Tracy Smothers

WIDE EYED SMOTHERED BOY

Back in 2010, Tracy Smothers showed up in TNA Wrestling and looked like shit, victim of many years of personal demons, so whilst it is no surprise he has died aged 58, it is perhaps more of a surprise he lasted this long. Tracy Smothers bounced around the territories in the 1980s, wrestling everyone from Don Jardine to a live bear. His break came in Florida in 1987 when he formed the Southern Boys with Steve Armstrong (son of recent DDP hit Bullet Bob). The team wrestled for New Japan and WCW and won the US Tag Titles in the latter. Here they had some memorable clashes with The Freebirds and the Midnight Express, and Smothers wrestled with the likes of Cactus Jack (Mick Foley) and the future Stone Cold Steve Austin. A brief stay in the WWF followed, where he was given the gimmick of Freddie Joe Floyd. Floyd was a perennial loser, although thank to other storylines, he did manage to get a victory over Triple H, a fact that becomes funnier with each passing year as Triple H becomes more and more the Michael Corleone of pro-wrestling.

He rebounded in ECW as one of the Full Blooded Italians (Note – none of the group were Italian, full blooded or otherwise…) with Smothers being billed as coming from Nashville, Italy. In this role he became seen as a mentor to younger wrestlers, and it was his ECW connection which was the longest lasting, with Tracy Smothers returning at every reunion show ever thought up. He was part of the recent long running lawsuit against the WWE on concussions, although the evidence is lacking on how much the wrestlers signed up to that one actually knew about the lawsuit. Tracy Smothers was one of the solid journeymen who build up a promotion, and you can see his impact on the art by the number of younger wrestlers (including multiple time world champion Edge) who have taken to social media to talk of the help he gave them as young rookies. Former ECW Champion Tazz said that Smothers could make any locker room smile, and that is a rare gift in any walk of life.

Despite claiming his cancer was treatable, Drollercoaster grabbed the opportunity to put Tracy Smothers on their team, and are perhaps unlucky to miss out on a unique hit thanks to a theme team.

Tracy Smothers
2 September 1962 – 28 October 2020
2 teams