Reliving A Feud #30: Tracy Smothers vs. Dirty White Boy In SMW ’93

Since the beginning of Smoky Mountain Wrestling in February 1992, Dirty White Boy was the top heel act in the company alongside his manager Ron Wright. White Boy’s main objective was to earn enough money for Wright, who was in a wheelchair. With enough money, Wright would be able to get proper treatment for his injuries and perhaps get back in the ring.

So, when Dirty White Boy finally won the SMW Heavyweight Championship from Brian Lee at Fire On The Mountain on August 8th, 1992, everything was lined up for the Dirty White Boy and Ron Wright. Most fans despised them for raving about the North and constantly bragging about the New York Yankees and degrading the South. For many months, there wasn’t anyone who could standup to White Boy.

That was until Tracy Smothers came to Smoky Mountain Wrestling in late 1992. Tracy was presented as being a guy proud of his Southern roots and connected with the fans instantly. Smothers had a run in WCW, but wasn’t presented nearly at the level he would be presented at in Smoky Mountain Wrestling. Tracy wasted no time in making his intentions clear… he wanted the Smoky Mountain Wrestling Heavyweight Championship that Dirty White Boy held.

On January 16th, 1993 the SMW Beat The Champ Television Championship was created. The championship, even though a belt was never created, could only be held for five defenses and then it would be vacated. With every successful title defense, and the initial victory, the champion would earn $1,000.

Considering Dirty White Boy and Ron Wright were desperate for as much money as possible, they entered the four man elimination match to crown the first champion. Everything was looking pretty good for White Boy until Smothers rolled through a cross body attempt and pinned the SMW Heavyweight Champion to win title and $1,000.

Also around this time, Dirty White Boy and Ron Wright tried to recruit Reno Riggins into their stable, but Tracy Smothers was able to convince Riggins from joining the heels. It was a rather minor part of the story between the two rivals.

By February 13th, 1993 Smothers had been the Beat The Champ for several weeks and was getting closer to the bonus. However, Dirty White Boy was insistent that Smothers would not get the bonus nor would he ever get a SMW Heavyweight Championship match. The following week, Dirty White Boy viciously attacked Smothers with a chair and hit a single arm DDT on the concrete floor prior to Smothers defense against the monster The Nightstalker. The attack was enough to prevent Smothers from winning and dropped the championship to Nightstalker. After the match, White Boy lit the Confederate flag on fire while Smothers was taped to the top rope.

In what would probably be seen as the biggest match on SMW television to this point, Dirty White Boy defended the SMW Heavyweight Championship against Tracy Smothers on television on March 6th, 1993. It is one of the best SMW matches you’ll see and it happens on free television. Smothers appeared to have the match well in his control after hitting a top rope uppercut, but when White Boy distracted the referee, it allowed Ron Wright to, shockingly, get out of his wheelchair and deck Smothers with brass knuckles to allow White Boy to retain the championship. The segment revealed that it was all a ruse that Wright didn’t need the wheelchair, but in interviews following the show, Wright claimed that we didn’t see that and he had blacked out due to emotional distress.

Smothers and White Boy would square off again but this time it would be on April 2nd at the Bluegrass Brawl. It wouldn’t be an ordinary match, either. Instead, it would be the match that Ron Wright made famous. They would fight for the SMW Heavyweight Championship in a chain match in Pikeville, Kentucky. A loudmouth Northern supporter taking on a true Southern Boy for the top title was set to take place in one of the most violent matches in Smoky Mountain Wrestling.

On the March 27th television show, Dirty White Boy got some last minute advantage on Smothers by choking him out with a chain. Earlier in the show, White Boy had shown a video of him using the chain on various items to show the impact it would have on Tracy. Despite the attack, Smothers was able to win the chain match by touching all four corners before White Boy could. They battled for over twenty-five minutes and in the end, the South prevailed.

But, it wasn’t over just yet. No, Dirty White Boy wasn’t going to allow Smothers to win the title and hold it in peace. On the April 24th television show, White Boy issued a challenge to Smothers for a rematch. The match would be contested under a coward waves the white flag rules. Smothers would have Tim Horner in his corner while White Boy would have Ron Wright. Smothers would be interviewed alongside Horner, who promised to not wave the flag even if Smothers asked him to.

On May 1st, Dirty White Boy attacked Tracy Smothers and spray painted Tracy’s back with yellow spray paint to demonstrate that Smothers is indeed a coward. The match took place at Volunteer Slam II and ended in controversy. Tim Horner had a brawl with Don Wright, the cousin of Ron Wright, and during the brawling the referee saw Horner apparently waving the flag, but didn’t see Ron fighting him. Initially, White Boy was given the championship but moments later the championship was held up and rematch would take place on June 11th.

Ron Wright and Dirty White Boy put out a $20,000 bounty on Tracy Smothers to take him out before the June 11th rematch so that White Boy would regain the championship by forfeit. On June 5th, White Boy cheated to pin Brian Lee to win the SMW Beat The Champ TV Championship, but Tracy Smothers told the referee what happened and it allowed Lee to pin White Boy. Smothers essentially cost White Boy $1,000.

Prior to the rematch, Dirty White Boy attacked Smothers on television using a plastic bag in an attempt to suffocate Smothers, similar to Funk/Flair in ’89. Smothers was saved by other fan favorites and the bounty wasn’t collected.

On June 11th in Knoxville, Tennessee got the victory on Dirty White Boy to be the undisputed champion and ended the feud between the two.

In my opinion, this is one of the more enjoyable angles in Smoky Mountain Wrestling and probably the first SMW Heavyweight Championship feud that continually had my interest since I started to watch SMW shows and recap them on the site. Tracy Smothers played the face role very well and the reaction he got when he won the championship at Bluegrass Brawl was incredible and a memorable moment early on for the company.

Dirty White Boy was an effective heel for the company and provided a much needed spark to the division since the disappointing reign of Brian Lee. I urge any reader to check out the feud and enjoy some early 1990s storytelling that was a brutal but enjoyable feud to watch.

Thanks for reading.