The Heavenly Bodies is a

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring o ...

tag team Tag team wrestling is a type of professional wrestling in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. Tag teams may be made up of wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of establish ...

famous for having worked in

Smoky Mountain Wrestling Smoky Mountain Wrestling was a professional wrestling promotion that held events in the Appalachian area of the United States from October 1991 to December 1995, when it was run by Jim Cornette. The promotion was based in Knoxville, Tennessee, wit ...

, the

World Wrestling Federation World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...

, and various independent promotions. Over the years, there have been multiple variations of the team, which has at different times included "Doctor" Tom Prichard, "Sweet" Stan Lane, "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton, and "Gigolo" Jimmy Del Ray, and was led by

heel The heel is the prominence at the posterior end of the foot. It is based on the projection of one bone, the calcaneus or heel bone, behind the articulation of the bones of the lower Human leg, leg. Structure To distribute the compressive for ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

James E. Cornette.

History

Prichard and Rose

In 1985,

Tom Prichard Thomas Prichard (born August 18, 1959) is a retired American professional wrestler and author. He is the older brother of Bruce Prichard. Professional wrestling career Early career (1979–1986) Tom Prichard began his career in Los Angeles ...

and Pat Rose briefly used the name The Heavenly Bodies while working in the Memphis territory. The team was managed by

Sherri Martel Sherry Schrull (née Russell; born February 8, 1958 – June 15, 2007) was an American professional wrestler and manager, better known by her ring names, Sherri Martel and Sensational Sherri. Martel began her professional wrestling career in the ...

Prichard and Lane

In 1992, Prichard reformed the Heavenly Bodies in Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW) with

Stan Lane Wallace Stanfield "Stan" Lane (born August 5, 1953) is an American retired professional wrestler and color commentator. He is best known for his appearances with the Continental Wrestling Association (CWA), Jim Crockett Promotions and World Champi ...

. Managed by

Jim Cornette James Mark "Jim" Cornette (born September 17, 1961) is an American author and podcaster who has previously worked in the professional wrestling industry as an agent, booker, color commentator, manager, promoter, trainer, and occasional prof ...

, Prichard and Lane became the first

SMW Tag Team Champions SMW may refer to: * Semantic MediaWiki, an extension to MediaWiki that allows for annotating semantic data within wiki pages * Smara Airport, Western Sahara, IATA Airport Code * Smoky Mountain Wrestling, a professional wrestling promotion that held ...

. Following his departure from

World Championship Wrestling World Championship Wrestling, Inc. (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of Nation ...

(WCW),

Bobby Eaton Bobby Lee Eaton (August 14, 1958 – August 4, 2021) was an American professional wrestler best known as "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton. He was most famous for his work in tag teams, especially as one-half of The Midnight Express. Under the managemen ...

was added to the team. Manager Jim Cornette explained that any two of the three men could defend the belts at any given time, as he had registered the Heavenly Bodies with SMW as a 'corporation'. During their tenure in SMW, The Heavenly Bodies had long running

feuds A feud , referred to in more extreme cases as a blood feud, vendetta, faida, clan war, gang war, or private war, is a long-running argument or fight, often between social groups of people, especially families or clans. Feuds begin because one par ...

with the likes of The New Fantastics (

Bobby Fulton James Hines (born October 4, 1960) is a retired American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Bobby Fulton. He was one half of the tag team The Fantastics with Tommy Rogers. Professional wrestling career James Hines started wr ...

and

Jackie Fulton George Hines (born June 1, 1963) is a retired American professional wrestler, best known by his ringname Jackie Fulton, who competed in regional and independent promotions including the American Wrestling Association, East Coast Championship Wrest ...

) and

The Rock 'n' Roll Express The Rock 'n' Roll Express is a professional wrestling tag team consisting of professional wrestlers Robert Gibson and Ricky Morton. The duo began teaming together in Memphis in the early 1980s, followed by Mid-South Wrestling (later to be known ...

