Darrell W. Anthony (born April 12, 1960) is a retired

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

professional wrestler Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to real-life wrest ...

, 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 Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

-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 Champions ...

(USWA) and

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 ...

(SMW), and had two short stints with the

World Wrestling Federation World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...

(WWF) under the ring names of T. L. Hopper and Uncle Cletus.

Professional wrestling career

Early career (1980–1988)

Trained by

Steve Keirn Stephen Paul Keirn (born September 10, 1951) is an American retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances in multiple National Wrestling Alliance territories as Steve Keirn as one-half of the tag team The Fabulous Ones, as ...

and Ron Wright, Anthony worked as a jobber in

Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling Jim Crockett Promotions, at times branded as Eastern States Championship Wrestling and Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling, is a family-owned professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. Founded in ...

in 1981 and 1982. He won his first major title teaming with

Len Denton Edward Lynn "Len" Denton (born August 25, 1958) is an American retired professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, The Grappler. Professional wrestling career Len Denton worked early in his career under a few different monikers and wr ...

as "The Grapplers" in the AWA. They defeated

The Fabulous Ones The Fabulous Ones were a professional wrestling tag team consisting of Stan Lane and Steve Keirn who was active between 1982 and 1991 with brief reunions during the 1990s. The Fabulous Ones competed primarily in North American territories such as ...

(Keirn and

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

) to win the

AWA Southern Tag Team Championship The AWA Southern Tag Team Championship was a professional wrestling tag team title in the Tennessee area from the 1940s through the late 1980s. It was originally named the NWA Southern Tag Team Championship ''(Mid-America version)'' from its ince ...

on August 8, 1983. After losing the title, The Grapplers continued to team elsewhere, winning the

NWA Central States Tag Team Championship The NWA Central States Tag Team Championship was the primary tag team championship for the Heart of America Sports Attractions / Central States Wrestling promotion from 1979 until the promotion ceased to exist in 1988. The Central States Tag Team ...

twice in 1984. After The Grapplers disbanded, Anthony continued to wrestle on the independent circuit, splitting his time between singles competition and tag team action. He teamed with

Jerry Stubbs Jerry Stubbs (born September 13, 1951) is an American retired professional wrestler. Stubbs wrestled as Mr. Olympia in Bill Watts's Mid-South wrestling area (Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas) and as the heel (professional wrestling), villainous Jer ...

Continental Championship Wrestling Continental Championship Wrestling was a professional wrestling promotion based in Knoxville, Tennessee, and Dothan, Alabama, from 1985 until 1989, owned by Ron Fuller. The promotion evolved out of the NWA-affiliated Southeastern Championship W ...

to win the NWA Continental Tag Team Championship four times before the promotion closed. After it became the

Continental Wrestling Federation Continental Championship Wrestling was a professional wrestling promotion based in Knoxville, Tennessee, and Dothan, Alabama, from 1985 until 1989, owned by Ron Fuller. The promotion evolved out of the NWA-affiliated Southeastern Championship W ...

, Anthony and Stubbs won the tag team title twice more. As a singles wrestler, Anthony won the

NWA Alabama Heavyweight Championship The NWA Alabama Heavyweight Championship was created in October, 1962. Since its creation, the championship has been defended in a number of NWA territories throughout the decades. Initially, the title was a part of Gulf Coast Championship Wrestl ...

on four occasions. He beat

Wendell Cooley Wendell Cooley (born April 25, 1961) is an American retired professional wrestler, best known as Wildcat Wendell Cooley and sometimes Rick Casey. He appeared in the Southern territories for Continental Wrestling Association, Continental Champion ...

to begin both of his first two reigns,

Bob Armstrong Joseph Melton James (October 3, 1939 – August 27, 2020) was an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, "Bullet" Bob Armstrong. In the course of his career, which spanned five decades, Armstrong held numerous championsh ...

to begin his third and

Tom Prichard Thomas Prichard (born August 18, 1959) is an American retired professional wrestling, professional wrestler and author better known by the ring name Dr. Tom Prichard. He is the older brother of Bruce Prichard. Professional wrestling career ...

for his fourth. His last reign ended when the title was retired in 1988.

United States Wrestling Association (1989–1992)

In 1989, Anthony defeated

Dustin Rhodes Dustin Patrick Runnels (born April 11, 1969) is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he performs under the ring name Dustin Rhodes, with a nickname of "The Natural" and is a member of The Sons of ...

in a

(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 Douglas Gilbert (born February 5, 1969) is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with regional professional wrestling promotions throughout the Southern United States, as well as for Extreme Championship Wrestli ...

