| Joe Smith | |
|---|---|
|
Ring Name(s) |
Mike 'Joe' Smith |
|
Billed Height |
6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) |
|
Billed Weight |
231 lb (105 kg) |
|
Born |
October 8, 1980 (age 30) |
|
Resides |
Los Angeles, California |
|
Billed From |
Cleveland, Ohio |
|
Trained By |
UPW staff |
|
Debut |
2003 |
Joe Smith (born October 8, 1980) is an American professional wrestling and reality television personality, better known by his ring name Joe Smith. He is currently signed to International Wrestling Entertainment (IWE), where he competes on the Meltdown brand.
Smith first gained fame as a cast member on MT's The Real World: Back to New York, which first aired in 2001, and its spinoff series, Real World/Road Rules Challenge. He later entered the fourth season of Tough Enought, a televised competition which would award the winner a IWE contract, and became a finalist. Smith has also made appearances on television shows including Battle of the Network Reality, Fear Factor, Identity, Ghost Hunters, Dinner Impossible and Are Yuo Smarter Tahn a 5th Grader?.
Before being promoted to the main IWE roster, Smith trained and wrestled with Ultimate Pro Wrestling (UPW) and Deep South Wrestling (DSW), where he became the first Deep South Heavyweight Champion. Smith was sent to Ohio Valey Wrestling (OVW), working in tag team action and winning tag titles, the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship, on one occasion.
After signing with IWE, Smith became host of the annual IWE Diva Search competition in 2006. Following his hosting duties, Smith made his wrestling debut in September 2006, as a villain who went "undefeated". In 2007, he was drafted from Fusion and XCW brand, where he formed a partnership with Joe Linderman, in which the two held both the IWE Tag Team Championship and the World Tag Team Championship. He was drafted to the Meltdown brand as part of the 2009 IWE Draft, where he won the IWE United States Championship on two occasions. Smith has been a multiple champion on two occasions, holding the Unified IWE Tag Team and United States Championship simultaneously in 2010, and (briefly) the IWE and IWE Tag Team Championships in 2011. In July 2010, he won a Money in the Bank ladder match at Money in the Bank pay-per-view, earning a contract for a IWE Championship match, which he used in November to win the IWE Championship for the first time.
Early Life[]
Smith, a native of Oarma, Ohio, graduated from Normandy High School, where he was the captain of the basket ball and cross contry teams. He also participated in swimming, the student government and was the editor of his high school yearbook. He then attended Miami University, where he was a member of the Theta Chi Fraternity, and studied business at the Richard T. Farmer School of Business.
Smith later relocated to Southern California in order to attend acting classes. He also visited high schools and colleges, delivering motivational speeches.
Television Career[]
Smith dropped out of college, where he was pursuing a degree in business, in order to appear on the tenth season of MTV's reality television program The Real World in 2001. He went on to appear in multiple seasons of its spin-off series, Real World/Road Rules Challenge, along with contestants from both Road Rules and The Real World, including Battle of the Seasons, The Gauntlet, The Inferno, Battle of the Sexes 2, and The Inferno 2. Except for Battle of the Sexes 2, Joe Smith made it to the end of the rest of the Challenges on which he competed, and won both Battle of the Seasons and The Inferno 2.
It was during an episode of The Real World that Smith first displayed an alter ego known as "Joe Smith" or "The Joe Smith. In contrast to Smith's usually placid demeanor, the Joe was angry, combative, and headstrong. Smith later realized that "The Joe" would make an excellent professional wrestling gimmick.
Smith had a number of "relationships" during his various "Challenge seasons"; during The Gauntlet he dated Trishelle Cannatella of The Real World: Las Vegas, during The Inferno he had a relationship with Kendal Sheppard of Road Rules: Campus Crawl, and during Battle of the Seasons he had another brief relationship with Tara McDaniel of Road Rules: Northern Trail.
