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Wrestling Legends Like Performing in Small Venues

Posted: Feb 27th 2007 By: CMBurnham

A capacity crowd packed the building to watch the slate of local independent wrestlers hit the ring starting at 8 p.m.

The headliners of "Rock-N-Roll Express" Ricky Morton and Tracy Smothers sat at autograph tables with their memorabilia, watching the action from the sidelines before their climactic battle.

Morton, who lives in Bristol, has wrestled 27 years and is following a family tradition.

"I'm 50 but I still hang with the best of them," he said. "Pro wrestling is what I do for a living."

Morton has wrestled all over the world and gone head-to-head with the likes of the great champion Ric Flair. He said he enjoys the independent circuit and performing in smaller venues like Sevierville.

"Wrestling's changed a lot," he said. "Now it's a lot younger generation. It's a billion-dollar business, not only in the U.S. but overseas. It's a more corporate business. That's the reason I wrestle independent. I enjoy it more than the big wrestling. We got a good crowd tonight. People come out and enjoy themselves."

Morton said he wrestles five to seven nights a week. He had just wrestled in Saint Mary's, Ohio, and planned to perform in Maryville the next night.

His opponent, Smothers, lives in Nashville and has wrestled for the past 24 years. The 44-year-old wrestler said he started out playing football at Carson-Newman College in Jefferson City. While working out in the gym, he acquainted himself with the wrestlers who also worked out there. His interest was sparked and the rest is history.

"I wish I would've finished college," Smothers said. "I was going to be a coach."

He said wrestling has allowed him to travel around the world - 18 tours of Japan, eight tours in Europe and other exotic places like Malaysia, Singapore and Kuwait.

Like Morton, Smothers has a grueling schedule with performances set in Nashville from Thursday through Saturday followed by a coast-to-coast three-week tour for Insane Clown Posse. In April, he plans to "take it easy" and spend time with his two sons, who are ages 16 and 10.

Smothers seemed to relish the raucous atmosphere around him. He plays the proverbial bad guy in the ring.

"It's more fun," he said. "It's a lot easier to make people hate you than make people like you."

Asked why people come out in force for a night of local wrestling, Smothers smiled and said, "Tonight? The $5 cover charge and $5 all-you-can-drink draft beer."