WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.860 OK, so let's just unpack this for a second. Imagine 00:00:04.860 --> 00:00:08.220 a classically trained Shakespearean actor, right? 00:00:08.699 --> 00:00:11.439 Someone who has, I don't know, spent years performing 00:00:11.439 --> 00:00:15.119 Hamlet at the Globe Theater, just mastering every 00:00:15.119 --> 00:00:18.160 single syllable of the Bard's work. A total purist. 00:00:18.320 --> 00:00:21.320 Exactly. A total purist. Now imagine that same 00:00:21.320 --> 00:00:25.280 exact actor randomly gets cast in like a slapstick 00:00:25.280 --> 00:00:27.600 late night sitcom, and they become incredibly 00:00:27.600 --> 00:00:30.839 famous for this goofy super physical catchphrase. 00:00:31.300 --> 00:00:34.000 It's quite the pivot. It is. And then, to top 00:00:34.000 --> 00:00:37.200 it all off, he somehow uses that absurd chaotic 00:00:37.200 --> 00:00:39.859 sitcom experience to eventually become the head 00:00:39.859 --> 00:00:41.960 of Julliard. I mean, it sounds like a totally 00:00:41.960 --> 00:00:44.479 fabricated Hollywood script, like someone's pitching 00:00:44.479 --> 00:00:47.280 a movie. Yeah, 100%. But it actually perfectly 00:00:47.280 --> 00:00:49.740 maps onto the real world career trajectory we're 00:00:49.740 --> 00:00:52.219 going to be exploring today. So welcome to today's 00:00:52.219 --> 00:00:54.780 Deep Dive. We are taking a singular, totally 00:00:54.780 --> 00:00:57.439 fascinating piece of source material today. It's 00:00:57.439 --> 00:01:00.100 a comprehensive Wikipedia article detailing the 00:01:00.100 --> 00:01:02.820 life of a man named Norman Smiley. And we're 00:01:02.820 --> 00:01:06.019 going to use it to basically trace one of the 00:01:06.019 --> 00:01:09.219 most bizarre, highly adaptable careers in the 00:01:09.219 --> 00:01:11.659 entire history of sports and entertainment. Oh, 00:01:11.799 --> 00:01:14.019 without a doubt. Because we're looking at a professional 00:01:14.019 --> 00:01:17.239 wrestler who evolved from this globally feared 00:01:17.239 --> 00:01:20.459 hyper -serious Technical grappler, right? Yeah 00:01:20.459 --> 00:01:24.040 into a completely comedic television icon and 00:01:24.040 --> 00:01:26.819 then finally into a master teacher who is literally 00:01:26.819 --> 00:01:29.379 currently shaping the future of the entire industry 00:01:29.379 --> 00:01:32.299 the footprint he left on the business both geographically 00:01:32.299 --> 00:01:36.120 and Tonally is just staggering. Yeah, we are 00:01:36.120 --> 00:01:38.640 looking at a timeline that moves from the incredibly 00:01:38.640 --> 00:01:41.879 rigid purist wrestling rings of Japan and Mexico 00:01:41.879 --> 00:01:44.719 straight into the absolute television chaos of 00:01:44.719 --> 00:01:48.099 world championship wrestling and WWE and You 00:01:48.099 --> 00:01:49.799 know this matters to you listening right now 00:01:49.799 --> 00:01:52.379 because there's this massive playbook here for 00:01:52.379 --> 00:01:54.500 navigating the modern world. Absolutely. Whether 00:01:54.500 --> 00:01:56.939 you're climbing a corporate ladder or maybe you're 00:01:56.939 --> 00:01:58.939 trying to pivot into a completely new industry 00:01:58.939 --> 00:02:01.500 or I mean just trying to stay relevant in a landscape 00:02:01.500 --> 00:02:04.099 that completely shifts every six months. The 00:02:04.099 --> 00:02:06.879 core theme of Norman Smiley's story is the absolute 00:02:06.879 --> 00:02:09.180 necessity of adaptability. Right, it's about 00:02:09.180 --> 00:02:11.939 survival. He proves that you can completely reinvent 00:02:11.939 --> 00:02:14.780 yourself. You can even act completely foolish. 00:02:14.990 --> 00:02:17.370 without ever losing your foundational competence. 00:02:17.550 --> 00:02:20.409 And I think to really grasp the magnitude of 00:02:20.409 --> 00:02:22.830 his reinventions, we have to look closely at 00:02:22.830 --> 00:02:25.289 that foundation he built. Because the early years 00:02:25.289 --> 00:02:28.569 of his career were completely devoid of any of 00:02:28.569 --> 00:02:30.949 the theatrics he later became famous for. Right. 