 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1920-08-12)August 12, 1920 Watts, Alberta, Canada |
| Died | December 21, 1988(1988-12-21) (aged 68) |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Dave Ruhl The Hooded Wasp |
| Billed height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) |
| Billed weight | 242 lb (110 kg) |
| Debut | 1946 |
| Retired | 1974 |
Dave Ruhl (August 12, 1920 – December 21, 1988) was a Canadianprofessional wrestler who during his near 30-year career competed in North American regional promotions inWestern Canada and theCanadian Prairies as well as inJapan and other international promotions. A longtime mainstay of Calgary-basedStampede Wrestling during the 1960s and early 70s, he engaged in memorable feuds withSweet Daddy Siki andThe Stomper over theStampede North American Heavyweight Championship.[1]
He was also a close associate of promoterStu Hart and remained his top booker for much of his time in Stampede Wrestling.[2]
Born inWatts, Alberta, Ruhl was living in nearbyHanna as a cattle grain farmer when he was encouraged to pursue a career in professional wrestling during the mid-1940s. Making his debut in 1946, he appeared with many later Stampede Wrestling veterans while inStu Hart's Klondike Wrestling during the late 1940s.[2]
By 1951, he began wrestling full-time and eventually defeatedAl "Mr. Murder" Mills for the vacant NWA Canadian Championship inCalgary, Alberta on November 13, 1959 (although other sources claim Ruhl won the title in 1955). Continuing to tour North America with theNational Wrestling Alliance during the next ten years, including the Arizona and Texas territories as the masked wrestlerThe Hooded Wasp,[2] he would later win the NWA Canadian Heavyweight Championship a record six times defeating Sweet Daddy Siki,The Beast,Stan Stasiak,Danny Lynch andAbdullah the Butcher respectively. He would be the last NWA Canadian Heavyweight Champion, holding the title until being forced to surrender the championship due to injury in 1972.
FacingGene Kiniski in a match for theNWA World Heavyweight Championship in Calgary on July 12, 1967,[3] Ruhl eventually began competing forStu Hart's Stampede Wrestling promotion during the late 1960s winning the Stampede North American Championship twice between 1969 and 1970 defeating The Stomper andAbdullah the Butcher respectively. Touring Japan in 1969 and again in 1972, he briefly held the Stampede International Tag Team Championship withTiger Joe Tomasso in May 1972 although they lost the titles back toChin Lee &Sugi Sito later that month. Suffering a career-ending injury in 1974 as a result of a head injury sustained in a fight withCarlos Colon,[2] Ruhl retired to farm with his brother Henry and eventually died inMedicine Hat, Alberta on December 21, 1988.[4]
