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Tony Anthony (born April 12, 1960 in Knoxville, Tennessee)[2][3] is a semi-retired American professional wrestler best known as Dirty White Boy, who wrestled primarily for independent promotions in the Southeastern United States.[4][5] He was active throughout the 1980s and 1990s in the Tennessee-based United States Wrestling Association and Smoky Mountain Wrestling and had two short stints with the World Wrestling Federation.
He is married to Kim Anthony, who has also worked as his valet "Dirty White Girl".[4]
Career
Territories (1980-1988)
Trained by Steve Keirn and Ron Wright, Anthony won his first major title while teaming with Len Denton as The Grapplers. They defeated The Fabulous Ones, a tag team that included Keirn, to win the AWA Southern Tag Team Championship on August 8, 1983. [4] After losing the titles, The Grapplers continued to team together, winning the NWA Central States Tag Team Championship twice in 1984.[4]
Anthony continued to wrestle on the independent circuit, splitting his time between singles competition and tag team action. He also teamed with Jerry Stubbs in Southeast Championship Wrestling to win the NWA Southeast Tag Team Championship four times before the promotion closed.[4] After the promotion became the Continental Wrestling Federation, Anthony and Stubbs won the tag team titles twice more.[4] As a singles wrestler, Anthony won the NWA Alabama Heavyweight Championship on four occasions. He beat Wendell Cooley to begin each of the first two reigns. He also defeated Bob Armstrong to win his third NWA Alabama championship and Tom Prichard to win his fourth. His fourth reign lasted until the title was abandoned in 1988.[6]
United States Wrestling Association (1989-1991)
In 1989, Anthony was booked to defeat Dustin Rhodes in a United States Wrestling Association (USWA) tournament final to become the first USWA Southern Heavyweight champion.[7] The following year, he won the USWA Tag Team Championship on three occasions, once with Tom Burton and twice with Doug Gilbert.[8]
Smoky Mountain Wrestling (1992-1996)
Anthony competed primarily as a singles wrestler in Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW). He quickly received a push and became a main event wrestler, winning the SMW Heavyweight Championship from Brian Lee on August 8, 1992.[9] After dropping the title to Tracy Smothers the following April, Anthony won the SMW Beat the Champ Television Championship under his masked Mighty Yankee gimmick in June 1993.[4] While holding this title, Anthony was booked to defeat Brian Lee to regain the Heavyweight Championship. On September 13, he was involved in an angle where he was kayfabe forced to vacate the Television Championship on August 16 in a series of matches where the rules stipulated that any wrestler who successfully defended the title five times would be awarded $5000 but be forced to vacate it. Anthony regained the title by beating Robert Gibson on September 13. Anthony won his final SMW Heavyweight Championship on July 5, 1994 by defeating Jake Roberts.[4] He held it for over six months before losing the title to Jerry Lawler on January 28, 1995. Anthony's performance in 1994 earned him his highest placement in the annual PWI 500, in which he was ranked #25.[10] Anthony won his final SMW title on July 6, 1995 by teaming with Tracy Smothers (as "The Thugs") to defeat "The Dynamic Duo" of Al Snow and Unabomb for the SMW Tag Team Championship.[4]
World Wrestling Federation (1996-1997)
In 1996, Anthony signed with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). He was given the gimmick of T.L. Hopper, a wrestling plumber. After a series of vignettes showing Hopper at work, he debuted wearing jeans that hung low and a stained undershirt. He carried his plunger (named "Betsy") to the ring with him, and he celebrated his victories by sticking the plunger in his opponents' faces.[11]
Although he did not wrestle in any WWF pay-per-views, he made an appearance at the "Bikini Beach Blast-Off" during the Free For All show that preceded SummerSlam 1996. Based on his kayfabe experience as a plumber, Hopper was chosen to investigate a "brown object" that resembled feces on the bottom of the swimming pool.[12] The segment was meant to parody a scene in the movie Caddyshack.
He returned to the WWF in September 1997 as Uncle Cletus, coming from the audience to help the heel tag team of The Godwinns (Henry and Phineas Godwinn) in a match against The Headbangers. He hit Mosh in the head with a horseshoe, allowing Phineas to make the pin.[13] He was revealed to be a kayfabe relative of the Godwinns, and he became the team's manager. At Badd Blood 1997, Henry and Phineas won the WWF Tag Team Championship with Cletus in their corner.[14] On October 7, Cletus interfered in another match, but his interference backfired and allowed the Legion of Doom to win the titles. Following the match, the Godwinns attacked Cletus, who was never seen in the WWF again.[15]
Tennessee independents (1997-Present)
After his final run with the WWF, Anthony returned to his native state of Tennessee, where he had maintained considerable fame and popularity. He appeared in various independents around East Tennessee. He currently plays a prominent role in Knoxville's Tennessee Mountain Wrestling as it's face commissioner, embroiled in a long standing feud with heel promoter/manager "K-Town Daddy" Terry Landell and "Cowboy" Bob Orton, Jr.[3] Anthony is now the manager of the Dirty Boys (Chris Powers & J.T. Coalminer) at Tennessee Mountain Wrestling.[citation needed]He also part owner of Tennessee Mountain Wrestling with Terry Landell and Bob Orton, Jr.
In wrestling
- Finishing and signature moves
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- "Dirty White Girl" Kim Anthony
- Ron Wright[3]
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Championships and accomplishments
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- PWI ranked him # 299 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the "PWI Years" in 2003.[16]
References
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