00:02:31.210 --> 00:02:34.189 It was all business. Entirely all business. It 00:02:34.189 --> 00:02:37.729 was rooted in legitimate, grueling, physical 00:02:37.729 --> 00:02:41.289 competition. So let's look at the stats. He was 00:02:41.289 --> 00:02:44.340 born in Northampton, England in 1965. And then 00:02:44.340 --> 00:02:47.139 in the 1970s, his parents divorce, and he moves 00:02:47.139 --> 00:02:49.800 with his mother to Miami, Florida. Right. And 00:02:49.800 --> 00:02:52.199 by the time he graduates from Miami Beach Senior 00:02:52.199 --> 00:02:55.740 High School, 1984, he is deeply immersed in amateur 00:02:55.740 --> 00:02:58.020 wrestling and powerlifting. So right out of the 00:02:58.020 --> 00:03:00.000 gate, we are not talking about an actor who just 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:01.840 decided to lace up some wrestling boots. No, 00:03:01.919 --> 00:03:04.219 no, no, no. We are looking at a highly conditioned, 00:03:04.740 --> 00:03:07.370 legitimate athlete. And that amateur background 00:03:07.370 --> 00:03:09.889 dictates his entire approach to the professional 00:03:09.889 --> 00:03:12.870 ranks. When he decides to actually transition 00:03:12.870 --> 00:03:16.689 into professional wrestling around 1985 on the 00:03:16.689 --> 00:03:19.389 Florida Independence Circuit, he doesn't seek 00:03:19.389 --> 00:03:22.590 out a school that teaches microphone skills or, 00:03:22.590 --> 00:03:25.169 you know, flashy, high -flying acrobatics. No, 00:03:25.169 --> 00:03:27.430 he goes for the hardest path possible. Exactly. 00:03:27.710 --> 00:03:30.870 He seeks out the most demanding, punishing environment 00:03:30.870 --> 00:03:33.870 available. He trains under Carl Gotch and Boris 00:03:33.870 --> 00:03:36.629 Malenko and Dean Malenko. Which those names just 00:03:36.629 --> 00:03:38.189 jump right off the source material for anyone 00:03:38.189 --> 00:03:40.430 who follows the history of the sport. Oh they 00:03:40.430 --> 00:03:43.710 represent the absolute pinnacle of strict no 00:03:43.710 --> 00:03:45.870 -nonsense catch wrestling. I mean Carl Gotch 00:03:45.870 --> 00:03:48.590 is still revered in Japan today as literally 00:03:49.199 --> 00:03:52.180 A god of wrestling. Wow. The training under Gotch 00:03:52.180 --> 00:03:53.860 and the Melencos, it wasn't about putting on 00:03:53.860 --> 00:03:56.259 a television show. It was this rigorous study 00:03:56.259 --> 00:03:58.659 of human anatomy. Like joint manipulation and 00:03:58.659 --> 00:04:01.199 stuff? Yeah, joint manipulation, leverage, real 00:04:01.199 --> 00:04:03.419 submission holds. They taught you how a shoulder 00:04:03.419 --> 00:04:05.979 joint rotates right to the breaking point, and 00:04:05.979 --> 00:04:08.219 exactly how to apply your own body weight to 00:04:08.219 --> 00:04:10.180 control another human being against their will. 00:04:10.319 --> 00:04:12.879 It sounds awful, honestly. It was painful. It 00:04:12.879 --> 00:04:16.360 was grimy. And it was entirely focused on legitimacy. 00:04:17.000 --> 00:04:20.029 So. Armed with that specific and frankly dangerous 00:04:20.029 --> 00:04:22.930 toolkit, Smiley finds himself in environments 00:04:22.930 --> 00:04:25.889 that demand nothing less than that level of realism. 00:04:26.089 --> 00:04:30.649 because by 1988 and 1989, he is competing in 00:04:30.649 --> 00:04:32.810 the Universal Wrestling Federation in Japan. 00:04:32.870 --> 00:04:36.250 The UWF? Yeah, the UWF, which was famously a 00:04:36.250 --> 00:04:38.709 shoot -style promotion. Right. The strikes were 00:04:38.709 --> 00:04:41.170 incredibly stiff, the submissions were locked 00:04:41.170 --> 00:04:44.149 in super tight, and the entire presentation just 00:04:44.149 --> 00:04:46.209 blurred the line between professional wrestling 00:04:46.209 --> 00:04:48.470 and what we would eventually call mixed martial 00:04:48.470 --> 00:04:51.389 arts today. You couldn't even survive in a shoot 00:04:51.389 --> 00:04:53.649 -style ring if you didn't have legitimate grappling 00:04:53.649 --> 00:04:55.750 credentials. They would just expose you. Right. 