On September 20, 1980, the Devil's Duo made their ICW television debut with an impressive win over George Weingeroff and Jim Pride. The team's name was created by promoter Angelo Poffo who was part of the original Devil's Duo with Chris Markoff and manager Bobby Heenan during the 1960s. As their manager, Smith accompanied them to the ring holding a book he called the "Kaba Kaba" and muttering supposedly occult phrases. These theatrical hints of mock-satanism helped to put the team over with the fans but also limited their exposure, as many other territories at that time were too 'Bible Belt' for any satanism gimmick to be used. Nevertheless, the team quickly established themselves as top contenders for the promotion's U.S. and Southeastern Tag Team titles. On April 25, 1981, Smith led the Devil's Duo to the ICW United States Tag Team Championship, which they won from Lanny Poffo and George Weingeroff at Henry Clay High School. He threw a fireball to help his team win the tag team title. Shortly after their victory, Smith went on live TV to congratulate his team for winning the belts and bragged to the crowd about the amount of "fan mail" his champions had received. He also mentioned a letter from "his cousin overseas" and suddenly displayed a picture of Ayatollah Khomeini. This upset many in audience as the U.S. was still in the midst of the Iranian hostage crisis. Smith continued to taunt the crowd and ended by turning to the camera asking "Oh yeah? Well, how many hostages do YOU have?". Before the end of the show, a mob had formed outside the TV studio. The wrestlers were trapped in the building until a police escort arrived. The promotion had to arrange special security for the trio for the next several months.