(

Ricky Morton Richard Wendell Morton (born September 21, 1956) is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, currently performing on the independent circuit. He is the current GCW Television Champion, after pinning Matt Cardona at GCW Say You Wi ...

and Robert Gibson). Their feuds were often highlighted with hardcore matches and numerous title changes. An agreement between SMW and WCW allowed the bodies to face the Rock 'n' Roll Express at the

SuperBrawl III SuperBrawl III was the third SuperBrawl professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Championship Wrestling (WCW). It took place on February 21, 1993 from the Asheville Civic Center in Asheville, North Carolina in the United S ...

pay-per-view on February 21, 1993. The Heavenly Bodies lost this match. For a brief time in 1993, Eaton held Smoky Mountain's television championship (the promotion's secondary title) while the Heavenly Bodies were the tag-team champions.

Prichard and Del Ray

In May 1993, Lane left the team after losing a loser-of-the-fall leaves town match. The team continued with Lane replaced by Pritchard's "cousin" "Gigolo" Jimmy Del Ray. Over the next few years, the new duo competed not only in SMW but also in the

(WWF),

Extreme Championship Wrestling HHG Corporation, doing business as Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), was a professional wrestling promotion and media company that was based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The promotion was founded in 1992 by Tod Gordon as National Wrest ...

(ECW), and the

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 ...

(USWA). They continued their feud with The Rock 'n' Roll Express in these promotions and began new rivalries with the

Steiner Brothers The Steiner Brothers are an American professional wrestling tag team consisting of brothers Robert "Rick Steiner" Rechsteiner and Scott "Scott Steiner" Rechsteiner. The brothers wrestled as amateurs at the University of Michigan. The team mad ...

(

Rick Rick may refer to: People *Rick (given name), a list of people with the given name *Alan Rick (born 1976), Brazilian politician, journalist, pastor and television personality *Johannes Rick (1869–1946), Austrian-born Brazilian priest and mycol ...

and

Scott Steiner Scott Rechsteiner (born July 29, 1962), better known by the ring name Scott Steiner, is an American professional wrestler currently signed to the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). Steiner is perhaps best known for his time in World Championshi ...

), and

The Smoking Gunns The Smoking Gunns were a professional wrestling tag team of kayfabe brothers Billy Gunn (Monty Sopp) and Bart Gunn (Mike Polchlopek). They portrayed cowboys in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) from 1993 to 1996. As a team, the Smoking Gunns ...

(

Bart Bart is a masculine given name, usually a diminutive of Bartholomew, sometimes of Barton, Bartolomeo, etc. Bart is a Dutch and Ashkenazi Jewish surname, and derives from the name ''Bartholomäus'', a German form of the biblical name ''Barthol ...

and

Billy Gunn Monty Kip Sopp (born November 1, 1963), better known by his ring name Billy Gunn, although he is currently finding renewed popularity under the ring name Daddy Ass, is an American professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is currently ...

). In July 1993, SMW's working agreement with the WWF allowed The Heavenly Bodies and The Rock 'n' Roll Express to wrestle on the organization's

pay-per-view Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program guid ...

shows. Prichard and Del Ray unsuccessfully challenged for the

WWF Tag Team Championship The World Tag Team Championship was the original professional wrestling world tag team championship in the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) promotion, and the promotion's third tag team championship overall. Originally established by the then- ...

at SummerSlam 1993 but captured the SMW Tag Team Championship against The Rock 'n' Roll Express three months later at

Survivor Series 1993 The 1993 Survivor Series was the seventh annual Survivor Series professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It took place on Thanksgiving Eve on November 24, 1993, at the Boston Garden ...

. During their time in the WWF, they wrestled a tour 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, ...

in May 1994, and returned to SMW in the summer of 1994 to feud with teams like The Rock 'n' Roll Express, The Thrillseekers (

Chris Jericho Christopher Keith Irvine (born November 9, 1970), better known by the ring name Chris Jericho, is an American-Canadian professional wrestler and singer. He is currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is the leader of the Jeri ...

and Lance Storm) and

The Gangstas The Gangstas was a professional wrestling tag team and stable, consisting of New Jack and Mustafa Saed in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). The group originally started as a three-man group with D'Lo Brown in Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW), ...

(

New Jack Jerome Young (January 3, 1963 – May 14, 2021) was an American professional wrestler better known by his ring name New Jack. He was best known for his time with Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), where he became notorious for his willingnes ...

and

Mustafa Saed Jamal Mustafa (born Terrance Ladd Blalock) is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Mustafa Saed. He is best known for his appearances with Smoky Mountain Wrestling and Extreme Championship Wrestling in the 1990s. Prof ...

