Izzy Slapawitz

Early life Smith was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. He became a wrestling fan in the late 1950s. A childhood friend claimed that they were the first wrestling fans to bring signs to local World Wide Wrestling Federation house shows. Around 1971, Smith also co-founded an unofficial fan club for Freddie Blassie with members wearing homemade "Blassie's Army" T-shirts. Smith continued watching wrestling after moving to Knoxville, Tennessee in the mid-1970s. He eventually met Norvell Austin at a Southeastern Championship Wrestling. Austin later introduced Smith to Rick Conner who agreed to train him. On September 16, 1978, Smith (substituting for Tamaya Soto) wrestled Burr Head Jones for an NWA Mid-America television taping at the Memorial Auditorium in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He later felt the match was "garbage". Smith attributed his poor performance to nervousness as he was used to wrestling in front of much smaller crowds. After the match, Smith was berated by promoter Nick Gulas in front of the entire locker room. Although Gulas' booker Tom Renesto reassured Smith that he was welcome to return, Smith felt Gulas had acted unprofessionally and refused to work for him again. Smith's old trainer Rick Conner recommended him to then booker Frankie Caine praising his interview skills. Caine decided to use Smith as a manager believing he had potential as an on-screen character. Smith credited Caine for creating the Izzy Slapawitz character and working with him to further develop the gimmick. Slapawitz was initially presented as a shady New York City businessman who owned a chain of pawn shops throughout the city. In first television appearance, however, Southern audiences mistook "pawn shop" for "porn shop" due Smith's thick New York accent. His introduction elicited some mild controversy at the time and that aspect of the character was quickly dropped. In spite of this rough start, Smith was well liked by Caine and the Culkins. He formed the first version of the Slapawitz Syndicate with Rip Rogers and The Japanese Wrecking Crew (Oki Shikina and Mr. Fuji). One of the first targets of the Slapawitz Syndicate was Joey Rossi who was harassed by the group, and Smith in particular, for several weeks while the Culkins were running shows in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Smith was unexpectedly forced into a bout with Rossi which led to the manager wrestling his first-ever match in the territory. Unlike the typical "cowardly" wrestling manager, Smith aggressively brawled with Rossi and was disqualified in their best two of three falls match. The bout was covered by the Vicksburg's daily newspaper with a front-page story entitled "Tougher Then They Thought".

Shikina and Fugi quickly captured the promotion's Mississippi and U.S. Heavyweight Championships under Slapawitz's leadership. Smith's stable soon became involved in a "heel vs. heel" feud against Percy Pringle and AWA Tag Team Champions The Mongolians (Tio and Tapu). Slapawitz and Pringle faced each other in six-man tag team matches as well as in a variety of specialty matches throughout Mississippi in 1978. One of their most infamous matches was a bloody Texas Bull Rope match at the Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson, Mississippi that ended in a double-countout when the brawl spilled outside of the ring and into the backstage area. The feud concluded the following week at the Mississippi Coliseum with Slapawitz and The Japanese Wrecking Crew defeating Pringle and The Mongolians in a "Loser Leaves Town" Steel Cage match; due to the pre-match stipulations, the Slapawitz Syndicate won all four titles Smith praised the Culkins for their honesty calling them "two of the finest promoters, in my experience, that ever promoted wrestling matches in the United States".

NWA Tri-State After leaving Mississippi, Smith followed Frankie Caine to the NWA's Oklahoma territory Smith and Harris left the territory after losing a "loser leaves town" match to Jimmy Garvin in Little Rock, Arkansas.

All-Star Championship Wrestling Smith joined a local "outlaw" promotion called All-Star Championship Wrestling soon after returning to Knoxville. The organization was formed by Ronnie Garvin, Bob Roop, Bob Orton, Jr. and Boris Malenko after leaving Southeastern Championship Wrestling and was running in opposition to NWA promoter Robert Fuller. Yasu Fuji, one of his former charges, encouraged Smith to contact then booker Ronnie Garvin. Although the territory was struggling in its promotional war against Fuller, Garvin agreed to hire him. Peters quickly won the ICW Southeastern Heavyweight Championship under his management.

