Brian Lee

If Jim Ross had been around in SMW in 92, he would have called Brian Lee "The Blue Chipper". This kid had it all. He had the looks, he had the body, he had the moves, the power, and most of all he could really work. The first ever SMW champion crowned in the tournament at Volunteer Slam I. He eventually became tied up with a young lady named Tammy Fytch. She turned Brian Lee into a badguy, and he went from clean shaven blonde, happy smiling everywhere kissing babies and shaking hands to a black hair, goatee wearing very business sort of guy who enjoyed hurting people. This kid was pure talent, and swayed the fence of good and bad just about more times than anyone. He was also held the Beat The Champ TV title, and was a successful Tag wrestler with Chris Candido, holding the SMW Tag Titles 2 times. 

Tracy Smothers

Another Continental mainstay, pulled into SMW after a collapsing career in WCW. Cornette truly knew talent with this guy. Tracy is a very decorated SMW wrestler... 2 time SMW heavyweight champ, 3 time Beat the Champ TV Title champ, single time Tag Team champ. The Wild Eyed Southern Boy was truly the best mainstay singles wrestler in SMW. With signature moves like the Jaw Jacker, Tracy competed in feuds with the likes of the Dirty White Boy, Brian Lee, Chris Candido, Bruiser Bedlam, all of Camp Cornette and Bryant Anderson. Tracy was indeed a mainstay.

Killer Kyle

From the Mobster gimmick to Jim's personal bodyguard, Kyle was a guy who was in the first SMW TV match with Robert Gibson, and part of the last TV with Camp Cornette. A true big man, where there weren't ALOT of big BIG guys, Kyle was also agile. He was also 2 time Beat The Champ TV Title holder.

Mark Curtis

RIP. The head referee of SMW, and Jim's right hand man, this guy made some of the angles go down, of course helped them happen in the ring, and of course had some dubious really bad lines (taken from the Thrillseekers getting beat up by the masked Bodies)

"Oh.....NO....kids....get...out...of....the way" Mark will always be remembered by wrestling stars, and fans alike for the rest of time.

Bullet Bob Armstrong

The patriarch of the cursed Armstrong clan, Daddy to Steve, Scott, Brad, Brian, and the lesser known Jimmy who was in fact really Lance Von Erich (just kidding). The Bullet was a strong stay in the Alabama/Georgia/Tennessee territories since the 60s, and was basically retired when SMW came into existence... so what better job for him than the Commish? He kept Cornette in line anytime he got out of it, and even wrestled for the right to do so a few times. Whether it was bringing in Road Warrior Hawk, or making threats with his Tennessee Toothpick, The Bullet was Ba Ba Ba Ba Ba Bad to the bone.

SMW had a ton of talent come through, and these were the mainstays, guys that were there the whole time... we can't forget appearances by Shawn Michaels, The Macho Man, Big Bossman, Lex Luger, Arn Anderson, Bobby Eaton, Kevin Sullivan, Jim Ross, and others who came in from bigger groups. Nor could we forget the guys who really got their first big go in SMW, guys like, Bob Holly, The Thrillseekers (Chris Jericho and Lance Storm), D'Lo Brown, The Gangstas, Chris Candido, Boo Bradley, Al Snow, Unabomb, The Hardy Boyz, Steve Skyfire, Chris Hamrick, and others too numerous to mention.

The guys that were already stars, that stayed in SMW long enough to make a mark, guys like Paul Orndorff, Ronnie Garvin, Cactus Jack, Eddie Gilbert, Jerry Lawler, Jake Roberts, The Funks, and so on and so on.

NEXT MONTH: 

The history of the SMW May mainstay event "Volunteer Slam".