Rockin' Robin (wrestler)

Last updated

Rockin' Robin
Birth nameRobin Denise Smith
Born (1964-10-09) October 9, 1964 (age 60) [1] [2]
Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S. [3]
Parent(s) Grizzly Smith (father) [1]
Family Jake "The Snake" Roberts (half-brother) [1]
Sam Houston (brother) [1]
Baby Doll (ex-sister-in-law) [4]
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s) Rockin' Robin [3]
Billed height5 ft 8 in (173 cm) [3]
Billed weight136 lb (62 kg) [3]
Billed from Charlotte, North Carolina
Trained by Nelson Royal [3] [5] [4]
Debut1986 [3]
Retired1992 [3]

Robin Denise Smith (born October 9, 1964), better known by her ring name Rockin' Robin, is an American retired professional wrestler. The daughter of Grizzly Smith, she is a second-generation wrestler; her brother Sam Houston and half-brother Jake "The Snake" Roberts also wrestled. Smith is best known for her appearances with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) from 1987 to 1990, where she held the WWF Women's Championship.

Contents

Professional wrestling career

Early career (1986–1987)

Smith grew up in a wrestling family and enjoyed going to wrestling shows, where she claims she and her siblings were treated like celebrities. [6] Smith later decided to become a professional wrestler and trained, along with her sister-in-law Nickla Roberts (known by her ring name Baby Doll), under Nelson Royal. [5] [7] [4] During 1987, Smith competed as Rockin' Robin in Wild West Wrestling, where she feuded with Debbie Combs and Sue Green.

World Wrestling Federation (1987–1990)

When the World Wrestling Federation decided to restart their women's division in the late 1980s, both Smith and Nickla Roberts tried out for the company, but the role ultimately went to Smith. [4] Smith, as Rockin' Robin, debuted in the WWF in late 1987. [8] She competed at the first Survivor Series as a member of The Fabulous Moolah's team, which they were victorious. [9] Throughout 1988, she feuded with Sensational Sherri for the WWF Women's Championship. [7]

On October 7, 1988, she defeated Sensational Sherri, who had held the title for fifteen months prior, for the Women's Championship in Paris. [10] [11] [12] At the Royal Rumble in 1989, she defended the title against Judy Martin. [13] Smith defended the belt against Martin for the first six months of 1989. [14] In the meantime, at WrestleMania V, she sang "America the Beautiful" to open the show. [8] [15] [10] Smith continued to defend the Women's title against Martin throughout the summer of 1989. She held the championship until 1990, when she left the company. At that time, the title was retired by the WWF due to inactivity. Smith is still in possession of the title belt. [10] [12] The title remained inactive until 1993. [8] [10]

Late career (1990–1992)

Unlike some former WWF wrestlers, Smith was able to continue using her ring name after leaving the company because she owned the rights to it. [16] In 1990, wrestler Hiro Matsuda, who had feuded with her father in the 1960s, picked Smith to tour for All Japan Women's Pro Wrestling. [7] In Japan, Smith teamed with Luna Vachon. [7] The Japanese bookers gave the girls a positive review for their work with the company. [17]

In the United States, Smith defeated Peggy Lee Leather for the Ladies Major League Wrestling's International Championship. [7] She still occasionally defended the WWF Women's Championship, even though the title was officially declared vacant by the World Wrestling Federation. In May 1991 she defended the WWF Women's Championship against "Japanese Women's Champion" Madusa Miceli on a Great Lakes Wrestling Association event. [18] On June 9, 1991, she defeated Candi Devine in Herb Abrams's Universal Wrestling Federation to become the first UWF Women's Champion at UWF Beach Brawl. [7] She also competed in the Ladies Professional Wrestling Association (LPWA), forming a tag team with Wendi Richter. [7] She competed at LPWA's only pay-per-view, LPWA Super Ladies Showdown. [7]

She retired in 1992.