00:04:55.910 --> 00:04:57.790 The Japanese audience at the time treated that 00:04:57.790 --> 00:05:00.250 style of wrestling with intense reverence. But 00:05:00.250 --> 00:05:02.370 his purist journey didn't just stop in Japan. 00:05:02.769 --> 00:05:04.970 He actually took that technical mastery over 00:05:04.970 --> 00:05:08.990 to Mexico in 1991, signing with Concero Mundial 00:05:08.990 --> 00:05:12.069 de Lucha Libre, or CMLL. Which is the oldest 00:05:12.069 --> 00:05:14.209 wrestling promotion on the planet. It is. And 00:05:14.209 --> 00:05:16.310 he doesn't just show up to make up the numbers. 00:05:16.560 --> 00:05:19.060 He absolutely dominates. He's wrestling under 00:05:19.060 --> 00:05:22.540 the name Black Magic and he wins the CMLL World 00:05:22.540 --> 00:05:24.819 Heavyweight Championship. Huge deal. He holds 00:05:24.819 --> 00:05:27.480 that prestigious title for over a year before 00:05:27.480 --> 00:05:31.100 finally losing it in 1993. So, I mean, paint 00:05:31.100 --> 00:05:33.800 the picture for us here. He is at the absolute 00:05:33.800 --> 00:05:36.040 top of the mountain in a major international 00:05:36.040 --> 00:05:39.319 market. He's working as a serious dominant heavyweight 00:05:39.319 --> 00:05:42.660 champion in a country that treats Lucha Libre 00:05:42.839 --> 00:05:45.959 like a literal religion. He is universally respected 00:05:45.959 --> 00:05:49.139 by his peers. He has this massive technical repertoire. 00:05:49.300 --> 00:05:51.860 He holds championship gold. And he is a main 00:05:51.860 --> 00:05:54.459 event player putting on these grueling 30 -minute 00:05:54.459 --> 00:05:56.560 grappling clinics. And see, here is where it 00:05:56.560 --> 00:05:58.160 gets really interesting to me and where I actually 00:05:58.160 --> 00:05:59.959 have to push back a little bit on his trajectory. 00:06:00.139 --> 00:06:03.199 OK. Because if a guy is this successful doing 00:06:03.199 --> 00:06:05.879 exactly what he was trained to do, if he is a 00:06:05.879 --> 00:06:08.000 legitimate gotch -trained heavyweight champion 00:06:08.000 --> 00:06:10.620 making a great living as a respected grappler, 00:06:10.939 --> 00:06:13.139 why on earth would he ever pivot? It's a fair 00:06:13.139 --> 00:06:15.660 question. Why not just stay in that lane forever? 00:06:15.740 --> 00:06:18.759 He has the pedigree. He has the respect. Abandoning 00:06:18.759 --> 00:06:21.120 that formula just seems completely counterintuitive. 00:06:21.339 --> 00:06:23.420 Well, you have to look at the context. The environment 00:06:23.420 --> 00:06:25.839 around him was undergoing this tectonic shift. 00:06:26.399 --> 00:06:28.639 In the late 1990s, the wrestling industry in 00:06:28.639 --> 00:06:30.720 the United States entered the era of the Monday 00:06:30.720 --> 00:06:35.180 Night Wars. Right. WCW versus WWF. Exactly. These 00:06:35.180 --> 00:06:37.480 massive companies were fighting tooth and nail 00:06:37.480 --> 00:06:40.180 for mainstream cable viewers every single week. 00:06:40.500 --> 00:06:43.220 And because of that, the audience's attention 00:06:43.079 --> 00:06:45.959 span was rapidly shrinking. They needed constant 00:06:45.959 --> 00:06:48.740 stimulation. Yes. They were suddenly inundated 00:06:48.740 --> 00:06:51.759 with these soap opera storylines and edgy anti 00:06:51.759 --> 00:06:54.839 -heroes and larger -than -life characters. Technical 00:06:54.839 --> 00:06:57.899 mastery just by itself simply wasn't enough to 00:06:57.899 --> 00:07:00.879 capture a mass audience anymore. Because of flawlessly 00:07:00.879 --> 00:07:04.329 executed armbar. as impressive as it is, doesn't 00:07:04.329 --> 00:07:06.610 necessarily stop a casual viewer from flipping 00:07:06.610 --> 00:07:09.389 the channel to see what crazy explosions are 00:07:09.389 --> 00:07:11.370 happening on the other network. That is exactly 00:07:11.370 --> 00:07:14.449 the problem. The pure, silent, deadly grappling 00:07:14.449 --> 00:07:17.110 that made him a massive star in Mexico and Japan, 00:07:17.410 --> 00:07:19.490 it basically became nothing more than a baseline 00:07:19.490 --> 00:07:21.870 requirement in the United States. To survive 00:07:21.870 --> 00:07:24.670 on primetime television in the late 90s, you 00:07:24.670 --> 00:07:27.389 needed a hook. You had to make the audience feel 00:07:27.389 --> 00:07:30.290 something instantly. And usually that was through 00:07:30.290 --> 00:07:33.290 humor or shock value or just sheer charisma. 