Wrestling / Norman Smiley

As CMLL World Heavyweight Champion

"Another of my hardcore opponents was Norman Smiley. Smiley was a great guy who got the gimmick of "Screamin'" Norman from Russo. What a lot of guys didn’t realize was that Norman was a whole lot tougher than they thought he was. He worked for Japan’s UWFI, which was a group working in a shoot style, a brutal punishing way to work. I knew Smiley could go, although he never felt like he had to prove how tough he was. I was also glad I was never someone he needed to prove it to."

— Terry Funk

Norman Anthony Smiley (born 28 February 1965) is a retired British Professional Wrestler and trainer best known for his time in WCW from the late 1990s until the promotion's demise in 2001. He started his career in Florida in 1985 after training at the Malenko family's school. He made his PPV debut teaming with Chris Adams as Team United Kingdom in a losing effort against Team Mexico (Konnan and Rey Misterio Sr.) in the Pat O'Connor Memorial Tag Team Tournament at NWA Starrcade 90. He first made his name in Mexico as Black Magic. He made a few appearances for ECW in 1995, teaming with Mikey Whipwreck in losing efforts against Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko. He spent years Jobbing in WCW before he finally caught on with the audience competing in the hardcore division. He would hold the WCW Hardcore Title twice, with his gimmick being that he really didn't want to do hardcore matches and didn't want the title. After WCW died, he competed in a variety of promotions, including making some on-and-off appearances for TNA in between 2002 and 2007. He has also competed for AAA, MLW, Juggalo Championship Wrestling, WWE (some dark [non-televised] matches), Future Of Wrestling, Dragon Gate and several others in Mexico, the U.S. and Japan. He had an onscreen role as a lieutenant general manager and liaison to Steve Keirn in WWE's FCW developmental promotion, and also worked offscreen as a trainer. He now works full-time as a trainer for WWE's NXT developmental territory.

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"Screamin' Tropes":

• Ascended Extra: From a low card Jobber to the star of WCW's brief Hardcore Division.

• Black Magic: He actually used this as his ring name for a time, and it doubles as a Red Baron.
• Cheap Heat: Would often wear the sports jerseys of whatever town he was in on a given night.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: He looks like probably the least threatening person ever(even before his cowardly gimmick), but he is actually a tough guy in real life with a lot of solid experience, and he once KO'ed Rick Steiner with one punch!
• Dance Battler: Incorporates his "Big Wiggle" dance into some of his moves.
• Diabolus ex Machina: The medium through which the FCW higher ups delivered Dusty Finishes while he was liaison to the FCW president. Just ask Seth Rollins.
• Dirty Coward: The point of his "Screamin" gimmick, though it again failed to get the WCW audience to turn against him.
• Evil Brit
  • When he was hired by La Legion Extranjera in AAA
  • Funny foreigner: WCW's attempts to give Normal smiley lasting heel heat never achieved long-term success, so he was really a baby face evil Brit most of the time.
• Expy: To the Japanese, he was one to Yoshiaki Fujiwara and even called him the "Black Fujiwara".
• Finishing Move: Rolling kneebar, Norman Conquest (crossface chickenwing)
• Garbage Wrestler: Subverted, he'd dish it out, but he was so afraid of getting hit by weapons and hard items, he'd wear sport-related armor (usually a Football uniform, jersey, pads and all) to the matches.
• I Know Karate: Trained under the Malenkos and competed in the Universal Wrestling Federation early in his career. He also did amateur wrestling and powerlifting in high school.
• Lovable Coward/Dirty Coward: Depending if he was Face or Heel.
• Odd Couple: With Shark Boy in TNA. He teamed with Raven in a losing effort against CM Punk and Michael Shane at MLW Rise of the Renegades, July 26, 2003.
  • Had Chris Jericho's former "security guard" Ralphus as his manager in WCW in 2000.
• Pec Flex
• Power Stable: (in AAA): La Legion Extranjera (led by Konnan)
• Pretentious Pronunciation: Claimed in WCW that his name should be pronounced "Nor-MAN Smi-LAY."
• Reasonable Authority Figure: In FCW.
• Red Baron: "Screamin'". Because he...
  • Screams Like a Little Girl
• Refuge in Audacity/Combat Pragmatist: During his match with Michael Shane (w/Francine) at MLW Revolutions, May 9, 2003, Francine, of course, got involved and gave him the Bronco Buster in the corner. Norman countered by grabbing the front of Francine's shorts and simulating oral sex. It didn't help, as Norman still lost the match.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: Known for a time as Lord Norman.
• Token Minority: Was the only black guy during his time in UWF Newborn.
• Unnecessary Roughness: He ran Chavo's stickhorse "Pepe" through a woodchipper.