American wrestler and author
Robert Smedley
(born June 25, 1963, in
Ashland, Kentucky
) is an
American
retired
professional wrestler
and
author
, better known by his
ring name
Bobby Blaze
. He gained the majority of his in-ring success performing for
Smoky Mountain Wrestling
(SMW) from 1993 to 1995, where he held the
SMW Heavyweight Championship
once, the
SMW United States Junior Heavyweight Championship
a record four times and the
SMW Beat the Champ Television Championship
twice. He also performed on the
undercard
in
World Wrestling Federation
(WWF) and
World Championship Wrestling
(WCW).
Professional wrestling career
[
edit
]
Early career (1988?1993)
[
edit
]
Robert "Bob" Smedley made his professional wrestling debut on September 11, 1988, after training under
Boris
and
Dean Malenko
. In 1991 and 1992, he would wrestle as
enhancement talent
for the
World Wrestling Federation
(WWF).
Smoky Mountain Wrestling (1993?1995)
[
edit
]
In 1993, Smedley began working for the newly formed
Smoky Mountain Wrestling
(SMW) under the
ring name
Bobby Blaze. On June 7, 1993, he won the
SMW Beat the Champ Television Championship
by defeating
The Dirty White Boy
in a tournament final.
[1]
[2]
Twenty-one days later, Blaze faced an unknown, masked wrestler known as "The Mighty Yankee," which turned out to be the Dirty White Boy pulling a trick on Blaze to win the championship from him.
[1]
[2]
Blaze was one of eight wrestlers competing in SMW's "King of Kentucky" tournament, defeating Killer Kyle in the first round before losing to
Brian Lee
in the semi-finals. In September, he won a tournament to become the inaugural
SMW United States Junior Heavyweight Champion
, a title he held for 21 days before
Chris Candido
won it from him. The title change led to a series of matches between the two, including trading the title back and forth between them.
[3]
[4]
The two also faced off in a series of matches where the loser would be
tarred and feathered
after the match as part of SMW's Thanksgiving Thunder series.
[5]
On February 26, 1995, in the main event of SMW's Sunday, Bloody Sunday II, show Blaze defeated
Jerry Lawler
to win the
SMW Heavyweight Championship
.
[6]
[7]
[8]
He lost the title to
Buddy Landel
on April 8.
[6]
[7]
Blaze held the SMW Beat the Champ Television Championship one last time before the promotion closed.
[1]
[2]
He also had a couple shots at the
NWA World Heavyweight Championship
against
Dan Severn
on May 20 in
Charlotte, North Carolina
, and on August 4 in
Knoxville, Tennessee
.
Post-SMW career (1995?1997)
[
edit
]
After SMW closed, Blaze wrestled on the
independent circuit
throughout the
American East Coast
, as well as touring
Japan
for
Michinoku Pro Wrestling
(MPW).
World Championship Wrestling (1997?1999)
[
edit
]
In September 1997, Blaze joined
World Championship Wrestling
(WCW). He appeared in the
60-man battle royal
in the main event of the
World War 3 in 1997
and
1998
.
[9]
Blaze remained with the company, largely performing as a jobber in undercard matches, until 1999.
Post-WCW career (1999?2004)
[
edit
]
After leaving WCW, Blaze returned to the American independent scene where he would remain active for five years before retiring in 2004.
Since June 2018, Bobby has hosted a podcast called Bell to Bell with Bobby Blaze.
Books
[
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]
- Pin Me, Pay Me!: Have Boots, Will Travel
- I Kicked Out on Two: The Education of a Wrestler
Championships and accomplishments
[
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]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2006). "Tennessee: SMW Televisiton Title".
Wrestling Title Histories
(4th ed.). Archeus Communications.
ISBN
0-9698161-5-4
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
"SMW Title Histories"
. ProWrestlingHistory.com
. Retrieved
April 25,
2015
.
- ^
a
b
Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2006). "Tennessee: SMW United States Junior Heavyweight Title [Jim Cornette]".
Wrestling Title Histories
(4th ed.). Archeus Communications.
ISBN
0-9698161-5-4
.
- ^
a
b
"SMW Title Histories"
. ProWrestlingHistory.com
. Retrieved
April 25,
2015
.
- ^
"Thanksgiving Thunder 1993"
. Pro Wrestling History. November 26, 1993
. Retrieved
April 29,
2015
.
- ^
a
b
c
Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2006). "Tennessee: Smokey Mountain Wrestling Heavyweight Title [Jim Cornette]".
Wrestling Title Histories
(4th ed.). Archeus Communications.
ISBN
0-9698161-5-4
.
- ^
a
b
c
"SMW Title Histories"
. ProWrestlingHistory.com
. Retrieved
April 25,
2015
.
- ^
"Sunday Bloody Sunday II"
. Pro Wrestling History. February 26, 1995
. Retrieved
April 28,
2015
.
- ^
"World War III"
. 16 January 2023.
- ^
"Heartland Wrestling Association Heavyweight Title"
. Wrestling-Titles.com. July 5, 2014
. Retrieved
April 26,
2015
.
- ^
"Southern States Wrestling Junior Heavyweight Title"
. Wrestling-titles.com
. Retrieved
April 26,
2015
.
External links
[
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]
Links to related articles
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