The Thugs
Encyclopedia
The Thugs was a professional wrestling
tag team
that consisted of "The Dirty White Boy" Tony Anthony
and Tracy Smothers
. The team wrestled in Smoky Mountain Wrestling
. It debuted on March 23, 1995 and existed until SMW's final show held on November 26, 1995.
and Tracy Smothers
. The duo first wrestled as a tag team on March 23, 1995 where Dirty White Boy acted as Smothers' partner in a tag team match against The Gangstas
(New Jack
and Mustafa Saed) during Smothers' feud
with Gangstas. In those days, Boo Bradley
was the partner of Tracy Smothers but Dirty White Boy would occasionally team with Smothers against Gangstas. Dirty White Boy and Smothers went on to lose the match. The next day, on March 24, Dirty White Boy replaced Boo Bradley in a tag team match where Smothers and Bradley took on The Gangstas but just got pinned. Dirty White Boy and Tracy Smothers would not team up together for two shows in March because Smothers and Bradley feuded with Gangstas while Dirty White Boy feuded with Buddy Landel
.
Smothers was not having a proper partner to beat The Gangstas so he occasionally teamed up with Bob Armstrong
, WWF
's The Undertaker and Dirty White Boy. Dirty White Boy and Tracy Smothers became a permanent tag team on April 13 television taping of SMW defeating Larry Santo and The Wolfman. Later in the night, they also defeated Gangstas when Anthony pinned New Jack. Dirty White Boy and Smothers called themselves as The Thugs. The Thugs were a tag team that competed in main events of SMW shows as well as the SMW Tag Team Champions
The Dynamic Duo
(Al Snow
and Unabomb). The Thugs went on to defeat Gangstas in a street fight on April 15. After the street fight, they defeated Gangstas in several normal matches. They faced Gangstas in two more street fights and a double chain match. The feud ended in a 6-man tag team match on May 27 when they lost to Gangstas and D'Lo Brown
while Thugs teamed with Boo Bradley.
. On June 12 television tapings of SMW, they defeated D'Lo Brown and his new partner Killer Kyle. The same night, they also defeated D'Lo Brown in another match with another partner, Larry Santo. The feud would end afterwards.
(Mosh
and Thrasher
) in a tag team match which culminated in a long feud between the two teams. On June 16 show, they defeated PG-13
(JC Ice and Wolfie D
) and new rivals The Headbangers in a triple threat elimination tag team match. On the next four shows, they went on to receive four straight victories over The Headbangers in tag team matches. On June 29, Dirty White Boy defeated Thrasher in a singles match. Later in the night, Tracy Smothers defeated Mosh in a singles match. On June 30, they teamed with Boo Bradley and defeated The Headbangers and Killer Kyle in a six-man tag team match. The Thugs were more successful than The Headbangers in this feud.
After defeating the Headbangers on July 1, they defeated The Headbangers in a match on July 4 to become the number one contenders to the SMW Tag Team Championship
. On July 6 television tapings of SMW, they defeated The Dynamic Duo to win the SMW Tag Team Championship. The same night, they made their first title defense which was against their rivals the Headbangers. They lost the match by getting disqualified thus retained their titles. They defeated the Headbangers in a non-title and title match. They had several defenses against Headbangers in the following weeks.
(Tom Prichard
and Jimmy Del Ray
) on Super Bowl of Wrestling. A week later, they participated in a Four Corners Elimination match for the titles and along with the Thugs and the Headbangers, they challenged Heavenly Bodies for the titles but Heavenly Bodies retained the titles. At Fire on the Mountain 1995: Night of the Dream Matches, they defeated Dynamic Duo in a loser leaves SMW match where the loser was forced to leave SMW.
with Prichard and Del Rey. On August 12, they got a shot at the SMW Tag Team Championship against Heavenly Bodies. The champions intentionally got themselves disqualified to retain the titles. On August 13, they participated in Carolina Cup Tag Tournament where they defeated Tommy Rich
and The Punisher in the first round, The Headbangers in the semifinals and SMW Tag Team Champions Heavenly Bodies in the finals. As a result of winning the tournament
, they earned a shot at the titles against Heavenly Bodies on September 1 but the champions disqualified themselves to retain the belts. They got many future shots against Heavenly Bodies later that month. They participated in the final SMW show on SMW on November 26 teaming with Ricky Morton
against Heavenly Bodies and Robert Gibson.