00:07:33.750 --> 00:07:36.269 Right. And stepping out of that serious stoic 00:07:36.269 --> 00:07:39.410 wrestler mindset to actually do that, that requires 00:07:39.410 --> 00:07:41.990 a massive psychological leap of faith for someone 00:07:41.990 --> 00:07:44.589 trained by Carl Gotch. Which perfectly sets the 00:07:44.589 --> 00:07:46.870 stage for his arrival in world championship wrestling. 00:07:47.529 --> 00:07:51.199 Smiley signs with WCW in 1997. And initially, 00:07:51.399 --> 00:07:53.500 he's just competing, right? He's a highly skilled 00:07:53.500 --> 00:07:55.420 guy on a roster, completely overflowing with 00:07:55.420 --> 00:07:57.860 highly skilled guys, mostly wrestling in battle 00:07:57.860 --> 00:08:00.699 royals and, like, lower mid -card matches. Just 00:08:00.699 --> 00:08:03.379 blending in. Yeah, blending in. But then on February 00:08:03.379 --> 00:08:06.459 9th, 1998, on an episode of Monday Nitro, the 00:08:06.459 --> 00:08:08.480 shift actually happens. He debuts a completely 00:08:08.480 --> 00:08:11.370 new gimmick. The serious shoot -style technician 00:08:11.370 --> 00:08:14.050 suddenly introduces a signature rhythmic dance 00:08:14.050 --> 00:08:16.310 move right in the middle of his matches. The 00:08:16.310 --> 00:08:19.230 big wiggle. The big wiggle. It is such an incredible 00:08:19.230 --> 00:08:22.589 visual contrast. Like you spend a decade learning 00:08:22.589 --> 00:08:25.569 how to methodically dislocate human limbs and 00:08:25.569 --> 00:08:29.209 your actual ticket to mainstream American television 00:08:29.209 --> 00:08:33.029 stardom is a ridiculous, gyrating dance that 00:08:33.029 --> 00:08:35.970 you do behind your opponent. And he fully commits 00:08:35.970 --> 00:08:37.850 to the bit. He doesn't have to do it. No, he 00:08:37.850 --> 00:08:41.149 leans all the way in. And by late 1998, he turns 00:08:41.149 --> 00:08:45.179 heel. He completely embraces this arrogant villain 00:08:45.179 --> 00:08:48.039 persona by mocking the American audiences for 00:08:48.039 --> 00:08:50.559 mispronouncing his name. Yes, he insists on this 00:08:50.559 --> 00:08:53.179 incredibly pretentious pronunciation. He demands 00:08:53.179 --> 00:08:55.080 that the commentators and the live crowd call 00:08:55.080 --> 00:08:59.299 him Nor Malno Smilo. Smile? Right. It's such 00:08:59.299 --> 00:09:01.659 an incredibly simple character tweak, but it 00:09:01.659 --> 00:09:04.159 instantly generates a visceral reaction. He took 00:09:04.159 --> 00:09:06.460 the crowd's expectation of this tough foreign 00:09:06.460 --> 00:09:09.379 fighter and just subverted it entirely with this 00:09:09.379 --> 00:09:11.740 obnoxious comedic arrogance. And the storylines 00:09:11.740 --> 00:09:13.379 just follow Sue, right? They dive straight into 00:09:13.379 --> 00:09:15.139 the absurd. He gets into this prolonged feud 00:09:15.139 --> 00:09:17.419 with Chavo Guerrero Jr. Oh, this is a classic. 00:09:17.659 --> 00:09:20.179 It really is. Now Chavo had a very specific mascot 00:09:20.179 --> 00:09:22.620 at the time. It was literally a wooden hobby 00:09:22.620 --> 00:09:25.139 horse named Pepe. A child's toy. A child's toy. 00:09:26.039 --> 00:09:29.399 And this feud escalates until a January 1999 00:09:29.399 --> 00:09:32.500 episode of Nitro, where we see one of the most 00:09:32.500 --> 00:09:35.399 hilariously specific acts of televised violence 00:09:35.399 --> 00:09:38.600 imaginable. Smiley literally takes Pepe the hobby 00:09:38.600 --> 00:09:42.049 horse and feeds it into an industrial woodchipper. 00:09:42.149 --> 00:09:44.289 On live television. On live television. Yeah. 00:09:44.490 --> 00:09:46.990 Shreds the wooden horse. And this is the exact 00:09:46.990 --> 00:09:49.509 moment Norman Smiley demonstrates a profound 00:09:49.509 --> 00:09:51.610 understanding of the economics of his industry. 