 Ritter,c. 1983 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Sylvester Ritter (1952-12-13)December 13, 1952[4] |
| Died | June 1, 1998(1998-06-01) (aged 45)[5] Forest, Mississippi, U.S. |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Big Daddy Ritter[1] Junkyard Dog[1] Leroy Rochester[1] Stagger Lee |
| Billed height | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)[2] |
| Billed weight | 280 lb (130 kg)[2] |
| Billed from | |
| Trained by | Sonny King[3] |
| Debut | 1977[2] |
| Retired | 1997 |
Sylvester Ritter (December 13, 1952 – June 1, 1998) was an Americanprofessional wrestler andcollege football player, best known for his time inMid-South Wrestling, where he would serve as aworld heavyweight champion, and theWorld Wrestling Federation as theJunkyard Dog (orJYD). He was known for entering the ring with his trademark chain attached to a dog collar, headlining cards that drew large crowds and regularly sold out theLouisiana Superdome and other major venues. WWE author Brian Shields called him one of the most electrifying and charismatic wrestlers in the country, particularly during his peak in the early 1980s.[2] JYD was also known for his upper body strength, which saw him regularly bodyslam large wrestlers. The word "thump," which referred to JYD's powerslam, was prominently displayed on his wrestling trunks. He was posthumously inducted into theWWE Hall of Fame class of 2004.[6]
Ritter played football atFayetteville State University, twice earning honorable mentionAll-American status.[4] He graduated in 1975 with apolitical science degree and a minor in geography.[1][7] He then signed with theGreen Bay Packers in April 1976.[8] Ritter was placed oninjured reserve after suffering a knee injury during the offseason. He was waived from injured reserve in October 1976.[9]
Ritter debuted in 1977, initially wrestling forNWA Tri-State, theContinental Wrestling Association andSoutheastern Championship Wrestling under his real name.[2] In late 1977, Ritter moved toNick Gulas'sNWA Mid America promotion and adopted thering name "Leroy Rochester".[1] Afterwards, he wrestled in Germany.[4][3] He worked forStu Hart'sStampede Wrestling promotion the following year as "Big Daddy Ritter", holding theStampede North American Heavyweight Championship twice.[2]
In September 1979, Ritter moved toMid-South Wrestling, wherebooker"Cowboy" Bill Watts gave him the name andgimmick of Junkyard Dog, taken fromJim Croce's song "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown".[2] Sporting a long chain attached to a dog collar and white boots, he originally came to the ring pushing a cart filled withjunk called the "junk wagon" andlost most of his early matches before his character caught on and became the topface in the company.[6] Hefeuded with some of Mid-South's topheels, including a now infamousangle with theFabulous Freebirds where they blinded him with hair cream. At the peak of the feud, his wife gave birth to their first child, which was made part of the storyline. It was explained that JYD could not see his new daughter, increasing theheat on the Freebirds to the point where they needed police escorts in and out of arenas.[3] The feud ended with the still-blinded JYD and Freebird leaderMichael "P.S." Hayes wrestling in a steel cage dog collar match at theNew Orleans Superdome.[1][2]
A survey which was conducted amongNew Orleans school children during the 1981–82 academic year found that JYD was the overwhelmingly preferred choice among local sports stars who New Orleans schoolchildren wanted to meet the most, even more popular than renowned local athletesArchie Manning and"Pistol" Pete Maravich.[10] In addition, JYD would also gain notoriety for being a black American who headlined a wrestling promotion at a time when black Americans in other wrestling promotions were billed as side acts.[10]
JYD was also involved in other notable feuds withTed DiBiase andButch Reed.[6] Once JYD's friend and tag team partner, DiBiase turned heel and won aloser-leaves-town match against JYD with the help of a loaded glove, which was a DiBiase calling card, forcing JYD to leave town for an extended period of time. In 1982, JYD defeatedNick Bockwinkel in a cross promotional match for NWA and AWA that aired on NWAMid South Wrestling and AWA programming. A masked man physically resembling JYD, known as "Stagger Lee", subsequently appeared in the region and began to defeat the competition, one by one, including DiBiase. DiBiase and the other heels strongly suspected that Lee was in fact JYD, but were unable to unmask him. Stagger Lee disappeared once the loser-leave-town clause in the JYD-DiBiase match had expired, and JYD returned and reclaimed theNorth American Heavyweight Championship.[3]
