Boon

Southern States Wrestling Thursday 9th August 1984 Florence-Lauderdale Coliseum, Florence, AL Bell Time 7.30pm Attandance 850 Current Champions Southern States Heavyweight Champion : Scott Armstrong Southern States Tag Team Champions: Mike Davis & Tommy Lane After a several month absence Southern States Wrestling returns, Ron Fuller sold his share to his cousin Roy Lee Welch who will now be 49% stake holder in the company alongside Les Thatcher. The plan is to run in northern Alabama and East Tennessee and the promotion will be heavily linked to Smoky Mountain Wrestling. 1. Greg Cooley defeats Steven Dunn in 7 minutes with a running forearm, as can be expected the match was very sloppy from the outset due to the inexperience of both guys. - 2. Shawn Michaels defeats Thunderfoot (Gene Ligon under a mask) in 8 minutes with a piledriver. This is possibly the rookie Shawn Michaels first singles victory, note it down, he could be a star one day. - 3. Johnny Rich and Dirty Rhodes go to a 20 minute time limit draw. - 4. "Toy Boy" Tony defeats Gene Ligon in 8 minutes following a neckbreaker he's calling Goodnight Irene. Gene Ligon was pulling double duty here as he had wrestled under the mask earlier this evening. - 5. The Southern Boys (Billy Travis and Tracy Smothers) defeat Southern States Tag Team Champions The Rock N Roll RPMs (Tommy Lane and Mike Davis) in a 2-out-of-3 falls match which lasted 22 minutes. The RPMs won the first fall when Lane had his feet on the ropes and pinned Travis at 16:09. Smothers pinned Lane following a quick roll up at 16:15. And the final fall came when Travis sunset flipped Davis and Smothers gave him a drop kick to send him over and the 3 count followed to crown new Southern States Tag Team Champions at 22:09. - 6. "Rotten" Ron Starr defeats Southern States Heavyweight Champions Scott Armstrong when Starr DDT'd Armstrong on to the title belt and covered him for the 3 count and the title at 16 minutes.

Monday 6th August 1984 Knoxville Civic Auditorium, Knoxville, TN Bell Time 19:30 1. The Devils Duo (Jeff Sword and Doug Vines) and The Wild Hoggs (JR Hogg and LK Hogg) defeat the Southern Boys (Tracy Smothers and Billy Travis) and The Masked Commandos (Josh Stroud and Larry Hamilton) in 9 minutes when Jeff Sword pinned Commando #2 (Josh Stroud) withhold having his legs on the ropes following a power slam. 2. Roy Lee Welch came to the ring and announced the start of his "Welch Submission Invitational", he explained the rules of the contest, if a wrestler could last 10 minutes without submitting or actually win the contest they would receive $500. Roy Lee Welch defeated Greg Cooley in 6 minutes with the Fuller Leg Lock. Cooley doesn't receive $500. 3. Ron Starr defeats Dirty Rhodes in 11 minutes following a DDT and pinful. As Starr made his way to the ring he was jumped by Rhodes in the aisle which lead to him dominating the beginning of the match. This was until a miscue from Rhodes when charging Starr in the corner which turn the match into Starr's favour and ultimately the victory for Starr. 4. Pez Whatley and Phil Hickerson went to a double DQ after both men refused to return to the ring and brawled all around the arena. The match went 10 before being thrown out. 5. The Flame defeated Ken Lucas in 12 minutes following a Samoan drop to Lucas and the pin for the victory. Following the match Dirty Rhodes and Phil Hickerson charged the ring to gang up on Lucas and give him a beat down only for Pez Whatley and Ron Starr to run to the ring and clean house and save their friend Ken Lucas. 6. Johnny Rich defeats Smoky Mountian Heavyweight Champion Tom Pritchard in 23 minutes via count out. A very even match with several close falls, towards the 20 minute mark Pritchard was visibly getting frustrated with not being able to get the victory and Rich was starting to get closer to victory, Pritchard decides that the best action is too walk away with his valet Sunshine and his title and gets himself counted out. 7. Smoky Mountian Tag Team Champions Lanny Poffo and George Weingroff defeat the Rock N Roll RPMs (Mike Davis and Tommy Lane) in 28 minutes following a victory roll from Lanny Poffo to Tommy Lane for the 3 count.

