 Prichard in 2020 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Thomas Prichard (1959-08-18)August 18, 1959 (age 66)[1] El Paso, Texas, U.S.[1] |
Spouse | Sandi Prichard |
| Family | Bruce Prichard (brother) |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Dr. Tom Prichard[1] Dr. X[1] Tom Prichard[2] Zip[2] |
| Billed height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)[2] |
| Billed weight | 230 lb (100 kg)[2] |
| Billed from | Houston, Texas[2] |
| Trained by | The Iron Sheik |
| Debut | October 20, 1979 |
| Retired | September 26, 2020 |
Thomas Prichard (born August 18, 1959) is an American retiredprofessional wrestler and author better known by thering nameDr. Tom Prichard. He is the older brother ofBruce Prichard.[1]
Tom Prichard began his career in Los Angeles, around 1979, working forGene and Mike LeBell's Los Angeles Olympic Auditorium wrestling promotion, where he held several championships in that organization, including the Americas tag team title withChris Adams. After LeBell closed the L.A. promotion down in 1982, Prichard competed in various NWA territories for the next four years (including a stint as color commentator inGeorgia Championship Wrestling (replacing the departed Roddy Piper) in 1982–83) before settling in the southeast, where he had the greatest success of his career.
Prichard joinedContinental Championship Wrestling in 1986, and by 1988, he feuded with "The Dirty White Boy"Tony Anthony. Their feud included a very controversial angle, which aired on April 23, 1988, where Anthony's valet came out with a black eye and begged Prichard to help her, only for Anthony to attack him from behind, cuff his hands behind his back and hang him. On October 3, 1988, inBirmingham, Alabama, he defeated Anthony in the finals of a tournament to win the vacantCWF Heavyweight Championship.[3] Prichard lost the title toWendell Cooley on April 7, 1989, in Knoxville, Tennessee, but regained the belt on June 23 of that year.[3] He lost the title toDennis Condrey a month later on July 22 inDothan, Alabama, before once again regaining it after defeating Condrey on December 6 of that same year.[3] Prichard held the title until the CWF closed later that month.[3]
In 1990, Prichard then moved on to theUnited States Wrestling Association, first working out of the Texas branch, where he formed a heel stable that includedEric Embry andSteve Austin, managed byTojo Yamamoto. They feuded with the other top babyfaces, includingJeff Jarrett,Bill Dundee,Robert Fuller, and others. While based out of Texas, Prichard won both theUSWA Southern Heavyweight championship and theUSWA Texas Heavyweight championship before the USWA closed the Texas end of their territory in November 1990.[4][5] Afterwards, Prichard competed in the Memphis end of the USWA before the opening ofSmoky Mountain Wrestling in 1992.
Stan Lane and Prichard formed a team as "The Heavenly Bodies" and joinedSmoky Mountain Wrestling upon its formation in 1992, and on April 23, 1992, inHarrogate, Tennessee, they defeatedThe Fantastics to become the firstSMW Tag Team Champions.[6] They continued to feud with The Fantastics throughout mid-1992, and were finally defeated for the titles on August 8, 1992, in abarbed wirecage match in Johnson City, Tennessee. The Heavenly Bodies regained the titles two days later, holding them for three months before losing to theRock 'N Roll Express on November 13, 1992, in a hospital elimination match inHarlan, Kentucky.[6] They traded the titles with the Rock 'N Roll Express three times in a variety ofhardcore matches over the following year before Lane left the promotion and retired from the ring.[6][7]
Prichard reformed the Heavenly Bodies withJimmy Del Ray, and the two competed in both SMW and theWorld Wrestling Federation, wrestling theWWF World tag team champions theSteiner Brothers atSummerSlam 1993.[2][8] On November 24, 1993, in Boston on the World Wrestling Federation'spay-per-viewSurvivor Series 1993, Prichard and Del Ray defeated the Rock 'N Roll Express.[9] The Rock 'N Roll Express regained the titles on February 18, 1994, in Port Huron, Michigan, but lost the titles to the Heavenly Bodies on the following day in Taylor, Michigan.[6] AtWrestleMania X the Heavenly Bodies defeated the Bushwhackers in a dark match.[10]
The Rock 'N Roll Express defeated the Heavenly Bodies on April 1, 1994, in Pikeville, Kentucky in a "Loser Leaves SMW match", where they then competed in theWorld Wrestling Federation for about a year, before being released in July 1995.[9] Prichard fought in a couple of single matches against Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels. They returned to SMW and regained the SMW Tag Team Championship, marking Prichard's eighth title reign, on August 4, 1995, inKnoxville, Tennessee, defeatingTracy Smothers andDirty White Boy at the Super Bowl of Wrestling.[6] During the feud, The Thugs injured Prichard's leg, and he began wearing a loaded boot, which he used as a weapon to gain victories for him and Del Ray. They held the titles until the promotion folded on November 26, 1995.[6] Also that summer they worked forUnited States Wrestling Association. They won the USWA Tag Team titles fromPG-13 on August 7, 1995. After SMW folded, the Heavenly Bodies briefly wrestled forExtreme Championship Wrestling in December, until Prichard returned to the WWF.
