On November 12, 2016, indie veteran Tyson Dux, who earlier in the year had competed for the WWE in the Cruiserweight Classic, became the first Canadian to hold the Smash Championship for Smash Wrestling in Toronto, Ontario. Prior to Dux, Smash’s top title had previously been held by such indie stars as Americans Johnny Gargano, Alex Shelley and Matt Cross, and UK’s Mark Haskins. For 436 days, Dux defended the title against all comers, turning back attempts from such international competition as Jay White, Colt Cabana, Jimmy Havoc, Petey Williams, Joe Hendry, and OvE‘s Jake Crist. But this past Sunday, Dux finally met his match in Smash’s resident “Beast King” Franky TM, aka Franky The Mobster, a 21-year veteran of the indies whose finally found his inner beast and captured the Smash Championship.
Franky TM debuted in 1997 with Quebec’s Northern Championship Wrestling (nCw) and it wasn’t soon before he branched out to other Quebec promotions, such as International Wrestling Syndicate (IWS), Federation Canadienne de Lutte (FCL), and Federation de Lutte Quebecoise (FLQ), as well as Ron Hutchinson’s Apocalypse Wrestling Federation (AWF) in Toronto. But it was nCw he called home, working primarily with them until 2009, as a 3x nCw Quebec Champion, 2x nCw Inter-Cities Champion, and a 4x nCw Tag Team Champion with Raiden as part of La Cosa Nostra.
In 2005, Franky moved to Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) in the US and became the CZW Iron Man Champion, holding the title for 189 days. During his time, he got into several wars with another emerging French-Canadian star named Kevin Steen (now Kevin Owens in the WWE), resulting in Kevin Steen defeating Franky for the title.
In 2009, Franky would work dates with Ring of Honor during their Canadian live events, including taking part in ROH Death Before Dishonor VII. On the road to Death Before Dishonor, he event took the fight to Chris Hero (now Kassius Ohno in NXT).
Throughout the mid-2000s, one of Franky’s frequent opponents and tag partners was Kevin Steen, starting with the Quebec independents that both of them started in. From the Quebec indies, to CZW, and on to Ottawa’s C*4 promotion, Steen and Franky went to war with and against each other. Franky is actually the godfather of Steen’s son, Owen.
Franky made his Smash debut in late 2015, defeating a young Dalton Castle at Something Different, before making his presence known in the past two years, including victories over Joe Hendry, Candice LeRae, TARIK, and many others until he finally entered the Smash Championship scene in late 2017. He was also a Canadian participant in WCPW‘s World Cup of Pro Wrestling last summer, facing Davey Boy Smith Jr. in the Qualifiers.
At Any Given Sunday 6, this past Sunday January 21, Franky TM, “The Beast King” of Smash Wrestling, finally found his crown and court – not only did he win the Smash Championship, but he built himself a stable that includes former PWG World Tag Team Champions Super Smash Bros (Evil Uno & Stu Grayson) and former SHIMMER Tag Team Champion Vanessa Kraven. A Canadian indie veteran of violent proportions, Franky TM has finally found his calling – to further his path of destruction and the domination of Smash Wrestling.
OMFG @MtKraven just returned at #AGS6 and helped Frankie the Mobster become the NEW @smashwrestling champion! A travesty!
This is a dark day in Smash Wrestling history… pic.twitter.com/cZ7CpfsnQj
— Alexander K Lee (@AlexanderKLee) January 22, 2018