While in Mid-South Wrestling, JYD would use various entrance themes, such asQueen's "Another One Bites The Dust" andGeorge Clinton's "Atomic Dog."[11]
In the summer of 1984, Ritter left Mid-South at the peak of his feud with Reed for theWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF). He initially used "Another One Bites the Dust" as his theme on a regular basis and made a habit of interacting with the growing number of young people in attendance, often bringing them into the ring after matches and dancing with them.[2] He was eventually given his own theme, "Grab Them Cakes," which he co-sang withVicki Sue Robinson.[6]
On March 31, 1985, he wrestled at the inauguralWrestleMania, defeatingIntercontinental ChampionGreg Valentine by countout, but not winning the title.[12] In July, he lost toDon Muraco in the first round of the inauguralKing of the Ring tournament.[13] On November 7, JYD wonThe Wrestling Classic tournament by defeatingThe Iron Sheik,Moondog Spot andRandy Savage by countout in the finals.[14] JYD was subsequently involved in feuds with the likes ofAdrian Adonis and the Funk Brothers (Dory Funk Jr. andTerry Funk).[15][16] A feud with King of the Ring winnerHarley Race led to a match between the two atWrestleMania III on March 29, 1987, where JYD lost and had to bow down to Race per the stipulation.[6][17] He competed in the inauguralRoyal Rumble match at thenamesake event on January 24, 1988, but was eliminated byDino Bravo.[18] Shortly after a loss toRick Rude at the inauguralSummerSlam on August 29, he left the WWF.[19][1]
Ritter made his debut for theNational Wrestling Alliance atClash of the Champions IV on December 7, 1988, during an altercation between The Russian Assassins andIvan Koloff, saving the latter.[20] AtClash of the Champions VI on April 2, 1989, he defeated former rival Butch Reed. Before the match, he was accompanied to the ring by a jazz band.[21] JYD was promptly fired from the company after no-showing a live appearance and missing theWrestleWar pay-per-view in May.[1]
Following his surprise return atCapitol Combat on May 19, 1990,[22] JYD began a main event run and quickly became embroiled in a feud withRic Flair for the World Heavyweight Championship, garnering several non-title victories.[6][1] On June 13, JYD defeated Flair by disqualification atClash of the Champions XI, but did not win the title.[23] JYD was then part of the short-lived Dudes with Attitudes faction along withSting,Paul Orndorff, andEl Gigante.[1] On February 17, 1991, he teamed withRicky Morton andTommy Rich, defeatingDr. X,Dutch Mantell andBuddy Landel to win theWCW World Six-Man Tag-Team Championship. JYD and his partners held the title until June 3, when they were defeated by The Freebirds.[24]
After dropping a significant amount of weight to improve his conditioning, Junkyard Dog returned on February 29, 1992, atSuperBrawl II, savingRon Simmons from an attack byAbdullah the Butcher.[25] He found himself wrestling in tag-team matches with Simmons,Barry Windham, orBig Josh for the next few months. In April and again in June, JYD faced former Six-Man Championship partner Ricky Morton, defeating him on each occasion. He also formed another tag team, this time withThe Big Cat. They feuded withThe Vegas Connection (Diamond Dallas Page andVinnie Vegas) the rest of the summer. In April 1993, he formed a new team withJim Neidhart and began a feud withDick Slater and Paul Orndorff that would last the next few months. After defeating Slater on July 28, he left the promotion.
After WCW, JYD wrestled on theindependent circuit, most notably for NWA Dallas and theNational Wrestling Conference. He was the founder of the Dog Poundstable in an independent Mid-South promotion based in southernLouisiana. Ritter also worked at aWalmart inLas Vegas and had a part-time job repossessing cars.[5][3] On May 3, 1998, he made his last major appearance atExtreme Championship Wrestling'sWrestlepaloozaevent.[7] He also trained former WWF wrestlerRodney Mack.[26]
At around 11:40 a.m. on June 1, 1998, Ritter died in a single-car accident onInterstate 20 nearForest, Mississippi.[4][7] He was returning home from his daughter LaToya's high school graduation inWadesboro, North Carolina when his car rolled three times after he fell asleep at the wheel. He was 45 years old.[3]
In one other note, Starr said that guard Sylvester Ritter has been waived off injured reserves. Ritter injured a knee in an off-season camp and never participated in any workouts here.
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