“My grandma wanted to see me wrestle,” said Manny ‘Lemons’ Smith of his first-ever attempt at hosting a professional wrestling show, Festivus Fights, in Salt Lake City, Utah, in December 2018. “Just one show, we’ll see how it does,” Smith said.  The initial show, by the way, grew exponentially from a respectable audience of 80 people to 400 by the third event. Thus, Devotion Championship Wrestling (DCW) was born. 

Smith is now interested in expanding DCW beyond the Wasatch Front into Wyoming, beginning with Evanston.  The outfit just hosted its fourth local show since last fall, an outdoor show at Wild Cannabis, with which DCW has partnered with.

“There’s a vibe here, I feel like it’s a wrestling town,” Smith said.  “Maybe this thing grows next year and maybe it’s something that can become permanent.”

A native Utahn, Smith grew up excelling on the football field and basketball court. While he enjoyed watching professional wrestling on television with his dad, “Sting is my all-time favorite,” he didn’t have personal experience with the sport until he started training in 2012 with Ultra Championship Wrestling (UCW), eventually going pro in 2016.

“I was always the entertainer, always the odd man out,” Smith said. “It’s always been in my blood.”

A young, single father and former banker, who has battled depression on and off through the years, Smith found solace in the ring’s spotlight.  “Just being in the ring was the coolest thing in the world; it’s like a euphoric high you can’t replicate.”

After founding DCW and parting ways with UCW, Smith pursued opportunities to train at the Nightmare Factory in Atlanta, Georgia, and perform with the Ring of Honor in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. “I had to go hunt for everything I have,” he told the Herald.

“We’re coming up on seven years of it (DCW).  Why not try to build a territory and build a community in places that may not have something and might appreciate us, you know?” Smith mused, before offering that investing in communities is why he does what he does. 

“I think the community is a big part of it,” he said.  “I think Evanston is a good, small town and, in order to make something a success, you really have to have the community behind it.  And people have been really supportive of it.” 

DCW’s first show was November 2024 at the Machine Shop. It hosted 50 audience members, half of which were die-hard fans that braved the terrible road conditions from the season’s first winter storm.  Their third show boasted nearly double that, all locals.  By the most recent June 21 show, there were over 80 attendees, many of which are local regulars. The outdoor venue entertained several other curious onlookers.

“It’s growing. The community is very welcoming. I haven’t heard anything negative,” Smith said.  In addition to attempting to recruit performers, “there’s no reason we can’t have our training center here.  With kids, they want a place to go, let’s give them the opportunity to pursue that.”

Smith will continue trying to grow interest in the community by showing how potentially valuable a resource this could be. “Maybe it’s something a young boy needs to get away from problems in his life.  Wrestling is an avenue for that, just like it was for me.”  Smith said if the interest is there, he’d be willing to travel regularly from Utah to train kids. 

At a recent show in Logan, Utah, Smith was feeling under the weather and unsure whether or not he would perform.  “When I walked out, a little boy said, ‘You’re my favorite wrestler,’ and in that moment I was like ‘I have to wrestle tonight,’” which he did in spectacular fashion, by taking a face dive onto a table — a real table, not a prop.

“He came far to see me. So I want to give them an experience to talk about to their friends the next day,” he said. “That’s the thing about pro wrestling, we’re out there to tell a story. We’re story tellers.”

DCW will continue trying to garner intrigue and create a new fanbase in Evanston. They’re planning on returning Aug. 30, again outside of Wild Cannabis. “If we could spark your interest to say at least ‘OK, that was cool,’ that’s the objective,” Smith said.

Shortly before DCW’s first Evanston appearance, Smith sold out the Maverik Center in Utah for an AEW-affiliated event.  “That’s 3,000 people — that was when I realized we’re onto something.”

“I really think God put me on earth to be a wrestler,” Smith said. “My staying power in the game has shown that I’m serious about it. I just think till the day I die I’ll have something to do with wrestling.”