Portland starting to take shape and build an indentity. Like the team of Cocoa Samoa and Tonga Kid. I like the fact you have several "junior" type wrestlers that can have good matches on the undercard like Horner, Jackson, Rose, Zumhoffe and wrestlers like Embry and Tonga Kid who can flick in...

That would be great! Really any indie around during that time is cool, IWA-MS, ECWA, APW or whatever. Even if they didn't debut till later like PWG that is all good. ECWA is northeast right? I'll do them.. Yep, also gives you the yearly Super 8 tournament, which was a big annual one night deal. Actually a decent roster to protect guys form too: Lance Diamond (Simon Diamond) Ace Darling Kid Flash (Billy Kidman) Steve Corino Cheetah Master Devon Storm Plus.......... The Bushwhackers! Cool, looks like I'll book ECWA

Plenty on free agency my friend, here's a list of some... Art Crews - PNW Rookie of the year in 1981 Stan Stasiak - although getting on, was a legend in the area win the title 6 times and tag titles 8 times. I booked him in a return to glory angle a few years back when I was booking Portland. Billy White Cloud - had a run in 82-83 in Portland. Chris Colt - had long run in the promotion off and on from 79-87. Timothy Flowers - brief run in 85-86. Steve Regal - former heavyweight and tag champ with Matt Borne. Edit - few more.. Buck Ramstead - Seems to be a jobber at this point but did wrestle here in the 1970s. Mr Ebony (Tom Jones) - won tag titles twice with Mike Miller Steve Pardee - won the tag titles with Brett Wayne Sawyer in 1983. Sivi Afi - Decent hand Tio & Tapu - if you fancy more Samoan savages

That would be great! Really any indie around during that time is cool, IWA-MS, ECWA, APW or whatever. Even if they didn't debut till later like PWG that is all good. ECWA is northeast right? I'll do them..

I'd be happy to book the odd Indy show, maybe 1 a month...

All original ideas, I swear...