Professional wrestling
Professional wrestling is a mode of spectacle, combining athletics and theatrical performance.Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling", Mythologies, 1957 It takes the form of events, held by touring companies, which mimic a title match combat sport...
tag team
Tag team
Tag team professional wrestling is a variation in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. A tag team may comprise two wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of established teams who wrestle regularly as a unit and have a team name...
that consisted of "The Dirty White Boy" Tony Anthony
Tony Anthony
Darrell W. "Tony" Anthony is a semi-retired American professional wrestler best known as Dirty White Boy, who wrestled primarily for independent promotions in the Southeastern United States...
and Tracy Smothers
Tracy Smothers
Tracy Smothers is an American professional wrestler.-Early career:Tracy started his career in the Memphis promotion on Saturday morning TV. Steve Armstrong and Tracy Smothers started teaming as The Southern Boys in Florida Championship Wrestling in 1987 where they feuded with The New Breed...
. The team wrestled in Smoky Mountain Wrestling
Smoky Mountain Wrestling
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...
. It debuted on March 23, 1995 and existed until SMW's final show held on November 26, 1995.
Feud with The Gangstas
The Thugs was a tag team that consisted of "The Dirty White Boy" Tony AnthonyTony Anthony
Darrell W. "Tony" Anthony is a semi-retired American professional wrestler best known as Dirty White Boy, who wrestled primarily for independent promotions in the Southeastern United States...
and Tracy Smothers
Tracy Smothers
Tracy Smothers is an American professional wrestler.-Early career:Tracy started his career in the Memphis promotion on Saturday morning TV. Steve Armstrong and Tracy Smothers started teaming as The Southern Boys in Florida Championship Wrestling in 1987 where they feuded with The New Breed...
. The duo first wrestled as a tag team on March 23, 1995 where Dirty White Boy acted as Smothers' partner in a tag team match against The Gangstas
The Gangstas
The Gangstas was a professional wrestling tag team and stable, most notably consisting of New Jack and Mustafa Saed in Extreme Championship Wrestling...
(New Jack
New Jack
Jerome Young is an American professional wrestler, better known by his stage name New Jack in ECW.He is known for his willingness to take dangerous bumps and his stiff hardcore wrestling style, often taking high risks and "shooting" on opponents, though he is only known to shoot on opponents who...
and Mustafa Saed) during Smothers' feud
Feud (professional wrestling)
A professional wrestling feud is a staged rivalry between multiple wrestlers or alliances of wrestlers. They are integrated into ongoing storylines, particularly in events which are televised...
with Gangstas. In those days, Boo Bradley
Balls Mahoney
Jonathan Rechner better known by his ring name Balls Mahoney , is an American professional wrestler...
was the partner of Tracy Smothers but Dirty White Boy would occasionally team with Smothers against Gangstas. Dirty White Boy and Smothers went on to lose the match. The next day, on March 24, Dirty White Boy replaced Boo Bradley in a tag team match where Smothers and Bradley took on The Gangstas but just got pinned. Dirty White Boy and Tracy Smothers would not team up together for two shows in March because Smothers and Bradley feuded with Gangstas while Dirty White Boy feuded with Buddy Landel
Buddy Landel
William Ansor is a professional wrestler better knownas "Nature Boy" Buddy Landel.-Career:Buddy Landel started his career in 1979 as a young talented athlete in ICW. He left high school even though he had received letters of intent to play baseball and football at the University of Tennessee...
.
Smothers was not having a proper partner to beat The Gangstas so he occasionally teamed up with Bob Armstrong
Bob Armstrong
Joseph Melton James is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, "Bullet" Bob Armstrong. In the course of his career, which spanned five decades, Armstrong held numerous championships throughout the Southeastern United States...
, WWF
World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...