Personal life

Smith and her brother Sam Houston are the children of Aurelian "Grizzly" Smith and were born after his first marriage dissolved. [19] Her half-brother is Jake "The Snake" Roberts, who was born during their father's first marriage. [19] Robin and her brothers all wrestled in the WWF at the same time in the 1980s, but their relationship was never mentioned on-screen at the request of Robin. [6] Author and former National Wrestling Alliance president Howard Brody alleges in his book Swimming with Piranhas that Robin was a victim of sexual abuse at the hands of her father. [19] According to Brody, Robin was removed from her father's care when her mother discovered what had been happening. [19]

After leaving the WWF in 1990, Smith was married to a man named Harvey Zitron. [17] Zitron was sentenced to 81 months in federal prison for 10 counts of filing false tax returns, identity theft and access device fraud. After divorcing, she moved to Louisiana and opened a telemarketing company that sold industrial chemicals and precious metals. [7] [17] During this time, Smith had a drinking problem but eventually was able to quit altogether. [17]

In 2005, Smith's home and all of her belongings were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. [17] During the aftermath of the hurricane, she stayed with family in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. [17] She now runs a real estate appraisal business in Hammond, Louisiana. [7]

Filmography

Television
YearTitleRoleNotes
2021 Dark Side of the Ring HerselfSeason 3 episode 6: "In the Shadow of Grizzly Smith"
2024Dark Side of the RingHerselfSeason 5 episode 8: "Sensational Sherri"

Championships and accomplishments

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women in WWE</span> History of Women in WWE

Throughout its history, women have served in various onscreen roles in the American professional wrestling promotion WWE. In the 1990s, WWE introduced the term Diva to refer to its female performers, including wrestlers, managers or valets, backstage interviewers, or ring announcers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ivory (wrestler)</span> American professional wrestler (born 1961)

Lisa Mary Moretti is an American retired professional wrestler, teacher and coach. She is best known for her tenure in WWE, where she is a three-time WWE Women's Champion and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WWE Women's Championship (1956–2010)</span> Former womens professional wrestling championship

The 1956 to 2010 version of the WWE Women's Championship was a women's professional wrestling world championship in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). The company claims a lineage that dates back to September 18, 1956, when The Fabulous Moolah became the third NWA World Women's Champion. WWE did not exist at that time, but they claim 1956 for the championship's establishment and do not recognize any title changes from when Moolah became champion until she lost it in 1984. Prior to Moolah losing the championship, she sold the rights to the title to the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and it became the WWF Women's Championship, which would again be renamed in 2002 to WWE Women's Championship when the WWF was renamed to WWE. With the company claiming a lineage beginning in 1956, it made the Women's Championship the oldest active professional wrestling championship in WWE until its retirement in 2010 after it was unified with the WWE Divas Championship, which briefly became known as the Unified WWE Divas Championship. The final champion was Layla.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Fabulous Moolah</span> American professional wrestler (1923–2007)

Mary Lillian Ellison was an American professional wrestler, promoter and trainer better known by her ring name The Fabulous Moolah.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sherri Martel</span> American professional wrestler and manager (1958–2007)

Sherry Schrull was an American professional wrestler and manager, better known by her ring names, Sherri Martel and Sensational Sherri.

Patty Seymour is an American retired professional wrestler, better known by her ring name Leilani Kai. She began training with The Fabulous Moolah right after finishing high school. In the 1980s, as part of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF)'s Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection, a storyline that combined wrestling and music, Kai defeated Wendi Richter to become the Women's Champion. Kai, however, lost the title at the inaugural WrestleMania event. She was later paired with Judy Martin, in a tag team that would become known as The Glamour Girls. The team held the Women's Tag Team Championship twice and the LPWA Tag Team Championship once.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Velvet McIntyre</span> Irish-Canadian professional wrestler