). In 1995, The Bodies defeated

PG-13 The Motion Picture Association film rating system is used in the United States and its territories to rate a motion picture's suitability for certain audiences based on its content. The system and the ratings applied to individual motion pictures ...

(

J. C. Ice James Dundee (born James Cruickshanks) (born July 5, 1971) is an Australian-born American professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with the United States Wrestling Association (USWA), the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), Extre ...

and

Wolfie D Kelly Warren Wolfe (born December 7, 1973) is an American professional wrestler. Wolfe is perhaps best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) under the ring name Wolfie D (as o ...

) to capture the

USWA 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 ...

. Later in the year, Prichard and Del Ray also competed in ECW, aligning themselves with

Raven A raven is any of several larger-bodied bird species of the genus ''Corvus''. These species do not form a single taxonomic group within the genus. There is no consistent distinction between "crows" and "ravens", common names which are assigned t ...

(see

Raven's Nest Raven's Flock was a professional wrestling stable led by Raven that was present in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) between 1995 and 1997. Later, Raven created other incarnations of the group in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) such as Th ...

) to face off against

The Public Enemy ''The Public Enemy'' (''Enemies of the Public'' in the UK) is a 1931 American all-talking pre-Code gangster film produced and distributed by Warner Bros. The film was directed by William A. Wellman and stars James Cagney, Jean Harlow, Edward ...

(

Rocco Rock Theodore James Petty (September 1, 1953 – September 21, 2002) was an American professional wrestler, better known by the ring name "Flyboy" Rocco Rock. Rock is best known for his appearances in Eastern Championship Wrestling / Extreme Champion ...

and

Johnny Grunge Michael Lynn Durham (July 10, 1966 – February 16, 2006) was an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Johnny Grunge. He is known for his appearances with Eastern/Extreme Championship Wrestling, World Championship Wrestli ...

). Following the November 1995 closure of SMW, The Heavenly Bodies disbanded. Their last match as a team occurred in ECW on December 9, 1995, losing to The Public Enemy. Prichard joined the WWF as Zip of

The Bodydonnas The Bodydonnas were a professional wrestling tag team in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in the mid-1990s, consisting of Chris Candido as Skip, Candido's real-life girlfriend Tammy Lynn Sytch as Sunny, and Tom Prichard as Skip's kayfabe cousi ...

while Del Ray competed on the

independent circuit In professional wrestling, the independent circuit or indie circuit is the collective noun, collective name of independent professional wrestling promotions which are smaller than major televised promotions. It is roughly analogous to a minor lea ...

and in

WCW World Championship Wrestling, Inc. (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of Nationa ...

as "Jimmy Graffti". Del Ray died of a heart attack on December 6, 2014.

DeNucci and Nelson

A new Heavenly Bodies team began to compete on the independent circuit around 2000. The New Heavenly Bodies, comprising "Vivacious" Vito DeNucci and "Casanova" Chris Nelson captured the

NWA World Tag Team Championship The NWA World Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling world tag team championship created by the National Wrestling Alliance. From 1948 to 1982, the NWA allowed member promotions to create their own territorial version of the "NWA World ...

three times, and on occasion, "Gigolo" Jimmy Del Ray served as their manager. DeNucci and Nelson were previously the longest reigning NWA World Tag Team champions, but have since been surpassed by

America's Most Wanted ''America's Most Wanted'' (often abbreviated as ''AMW'') is an American television program whose first run was produced by 20th Television, and second run is under the Fox Alternative Entertainment division of Fox Corporation. At the time of i ...

. The duo occasionally appear on various independent wrestling shows. The team also wrestled in IPW as Drunk and Disorderly; as well as holding the NWA World Tag Team Championships three times, they have also held the IPW Tag Team Championships among others. On April 3, 2010 the New Heavenly Bodies defeated the Dark City Fight Club ( Jon Davis and

Kory Chavis Kory Chavis is a professional wrestler, also known by the ring name Rainman. He works for several independent promotions, including Dragon Gate USA, Full Impact Pro, and Evolve. Chavis wrestled with tag team partner Jon Davis as The Dark Cit ...

