Tony Anthony

Darrell W. Anthony (born April 12, 1960 ) is an American retired professional wrestler, also known by his ring name Dirty White Boy. He wrestled in NWA territories in the Southeastern United States. He was most active throughout the 1980s and 1990s in the Tennessee-based United States Wrestling Association (USWA) and Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW), and had two short stints with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) under the ring names of T. L. Hopper and Uncle Cletus.

Professional wrestling career

Early career (1980–1988) Trained by Steve Keirn and Ron Wright, Anthony worked as a jobber in Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling in 1981 and 1982. He won his first major title teaming with Len Denton as "The Grapplers" in the AWA. They defeated The Fabulous Ones (Keirn and Stan Lane) to win the AWA Southern Tag Team Championship on August 8, 1983.

United States Wrestling Association (1989–1992) In 1989, Anthony defeated Dustin Rhodes in a United States Wrestling Association (USWA) tournament final to become the first USWA Southern Heavyweight champion. The following year, he won the USWA Tag Team Championship on three occasions, once with Tom Burton and twice with Doug Gilbert.

Smoky Mountain Wrestling (1992–1995)

Anthony competed primarily as a singles wrestler in Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW). He was quickly pushed as a main event wrestler, and won the SMW Heavyweight Championship from Brian Lee on August 8, 1992. He dropped the title to Tracy Smothers in April 1993.

In June 1993, Anthony (under his masked Mighty Yankee gimmick) won the SMW Beat the Champ Television Championship.

Anthony won his final title in SMW on July 6, 1995, teaming with Tracy Smothers (as the Thugs) to defeat The Dynamic Duo (Al Snow and Unabom) for the SMW Tag Team Championship.

Although he did not wrestle on any WWF pay-per-views, he made an appearance during the "Bikini Beach Blast-Off" segment, on the Free For All show immediately preceding SummerSlam 1996. Based on his experience as a plumber, Hopper was chosen to investigate a brown object resembling feces on the bottom of the swimming pool which turned out to be a sausage. The segment parodied a scene in the movie Caddyshack. He continued wrestling in lower cards matches mainly in house shows until June 1997.

After taking a brief hiatus, 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. He was then billed as the uncle of the Godwinns, and became the team's manager. At Badd Blood 1997, The Godwinns won the WWF Tag Team Championship, with Cletus in their corner. On October 13, Cletus interfered in another match, but his interference backfired and allowed the Legion of Doom to win the title. Following this, the Godwinns attacked Cletus, who was never seen in the WWF again.

Later career (1997–2006) After leaving the WWF, Anthony returned to his home state of Tennessee (where he had maintained considerable fame and popularity) and wrestled for various independents around East Tennessee until retiring from active competition in 2006. In recent years, he played a prominent role in Knoxville's Tennessee Xtreme Wrestling, as its face commissioner.

Championships and accomplishments American Wrestling Federation AWF Heavyweight Championship (1 time) Continental Wrestling Association AWA Southern Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Len Denton CWA Southwestern Heavyweight Championship (1 time) Memphis Wrestling Hall of Fame Class of 2024 New Dimension Wrestling NDW Hardcore Championship (1 time) Pro Wrestling Illustrated PWI ranked him #25 of the top 500 best singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 1994 PWI ranked him #299 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the "PWI Years" in 2003 Smoky Mountain Wrestling SMW Beat the Champ Television Championship (2 times) SMW Heavyweight Championship (3 times) SMW Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Tracy Smothers SMW Carolina Cup Tag Team Championship (1 time) – Tracy Smothers Southeastern Championship Wrestling / Continental Championship Wrestling / Continental Wrestling Federation CWF Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Jerry Stubbs NWA Alabama Heavyweight Championship (4 times) NWA Continental Tag Team Championship (4 times) - with Jerry Stubbs Southwest Championship Wrestling SCW Southwest Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Len Denton Tennessee Mountain Wrestling TMW Heavyweight Championship (2 times) United Atlantic Championship Wrestling UACW Heavyweight Championship (1 time) United States Wrestling Association USWA Southern Heavyweight Championship (1 time) USWA World Tag Team Championship (3 times) - with Tom Burton (1) and Doug Gilbert (2)