Velvet McIntyre is an Irish-born Canadian retired professional wrestler. After beginning her career in 1980, she wrestled in American independent promotions before joining the World Wrestling Federation. She had rivalries with both The Fabulous Moolah and Sherri Martel and held the WWF Women's Championship and WWF Women's Tag Team Championship. After the WWF's women's division went on hiatus in the 1990s, McIntyre wrestled in several Canadian promotions, holding several championships.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tori (wrestler)</span> American professional wrestler

Terri Poch is an American former bodybuilder and professional wrestler, best known for her appearances with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) as Tori. She has since opened her own yoga studio in Portland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wendi Richter</span> American professional wrestler

Victoria "Wendi" Richter is an American former professional wrestler. She began her professional wrestling career in companies such as the National Wrestling Alliance, where she teamed with Joyce Grable, with whom she held the NWA Women's World Tag Team Championship twice. In the 1980s, she joined the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). She held the WWF Women's Championship twice and feuded with The Fabulous Moolah over the title. She was also involved in a storyline with singer Cyndi Lauper called the "Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection". Richter, however, left the WWF after losing the championship in controversial fashion. She then worked in the World Wrestling Council and American Wrestling Association, where she held both companies' women's titles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luna Vachon</span> American-Canadian professional wrestler (1962–2010)

Gertrude Elizabeth Vachon was an American-Canadian professional wrestler, better known as Luna Vachon. Over the course of her 22-year career, she wrestled for promotions such as the World Wrestling Federation, Extreme Championship Wrestling, the American Wrestling Association, and World Championship Wrestling. She was posthumously inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame, and Women's Wrestling Hall of Fame.

The Glamour Girls was a female professional wrestling tag team. The members were Judy Martin and Leilani Kai

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Universal Wrestling Federation (Herb Abrams)</span> Professional wrestling company

Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF) was an American professional wrestling promotion owned by Herb Abrams that operated from 1990 to 1996. The company aired nationally on SportsChannel America, and later on Prime Ticket and ESPN2.

Heidi Lee Morgan is a retired American professional wrestler who competed in the World Wrestling Federation, International World Class Championship Wrestling, Ladies Pro Wrestling Association, and National Wrestling Federation. She was also a member of the wrestling stable Team America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Survivor Series (1987)</span> World Wrestling Federation pay-per-view event

The 1987 Survivor Series was the inaugural Survivor Series professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It took place on Thanksgiving Night on November 26, 1987, and was held at the Richfield Coliseum in Richfield Township, Ohio. It was one of the first four annual pay-per-view events produced by the WWF, along with WrestleMania, introduced in 1985, and Royal Rumble and SummerSlam, introduced in 1988, referred to as the "Big Four".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Judy Martin (wrestler)</span> American professional wrestler

Judith Hardee is an American retired professional wrestler, better known by the ring name Judy Martin. She is best known for her appearances in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), where she held the WWF Women's Tag Team Championship with Leilani Kai as the Glamour Girls.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ladies Professional Wrestling Association</span> Professional wrestling promotion

The Ladies Professional Wrestling Association (LPWA) was a women's professional wrestling promotion which operated in the early 1990s. It was considered a successor to such women's promotions as Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling (GLOW), but it differed in that, while GLOW slanted more toward WWF-style sports entertainment, the LPWA treated its product seriously and put its primary emphasis on in-ring athletics.

Desiree Petersen is a Canadian retired professional wrestler. She was born in Calgary, Alberta, however, was often billed from Copenhagen, Denmark, the place where her mother is from. Petersen used to wrestle for World Wrestling Federation in the 80's, where she once held the WWF Women's Tag Team Championship alongside Velvet McIntyre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The War to Settle the Score</span> 1985 World Wrestling Federation event

The War to Settle the Score is a professional wrestling event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). It took place at Madison Square Garden in New York, New York on February 18, 1985. The main event featured Hulk Hogan defending the WWF World Heavyweight Championship against "Rowdy" Roddy Piper. Hogan retained the title after Piper got disqualified in the only match of the event that was shown on MTV.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ladies Major League Wrestling</span> Defunct American professional wrestling promotion