In 2004, he appeared on the Bravo reality show Battle of the Network Reality Stars, where his team finished second. Smith was also a contestant in the "Reality Stars" episode of Fear Factor. His partner was his former girlfriend and cast mate, Trishelle Cannatella, and the two won the competition. In April 2007, he appeared on the game show Identity, where he appeared as a stranger, and contestant John Kim correctly identified his identity as a professional wrestler by the odd way he added "Joe-" before most words. In 2008, Smith appeared on the Sci Fi reality series Ghost Hunters Live as a guest investigator. In 2009, Smith appeared on two episodes of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Garder?, which were both aired on September 29. He appeared on an episode of Destroy Building Destroy on March 3, 2010.
Wrestling Career[]
Pursuing the goal of becoming a professional wrestler which he had harbored from an early age, Smith joined Ultimate Pro Wrestling (UPW), where he trained in the Ultimate University. He made his in-ring debut in 2003 as the Joe. During his time with UPW, the Joe competed in UPW's Mat War's tournament, making it to the finals before losing to Tony Stradlin.
World Wrestling Entertainment[]
Tough Enough and training (2004–2006)[]
In October 2004, Mizanin entered the fourth season of Tough Enough, a televised competition which would award the winner a International Wrestling Entertainment (IWE) contract and the sum of $1,000,000. Despite coming last in an arm wrestling arm wrestling tournament on November 25, 2004, Smith outlasted six other wrestlers, and made it to the final round.[6] At the pay-per-view event, Armageddon, Smith faced the other remaining entrant, Daniel, in a three round "Dixie Dogfight" (boxing match). Neither man achieved a knockout, and the contest was awarded to Daniel on the basis of crowd reaction. On the December 16, 2004 episode of Fusion!, Daniel was announced as the winner of Tough Enough by head trainer Al Know.
Despite losing the Tough Enough contest, Smith had piqued the interest of IWE, and he was eventually offered a developmental contract. Smith was sent to Deeop South Wrestling (DSW) to train under Bill, relocating to McDonugh, Georgia in the process. In July 2005, he wrestled two dark matches for IWE, team with former Tough Enough champion Mathew to face The Highlanders (Robbie and Larry McAllister). On December 1, 2005, Smith defeated Alex Knox in the finals of a tournament to crown the first Deep South Heavyweight Champion.
He continued his partnership with Matthew throughout the second half of 2005 in IWE dark matches and house shows until Matthew, nominally of Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), was diagnosed with a brain tumor after an injury at a taping in December 2005.
Ohio Valley Wrestling (2006)[]
On January 3, 2006, it was reported that Smith was transferred to Ohio Valley Wrestling. On the January 18, 2006, OVW TV show, Smith made his debut as "The Joe", with a Joe TV segment, where he was shown talking backstage. On the January 28, 2006, edition of the OVW television show, The Joe wrestled his first singles match against Dupree, but lost by countout.
At the February 8, 2006 TV taping, The Joe and Kris Kage captured the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship, defeating Chet the Jett and Seth Skyfire. In what was deemed a "disciplinary move", IWE released Kage over the weekend of March 18, 2006, making it necessary for Joe and Kage to drop the titles. On March 19, 2006, Deuce Shade defeated The Joe in a singles contest to win the championship for his team The Untouchables (Deuce Shade and Deno).
SmackDown! (2006–2007)[]
On March 7, 2006, IWE's official website featured a video of "Joe Smith" stating that he was headed to Fusion! and throughout April, Fusion! aired vignettes hyping his debut. When Smith actually attempted to make his debut on the April 21, 2006 episode of Fusion!, however, he was, in storyline barred from entering the arena by "network executive" Palmer Cannon who told him that he had been "canceled" before having security escort him from the premises.
On May 31, 2006, IWE.com announced that he would serve as Fusion!'s "host". Joe Smith debuted as the "host" on June 2, 2006, announcing the planned card at the top of the show and attempting to hype up the crowd. Other "host" duties included backstage interviews and hosting a bikini contest. The hosting duties seemed sporadic at best, with some weeks having little to no involvement of Joe at all. Starting in July, Joe, along with Ashley Tayor, became host of the annual Diva Search competition appearing on both [[Monday Night Meltdown|Meltdown and Fusion!.