Smoky Mountain Power Hour Saturday 4th August 1984 Knoxville Civic Coliseum Ballroom Taped in front of a live studio audience at the Civic Coliseum Ballroom, in Knoxville, TN Hosted by Rick Stewart and Les Thatcher Smoky Mountain Heavyweight Champion - Tom Pritchard Smoky Mountain Tag Team Champions - Lanny Poffo & George Weingroff The opening credits roll and we join Rick Stewart and Les Thatcher who welcome the fans in the Knoxville Civic Coliseum Ball Room and the fans at home to exciting hour of wrestling on Smoky Mountain Power Hour. Your host’s Rick Stewart and Les Thatcher run down the past week’s events around the Smoky Mountain Wrestling territory including the crowning of two new champions, on Monday night Tom Pritchard defeated Johnny Rich to become the first Smoky Mountain Wrestling Heavyweight Champion here in Knoxville, and then if that wasn’t enough last night in Johnson City we crowned Lanny Poffo and George Weingroff the new Smoky Mountain Wrestling Tag Team Champions after defeating the Rock N Roll RPM’s. At this point the Rock N Roll RPM’s, Tommy Lane and Mike Davis storm out from the back towards the announcers table, Lane and Davis tell Thatcher and Stewart that they were robbed last night and they are demanding a rematch this Monday night at the Civic Auditorium. Les Thatcher says that they can have their rematch if they can beat the new team to the area, The Southern Boys, Tracy Smothers and Billy Travis, Davis tells Thatcher that they will make light work of the Southern Boys and move onto Poffo and Weingroff. === Run down of this week’s action coming to Smoky Mountain area === We return from the commercial break with The Southern Boys Tracy Smothers and Billy Travis in one corner and The Rock N Roll RPM’s in the other, the referee calls for the bell and we are off with our first match this week. The rookie team of Travis and Smothers make a good account of themselves but the RPMs are just too much for them and get the win following a piledriver from Davis to Travis and the pinful for the win in 4 minutes. Davis and Lane march towards the announcer’s desk and ask Thatcher if that was proof there are the best tag team in Smoky Mountain Wrestling. === Commercial === The next contest see’s The Flame take on youngster Greg Cooley. The veteran Flame makes light work of Cooley but refuses to pin the rookie, even though he’s in full control he continues to toy with the young Cooley. Finally after several minutes of domination, The Flame hits a massive samoan drop and covers Cooley for victory at 7 minutes. As if the victory wasn’t enough for The Flame, he continues his attack after the bell, until Ken Lucas runs to the ring to make the save. Lucas fights off The Flame, as he retreats to the back. Ken Lucas checks on Greg Cooley and then makes his way over to the announcers table, and tells The Flame he should learn to pick on someone his own size and tells Les Thatcher he wants The Flame this Monday night, Thatcher says he doesn’t see why he can’t and makes the match. === Run down of this week’s action coming to Smoky Mountain area === Following the commercial we have Steven Dunn in the ring when Johnny Rich makes his way to the ring. Johnny Rich was the runner up in the heavyweight title tournament, Pritchard’s valet Sunshine got involved and hit Rich with her purse. Rich gets into the ring for the introductions, the bell rings and this contest is under way, when Sunshine comes to the announcers table and tells Thatcher and Stewart that her man, the champ, Tom Pritchard will be having a celebration party at the end of the show, and everyone is invited but only if they have been Smoky Mountain Heavyweight champion, which means that loser Rich is definitely not invited, she then leaves Rick and Les to commentate on the contest. Back in the ring we have a back and forth contest when after 6 minutes Johnny Rich gets the wins following a Thesz Press to Dunn and the pin for the win. Following the match Johnny Rich tells Thatcher and Stewart, he may have had a setback this past week but he will become heavyweight champion. === Commercial === Next up we have Tony Falk in the ring waiting on his opponent, when making his way from the changing rooms too much fanfare is “Pistol” Pez Whatley. Whatley is slapping hands with the fans and rolls into the ring, only for Falk to try a quick attack, it doesn’t take long for Whatley to take control and he finishes off Falk in 4 minutes following a diving head butt of the top rope followed by the cover for the victory. Following the bell, Phil Hickerson and Dirty Rhodes storm the ring and attack Pez Whatley, Whatley and Hickerson went to a double count out during the heavyweight title tournament this past Monday, Rhodes and Hickerson leave a beaten down Whatley in the middle of the ring after their double team attack. They then both make their way to the announcers table, and Hickerson tells Rick Stewart and Les Thatcher that what they just saw was a receipt for Whatley costing Hickerson the heavyweight title last week, but it’s a receipt that’s not completely refunded yet and Whatley will get the full amount paid back over time. === Run down of this week’s action coming to Smoky Mountain area === Following then run down of this week’s shows we pan to the ring where there are balloons tied to the ropes and streamers everywhere. Sunshine is standing in the middle of the ring as she introduces her man Tom Pritchard the new Smoky Mountain Heavyweight Champion. Pritchard makes his way to the ring to a wall of boos from the fans. Pritchard gets in the ring and thanks Sunshine for putting on such a spread, he tells the fans that this is a title he wont give up, no longer is he a tag wrestler, no longer is he the stable mate, he is now the main event, and going forward he'll be known as "The Star Attraction" Tom Pritchard, with his Sunshine by his side, as he puts his arm round Sunshine, we will conquer the world. Pritchard says to Sunshine he has her a little something for her as she broke hers, he goes to the corner of the ring and passes Sunshine a present, Sunshine opens it to reveal a new purse, she throws her arms up and hugs Pritchard. Tom Pritchard opens the ropes for Sunshine to leave the ring, as she exits, Pritchard turns around to grab his belt, meanwhile Johnny Rich has slipped into the ring from nowhere and clocks Pritchard with a right hand which knocks him down. Rich jumps on top of him, giving him lefts and rights until a sea of wrestlers come from the back to pull him off. The wrestlers keep them apart as the closing credits roll. Rick Stewart thanks the fans for tuning in. === Show ends ===

Love this little bit of extra. Territory always working...

I don't know, a wild George Steele could cause at last 10-15 minutes worth of carnage outside of the body of the match..

No doubt Martell would of taken a beating in the ring with Steele 40 plus minutes, like Fenton said, would love to have see it.

