It only lasted four years, but the impact that Jim Cornette's
regional promotion made on the business is still seen today. This company was a throwback to the territorial days of the National Wrestling Alliance and it was a dream of Cornette's to have his own group run just outside of Knoxville, ever since the days when he was a kid growing up in Louisville and would go to his friend's house where they would struggle with an antenna to watch Southeastern Championship Wrestling.
       The company's first show was on October 30, 1991 in Greenville, SC when Cornette started off the group with Tim Horner and Sandy Scott. They put in a good deal of money into the venture, as they had a local radio personality Cat Collins, and the bigtime record company guy, Rick Rubin, both Cornette marks from the Crockett days, helping fund the company. But in the end, it was the lack of progress when it came to finances that made Cornette decide to close up shop in November of 1995. Evidently, the company was not making any money after having been established and having drawn good money at various times throughout its run, and at other times not drawing well
at all. The state of the television industry having changed is the conclusion many had come to, which prevents a regional wrestling company from making any progress, as the price of keeping television time is too expensive. Also, because of the climate of the corporate structure, television executives don't even want to let a promoter obtain any television time at all in most cases. This was the same problem that killed the WCW and ECW years later.
       Many talented performers were discovered in SMW, like Tammy Sytch, or were elevated, as was the case with numerous local talent, like Unabomb ( who later became Kane ), Chris Candido, the Gangstas, and the Heavenly Bodies, as well as the prominent legends, the Rock'n'Roll Express. As a way of attracting a wider fan base, Cornette worked a short program with WCW and later began a working agreement with the WWF, which he never intended to do, but found that it helped boost business. At times, they even outdrew WCW, but it wouldn't prove to be enough, as the company was having trouble breaking even and the financial backers became frustrated and backed out. After being worn out mentally and having exhausted every idea when it came to angles, Jim Cornette decided to fold SMW, which had produced some of the best wrestling in the world and proved that there still is a core audience for old-style booking. Cornette ran the WWE developmental territory, Ohio Valley Wrestling, with Danny Davis, for years afterwards in the same region, which in some ways was seen as an offshoot of what SMW was.