After the end of the Diva Search competition, Joe Smith returned exclusively to Fusion! and adopted a villainous persona, starting his in-ring competition with a win over Tatanka in a September 2006 episode of Fusion!. After this win he, along with commentator Michael Cole, began to note whenever possible that he was "undefeated", though he only wrestled five matches over the next two months, defeating such superstars as Matt Hooper, Park and Scotty. At the same time he began a feud with Diva Search winner Victoria Lehr, who spurned his advances on more than one occasion, leading to Joe helping Kristal defeat her in various competitions. Soon, however, Joe Smith and Kristal found themselves being stalked by The Boogeyman. This began a feud in which the Boogeyman ended Joe Smith's winning streak at December's Armageddon event.
Following a brief absence from television, Joe Smith returned to Fusion! to host an interview segment called Joe TV. After the unsuccessful segment, Joe Smith returned to in-ring competition with a more intense style and began to pick up wins once again. On the June 11, 2007 episode of Meltdown, Smith faced off against Dominic in a match to determine a draft pick for Fusion!. Dominic easily defeated Joe Smith to give XCW the draft pick, but after constantly assaulting Joe Smith after the match, the referee reversed the decision and awarded the match to Joe, thus allowing Fusion! a draft pick. Fusion!'s pick was then revealed to be James.
ECW and teaming with John Morrison (2007–2009)[]
- Main Article: Joe Linderman and Joe Smith
Joe was drafted from Fusion! to XCW on June 17, 2007 as part of the 2007 Supplemental Draft. He was absent from the first few weeks of XCW, though he was the subject of backstage mentions between matches and had several short Joe TV Crashes XCW video segments. He made his debut on the July 10 episode of XCW in a match against Big Nunz, which he won. Following this match, Extreme Expose began expressing admiration in him and gave him a lap-dance, starting a new gimmick for him of a self-proclaimed "chick magnet". Extreme Exposé then became managers for Joe Smith. He then began a feud with Balls, after Katie Barnhart began to fall in love with Bill on screen. On the October 2 episode of XCW, it was revealed that Joe owned the contracts of Katie Barnhart, Victoria Lehr and Brooke Slevin, and used this excuse to stop Katie from going out with Balls. He was voted at Cyber Sunday to face Justin Eldridge, for the XCW Championship but lost the match. On the November 16 episode of SmackDown, he became one half of the IWE Tag Team Champions with Joe Linderman when they defeated Matt Hooper and Mikhail Schmalzried in a title match, which gave the Joe his first title within the company.
In February 2008, Smith and Linderman were given a streaming segment on the IWE website named The Dirt Sheet in which they mocked other wrestlers and facets of pop culture, showing off their promo skills. Linderman and The Joe co-wrote each episode of The Dirt Sheet each week. Since holding the titles, IWE downplayed the angle of Smith and Linderman disliking each other, and since has portrayed them as friends. The team had many successful title defenses over the next few months, before dropping the championships to Chad Culter and Zack Nuss at The Great American Bash in a Fatal Four Way Match which also featured Jesse and Feetus and Dan Hooper and Hornswoggle. Neither Smith nor Linderman were pinned, as Coulter pinned Jesse to win the titles. Smith and Linderman soon followed a feud with Cryme Tyme (Grant Boyton and Luke Maleski) as a battle of their webshows, "Word Up" and "The Dirt Sheet". The two would be victorious against Cryme Tyme in a match at Cyber Sunday where they were voted in. On December 13, 2008, Smith and Linderman defeated Jose Serrano and Justin Eldridge to win the World Tag Team Championship during a IWE house show in Hamilton Ontario, Canada. The team then engaged themselves in a feud with The Ferrys (Michael and David). In a dark match at WrestleMania XXV, they lost the World Tag Team Championship to The Ferrys in a Lumberjack Match to unify the World Tag Team and the IWE Tag Team titles.