Ron Starr is actually a pretty darn good wrestler but I don't think I would have done much with him if this awesome picture of Great Mephisto hadn't given me the idea of having a wrestler get corrupted by Sheik Adnan with the promise of a harem. That was my plan for Ron Starr since his first appearance in Southwest. As far as lead babyfaces go, my top babyface act has always been The Fabs. They are the act that in my head I've been relying on to sell tickets even though they aren't always in the last match on the cards. And Duggan can still be the top singles babyface even if he's not directly in the title hunt. The funny thing about him in Mid-South is that after JYD left he was pretty much always the top singles babyface until he left for WWF but he was very rarely wrestling for the North American Title. The Fabs were a draw in 1983/84, and could of been anyway in the country, draws don't need to be top of the card, Hogan is a fine example of this. Ron Starr is a very good wrestler and I'll be booking him that way in my new fed, not so great at promos but a great hand in the ring from what I've seen...

He's definitely the most "unknown" guy who got a big push in the 1983 project (with Mike Masters maybe being #2) but my whole outlook on it was that if you had an entirely new set of bookers take over in July of 1983 then you would have wound up with a least a few guys getting pushes that didn't get them in real life. I watched every piece of footage I could find on El Gran Apollo before deciding to run with him though and I think he could have realistically lived up to the things I've had him doing, with the Apollo/Mascaras vs. Gino & Tully match that popped up on NWA Demand being a nice confirmation of that. The only thing I think I've had him do that he probably couldn't have actually done is cut halfway decent promos in English. But in this reality I've also had someone bilingual riding with him to help teach him English. Now whether he manages to actually beat Saito for the Southwest Title remains to be seen but he's at least proven himself to be able to go toe to toe with the champ. Definitely put him over, but like you say whether he wins or not, is probably another question. I'm assuming you will need a new lead babyface come your next lot of shows anyway, especially with Duggan feuding with Starr (another one of your pet projects).

I remember you telling me about how you were going to push El Gran Apollo last July, and it looks like he's almost at the top of the mountain against all the adversity over the past 6-9 months...

You've got plenty of great talent, especially for the Portland area, a bit of research and YouTube watching and youll know you have.

Too be honest, the original plan was the RPMs but the expansion lead to a change of plans, I'm pretty certain RPMs won't be far from the title picture.

Wow the fans in Eugene got a hell of a show, almost 4 hours of action, great stuff..

Chaos in the Omni not for the first time this year inside a cage, loved the finished.

Friday 3rd August 1984 Recreation Centre, Johnson City, TN Bell Time 19:30 1. Semi-Final - The Rock N Roll RPMs (Tommy Lane and Mike Davis) defeat The Masked Commandos (Josh Stroud and Larry Hamilton) in 12 minutes, following a top rope leg drop from Tommy Lane to Commando #1 and covers him for the 3 count. 2. Semi-Final - Lanny Poffo and George Weingroff defeat The Devils Duo (Jeff Sword and Doug Vines) in 8 minutes, when Poffo took Sword down with a head scissors and held on for Sword to submit. 3. Pez Whatley and Phil Hickerson go to a double count-out when both men brawled on the outside leaving the referee no other option but to count both men out at 9 minutes. 4. Johnny Rich and Ken Lucas defeat The Flame and Dirty Rhodes following a flying cross body block from Johnny Rich to Dirty Rhodes and covers him for the 3 count and the victory for his team in 12 minutes. 5. Smoky Mountain Heavyweight Champion Tom Pritchard w/ Sunshine defeats Ron Starr in 24 minutes in a very competitive match. Pritchard got the win following a roll up where he held Starr's trunks for extra leverage and the win. 6. Final - Lanny Poffo and George Weingroff defeat The Rock N Roll RPMs (Tommy Lane and Mike Davis) in 18 minutes when Lanny Poffo whipped Tommy Lane into a drop kick from George Weingroff followed by the pin in a fun match. Lane and Davis using several time wasting tactics, which ultimately backfired on the RPMs and Poffo and Weingroff are crowned new Smoky Mountain Tag Team Champions.

Can't see Don Bass on anyone's roster? If no one has him I'd like to pick him up.

I know you weren't. I was trying to keep the her gimmick up across territories in this projects timeline, also mentioned her run in Southwest in my dirtsheet post.

Paying homage and adding continuanatily.