Smoky Mountain Wrestling (1992–1995)

Anthony competed primarily as a singles wrestler in

(SMW). He was quickly pushed as a main event wrestler, and won the

SMW Heavyweight Championship The SMW Heavyweight Championship was the top heavyweight championship in Smoky Mountain Wrestling. It existed from 1992 until 1995 when SMW folded. "Dirty White Boy" Tony Anthony and Brad Armstrong were tied at the most reigns at three. The Unite ...

from Brian Lee on August 8, 1992. After dropping the title to

Tracy Smothers Tracy Stanton Smothers (September 2, 1962 – October 28, 2020) was an American professional wrestling, professional wrestler, best known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling, Smoky Mountain Wrestling, the WWE, World Wrestling ...

the following April, Anthony (under his masked Mighty Yankee

gimmick A gimmick is a novel device or idea designed primarily to attract attention or increase appeal, often with little intrinsic value. When applied to retail marketing, it is a unique or quirky feature designed to make a product or service "stand out ...

) won the

SMW Beat the Champ Television Championship The SMW "Beat the Champ" Television Championship was the secondary singles championship for the Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW) professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "w ...

in June 1993. While holding this title, he defeated Brian Lee to regain the Heavyweight Championship. He was involved in an

angle In Euclidean geometry, an angle can refer to a number of concepts relating to the intersection of two straight Line (geometry), lines at a Point (geometry), point. Formally, an angle is a figure lying in a Euclidean plane, plane formed by two R ...

in which he was

kayfabe In professional wrestling, kayfabe (pronounced ) is the portrayal of staged events within the industry as "real" or "true", specifically competition, rivalries, and relationships between participants. The term has evolved to become a code word ...

forced to vacate the Television Championship on August 16, after a series of defenses. The rules stipulated that any wrestler who successfully defended the title five times would be awarded $5000, but be forced to vacate it. Anthony regained the title by beating Robert Gibson on September 13. He won his final SMW Heavyweight Championship on July 5, 1994, by defeating

Jake Roberts Aurelian Smith Jr. (born May 30, 1955) better known by the ring name Jake "the Snake" Roberts, is an American actor, podcaster and retired professional wrestler. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he performs as the on-screen ma ...

. He held the title for over six months before losing it to

Jerry Lawler Jerry O'Neil Lawler (born November 29, 1949), better known as Jerry "the King" Lawler, is an American retired color commentator and professional wrestler signed to WWE under a Legends contract. Prior to joining the World Wrestling Federati ...

on January 28, 1995. Anthony's performance in 1994 earned him his highest ever ranking (No. 25) in the annual

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

. Anthony won his final title in SMW on July 6, 1995, teaming with

(as The Thugs) to defeat The Dynamic Duo (

Al Snow Allen Ray Sarven (born July 18, 1963) is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Al Snow. He is best known for his tenures in Extreme Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation/ World Wrestling Entertainm ...

and

Unabom Theodore John Kaczynski ( ; May 22, 1942 – June 10, 2023), also known as the Unabomber ( ), was an American mathematician and domestic terrorist. He was a mathematics prodigy, but abandoned his academic career in 1969 to pursue a reclusive ...

) for the

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, whe ...

World Wrestling Federation (1996–1997)

In 1996, Anthony joined the

(WWF). He was one of a series of "jobbers with gimmicks" brought into the WWF in 1996 to help elevate the company's stars, alongside Alex "The Pug" Pourteau, Freddie Joe Floyd,

the Goon ''The Goon'' is a comic book series written and drawn by Eric Powell. The series mixes both a comical and violent atmosphere with a supernatural slant, which pit the titular character against undead creatures/zombies, ghosts, ghouls, mutants, sk ...

, and

Salvatore Sincere Thomas Brandi (born July 9, 1966) is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances in the World Wrestling Federation from 1996 to 1998 under the ring name Salvatore Sincere and Tom Brandi. Brandi is also known for his ap ...

. He was given the

of "T. L. Hopper", a wrestling

plumber A plumber is a tradesperson who specializes in installing and maintaining systems used for potable (drinking) water, hot-water production, sewage and drainage in plumbing systems.

. After a series of vignettes showing Hopper at work, he debuted wearing low hanging jeans and a stained undershirt. He would carry his

plunger A plunger is a device driven by or against fluid pressure. In plumbing, the term plunger commonly refers to handheld tools used to clear blockages in drains and pipes. Plumbing plungers consist of a rubber suction cup attached to a stick (''sh ...

(named "Betsy") to the ring with him, and celebrate his victories by sticking it in his opponent's face. His biggest win was a "home improvement" match, where he defeated Duke "The Dumpster" Droese. Although he did not wrestle on any WWF

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 ...

s, 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 ''Caddyshack'' is a 1980 American sports comedy film directed by Harold Ramis, written by Brian Doyle-Murray, Ramis and Douglas Kenney, and starring Chevy Chase, Rodney Dangerfield, Ted Knight (his final film role), Michael O'Keefe and Bill ...

''. 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 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 leg. Structure To distribute the compressive forces exerted ...

tag team of

The Godwinns The Godwinns were a professional wrestling tag team composed of Dennis Knight (Phineas I. Godwinn) and Mark Canterbury ( Henry O. Godwinn) and they used to be in the WWF. The team used other gimmicks before they joined the WWF and had a gimmick ...

