Bobby Blaze
| Bobby Blaze | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Robert Smedley |
| Born | June 25, 1963 Ashland, Kentucky |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Bob Smedley Bobby Blaze Kendo the Samurai D.B. Smedrock |
| Billed height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) |
| Billed weight | 237 lb (108 kg) |
| Trained by | Boris Malenko Dean Malenko |
| Debut | 1988 |
| Retired | 2004 |
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.
Contents
Professional wrestling career
Robert "Bob" Smedley made his professional wrestling debut on September 11, 1988 after training under Boris and Dean Malenko. In 1993 he began working for the newly formed Smokey 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] 21 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 first ever holder of the SMW United States Junior Heavyweight Championship, a title he held for 21 days before Chris Candido won it from him. The title change with Candido 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 tared and featherd 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] He would end up holding the SMW Beat the Champ Television Championship one last time before SMW closed down.[1][2] Later on he would work for World Championship Wrestling (WCW). Blaze performed for several professional wrestling promotions, including Smoky Mountain Wrestling, Michinoku Pro Wrestling and World Championship Wrestling. He beat Jerry "The King" Lawler to win Smokey Mountain Heavyweight Title in Knoxville, TN at Bloody Sunday on February 26, 1995. He appeared as one of 60 men in the main event of the 1997 World War 3 60 man battle royal as well as the 1998 World War 3 60 man battle royal.[9]
Books
Pin Me, Pay Me!: Have Boots, Will Travel via createspace
In wrestling
- Finishing moves
- Blaze Buster (Northern Lights suplex)[10]
- Signature moves
- Nicknames
- "Blazin'" Bobby Blaze
Championships and accomplishments
- Cleveland All Pro Wrestling
- CAPW North American Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- PWI ranked him #109 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 1995.
- Unleashed Wrestling Alliance
- UWA Hall of Fame (2013)
References
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