Monday 30th July 1984 Knoxville Civic Auditorium, Knoxville, TN Bell Time 19:30 In a packed house at the Knoxville Civic Auditorium in Knoxville, Tennessee, this is the debut show of Smoky Mountains Wrestling. Les Thatcher is standing in the centre of the ring as he welcomes the near 5000 fans in attendance, Thatcher describes how tonight they will see the crowning of a new Smoky Mountain Wrestling Heavyweight Champions in an 8 man single elimination tournament. Thatcher also reminds the fans to watch out for Smoky Mountain Wrestling’s All Star Wrestling which starts this Saturday morning and for fans to check their local listings. 1 - 1st Round – Johnny Rich defeats Dirty Rhodes in 8 minutes following a running cross body block. Before the opening bell Rhodes jumped Rich and began to beat him down and demanded the referee rings the bell to start the match. Rich took quite the beating in the opening few minutes after Rhodes attack got him the advantage early on only for Rich to hit a flying cross body out of nowhere and the cover for the 3 count. 2 - 1st Round – The Flame defeats Ken Lucas with a loaded mask head butt to Lucas’s face at 6 minutes. Two local legends fought it out in a heat filled match. The Flame up to his usual shenanigans pulled something from his tights and slipped it into his mask and used it to knock Ken Lucas out and cover him for the pinful victory. 3 - 1st Round – Tom Pritchard defeats Ron Starr in 13 minutes following a superkick after Starr was distracted by Pritchards valet Sunshine. This was very competitive match which had several near falls and could of gone either way but in the end it needed Sunshine to get involved for Tom Pritchard to get the win and advance to the semi-finals. 4 - 1st Round – Pez Whatley and Phil Hickerson go to a double count out at 5 minutes. From the bell these two just went at one another brawling all-round the ring on the outside. Finally after the referee tried to get both men back into the ring, finally he counted to ten ad the match ended in a double count out. Which in turn means Tom Pritchard advances to the finals. 5 - Semi-Final – Johnny Rich defeats The Flame in 11 minutes when he caught The Flame off guard and pinned him following a sun set flip from the apron over the top rope. Following the bell The Flame continued his beat down of Johnny Rich delivery 3 samoan drops before 4 referee’s had to remove The Flame from the ring. 6 - The Rock N Roll RPM’s, Tommy Lane and Mike Davis defeat The Masked Commandos (Josh Stroud and Larry Hamilton) in 10 minutes following a Tombstone Piledriver delivered from Mike Davis to Commando #1 followed by the pin. 7 - Final – Tom Pritchard with Sunshine defeat Johnny Rich in 17 minutes following an inside cradle after Sunshine hit Rich with her purse which was clearly loaded. Johnny Rich came to the ring with his ribs taped up following the beat down following his win over The Flame in the semi-finals, Tom Pritchard accompanied by his valet Sunshine looking a lot fresher due to not having to compete in the semi-final due to the draw in the first round between Pez Whatley and Phil Hickerson. Johnny Rich showed great fight and character to stay in this as long as he did but Pritchard and Sunshine numbers game was just too much for Rich and Tom Pritchard got the win when he distracted the referee and Sunshine hit Johnny Rich over the head with her purse and Rich span round and walked straight into a superkick followed by the cover for the victory. Both Pritchard and Sunshine celebrate in the ring, while the medical staff look over Rich.

Smoky Moutain/East Tennesse - Well what a weekend makes to the changes in the wrestling world in Knoxville, out go some of big names in Matt Borne, Billy Spears and Dan Spivey and in come Sunshine (amazing run down in Texas last year and early this year with Southwest Championship Wrestling working with Tully Blanchard and the late David Von Erich), Johnny Rich (almost a year spent at the top of the card in Alabama with the Fullers going head to head with the Studd Stable and then "Bullet" Bob Armstrong) and also Tom Pritchard (one have of the Heavenly Bodies with Bobby Eaton and Jim Cornette in a successful run in Alabama, Georgia and the AWA in the past year). - Also coming in are the trio from the now defunct ICW in Lanny Poffo, Pez Whately and George Weingroff. All 3 men have superb talent and add a lot to the roster. Expect Angelo Poffo to come in also in some shape or form. - Tonight's show looks stacked with a 7 match card with a new Smoky Moutain Heavyweight Champion being crowned. We are hearing word the direction of the company has change with recent additions. - How long will Smoky Mouthain be out in the wilderness when it comes to a governing body? We know for a fact USWA has been in contact due to the geographical location of CWA but on the other side of the territory they have Mid Atlantic which is the NWA big boy and also has Ric Flair Ron Wright feels that to protect his assets he needs to side with one or the other to prevent invasion.