Ladies Major League Wrestling (LMLW) was a women's professional wrestling company that operated from 1989–1992. Their cards were promoted under the Wild Women of Wrestling (WWOW) name.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Laprade, Pat; Murphy, Dan (2017). Sisterhood of the Squared Circle: The History and Rise of Women's Wrestling. ECW Press. pp. 241–242. ISBN   978-1-77305-014-0.
  2. 1 2 Lentz III, Harris M. (2003). Biographical Dictionary of Professional Wrestling (2 ed.). McFarland & Company. p. 293. ISBN   978-0-7864-1754-4.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Kreikenbohm, Philip. "Rockin' Robin". Cagematch.net. Retrieved June 6, 2021.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Elliott, Brian (July 8, 2010). "Baby Doll: From star attraction to single mom". Slam Wrestling. Archived from the original on November 26, 2022. Retrieved July 11, 2010.
  5. 1 2 Johnson, Steven; Oliver, Greg; Mooneyham, Mike (2013). The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: Heroes and Icons. ECW Press. p. 541. ISBN   978-1-77090-269-5.
  6. 1 2 Van Der Griend, Blaine (December 10, 2009). "Family matters in pro wrestling". Slam Wrestling. Archived from the original on August 13, 2022. Retrieved June 15, 2010.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 "2011 Women's Wrestling Award: Rockin' Robin". Cauliflower Alley Club. January 12, 2011. Archived from the original on January 20, 2013. Retrieved February 15, 2011.
  8. 1 2 3 Shields, Brian and Kevin Sullivan (2009). WWE Encyclopedia. DK/BradyGAMES. p.  152. ISBN   978-0-7566-4190-0.
  9. ↑ "Survivor Series 1987: Results". World Wrestling Entertainment . Retrieved November 24, 2007.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 "Women's Championship reign". World Wrestling Entertainment. Archived from the original on June 21, 2012. Retrieved November 24, 2007.
  11. ↑ Oliver, Greg (June 15, 2007). "Sherri Martel dead at 49". Slam Wrestling. Archived from the original on October 2, 2022. Retrieved November 1, 2008.
  12. 1 2 Ellison, Lillian (2003). The Fabulous Moolah: First Goddess of the Squared Circle. ReaganBooks. p. 197. ISBN   978-0-06-001258-8.
  13. ↑ "Royal Rumble 1989: Results". World Wrestling Entertainment . Retrieved November 24, 2007.
  14. ↑ Johnson, Steven (August 8, 2007). "Judy Martin: Return of a "Glamour Girl"". Slam Wrestling. Archived from the original on December 7, 2022. Retrieved November 1, 2008.
  15. ↑ Artus, Matthew (March 16, 2018). "34 fun facts you need to know about WrestleMania 34". WWE.com. WWE . Retrieved June 6, 2021. While her rendition might not be as memorable as Aretha Franklin's version in 1987 or her encore two decades later, Rockin' Robin is the only one of 20 "America the Beautiful" performers at WrestleMania who was also an active champion.
  16. ↑ Brody, Howard. Swimming with Piranhas, p.190.
  17. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Brody, Howard. Swimming with Piranhas, p.403–405.
  18. ↑ "Request Info for Booking Rockin Robin Appearance". Athlete Promotions.com. Retrieved August 29, 2011.
  19. 1 2 3 4 Johnson, Steven; Oliver, Greg (June 12, 2010). "Grizzly Smith dies at 77". Slam Wrestling. Archived from the original on September 25, 2022. Retrieved June 15, 2010.
  20. ↑ Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2000). Wrestling Title Histories (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. ISBN   0-9698161-5-4.
  21. ↑ Wilkinson, Nick (January 17, 2024). "Jacqueline, Rockin' Robin, Lisa Marie Varon, and More Inductees WWHOF 2024". Diva Dirt. Archived from the original on January 17, 2024. Retrieved January 19, 2024.

Notes

    References

    This page is based on this Wikipedia article
    Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
    Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.