's The Undertaker and Dirty White Boy. Dirty White Boy and Tracy Smothers became a permanent tag team on April 13 television taping of SMW defeating Larry Santo and The Wolfman. Later in the night, they also defeated Gangstas when Anthony pinned New Jack. Dirty White Boy and Smothers called themselves as The Thugs. The Thugs were a tag team that competed in main events of SMW shows as well as the SMW Tag Team Champions
SMW Tag Team Championship
The SMW Tag Team Championship was the tag team title in Smoky Mountain Wrestling . It existed from 1992 until 1995 when the promotion closed .-Title history:...
The Dynamic Duo
The Dynamic Duo
The Dynamic Duo was a Professional wrestling Tag team that wrestled in Smoky Mountain Wrestling from early to mid 1995. The team consisted of Al Snow and Unabomb...
(Al Snow
Al Snow
Allen Ray Sarven is an American professional wrestler and actor better known by his ring name of Al Snow. He is best known for his work in Extreme Championship Wrestling and World Wrestling Entertainment and currently works for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling as a road agent.-Early career:Sarven...
and Unabomb). The Thugs went on to defeat Gangstas in a street fight on April 15. After the street fight, they defeated Gangstas in several normal matches. They faced Gangstas in two more street fights and a double chain match. The feud ended in a 6-man tag team match on May 27 when they lost to Gangstas and D'Lo Brown
D'Lo Brown
Accie Julius Connor better known by his ring name D'Lo Brown , is an American professional wrestler. Well known for his appearances with World Wrestling Entertainment, he is currently working as an agent for Impact Wrestling.Connor has held forty-eight championships in various promotions during...
while Thugs teamed with Boo Bradley.
Feud with New Jack and D'Lo Brown
In June 1995, Both wrestlers focused once again on singles careers as Dirty White Boy had a singles feud with New Jack. After these four shows, Tracy Smothers returned on June 10 show and then the Thugs defeated New Jack and his partner D'Lo BrownD'Lo Brown
Accie Julius Connor better known by his ring name D'Lo Brown , is an American professional wrestler. Well known for his appearances with World Wrestling Entertainment, he is currently working as an agent for Impact Wrestling.Connor has held forty-eight championships in various promotions during...
. On June 12 television tapings of SMW, they defeated D'Lo Brown and his new partner Killer Kyle. The same night, they also defeated D'Lo Brown in another match with another partner, Larry Santo. The feud would end afterwards.
Feud with The Headbangers
On June 15, the Thugs defeated The HeadbangersThe Headbangers
The Headbangers is a professional wrestling tag team consisting of Mosh and Thrasher, best known for their work in the World Wrestling Federation...
(Mosh
Charles Warrington
Charles Warrington is an American former professional wrestler, better known by his ring names, Chaz and Mosh.-Career:Warrington began training under Larry Sharpe and Glen Ruth during the early 1990s, debuting in 1993...
and Thrasher
Glen Ruth
Glen Ruth is a former American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Thrasher.-Career:Ruth trained under Larry Sharpe and debuted in 1990 as The Spider. He later became Sharpe's assistant and trained wrestlers such as the Big Show and others at Sharpe's "Monster Factory"...
) in a tag team match which culminated in a long feud between the two teams. On June 16 show, they defeated PG-13
PG-13 (professional wrestling)
PG-13 was the tag team of J.C. Ice and Wolfie D who worked for the World Wrestling Federation and United States Wrestling Association . PG-13 briefly competed in Puerto Rico for the World Wrestling Council in 1995 , W*ING in Japan, Extreme Championship Wrestling in 1997 and World Championship...
(JC Ice and Wolfie D
Kelly Wolfe
Kelly Warren Wolfe is a professional wrestler who has worked for several major American wrestling promotions. He is better known as one half of PG-13 under the name of Wolfie D and as a member of The New Church under the name of Slash.-Professional wrestling career:Wolfe got his start in Jerry...
) and new rivals The Headbangers in a triple threat elimination tag team match. On the next four shows, they went on to receive four straight victories over The Headbangers in tag team matches. On June 29, Dirty White Boy defeated Thrasher in a singles match. Later in the night, Tracy Smothers defeated Mosh in a singles match. On June 30, they teamed with Boo Bradley and defeated The Headbangers and Killer Kyle in a six-man tag team match. The Thugs were more successful than The Headbangers in this feud.