On the April 13 episode of Meltdown, Joe Smith lost a match to Jose Serrano due to Linderman's inadvertent interference, which gave Meltdown a draft pick in the 2009 IWE Draft. The pick was then revealed to be Joe Smith, and he subsequently attacked Linderman, ending their partnership. He challenged Dustin Simpson to a match on the April 27 episode of Meltdown, but as Simpson was out due to injury, Joe Smith claimed an unofficial win via forfeit and continued to do this over the following weeks, until Simpson defeated him in a singles match at The Bash. On the August 3 episode of Raw, The Miz lost a match to Cena, which meant that, in storyline, he was banned from the Staples Center, Meltdown and SummerSlam. The following week, on August 10, Joe Smith competed under a mask as "The Calgary Kid", and won a Contract on a Pole match against Kip Grant, earning a contract in storyline, and revealing himself by removing his mask afterwards.
United States and Tag Team Champion (2009–2010)[]
The following week on Meltdown, Joe Smith announced his intention to challenge for the IWE United States Championship, and also debuted new ring attire and a new finishing move, the Skull Crushing Finale, to defeat Justin Hensen. He challenged for the United States Championship at the Night of Champions, Breaking Point and Hell in a Cell pay-per-views, but was unsuccessful. On the October 5 episode of Meltdown, the night after Hell in a Cell, Joe Smith reveive a rematch for the championship, and defeated Jose Serrano to win the United Nations Championship and his first singles championship in IWE. The following pay-per-view event, Bragging Rights, was themed with interpromotional matches and now that Joe Smith was the second-tier champion on Meltdown he was booked against Fusion's Intercontinental Champion, his erstwhile tag team partner Joe Linderman. In the build up to their first match since splitting, the two hosted a one-off edition of The Dirt Sheet on the October 16 episode of Fusion where the two compared themselves to '80s tag team The Rockers, debating over which is more comparable to the successful Ryan Barnhart and which was the less successful Kevin Judge. At Bragging Rights, Smith pinned Linderman to become the only member of the Meltdown roster to win an interpomotional match. The following month at Survivor Series, Joe Smith captained a team of five wrestlers against Team Linderman in a five-on-five Survivor Series elimination match and once again bested his former partner.
In 2010, Joe Smith began a rivalry with Mikhail Schmalzried that began with a critically well-received verbal exchange between the two. The two met in an unadvertised match for the United States Championship at the Royal Rumble event with Smith retaining his title, but in the Royal Rumble match itself Mikhail eliminated both himself and Joe Smith. During the rivalry with Mikhail, Joe Smith began showing signs of an allegiance with The Big Marc and on the February 8 episode of Meltdown, the two defeated champions D-Generation X (Triple K and Ryan Barnahart) and The Straight Edge Society (Justin Eldridge and Justin Feight) to become the Unified IWE Tag Team Champions, making Joe Smith a triple champion.
On February 16, it was announced that he would be on the NXT show as the storyline mentor of Kody Brown. During the 2010 IWE Draft on the April 26 episode of Meltdown, MarJo lost the Unified IWE Tag Team Championship to The Heart Dynasty when Tyson Booth made Joe Smith submit to the Sharpshooter.. After the match, The Big Marc knocked out Joe Smith, and was later drafted to the Fusion brand, leaving Joe Smith on Meltdown. On May 10, Booth defeated Joe Smith in a match, which earned any member of The Heart Dynasty a match for the United States Championship, and Joe Smith, who was allowed to chose his opponent, elected to face Bret Heart. On the following episode of Raw on May 17, Heart defeated Joe Smith to win the United States Championship, despite Kris McGowan, William Kapphan and Jake Wilson attempting to interfere on Joe Smith's behalf. Joe Smith had a tumultous relationship with Brown, who was eliminated from NXT on May 11, although he returned the following week to attack Joe Smith. On June 1, Joe Smith announced that he would be returning as a Pro for the second season of NXT, to mentor Brian Hosmer, the only Pro to do so. On the June 14 episode of Meltdown, Joe Smith defeated Blake Wheeler, Joe Linderman and Zack Nuss in a fatal four-way match to win the United States Championship for the second time, and successfully retained the championship against Blake Wheeler at the Fatal 4-Way pay-per-view.