00:09:52.210 --> 00:09:54.990 He realized that audience engagement is the true 00:09:54.990 --> 00:09:57.950 currency of the business. Yeah. The woodchipper 00:09:57.950 --> 00:10:00.230 incident and the big wiggle, they show a master 00:10:00.230 --> 00:10:02.350 technician realizing that if granting up a wooden 00:10:02.350 --> 00:10:04.350 stick horse gets a louder crowd reaction than 00:10:04.350 --> 00:10:06.610 a 30 -minute wrestling clinic, then you bring 00:10:06.610 --> 00:10:08.590 in the woodchipper. He understood the assignment 00:10:08.590 --> 00:10:10.399 completely. I mean, he could have let his ego 00:10:10.399 --> 00:10:12.460 dictate his career. He could have stubbornly 00:10:12.460 --> 00:10:14.799 sat in the locker room pouting, saying, I am 00:10:14.799 --> 00:10:16.860 a gotch -trained purist. I was a champion in 00:10:16.860 --> 00:10:19.519 Mexico. I absolutely refuse to do comedy. Many 00:10:19.519 --> 00:10:21.980 wrestlers did exactly that and faded into obscurity. 00:10:22.279 --> 00:10:24.980 Exactly. But instead, he checked his ego at the 00:10:24.980 --> 00:10:27.820 door, embraced the absurdity, and secured his 00:10:27.820 --> 00:10:30.419 spot on national television. And because he proved 00:10:30.419 --> 00:10:33.340 he was so willing to commit to the bit and because 00:10:33.340 --> 00:10:35.419 he demonstrated that he could manipulate a live 00:10:35.419 --> 00:10:38.820 crowd to get a massive reaction, WCW management 00:10:38.820 --> 00:10:41.539 threw him a massive curveball. Oh, yeah, they 00:10:41.539 --> 00:10:43.720 did. They realized they had a highly competent 00:10:43.720 --> 00:10:46.580 performer who excelled at comedy. So they placed 00:10:46.580 --> 00:10:48.820 him in an environment where comedy fundamentally 00:10:48.820 --> 00:10:52.059 did not belong. They threw him into the brutally 00:10:52.059 --> 00:10:56.729 violent hardcore division. Yep. So in late. 1999, 00:10:56.729 --> 00:10:59.710 WCW establishes the Hardcore Championship. And 00:10:59.710 --> 00:11:01.990 this was a division defined entirely by weapons, 00:11:02.570 --> 00:11:05.669 chaos, no disqualifications, and extreme physical 00:11:05.669 --> 00:11:08.610 risk. The roster for this division included legitimate 00:11:08.610 --> 00:11:11.009 brawlers who basically made their living getting 00:11:11.009 --> 00:11:12.889 hit in the head with steel chairs and going through 00:11:12.889 --> 00:11:15.470 tables. Right. And at the Mayhem pay -per -view 00:11:15.470 --> 00:11:18.929 in November 1999, Norman Smiley defeats Brian 00:11:18.929 --> 00:11:21.950 Knobs to become the inaugural WCW Hardcore Champion. 00:11:22.129 --> 00:11:24.690 Which is wild. It is. But he doesn't win the 00:11:24.690 --> 00:11:27.230 belt by suddenly pretending to be a tough, gritty 00:11:27.230 --> 00:11:30.450 brawler. He invents an entirely new layer to 00:11:30.450 --> 00:11:33.350 his persona. He becomes Scream and Norman Smiley. 00:11:33.559 --> 00:11:36.240 The psychological layering here is just brilliant. 00:11:36.919 --> 00:11:40.299 He is the champion of the most dangerous, weapon 00:11:40.299 --> 00:11:42.820 -filled division in the entire company, and his 00:11:42.820 --> 00:11:46.000 entire character motivation is that he is profoundly, 00:11:46.539 --> 00:11:48.960 paralyzingly terrified of the matches he is forced 00:11:48.960 --> 00:11:52.259 to be in. You just screech, like in this high 00:11:52.259 --> 00:11:55.399 -pitched... panics tone from the absolute moment 00:11:55.399 --> 00:11:57.679 the bell rang. And to visually sell this fear, 00:11:58.139 --> 00:12:00.320 he started wearing protective sports equipment 00:12:00.320 --> 00:12:02.559 to the ring over his wrestling gear to shield 00:12:02.559 --> 00:12:04.679 himself from the trash cans and the kendo sticks. 00:12:04.759 --> 00:12:07.519 Yeah, he would wear like heavy pads, chest protectors, 00:12:07.620 --> 00:12:10.240 and helmets. But he took it a step further to 00:12:10.240 --> 00:12:12.639 manipulate the live crowd. He wouldn't just wear 00:12:12.639 --> 00:12:15.179 generic bubble wrap or something. He would specifically 00:12:15.179 --> 00:12:18.000 source the uniform of a local professional or 00:12:18.000 --> 00:12:20.480 collegiate sports team from whatever city they 00:12:20.480 --> 00:12:22.480 were broadcasting from that night. Oh, that's 00:12:22.480 --> 00:12:24.259 so smart. If they were in Denver, he's coming 00:12:24.259 --> 00:12:27.039 out in full Broncos gear. Right. It's a masterful 00:12:27.039 --> 00:12:29.000 way to guarantee a cheap pop from the audience. 