After defeating the Headbangers on July 1, they defeated The Headbangers in a match on July 4 to become the number one contenders to the SMW Tag Team Championship
SMW Tag Team Championship
The SMW Tag Team Championship was the tag team title in Smoky Mountain Wrestling . It existed from 1992 until 1995 when the promotion closed .-Title history:...
. On July 6 television tapings of SMW, they defeated The Dynamic Duo to win the SMW Tag Team Championship. The same night, they made their first title defense which was against their rivals the Headbangers. They lost the match by getting disqualified thus retained their titles. They defeated the Headbangers in a non-title and title match. They had several defenses against Headbangers in the following weeks.
Feud with Dynamic Duo
The Thugs had begun a feud with the Dynamic Duo after defeating them for the SMW Tag Team Championship. However, the feud restarted in July after Thugs had successful title defenses against Dynamic Duo before they lost the titles to The Heavenly BodiesThe Heavenly Bodies
The Heavenly Bodies was a professional wrestling tag team famous for having worked in Smoky Mountain Wrestling, the World Wrestling Federation, and various independent promotions...
(Tom Prichard
Tom Prichard
Thomas Prichard is an American professional wrestler currently signed to WWE, working in their developmental territory, Florida Championship Wrestling as a trainer using his ring name Tom Prichard...
and Jimmy Del Ray
Jimmy Del Ray
David Ferrier is a retired American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, "Gigolo" Jimmy Del Ray. Del Ray is best known for his appearances in the World Wrestling Federation as one half of the Heavenly Bodies with his tag team partner, Tom Prichard...
) on Super Bowl of Wrestling. A week later, they participated in a Four Corners Elimination match for the titles and along with the Thugs and the Headbangers, they challenged Heavenly Bodies for the titles but Heavenly Bodies retained the titles. At Fire on the Mountain 1995: Night of the Dream Matches, they defeated Dynamic Duo in a loser leaves SMW match where the loser was forced to leave SMW.
Feud with Heavenly Bodies
After they lost the SMW Tag Team Championship to Heavenly Bodies, The Thugs started a programFeud (professional wrestling)
A professional wrestling feud is a staged rivalry between multiple wrestlers or alliances of wrestlers. They are integrated into ongoing storylines, particularly in events which are televised...
with Prichard and Del Rey. On August 12, they got a shot at the SMW Tag Team Championship against Heavenly Bodies. The champions intentionally got themselves disqualified to retain the titles. On August 13, they participated in Carolina Cup Tag Tournament where they defeated Tommy Rich
Tommy Rich
Thomas Richardson , better known by his ring name, "Wildfire" Tommy Rich, is a professional wrestler. He is best known for his wrestling career in Georgia and Memphis throughout the 1980s.-Professional wrestling career:...
and The Punisher in the first round, The Headbangers in the semifinals and SMW Tag Team Champions Heavenly Bodies in the finals. As a result of winning the tournament
Professional wrestling tournament
On various occasions in professional wrestling a single-elimination tournament of varying match types are held, often to determine a championship or number-one contendership therein...
, they earned a shot at the titles against Heavenly Bodies on September 1 but the champions disqualified themselves to retain the belts. They got many future shots against Heavenly Bodies later that month. They participated in the final SMW show on SMW on November 26 teaming with Ricky Morton
Ricky Morton
Richard Wendell "Ricky" Morton is an American professional wrestler who has worked for such wrestling organizations as Jim Crockett Promotions, the American Wrestling Association, Extreme Championship Wrestling, World Championship Wrestling, the World Wrestling Federation and Total Nonstop Action...
against Heavenly Bodies and Robert Gibson.
Championships and accomplishments
- Smoky Mountain WrestlingSmoky Mountain WrestlingSmoky 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...
- SMW Tag Team ChampionshipSMW Tag Team ChampionshipThe SMW Tag Team Championship was the tag team title in Smoky Mountain Wrestling . It existed from 1992 until 1995 when the promotion closed .-Title history:...
(1 time) - Carolina Cup Tag Team Tournament