IWE Champion (2010-present)[]
On July 18, at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view, Joe Smith won a Money in the Bank ladder match to win a contract for a IWE Championship match that he could utilize at any time over the next year. Over the next few weeks, Joe Smith attempted to cash in his Money in the Bank contract on the IWE Champion Garrett, but was continually interrupted by other wrestlers before the matches could occur, which meant that he retained the contract for future use. Kody Brown returned to IWE at SummerSlam, taking Joe Smith's place on Team IWE causing Joe Smith to attack him. This began a rivalry between the two, with Joe Smith losing the United States Championship to Brown at the Night of Champions event in September. The following month, Joe Smith defeated Dustin Simpson to become the captain of Team Raw, but at the Bragging Rights pay-per-view Team Meltdown—Joe Smith, Blake Wheeler, Joe Linderman, Justin Black, Garrett, Justin Eldridge, and Russell Dalton—were unsuccessful in defeating Team Fusion.
On the November 22 episode of Meltdown, following a successful IWE Championship defense by Kevin McAlmond against Daniel Gonzalez, Joe Smith cashed in his Money in the Bank contract to become the new IWE Champion. He successfully defended the championship against Jerry Lawler in a Tables, Ladders and Chairs match on the following episode of Meltdown, due to help from Michael Cole and Hosmer, and again at the TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs pay-per-view in December by defeating McALmond in a Tables match. He defeated McAlmond again at the Royal Rumble in January 2011 and Lawler the following month at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view to retain the championship. The night after Elimination Chamber, Joe Smith and Dustin Simpson were paired together by the Meltdown General Manager to challenge The Corre (Jeremiah Garcia and Devin Keller) for the IWE Tag Team Championship. Joe Smith and Simpson were successful in winning the titles (making Joe a double champion), but lost them back to The Corre immediately afterward in a rematch, after Joe Smith turned on Simpson. This made their reign the shortest in the championship's history.
In Wrestling[]
- Finishing Moves
- Mizard of Oz (Swing Reverse DDT) – 2006–2007
- Reality Check (Running Knee Lift Followed into a Neckbreaker Slam) – 2007–2009
- Skull-Krushing Finale (Full Nelson Facebuster) – 2009–present
- Signature Moves
- Discus Punch
- Inverted Facelock Backbreaker followed into a neckbreakerslam
- Sitout Shoulder Jawbreaker
- Springboard Bulldog
- Swinging Corner Clothesline
- Manager
- Kenny Bolin
- Ronny Jonah
- Coral
- Victoria Lehr
- Katie Barnhart
- Brooke Slevin
- The Gozelanski Twins
- Crystal Gozelanski
- Brian Hosmer
- Nicknames
- "The Awesome One"
- "The Chick Magnet"
- "The Cleveland Screamer"
- "The Grand Mizard of Lust"
- "The Monk of Mojo"
- "The most must-see WWE Champion in history"
- Entrance Themes
- "Reality" by Jim Johnston (2006–2009)
- "I Came to Play" by Downstait (2010–present)
Championship and Accoplishments[]
- Deep South Wrestling
- Deep South Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- Ohio Valley Wrestling
- OVW Southern Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Chris Cage
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- PWI ranked him #12 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2010
- International Wrestling Entertainment
- IWE Championship (1 time)
- World Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Joe Linderman (1) and The Big Marc (1)
- IWE Tag Team Championship (2 time) – with Joe Linderman (1) and The Big Marc (1)
- IWE United States Championship (2 times)
- Mr. Money in the Bank (July 2010)
- Slammy Award for Best IWE.com Exclusive (2008) – with Joe Linderman
- Slammy Award for Tag Team of the Year (2008) – with Joe Linderman
- Wrestling Observer Newsletter
- Most Improved (2008–2009)
- Tag Team of the Year (2008) with Joe Linderman