00:12:29.980 --> 00:12:32.799 By pandering to their local sports pride, he 00:12:32.799 --> 00:12:34.519 ensured the fans would actually cheer for him 00:12:34.519 --> 00:12:36.860 and stay invested in his matches. Even while 00:12:36.860 --> 00:12:39.460 his entire physical performance consisted of 00:12:39.460 --> 00:12:42.100 running away. and screaming in complete terror. 00:12:42.259 --> 00:12:45.840 It's so good. And the feuds during this hardcore 00:12:45.840 --> 00:12:49.440 run sound like literal fever dreams. Like he 00:12:49.440 --> 00:12:52.100 defends the hardcore title against Mangaman, 00:12:52.200 --> 00:12:54.419 who was legitimately feared by almost everyone 00:12:54.419 --> 00:12:56.919 in the wrestling locker room. A genuinely terrifying 00:12:56.919 --> 00:12:59.460 human being. He feuds with Terry Funk, who is 00:12:59.460 --> 00:13:01.799 the absolute godfather of hardcore wrestling. 00:13:02.679 --> 00:13:04.940 He even recruits a manager named Ralphus, who 00:13:04.940 --> 00:13:06.940 is essentially just a disheveled truck driver. 00:13:07.019 --> 00:13:09.039 With his shirt half off most of the time. Yes. 00:13:09.279 --> 00:13:12.059 And there is literally a televised vignette where 00:13:12.059 --> 00:13:14.580 Smiley and Ralfus hunt down a group of neighborhood 00:13:14.580 --> 00:13:17.200 children just to steal their backyard wrestling 00:13:17.200 --> 00:13:20.399 championship ball. It completely subverted the 00:13:20.399 --> 00:13:23.500 hyper macho expectation of the genre. In a division 00:13:23.500 --> 00:13:25.539 where the entire premise was watching men try 00:13:25.539 --> 00:13:28.200 to prove how much physical agony they could endure, 00:13:28.679 --> 00:13:30.759 Smiley stood out by making it explicitly clear 00:13:30.759 --> 00:13:33.259 he wanted absolutely no part of it. It's like 00:13:33.259 --> 00:13:36.059 a... It's like throwing a character into a slasher 00:13:36.059 --> 00:13:38.139 movie, but instead of trying to be the brave 00:13:38.139 --> 00:13:41.039 hero who fights the monster, he puts on a giant 00:13:41.039 --> 00:13:44.059 suit of armor, screams constantly, and just tries 00:13:44.059 --> 00:13:46.220 to hide in the closet. That's a great analogy. 00:13:46.460 --> 00:13:48.259 But here is the critical mechanical question 00:13:48.259 --> 00:13:51.240 for you. If he's doing comedy in a division that 00:13:51.240 --> 00:13:54.700 is built on genuine physical danger, how is he 00:13:54.700 --> 00:13:56.860 not getting seriously injured every single night? 00:13:57.000 --> 00:14:00.440 Ugh. That is where the Carl Gotch and Milenko 00:14:00.440 --> 00:14:03.519 training pays its ultimate dividend. The mechanics 00:14:03.519 --> 00:14:06.700 of his safety are entirely rooted in his technical 00:14:06.700 --> 00:14:09.940 foundation. Interesting. Taking a comedic clumsy 00:14:09.940 --> 00:14:12.679 looking fall over a steel trash can without breaking 00:14:12.679 --> 00:14:15.820 your neck that requires intense spatial awareness, 00:14:16.539 --> 00:14:19.179 absolute body control, and an intimate understanding 00:14:19.179 --> 00:14:21.240 of how to disperse your own physical weight. 00:14:21.539 --> 00:14:23.500 So the comedy was only physically possible because 00:14:23.500 --> 00:14:25.340 his technical foundation allowed him to take 00:14:25.340 --> 00:14:29.000 those absurd risks safely. Precisely. Underneath 00:14:29.000 --> 00:14:31.580 the local football pads, underneath the screeching 00:14:31.580 --> 00:14:34.559 and the big wiggle, he possessed a bone deep 00:14:34.559 --> 00:14:37.000 mastery of the ring. He could take a joke to 00:14:37.000 --> 00:14:39.000 its absolute physical limit, but he always knew 00:14:39.000 --> 00:14:41.940 exactly how to protect himself. Right. And just 00:14:41.940 --> 00:14:44.379 as importantly, he knew how to protect his opponent. 