) to win the

NWA Florida Tag Team Championship The NWA Florida Tag Team Championship is the primary tag team title in NWA Florida Underground Wrestling. It started out in 1968 as the main tag team title in Championship Wrestling from Florida Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF) was ...

. On April 16 DeNucci and Nelson lost the titles back to the Dark City Fight Club.

Golden and Thunder

Eddie Golden Harold Edward Cox (born November 4, 1973) is a semi-retired American professional wrestler and trainer better known by his ring name Eddie Golden. He was one of the top junior heavyweights in the Southern United States during the 1990s and won n ...

and K. C. Thunder, former rivals in

Southern States Wrestling Southern States Wrestling is an American independent professional wrestling promotion based in Kingsport, Tennessee. Founded by wrestler Beau James in early 1991, SSW (along with NWA Bluegrass) succeeded Smoky Mountain Wrestling as the top promo ...

, teamed together as The Heavenly Bodies throughout the Southeastern United States during 2008. They were occasionally accompanied by their valet Dawn Renea. Although short-lived compared to the prior incarnations, they won the tag team titles in the New Frontier Wrestling Association and challenged the tag champions in

NWA All-Star Wrestling NWA All Star Wrestling (sometimes referred to as NWA Vancouver) is a Canadian professional wrestling promotion, based in Vancouver, British Columbia. All-Star Wrestling folded in 1989 but returned in 2007 no longer affiliated with the National Wr ...

. In one of their last matches together, they wrestled Iron Cross and Stan Lee in a Texas Tornado death match at a middle school fundraiser in

Lebanon, Virginia Lebanon is a town in Russell County, Virginia, United States. The population was 3,424 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Russell County. History The town of Lebanon was founded in 1818 as per an effort to create a new county seat ...

. According to the pre-match stipulation, The Heavenly Bodies' valet Dawn Renae would have her head shaved if the team failed to win the belts.

Dustin and Justin Corino

In 2015, "Desirable Dustin" and "Gigolo Justin" began teaming as The Heavenly Bodies in the

Global Force Wrestling Global Force Wrestling was an American professional wrestling promotion founded in 2014 by Jeff Jarrett, the co-founder and former President of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (now known as Impact Wrestling), and his wife Karen Jarrett. It is ow ...

promotion. They also wrestled for New Jersey-based promotion, PWS (Pro Wrestling Syndicate), during which time they received permission from Tom Prichard to use the name The Heavenly Bodies. The PWS owners parted ways and Pat Buck, former co-owner of PWS, started WrestlePro. The Heavenly Bodies won the WrestlePro Tag Team titles on January 7, 2016.

Championship and Accomplishments

*Lane and Prichard **

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 ...

***PWI ranked them # 73 of the 100 best tag teams of the PWI Years in 2003. **

***

SMW Tag Team Championship The SMW Tag Team Championship was the tag team title in Smoky Mountain Wrestling Smoky Mountain Wrestling was a professional wrestling promotion that held events in the Appalachian area of the United States from October 1991 to December 1995, w ...

( 5 times) *Prichard and Del Ray **

***PWI ranked them # 73 of the 100 best tag teams of the PWI Years in 2003. **Pennsylvania Championship Wrestling ***PCW Tag Team Championship (1 time) http://www.cagematch.net/?id=28&nr=45&page=4> **

***

( 3 times) **

***

( 1 time) *DeNucci and Nelson **Coastal Championship Wrestling ***CCW Tag Team Championship (1 time) **

National Wrestling Alliance The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) is an American professional wrestling professional wrestling promotion, promotion and former professional wrestling governing body operated by its parent company Lightning One, Inc. Founded in 1948, the NWA ...

***

( 3 times) **Pro Wrestling Fusion ***

( 1 time) **Southern Championship Wrestling ***SCW Tag Team Championship (1 time) **Pro Wrestling Syndicate ***PWS Tag Team Championship (1 time) **WrestlePro ***WrestlePro Tag Team Championship (1 time) *Golden and Thunder **New Frontier Wrestling Association ***NFWA Tag Team Championship (1 time)

References

External links

The Heavenly Bodies at Online World of Wrestling

Vito DeNucci Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heavenly Bodies, The Extreme Championship Wrestling teams and stables Smoky Mountain Wrestling teams and stables United States Wrestling Association teams and stables World Championship Wrestling teams and stables WWE teams and stables