Smith led his stable against Ronnie Garvin, Bob Roop and other fan favorites. One of the highlights during this period was when Smith faked a heart attack during a match with Roop to avoid wrestling him. On January 19, 1980, Smith was in the corner of Bob Orton, Jr. in a "loser gets painted yellow" match against Ronnie Garvin at WNOX Auditorium. If Garvin won, Smith would have been forced to spend 2 minutes in the ring with him. On March 15, Smith teamed with The Destroyer in a handicap match against Garvin. Two weeks later, Garvin was lured into a "loser leaves town" match in exchange for a title shot against Tony Peters. Smith, however, was barred from ringside during the bout. A brawl between members of the Slapawitz Syndicate and Ronnie Garvin at the WNOX Auditorium resulted in Smith throwing a fireball for the first time in the territory. On April Fools' Day, he led the Orton brothers to the Southern Tag Team Championship when they defeated Terry Gibbs and Bob Roop. Barry O was replaced by Tony Peters after leaving the territory. On May 24, 1980, Smith led his Southern Tag Team Champions against Garvin and Terry Gibbs at Evans-Collins Field.

International Championship Wrestling All Star Wrestling was closely associated with another "outlaw" promotion, International Championship Wrestling, based in Lexington, Kentucky. When All Star merged with ICW, Smith was among the wrestlers who opted to join the sister promotion in Lexington, Kentucky. Smith and other All Star Wrestling stars were regulars on ICW's weekly television show prior to and following the merger. Slapawitz Syndicate members Barry Orton and Tony Peters did not make the move to Kentucky

Smith and his stable continued their feud against the fan favorites of the territory. In August 1980, Smith and Bob Orton, Jr. were involved in a controversial angle when they interfered in a match between Barry O and Ronnie Garvin. As Orton distracted the referee, Smith injected Garvin with an unknown substance that made the wrestler "foam at the mouth". ICW officials immediately disqualified Barry O and suspended Bob Orton, Jr. from a championship tournament to crown the first ICW Television Champion. Orton was able to sneak into the tournament as the masked wrestler The Best but was eliminated by Bob Roop in the quarter-finals. Smith and Orton showed up the following week's episode and brought out midget wrestler Mighty Cupid who claimed the $500 bag was his. In an attempt to garner sympathy with the crowd, Orton promised to take the $500 out on Roop. These theatrical hints of mock-satanism helped to put the team over with the fans but also limited their exposure, as many other territories at that time were too 'Bible Belt' for any satanism gimmick to be used. Nevertheless, the team quickly established themselves as top contenders for the promotion's U.S. and Southeastern Tag Team titles. On April 25, 1981, Smith led the Devil's Duo to the ICW United States Tag Team Championship, which they won from Lanny Poffo and George Weingeroff at Henry Clay High School. He threw a fireball to help his team win the tag team title.

That summer, Smith was attacked by fans during an ICW house show in Illinois. It was during a rematch against Poffo and Weingeroff that Smith secretly handed a chain to one of his men. The event was held in a high school gym without guardrails or security and angry fans were able to surround the manager. Poffo and Weingeroff convinced the crowd to hand Smith to them and the wrestlers quickly rushed him back to the dressing room. Smith sustained a swollen knee from the assault and believed that he would have sustained more serious injuries had his opponents not intervened. It was this incident that led to his decision to leave the territory. The Poffo family's feud with Jerry Jarrett and the Continental Wrestling Association had also alienated Smith and others who had friends in the Memphis territory. Smith and the Devil's Duo were the first of many ICW mainstays who left during the summer and fall of 1981. Smith and the Devil's Duo were considered the promotion's top "heel" tag team at the time of their departure. Angelo Poffo later blamed Smith for the loss of talent. Despite the falling out between him and the Poffos, Smith spoke highly of the tight-knit comradery among the ICW roster.

NWA Hollywood Wrestling As he was preparing to leave ICW, Smith got an offer from Tom Renesto who was booking for the NWA's Los Angeles territory. Renesto wanted him to appear for its annual battle royal at the Olympic Auditorium where he would win the NWA Americas Heavyweight Championship.