00:14:44.759 --> 00:14:47.620 He was an incredibly safe worker in an incredibly 00:14:47.620 --> 00:14:51.110 unsafe division. That exact combination, that 00:14:51.110 --> 00:14:54.490 unshakable, purest technical foundation, combined 00:14:54.490 --> 00:14:57.149 with the comedic psychological genius of his 00:14:57.149 --> 00:15:00.710 WCW character work, it created a uniquely well 00:15:00.710 --> 00:15:03.129 -rounded mind. It really did. Which naturally 00:15:03.129 --> 00:15:05.710 leads us right into his final and arguably most 00:15:05.710 --> 00:15:09.419 impactful career phase. the master teacher. Because 00:15:09.419 --> 00:15:12.279 when WCW was sold to the World Wrestling Federation 00:15:12.279 --> 00:15:16.279 in March 2001, the entire landscape of the industry 00:15:16.279 --> 00:15:18.799 changes overnight. Hundreds of wrestlers are 00:15:18.799 --> 00:15:21.399 suddenly out of work and Smiley isn't brought 00:15:21.399 --> 00:15:23.659 over in the immediate buyout. So true to form, 00:15:23.840 --> 00:15:25.980 he adapts. He hits the road again, he bounces 00:15:25.980 --> 00:15:27.679 around the independent circuit wrestling for 00:15:27.679 --> 00:15:29.379 short -lived promotions like the X Wrestling 00:15:29.379 --> 00:15:31.019 Federation and the World Wrestling All -Stars. 00:15:31.480 --> 00:15:33.860 He works briefly for Total Nonstop Action, or 00:15:33.860 --> 00:15:37.100 TNA, in the mid -2000s. He's just staying highly 00:15:37.100 --> 00:15:40.059 active and plying his trade across entirely different 00:15:40.059 --> 00:15:43.320 locker rooms and environments. And then the defining 00:15:43.320 --> 00:15:47.240 pivot of his post -WCW career happens in 2007. 00:15:48.080 --> 00:15:50.679 He relocates to Orlando, Florida to become a 00:15:50.679 --> 00:15:53.320 trainer for WWE's developmental territory, which 00:15:53.320 --> 00:15:55.700 at the time was called Florida Championship Wrestling. 00:15:55.899 --> 00:15:59.659 FCW. FCW, exactly. And after wrestling his final, 00:15:59.980 --> 00:16:02.720 untelivized WWE match against Vladimir Kozlov 00:16:02.720 --> 00:16:04.679 later that year, he steps out of the spotlight 00:16:04.679 --> 00:16:07.559 and transitions fully into coaching. And he has 00:16:07.559 --> 00:16:10.480 been doing that ever since. When FCW eventually 00:16:10.480 --> 00:16:14.340 evolved into NXT, which is WWE's massive state 00:16:14.340 --> 00:16:16.580 -of -the -art developmental brand, Smiley, stayed 00:16:16.580 --> 00:16:18.679 right there. Still there. He is still employed 00:16:18.679 --> 00:16:22.059 by WWE today as a trainer. He's working alongside 00:16:22.059 --> 00:16:24.320 other deeply respected veterans like Matt Bloom 00:16:24.320 --> 00:16:27.379 and Fit Finley, just quietly molding the next 00:16:27.379 --> 00:16:29.320 generation of superstars. And if you look at 00:16:29.320 --> 00:16:31.899 what a coach at the WWE Performance Center actually 00:16:31.899 --> 00:16:34.159 does on a day -to -day basis, you quickly realize 00:16:34.159 --> 00:16:36.799 why his specific background makes him so invaluable. 00:16:36.960 --> 00:16:39.039 What's about that? Well, a great teacher in this 00:16:39.039 --> 00:16:41.600 industry cannot just teach a rookie how to apply 00:16:41.600 --> 00:16:44.379 a basic headlock. They have to teach television 00:16:44.379 --> 00:16:46.840 timing. They have to teach character work, how 00:16:46.840 --> 00:16:49.440 to hit the hard camera, how to manipulate a live 00:16:49.440 --> 00:16:51.620 crowd when a match isn't going well, and how 00:16:51.620 --> 00:16:54.379 to safely navigate a physically chaotic environment. 00:16:54.720 --> 00:16:57.100 Norman Smiley is basically the Yoda of that facility 00:16:57.100 --> 00:16:59.740 because he has lived every extreme of the industry. 