RIP Tracy Smothers- A celebration of the life of a "Wild Eyed Southern Boy"

Jonathan Hood talks about the life and times of the late Tracy Smothers who passed away at the age of 58 with lymphoma. Hear the wild stories and the highlights of the career of a "Wild Eyed Southern Boy" twitter.com/wrestlingtwt instagram.com/wrestlingtwt Professional wrestling career Early career (1982–1990) Smothers was from Springfield, TN. He graduated from Springfield High School, where he played football, golf, and wrestled. Smothers was the first person in Springfield High School history to go to the state championship in wrestling. Smothers started his career in the Memphis promotion on Saturday morning TV. Steve Armstrong and Tracy Smothers started teaming as The Wild-Eyed Southern Boys in Florida Championship Wrestling in 1987 where they feuded with The New Breed. They moved on to Southeast Championship Wrestling where they feuded with The Stud Stable. In 1989, he won the CWF Tag Team Championship in the newly renamed Continental Wrestling Federation. While in Continental, Smothers wrestled an unmuzzled bear that was announced as 550 lbs; Tracy took the bear to the mat several times. The bear, incapable of understanding the situation, thought they were playing.[2] World Championship Wrestling (1990–1992) Smothers and Armstrong competed in World Championship Wrestling for a number of years and were known as the Southern Boys and later the Young Pistols upon turning heel.[3] Smothers and Armstrong had a long feud with The Fabulous Freebirds (Michael Hayes and Jimmy Garvin).[3] Smothers' last major appearance for WCW was on January 21, 1992 at Clash of the Champions XVIII, as he teamed with Terry Taylor in a loss to Marcus Alexander Bagwell and Brian Pillman.[3] Smoky Mountain Wrestling (1992–1995) Smothers achieved his greatest singles success in Jim Cornette's Smoky Mountain Wrestling promotion which was based out of Knoxville, Tennessee. Between 1992 and 1995, "The Wild Eyed Southern Boy", competed as a babyface for SMW and won the Heavyweight title twice, the tag team titles once (with "Dirty White Boy" Tony Anthony, known as the "T.H.U.G.'S"), and the "Beat the Champ" TV title on three separate occasions. Smothers had notable feuds during this time against "Prime Time" Brian Lee, Chris Candido, Tony Anthony, The Heavenly Bodies, and The Gangstas. He also competed as a heel in the United States Wrestling Association during the SMW vs. USWA feud in 1995. World Wrestling Federation (1996–1997) In the summer of 1996, Smothers began wrestling in the WWF as Freddie Joe Floyd, a babyface jobber to various up and comers, most notably Hunter Hearst-Helmsley and Stone Cold Steve Austin.[4] His only meaningful win under the Floyd gimmick was an upset of Justin "Hawk" Bradshaw in his debut, which resulted in Bradshaw beating Floyd in a subsequent rematch.[4] He also scored a count out win over Triple H, thanks to Mr. Perfect distracting Helmsley.[4] His entire gimmick was a rib on Gerald Brisco and Jack Brisco, as they both came from Bowlegs, Oklahoma (the same home town Freddie Joe Floyd was billed as being from).[4] Jack Brisco’s real name is Fred Joe Brisco, and Gerald’s full name is Floyd Gerald Brisco. Extreme Championship Wrestling (1997–1999) Later in his career he joined Extreme Championship Wrestling as "The Main Man" Tracy Smothers. He was often mocked by the crowd with chants of "Freddy Joe!!" regarding his WWF stint and was most notably remembered for doing a goofy dance, that ECW announcer Joey Styles often commented on by saying "what the hell is with that awful dance."