William Smithson (May 31, 1950 – March 21, 2013Wrestlingdata.com
/ref>) was a professional wrestler who wrestled as Moondog Spike during the early 1990s with

Moondog Spot Larry Wayne Booker (June 6, 1952 – November 29, 2003), better known by his ring names Moondog Spot and Larry Latham, was an American professional wrestler. Professional wrestling career Early career (1977–1981) Booker debuted in 1 ...

from 1991 to 1992 and

Moondog Cujo Lanny Neal Kean Jr. (March 19, 1960 – January 13, 2009) was an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation from 1985 to 1986 under the ring name Cousin Junior, as well as for his appea ...

from 1992 to 1993 as part of

The Moondogs The Moondogs are a Northern Irish rock band formed in 1979, and consisting of Gerry McCandless, Austin Barrett and Jackie Hamilton. Their career spans three albums, four singles and two television programmes. Discography Singles *"She's Nine ...

Professional wrestling career

Trained by

Tojo Yamamoto Harold Watanabe (January 6, 1927 – February 19, 1992) was an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Tojo Yamamoto. Early life Watanabe was born in Hawaii in 1927 to a Japanese father and an American mother. He served ...

in Tennessee, Smithson made his debut in 1978 as a tag team partner of Jerry Ralph in one of the many incarnations of the "Inferno" tag teams managed by Mike Duprée. During the mid-1980s, under the name ''Dizzy Golden'', he formed a tag team with his storyline brother Mike Golden in the Mid-South area winning the Texas All-Star U.S.A. Tag Team Championship twice during a feud with the "Dream Team" of

King Parsons King Bailey Parsons Jr. (born June 11, 1950) is a former professional wrestler better known by his ring name Iceman King Parsons. Professional wrestling career Parsons started wrestling in 1979 after being trained by Nick Kozak. King started fo ...

and Tiger Conway, Jr. in 1986 and reigned as its last tag team champions until the title was retired in November 1986 following the federation's purchase by

World Class Championship Wrestling World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW), later known as the World Class Wrestling Association (WCWA) (1986–1991) was an American professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas. Originally owned by promoter Ed ...

. He briefly went to Memphis after the demise of

Texas All Star Wrestling Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by bo ...

as the Australian "Bluey". He was bought in by George Barnes to help feud with

Bill Dundee William Cruickshanks (born 24 October 1943) is a Scottish-born Australian professional wrestler and author better known by his stage name Bill Dundee. Cruickshanks is the father of J. C. Ice, Jamie Dundee and the father-in-law of wrestler Bobby E ...

who Barnes had turned on and said Dundee had gotten too "American". That same year he worked for

All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW/AJP) or simply All Japan is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion established on October 21, 1972 when Giant Baba split away from the Japanese Wrestling Association and created his own promotion. Many wrestlers had left with Baba, ...

. After that he went to ICW in the New England area where he wrestled there in late 1987 and 1988 as Moondog Spike.He won the Hwy Title as well as twice the Tag straps. In 1991, Smithson began teaming with Moondog Spot in the Memphis-based

United States Wrestling Association The United States Wrestling Association (USWA) was a professional wrestling promotion based in Memphis, Tennessee. The company was founded when the Memphis-based Continental Wrestling Association merged with the Dallas-based World Class Wrestling ...

. Together they violently feuded with

Jeff Jarrett Jeffrey Leonard Jarrett (born July 14, 1967) is an American professional wrestler and promoter. He is currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he also serves as Director of Business Development. Beginning his career in his father J ...

and

Jerry "The King" Lawler Jerry O'Neil Lawler (born November 29, 1949), better known as Jerry "The King" Lawler, is an American color commentator and professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, although he has not performed as a full-time commentator since Ap ...

throughout the year; the feud being featured in

Pro Wrestling Illustrated ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American internationally sold professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publish ...

's "Feud of the Year" in 1992. With Moondog Spot's retirement the following year, Lanny Keane, Jr. was brought in as Moondog Cujo to replace Moondog Spot. Smithson and Keane, Jr. would feud with The Dogcatchers and win the USWA Southern Tag Team Championships several times before Lanny Keane left to pursue a singles career as Bloody Ox Brody. In 1993 he returned to Japan teaming with Moondog Splat for

W*ING Wrestling International New Generations (W*ING) was a Japanese professional wrestling promotion specialized in deathmatches. History After leaving Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling in the summer of 1991, Kazuyoshi Osako and Kiyoshi "Mickey" Ibarag ...

. Smithson disappeared soon after the split however, possibly due to health problems resulting from his weight gain. He would work occasionally in the independent circuit until his last match in 2011. He died in March 2013.

Championships and accomplishments

* International Championship Wrestling (New England) **

ICW Heavyweight Championship The ICW World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship of International Championship Wrestling. Many title defenses featured matches between Randy Savage and his real-life brother Lanny Poffo. After th ...

( 1 time) **

ICW Tag Team Championship The ICW Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling Championship (professional wrestling) owned by Scotland's Insane Championship Wrestling promotion. Complimenting ICW's two established singles titles ( ICW World Heavyweight Championship a ...

(

2 times "2 Times" is a song co-written and recorded by British Italian-based singer Ann Lee. It was released in 1999 as the lead single from her debut album, ''Dreams'' (1999). The single entered and peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart. Outside ...

) - with

(1) and The Dungeon Master (1) *

Texas All-Star Wrestling Texas All-Star Wrestling (TASW) is a professional wrestling promotion that was established by Bob Murphy in Humble, Texas in 1994. It is the oldest independent promotion in the state of Texas and one of three based in the Greater Houston area a ...

Texas All-Star USA Tag Team Championship The Texas All-Star USA Tag Team Championship was a major tag team title in Texas All-Star Wrestling. The title was first established in Southwest Championship Wrestling in 1981 when it was the SCW Southwest Tag Team Championship. The title's name ...

(

) with Mike Golden *

USWA World Tag Team Championship The USWA World Tag Team Championship was the primary professional wrestling tag team championship promoted by the Memphis, Tennessee-based United States Wrestling Association (USWA). The Continental Wrestling Association and World Class Wrestling ...

( 6 times) - with Moondog Spot (3), Moondog Cujo (2) and Mike Lozansky (1) *

**PWI ranked him # 150 of the 500 best singles wrestlers in the

PWI 500 ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American internationally sold professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publishi ...

in 1992.

References

External links

Online World of Wrestling: Bill SmithsonLegends: The Moondogs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moondog Spike 2013 deaths 1950 births American male professional wrestlers ICW/IWCCW Heavyweight Champions Professional wrestlers from Tennessee USWA World Tag Team Champions