Fans of World Championship Wrestling in the late 1990s and early 2000s certainly remember Norman Smiley. While he wasn’t in the main event scene — he never even had a World Title shot outside of a single tournament — wrestling fans who preferred to pay attention to the midcard and below got a kick out of Smiley’s antics during his time in the company, and he got surprisingly popular with crowds in the process.
With an in-ring career lasting from the mid-1980s to the late 2000s, there’s actually a lot to learn about Norman Smiley beyond just his WCW stint. Let’s take a look at what fans should know about such an underrated legend, from his origins all the way to how he contributes to the world of pro wrestling today.
10 Trained By The Malenkos
Born in Northampton, England in 1965, Norman Smiley grew up idolizing British technical wrestlers like Johnny Saint, but when he moved to Miami as a child in early 1970s, he got into American wrestlers like Dusty Rhodes while watching Championship Wrestling From Florida. With a background in amateur wrestling and bodybuilding, Smiley ended up getting pro wrestling training from future WCW co-worker Dean Malenko alongside his father, Boris Malenko. Smiley made his in-ring debut in 1985, performing under the ring name Black Magic and wrestling a handful of matches for the aforementioned Championship Wrestling From Florida.
9 Shoot-Style Wrestler In Japan
In addition to the Malenkos, Norman Smiley also ended up improving his technical wrestling abilities under the tutelage of Karl Gotch, one of the most influential wrestlers of all time. Because Gotch was such a crucial figure in Japanese wrestling, Smiley was able to make his way overseas and wrestle for the shoot-style promotion Union of Wrestling Forces International in 1988. Over the course of a year or so, Smiley wrestled only a handful of matches for the company, but shared the ring with some legendary talent including Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Nobuhiko Takada, Akira Maeda, and Minoru Suzuki.
8 Debuted For WCW In 1990
While Norman Smiley first came onto many fans’ radars wrestling for WCW in the late 1990s, his debut for the promotion actually happened much earlier than that. For Starrcade ‘90, WCW held an international tag team tournament in honor of former NWA World Champion Pat O’Connor, who had died earlier that year, and Norman Smiley teamed with fellow Briton Chris Adams to represent his home country.
Norman Smiley and Chris Adams were knocked out of the tournament in the first round by the Mexican team of Konnan and Rey Mysterio Sr., but the bout would lead to bigger and better things for Smiley.
7 CMLL World Heavyweight Champion
After their match, Konnan actually invited Norman Smiley to head to Mexico to compete in what was the former’s home promotion at the time, CMLL. According to Smiley himself, what was meant to be a month-long stint ended up becoming a five-year run with the promotion. During that run, working under the name Black Magic once again, Smiley ended up defeating El Rayo de Jalisco Jr. to capture the vacant CMLL World Heavyweight Championship, which he held for 219 days with defenses against Brazo de Plata, Villano 4, and even King Haku (a.k.a. Meng).
6 Started Off As A Jobber In WCW
Thanks to his relationship with Konnan, Norman Smiley was one of the many performers in Mexico that came to WCW in the late 1990s, including Rey Mysterio Jr., Psychosis, and Konnan himself. However, while many of the Mexican exports were impressing fans in the cruiserweight division, Smiley was relegated to jobber status, losing matches on WCW Saturday Night, with his most significant match being an unsuccessful effort in the 1997 World War 3 battle royal.
5 Got Popular With “The Big Wiggle”
During a hiatus from WCW television, Norman Smiley sought to spice up his act, knowing that pro wrestling requires a degree of showmanship to go with the in-ring skills. Smiley ended up finding inspiration in American football as he watched players do endzone celebration dances. After two months off of viewers’ screens, Norman Smiley returned to WCW television in February 1998, debuting the now-iconic dance dubbed “the Big Wiggle,” a sexually suggestive horse-riding motion with ample amounts of hip gyration.
4 Two-Time WCW Hardcore Champion
The year 1999 saw WCW establish follow in the footsteps of WWE and establish a hardcore division of its own, bringing in various members of the midcard and below to take part. Norman Smiley was one such performer to become part of the division, and captured his first title in the company when he defeated Brian Knobbs in a tournament at Mayhem ‘99 to become the very first WCW Hardcore Champion.
Smiley’s initial reign with the Hardcore belt would last 51 days, but he’d regain it seven months later when he defeated Carl Ouellet (a.k.a. PCO) to win the title for a second time, for a 42-day run.
3 Became “Screamin’” Norman Smiley
As part of the hardcore division, the decidedly not-hardcore Norman Smiley ended up adopting a new gimmick. Fearful of the division’s signature hardcore antics, Smiley became known for delivering high-pitched shrieks during matches, earning the nickname of “Screamin’” Norman Smiley. On top of that, Smiley went overboard in protecting himself in his hardcore outings, often donning protective sports gear like hockey pads to compete in these matches. The new gimmick not only proved to be hilarious, but was also fairly popular with fans as well.
2 Wrestled For Impact
When WCW was bought by WWE in spring of 2001, Norman Smiley was among the WCW stars who didn’t continue on with the new company, though he would take part in some tryout matches in the following years. He didn’t entirely disappear from television, however, as he wrestled in the early days of TNA (now known as Impact Wrestling) in 2002. In 2006, he actually returned to the company for a run lasting about a year, during which he mostly teamed with fellow comedic wrestler Shark Boy in losing efforts.
1 Became A Trainer For WWE
In 2007 following his departure from Impact, Norman Smiley took a job as a trainer for Florida Championship Wrestling, which at the time was WWE’s developmental system. Responsible for training the female talent, Smiley also appeared on FCW television as an authority figure from time to time. When FCW transitioned into NXT, Smiley stayed on as a trainer in developmental, molding talents in the WWE Performance Center once it opened up in July of 2013.