(

Henry Henry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Henry (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters * Henry (surname) * Henry, a stage name of François-Louis Henry (1786–1855), French baritone Arts and entertainmen ...

and Phineas Godwinn) in a match against

The Headbangers The Headbangers are a professional wrestling tag team consisting of Mosh (Charles Warrington) and Thrasher (Glenn Ruth). They are currently signed to WWE as ambassadors. As the name of the team implies, their gimmick is that they are a pair of ...

. 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 Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

. At Badd Blood 1997, The Godwinns won the

WWF Tag Team Championship WWF may refer to: Computing and games *WWF (file format), a campaign for unprintable PDF documents *Windows Workflow Foundation, a software component of the .NET Framework *''Words with Friends'', a mobile computer game franchise Non-profit orga ...

, with Cletus in their corner. On October 13, Cletus interfered in another match, but his interference backfired and allowed the

Legion of Doom The Legion of Doom is a group of supervillains who originated in '' Challenge of the Superfriends'', an animated series from Hanna-Barbera based on DC Comics' Justice League. The Legion of Doom has since been incorporated into the main DC Univers ...

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 East Tennessee is one of the three Grand Divisions of Tennessee defined in state law. Geographically and socioculturally distinct, it comprises approximately the eastern third of the U.S. state of Tennessee. East Tennessee consists of 33 coun ...

until retiring from active competition in 2006. In recent years, he played a prominent role in

Knoxville Knoxville is a city in Knox County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the Tennessee River and had a population of 190,740 at the 2020 United States census. It is the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division ...

's Tennessee Xtreme Wrestling, as its

face The face is the front of the head that features the eyes, nose and mouth, and through which animals express many of their emotions. The face is crucial for human identity, and damage such as scarring or developmental deformities may affect th ...

commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to incl ...

Championships and accomplishments

*American Wrestling Federation **AWF Heavyweight Championship (1 time) *

Continental Wrestling Association Continental Wrestling Association (later the Championship Wrestling Association) was a wrestling promotion managed by Jerry Jarrett. The CWA was the name of the "governing body" for the Championship Wrestling, Inc. promotion which was usually ...

( 1 time) - with

** CWA Southwestern Heavyweight Championship ( 1 time) *

Memphis Wrestling Hall of Fame The Memphis Wrestling Hall of Fame was a professional wrestling hall of fame maintained by the United States Wrestling Association. The induction ceremony for the Class of 1994, the inaugural inductees into the Hall of Fame, took place at the USWA' ...

**Class of 2024 *New Dimension Wrestling **NDW Hardcore Championship (1 time) *''

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

'' **PWI ranked him #25 of the top 500 best singles wrestlers in the

in 1994 **PWI ranked him #299 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the "PWI Years" in 2003 *

(

2 times "2 Times" is the debut single of English singer Ann Lee. It was released in Italy in December 1998 by X-Energy as the lead single from her debut album, ''Dreams'' (1999), and was issued worldwide the following year. The single peaked at number tw ...

) **

( 3 times) **

( 1 time) - with

*:*SMW Carolina Cup Tag Team Championship (1 time) – Tracy Smothers * Southeastern Championship Wrestling / Continental Championship Wrestling / Continental Wrestling Federation **

CWF Tag Team Championship The NWA Southeastern Tag Team Championship was the major tag team championship in the National Wrestling Alliance's Alabama territory, Southeastern Championship Wrestling (SECW). It existed from 1974 until November 1986, when it became the NWA Con ...

(

) - with

(

4 times "4 Times" (stylized as "4 TIMES") is the 50th single by pop/ R&B singer Koda Kumi. It was released on August 17, 2011 and debuted at No. 6, remaining on the Oricon charts for nine consecutive weeks. In commemoration of it being the fiftieth singl ...

) ** NWA Continental Tag Team Championship (

) - with Jerry Stubbs *

Southwest Championship Wrestling Southwest Championship Wrestling (SCW) was a professional wrestling promotion that was owned by Joe Blanchard and based in San Antonio, Texas, from 1978 to 1985, when it was purchased by Texas All-Star Wrestling and absorbed into that company. ...

** SCW Southwest Tag Team Championship (

) - with

*Tennessee Mountain Wrestling **TMW Heavyweight Championship (2 times) *United Atlantic Championship Wrestling **UACW Heavyweight Championship (1 time) *

USWA Southern Heavyweight Championship The AWA Southern Heavyweight Championship was a major professional wrestling title in the Continental Wrestling Association during the 1970s and 1980s. The title is part of a long lineage that was started when the NWA Southern Junior Heavyweight ...

( 1 time) **

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 ...

( 3 times) - with Tom Burton (1) and

(2)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Anthony, Tony 1960 births 20th-century male professional wrestlers 20th-century American professional wrestlers 21st-century male professional wrestlers 21st-century American professional wrestlers American male professional wrestlers CWA Southwestern Heavyweight Champions Fictional plumbers Living people People from Knoxville, Tennessee Professional wrestlers from Tennessee Professional wrestling promoters SMW Beat the Champ Television Champions SMW Heavyweight Champions SMW Tag Team Champions USWA World Tag Team Champions