clearcut heroes and villains. Smoky Mountain was, however,
35154-538: Was taped the week before, had announcer Tony Schiavone reveal the ending of the Mankind-Rock match before it aired. He then added sarcastically, "That's gonna put some butts in the seats." The move backfired for WCW, as Nielsen ratings showed that Raw won the ratings battle that night, despite the Hulk Hogan vs. Kevin Nash main event which led to the reformation of the New World Order (nWo). Foley said that
35343-515: Was the highest-rated show on TBS at the time). As a result, WCW programming was cancelled on TBS and TNT . Another factor in Kellner's decision to cancel all WCW programming was the terms of the company's purchase deal with Fusient, which included giving Fusient control over time slots on TNT and TBS even if those slots did not air WCW programming. WCW's losses were then written off via purchase accounting. The cancellation of WCW programming left
35532-532: Was the introduction of the Cruiserweight division, which saw the introduction of smaller, more agile and more athletic wrestlers performing fast-paced, high-flying dangerous matches on WCW shows. This added another unique element to WCW shows that helped propel their surging popularity. The combination of a more adult-orientated presentation, live and unedited television, more reality-based storylines, new top-level talent, new and intriguing characters, and more varied in-ring action saw WCW's fortunes dramatically shift;
35721-553: Was then pinned by referee Mark Curtis . Several SMW wrestlers would soon obtain work in the WWF, including Tracy Smothers , The Dirty White Boy , and Boo Bradley . WWE now owns the SMW video library . Both Curtis Comes Home and the 2005 sequel show , held in memory of SMW head referee Mark Curtis are considered "unofficial" reunion shows. Smoky Mountain Wrestling held a variety of professional wrestling tournaments between 1992 and 1995 that were competed for by wrestlers that were
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