[1] Born one month prematurely and weighing one pound at birth,[4] Smith was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, which has left his right arm withered and with extremely limited range of motion.

[3] He developed his own unique set of coping skills for dealing with bullying, centered on his being willing and able to tell his own story, and to do it in a self-effacing and sometimes humorous manner.

"[3] At first, Iron pursued professional wrestling in the weight room, inventing his own regimen since his right hand would not allow him to execute most lifts in the traditional way.

In early training with J. T. Lightning, Iron took a great deal of punishment, asking for no pity, and modifying wrestling holds so they could be applied using one arm.

[8] A brutal attack by Gargano during a PWO taping in February, 2008, left Iron unable to compete for three months.

"[10] Iron is also the longtime tag team partner of Hobo Joe, in the "Homeless Handicapped Connection," billed as mutually overcoming many obstacles to compete.

[13] In March, both Gowen and Iron came to an agreement to change their tag team name to the "Handicapped Heroes" mainly due to the number of school shootings that occurred earlier in the year for they did not want to promote any form of violence.

[14] The next month, Gowen would be kicked-out of a show in the famous Agora Theatre and Ballroom by Prime Wrestling Commissioner, Vic Travagliante.

[15] On June 13, Iron lost against his former tag team partner, Matthew Justice at a show in Lisbon, Ohio for the Prime TV Championship.

[16] Iron is perhaps best known as a wrestler for his feud with Gargano, the tag-team defeat of Sex Appeal, and for a Chikara match with Lince Dorado in August, 2010, during the eighth Young Lions Cup - in which "a handicapped underdog [tried] to overcome the bully, and the crowd loved it!

[21] Iron worked so well with Scott that they formed a tag-team,[22] defeating The Batiri (Obariyon and Kodama) in November 2012[23] for the AIW Tag Team Championships.