Prichard competed under his own name with his Heavenly Bodies attire at theSurvivor Series 1995, wrestling on future tag team partnerSkip's team "The Bodydonnas." Prichard was the first man eliminated as the Bodydonnas defeatedBarry Horowitz's "Underdogs" team. A month later, Prichard was officially introduced as Zip, Skip's on-screen cousin and tag team partner,[2] interfering in a match allowing Skip to defeatRad Radford, who had been trying to become a Bodydonna himself.[9] Before this appearance he cut off his long curly brown hair into a dyed blond crew cut, to more resemble his storyline cousin.[9]
On theWrestleMania XII pre-show, on March 31, 1996, the team defeatedThe Godwinns in the finals of an eight team tournament to win the vacantWWF Tag Team Championship.[9][11] They held the titles until May 19, 1996, when they were defeated by the Godwinns inMadison Square Garden in New York City.[11] After Skip left the WWF in fall of 1996, Prichard became a masked jobber named Dr.X. Dr. X fought mainly on house shows but made a few TV appearances on Superstars.[9] Dr. X lost toBrakkus atIn Your House 12: It's Time.[9] By 1997, he became a trainer for the company, responsible for training such future stars asThe Rock,Kurt Angle, andMark Henry, among others. In addition, Prichard made a few appearances as a singles wrestler for ECW in the summer of 1997.
On November 16, 1998, Prichard became the masked Blue Blazer teaming withJeff Jarrett losing toSteve Blackman andGoldust on Raw Is War.[12] The next week he lost to Blackman and December 21 both on Raw Is War.[12] The Blue Blazer gimmick was related toOwen Hart storylines and Hart's feud with Blackman. On September 27, 1999, Prichard teamed up withJeff Jarrett to face againstChyna andDebra on Raw Is War.[9] Prichard hit Chyna with a guitar and Jarrett was knocked out cold as Chyna went for the victory.[9] He also occasionally commentated for shows such asWWF Metal and co-hostedByte This!, the WWF's internet talk show.[citation needed] Prichard was released from WWE in 2004.
He went on to wrestle in the United Wrestling Association and in various otherindependentpromotions in the Southeastern United States. He also holds training seminars in conjunction with certain promotions. During this time Prichard also befriended online professional wrestling journalist James Guttman of World Wrestling Insanity and provided a weekly commentary on the world ofpro wrestling entitled Tuesdays with Tom. On August 10, 2006, eight days prior to his 47th birthday, he became the oldest man to win the United Wrestling Association Heavyweight Championship, defeating Dillinger for the title.
In January 2007, he was rehired by WWE and replacedBill DeMott as the head trainer forDeep South Wrestling (DSW).When DSW closed, he was moved to WWE's new developmental territoryFlorida Championship Wrestling. On May 30, 2012, Prichard was released from the WWE, being replaced by Bill DeMott as the head trainer.
In 2017, Prichard travelled to England to wrestle at theRuncorn Wrestling Academy (RWA), where he teamed up with RWA owner Andreas Rossi (his formerOVW trainee), Chris Von Sharpe, and Connor "The Bullet" Stafford in an eight-man tag team match against "Fantastic" Matt Fox, Demoni, Johnathan Alexander, and Mr. Williams. After the match, Prichard and Rossi announced that this was their final match.
| Winner (wager) | Loser (wager) | Location | Event | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tom Prichard (hair) | Jonathan Boyd (championship) | Birmingham, Alabama | Live event | February 15, 1988 |
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