Two weeks after Slapawitz's debut, the Devil's Duo were brought into the territory from ICW. Many of the Virginia towns that SCW ran in, such as Lynchburg, Virginia, were part of the Bible Belt and it was felt that the name might turn off fans from attending shows. The team's name was changed to "The Hollywood Blondes" and they were initially managed by Jimmy Holiday. Smith rejoined the Devil's Duo when Holiday left to work in the Mid-Atlantic territory. Smith held dual roles as both a manager and wrestler during this period. He mainly appeared in a "wrestling manager" role for Mulligan's shows in the Knoxville end of the territory and wrestled for the co-promotional shows with Crockett's side of the territory in Central Virginia area. Smith teamed with Iron Mike Sharpe against Wells and Bruno Sammartino Jr. the following week. In his last GCW appearance, Smith and Jose Medina lost to The Oates Brothers (Jerry Oates and Ted Oates) on the October 3rd 1981 episode of Georgia Championship Wrestling.

Maple Leaf Wrestling On November 15, 1981, Smith and Doug Vines made a one-time appearance in Maple Leaf Wrestling for their 50th anniversary show at Maple Leaf Gardens; they lost to Mike Davis and Tony Parisi. Smith had been sent to Canada by Mulligan for a one-time appearance. However, the Tunney family were so impressed by Smith that they made him an offer to work in the Toronto wrestling territory the morning he was checking out of his hotel. Smith declined the offer as he did not want to move his family to Canada. While at the show, Smith was photographed backstage with Charlie Fulton and Mike Miller watching Big John Studd demonstrating a facerake on Doug Vines. The photo became part of a feature story entitled "The John Studd School of Rulebreaking" which was published in The Wrestler several months later. Stu Saks later claimed that one of the few articles he had pulled from the Apter magazines was an Izzy Slapowitz story written by then columnist Steve Farhood.

Jim Crockett Promotions Due to SCW's connection to Jim Crockett, Smith and the Devil's Duo were invited to Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling. One of their Crockett shows was at a state fair in Harrisonburg, Virginia on November 19, 1981. The local promoter had booked Smith to wrestle Doug Vines apparently unaware that "Izzy Slapowitz" was managing Vines in Knoxville. Smith knew the local fans would be confused, especially as the two wrestlers had spent the day walking around the fair. To protect kayfabe, the two decided to change the match at the last minute. Smith announced to the crowd that they were wrestling each other to show the audience how tough they were and vowed that "blood would be spilled". Smith and Vines then proceeded to wrestle a hardcore-style brawl, involving chairs and the ringposts, that ended in a double-disqualification. On December 26, 1981, Smith wrestled Abe Jacobs, the one-time "Jewish Heavyweight Champion", in Greenville, North Carolina losing via referee's decision.

According to Smith, the Devil's Duo were originally going to compete in a championship tournament for the then vacant NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Championship and win the titles. Ole Anderson, who was booking JCP at the time, instead split the trio up. In their first TV appearance for the company, Doug Vines and Jeff Sword wrestled in singles matches while Smith, whose name was changed, was put in a tag team match. When the three men returned to Knoxville the following day, they told Mulligan what had happened and the promoter drove to Charlotte where he confronted Anderson in the dressing room. Smith later speculated that their problems with Ole Anderson may have stemmed from real-life animosity between the two. On January 8, 1991, he made a brief appearance on WWF Wrestling Challenge taping against Jake "The Snake" Roberts at UTC Arena in Chattanooga.

Retirement Smith went into retirement after the close of ASCW in 1992. He returned to New York and worked as an insurance salesman until the mid-2000s due to health problems. In 2007, Smith underwent emergency ascending aortic dissection surgery. The lengthy recovery period and blood pressure medication he was put on prevented him from working as a sales rep. Smith was still receiving cardiac therapy for his heart four years after his surgery. In May 2011, he was interviewed by Canadian Online Explorer regarding the death of Randy Savage. On September 18, 2011, Smith was among the featured guests at the Legends Show in Knoxville's Chilhowee Park. It was his first public appearance as "Izzy Slapowitz" in 20 years. Smith was also invited to the private Tennessee Wrestling Legends Reunion in Gallatin, Tennessee a year later. On February 13, 2013, Smith was interviewed on the Mantell's Corral podcast with Johnny Mantell where he discussed his career and shared road stories. He also expressed concerns that younger wrestlers no longer had access to the unique training environment the NWA territory system provided to learn the craft of pro wrestling. In 2008, Smith participated in a "shoot interview" available on DVD.

Death Smith died on December 28, 2019, after suffering cardiac arrest during surgery.

Championships and accomplishments Other titles IWC United States Heavyweight Championship (1 time)