00:16:59.899 --> 00:17:02.980 Exactly. He can teach a new recruit. the strictest, 00:17:02.980 --> 00:17:05.700 most painful catch wrestling submissions because 00:17:05.700 --> 00:17:08.259 he was a shoot -style champion, but he can also 00:17:08.259 --> 00:17:10.940 pull them aside and teach them how to use comedy 00:17:10.940 --> 00:17:13.039 to get noticed when they are just buried at the 00:17:13.039 --> 00:17:15.220 bottom of a massive roster. He knows what it 00:17:15.220 --> 00:17:17.400 takes to be the serious champion, and he knows 00:17:17.400 --> 00:17:19.359 what it takes to be the comedic coward he became 00:17:19.359 --> 00:17:22.420 the ultimate utility player. You cannot effectively 00:17:22.420 --> 00:17:25.319 teach someone how to pivot when their career 00:17:25.319 --> 00:17:27.900 is stalling if you have only ever walked in a 00:17:27.900 --> 00:17:30.519 straight line yourself. Smiley's supreme value 00:17:30.519 --> 00:17:33.180 as a teacher is derived directly from his willingness 00:17:33.180 --> 00:17:35.759 to abandon his ego and embrace the woodshipper. 00:17:36.000 --> 00:17:38.579 And that brings us right back to you, the listener. 00:17:38.799 --> 00:17:40.900 Because the ultimate takeaway from this deep 00:17:40.900 --> 00:17:43.460 dive isn't just about the mechanics of professional 00:17:43.460 --> 00:17:46.140 wrestling or the history of 90s television. No, 00:17:46.220 --> 00:17:49.079 it's bigger than that. It is a master class in 00:17:49.079 --> 00:17:53.119 career survival. Combining deep, rigorous, specialized 00:17:53.119 --> 00:17:56.500 competence with the absolute willingness to adapt, 00:17:56.940 --> 00:18:00.400 be foolish, and totally reinvent yourself. That 00:18:00.400 --> 00:18:02.819 is what makes you indispensable in whatever field 00:18:02.819 --> 00:18:06.039 you choose. Exactly right. Norman Smiley is still 00:18:06.039 --> 00:18:08.579 actively employed by the biggest sports entertainment 00:18:08.579 --> 00:18:11.220 company on earth. Not just because he knows how 00:18:11.220 --> 00:18:14.079 to wrestle, but because he mastered the art of 00:18:14.079 --> 00:18:16.039 staying relevant. We tracked a journey today 00:18:16.039 --> 00:18:18.440 that started on the punishing, highly respected 00:18:18.440 --> 00:18:20.940 mats of chute style catch wrestling. We followed 00:18:20.940 --> 00:18:22.980 him to the absolute heights of international 00:18:22.980 --> 00:18:25.779 championship glory in the arenas of Mexico. Then 00:18:25.779 --> 00:18:28.880 we watched him pivot, literally feeding a hobby 00:18:28.880 --> 00:18:31.380 horse into a wood chipper on live national television 00:18:31.380 --> 00:18:34.440 and demanding fans pronounce his name with a 00:18:34.440 --> 00:18:37.910 fake arrogant accent. We saw him strap on collegiate 00:18:37.910 --> 00:18:41.309 football pads and scream in absolute terror while 00:18:41.309 --> 00:18:44.509 holding a hardcore championship using his technical 00:18:44.509 --> 00:18:47.589 mastery to stay perfectly safe amidst total chaos. 00:18:47.829 --> 00:18:50.430 And finally, we find him quietly and steadily 00:18:50.430 --> 00:18:53.549 passing all of those tools down, shaping the 00:18:53.549 --> 00:18:55.990 future of the industry behind the scenes. So 00:18:55.990 --> 00:18:58.329 think about your own career, your own skill set 00:18:58.329 --> 00:19:00.609 and the environment you operate in right now. 00:19:00.789 --> 00:19:03.000 I'll leave you with this. If you were tasked 00:19:03.000 --> 00:19:05.519 tomorrow with teaching the next generation everything 00:19:05.519 --> 00:19:08.400 you know about your field, would your most valuable, 00:19:08.720 --> 00:19:11.140 life -saving lessons come from the strict, formal 00:19:11.140 --> 00:19:13.339 training you initially received? Or would they 00:19:13.339 --> 00:19:14.960 come from the frantic moments you had to put 00:19:14.960 --> 00:19:17.519 on the metaphorical sports pads, abandon your 00:19:17.519 --> 00:19:20.720 ego, and just improvise to survive? I think we 00:19:20.720 --> 00:19:22.880 both know the answer to that. Thank you so much 00:19:22.880 --> 00:19:24.880 for joining us on this deep dive. Keep learning. 00:19:25.130 --> 00:19:26.869 Keep staying adaptable. And remember, the next 00:19:26.869 --> 00:19:29.250 time you face a seemingly impossible challenge 00:19:29.250 --> 00:19:31.750 in your career, don't be afraid to try out your 00:19:31.750 --> 00:19:33.809 own version of the Big Wiggle. It certainly worked 00:19:33.809 --> 00:19:34.670 for Norman Smiley.