J.T. Smith (wrestler)

J.T. Smith
Born (1967-04-25) April 25, 1967
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania[1]
Residence Richmond, Virginia
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s) Boogie Man[2]
J.T. Smith[3][1]
Billed height 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)[3]
Billed weight 235 lb (107 kg)[3]
Billed from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Debut June 9, 1990[3][1]

John T. Smith[3][1] (born April 25, 1967) is an American retired professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, J.T. Smith. He is best known for his appearances with Extreme Championship Wrestling in the 1990s.[3]

Professional wrestling career

Tri-State Wrestling Alliance (1990-1991)

Smith began his career in the Philadelphia-based Tri-State Wrestling Alliance, where he trained alongside The Sandman Tri-State Wrestling Alliance professional wrestling school.[2] It was at this school that Smith assisted Terry Funk in the planning of the fight choreography of the climatic alley-way scene at the end of Rocky V.[2] Smith's debut match occurred at Temple University in 1990 at McGonigle Hall as he wrestled to a draw with The Sandman. Fans and promoters were quick to note his wrestling skills and natural athletic ability and he continued to rise through the ranks. In early 1991, scored an upset win over veteran Buddy Landell to win the Heavyweight Championship.[3] During this time, Smith worked as a movie theater projectionist, at Blockbuster, as a bouncer at a club, and at Tod Gordon's jewelry store and loan office, Carver W. Reed Co. Inc, in Philadelphia.[2]

In December 1990, Smith appeared with the World Wrestling Federation as a jobber, wrestling on WWF Superstars of Wrestling and WWF Wrestling Challenge. In the early 90's, Smith had a dark match against The Sandman for World Championship Wrestling.[2] At one point, Smith worked for the United States Wrestling Association.[2] In May 1995, Smith accomplished a childhood dream of working in Japan by competing for W*ING, where he portrayed the character of Boogie Man, whose likeness was based upon Michael Myers.[2]

Eastern / Extreme Championship Wrestling (1992-1998)

Maryland and World Television Champion

On October 16, 1993 in North East, Maryland, Smith won a battle royal to become the first Maryland Champion. However, Smith would become the only person to hold the title due to it being abandoned later that year. On March 6, 1994, Smith defeated The Tazmaniac for the World Television Championship.[3] On March 26 at the first ever Ultimate Jeopardy event, Smith successfully retained his title against Rockin' Rebel.[3] Smith later lost the title on April 16 when he was defeated by Pitbull #1.[3] Later, Smith began a lengthy feud with Hack Meyers, defeating him at November to Remember and Wrestlepalooza before losing to him at Holiday Hell.[3] At Big Ass Extreme Bash, Smith ended their feud by defeating Meyers for the final time.[3]

For a time, Smith assisted in running the Philadelphia location of ECW's training school, House of Hardcore.[2] While there, Smith trained Francine Fournier.[2]

Full Blooded Italians

Smith's greatest success came as a result of a legitimate mistake. In 1995, in his first match back after recovering from a previous injury, Smith attempted a suicide dive to the outside, but failed to get enough elevation; his knee pads caught on the ropes and he landed head-first on the arena floor.[2] This resulted in a large, softball-sized swelling on his head, but Smith was able to improvise a finish to the match.[2] Paul Heyman turned this into a comedic storyline where Smith's injury and resulting concussion gave him mild brain damage, and he began believing he was Italian, even talking with an Italian accent. Smith also began pretending to botch other maneuvers on a regular basis. He befriended Italian wrestler "Big" Val Puccio, and started behaving like a cheerful but arrogant villain. The ECW fans jeered Smith when he attempted a maneuver and failed, but this time with a degree of affection.[3]

This successful gimmick continued, and resulted in the formation a faction known as The Full Blooded Italians along with Little Guido, Tracy Smothers and Tommy Rich. While the F.B.I. claimed to be purebred Italians, the fact that Smothers and Rich were Southern and Smith was African American made this claim obviously dubious. Nonetheless, the F.B.I. achieved a degree of success as they won the World Tag Team Championship twice.[3]

Retirement

Smith retired after leaving ECW to pursue a career that allowed him to devote more time to his personal life and family.[2] As of 2012, Smith is employed as an instructional support technologist at a community college in Virginia.

Smith made an in-ring appearance at Ring of Honor on November 9, 2002, where he was interviewed by Gary Michael Capetta, only to be interrupted by Special K.

Smith appeared at both of the ECW reunion shows in June 2005. On June 10 at Hardcore Homecoming, he accompanied fellow former F.B.I. member Tracy Smothers to ringside for his match with The Blue Meanie and enabled Smothers to win when he struck Meanie with a pair of brass knuckles. Two days later at ECW One Night Stand, an ECW reunion show created by World Wrestling Entertainment, Smith and several other F.B.I. members accompanied Little Guido to ringside as he faced Super Crazy and Yoshihiro Tajiri in a three-way dance, but were unable to prevent him from being pinned and eliminated by Tajiri.[3]

Smith attributes having suffered between ten-to-sixteen concussions due to his time spent in the professional wrestling industry.[2]

In wrestling

Championships and accomplishments

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Cagematch profile".
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 RF Video's JT Smith Shoot Interview
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 "OWOW profile".
  4. ↑ "ECW Maryland Championship history".
  5. ↑ "ECW World Television Championship history".
  6. ↑ "Tri-State Wrestling Alliance results".
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