 Fuller as theChaotic Wrestling Heavyweight Champion in 2001. | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Richard Fuller (1969-04-01)April 1, 1969 (age 56) |
| Children | 2 |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | [1] Rick Fuller[2][1] |
| Billed height | 6 ft 5 in (196 cm)[3] |
| Billed weight | 325 lb (147 kg)[3] |
| Billed from | Middleborough, Massachusetts, United States |
| Trained by | Jimmy Snuka[2] Tony Atlas[2] |
| Debut | 1990[2][1] |
| Retired | 2014 |
Richard Fuller (born April 1, 1969) is an American retiredprofessional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances withWorld Championship Wrestling from 1997 to 2000.[3][2][1]
Born inMiddleborough, Massachusetts, Fuller graduated fromMiddleborough High School in 1987.
Born in Middleboro, Massachusetts, Fuller graduated fromMiddleborough High School in 1987 and soon began training under"Superfly" Jimmy Snuka and"Mr. USA" Tony Atlas at their wrestling school inNew Bedford, Massachusetts.
Touring the Northeast during the 1990s, Fuller won championship titles in several promotions and, most notably, feuded withScott Garland while in the New England Wrestling Association later fighting over the NEWA Heavyweight Championship during 1992 and 1993.
In early 1997, Fuller made his debut in World Championship Wrestling losing toLex Luger at theSuperdome inNew Orleans, Louisiana, on January 13, 1997. Regularly appearing onWCW Monday Nitro,WCW Saturday Night during the year, he also lost toChris Benoit on February 22[4] andDiamond Dallas Page on March 3.[5] Later that month, he would also faceRoadblock andJohnny Swinger onSaturday Night before teaming with Roadblock against Lex Luger andThe Giant onMonday Nitro on March 31, 1997.
Suffering losses toBooker T andJeff Jarrett during the next two months, he lost toMeng in a dark match onMonday Nitro on May 12. After another loss to Jeff Jarrett onSaturday Night on May 24, he also lost to The Giant in a handicap match with Johnny Swinger andJerry Flynn onMonday Nitro on May 26.[6] In early June, he would also lose toIce Train andBuff Bagwell[7] and later to"Hacksaw" Jim Duggan onMonday Nitro inLas Vegas, Nevada, on July 13.
One of the first victims ofBill Goldberg's winning streak during early 1998, Fuller was pinned by Goldberg onWCW Thunder on February 2. He later appeared onWCW WorldWide losing toKonnan on February 21.[8] as well as appearing onSaturday Night facingHugh Morris, Jim Duggan andPrince Iaukea as well as to Booker T andSteve McMichael onThunder before defeatingDoc Dean on July 25, 1998.
During the next few months however, while scoring victories over preliminary wrestlers, he would lose matches toScott Norton,Bryan Clark,Marty Jannetty and Jerry Flynn before losing toWCW World Heavyweight Champion Bill Goldberg onThunder inLexington, Kentucky, on September 10. He would also lose toErnest "The Cat" Miller andRick Steiner[9] before defeatingEl Dandy onWorldwide on October 17, 1998.[10]
Fuller defeatedLash LeRoux onWorldWide on January 26. Fuller later teamed withKnuckles Nelson at the NWA Parade of Champions, substituting for the injured Erich Sbraccia, winning the then vacant NWA World Tag Team Championship against Team Extreme (Kit Carson and Khris Germany) winning by reverse decision at the Bronco Bowl inDallas, Texas, on June 10, 1999.[11] However, the two would hold them for less than a week before losing the titles toThe Public Enemy inBolton, Massachusetts, on June 17.
Fuller would make only occasional appearances with WCW for most of the year, defeatingSick Boy onThunder inBirmingham, Alabama, on July 14,[12] he would instead wrestle for independent promotions including an appearance at Ultimate Professional Wrestling's Slam & Jam '99 defeating former trainer "Mr. USA" Tony Atlas at theAugusta Civic Center inAugusta, Maine, on December 30, 1999.[13][14]
Returning to WCW in early 2000, Fuller facedTank Abbott onMonday Nitro on February 14[15] and later appeared onSaturday Night during its last months on the air facingThe Wall,The Demon and in the last episode, participated in a six-man Hardcore Battle Royal won byBrian Knobs and includedNorman Smiley, Adrian Byrd, Dave Burkehead andThe Dog on April 1, 2000.
Fuller was featured in the video gamesWCW Nitro andWCW/nWo Thunder.
After the close of WCW, Fuller returned to the independent circuit and, while in East Coast Championship Wrestling joined the stable Alliance of Defiance withKevin Kelly and Billy Fives in early 2001.[16] He would also make an appearances in theWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF) facingScotty 2 Hotty on October 30, 2000 at theFleet Center in Boston. On May 21, 2001, he faced againstDevon Storm at theHartford Civic Center inHartford, Connecticut.[17]
In December 2001, Fuller assaulted then-referee Barry Ace during a match forNWA New England after he had unintentionally caused Fuller to mistime a wrestling move. NWA New England Vice President Vinnie Capelli later made a public statement accepting full responsibility for the incident as Barry Ace was not a fully trained referee at the time. Despite this incident, Fuller remained with the promotion and, the following year, he won the NWA New England Heavyweight Championship.[18] Several years later, Fuller and Ace both portrayed prison inmates in the filmWhat Doesn't Kill You.
During 2006, Fuller would continue his feud with Brian Milonas in East Coast Championship Wrestling defeating him on May 6 although he was later eliminated by Milonas in the ECCW "Road to the Championship" Tournament on May 20. The following month he debutedNew England Championship Wrestling defeating Nat Turner on July 15 although he would later lose to NECW U.S. Champion Eric Shred by disqualification on October 7 and, with Evan Siks, defeatedEddie Edwards and DC Dillinger by disqualification on October 28, 2006. Defeating Triplelicious and Chris Green during the next several weeks, he joined Team Nightmare (Evan Siks, Jason Blade and Brian Fury) defeating Team Sabotage (Kristian Frost, John Walters, Eddie Edwards and DC Dillinger) in an 8-man elimination match on December 16, 2006.
In early 2007, he lost toAbyss in a stretcher match during a Powerhouse Wrestling of New England event on January 27 and, the following month in Big Time Wrestling, defeated Eddie Edwards on February 25 before losing to Mister TA in a dog collar match on March 2, 2007. From late 2007 through early 2008, he wrestled for a small company in Fair Haven, Massachusetts called Alliance Championship Wrestling.
On May 18, 2007, Fuller faced Chaotic Wrestling Heavyweight Champion Brian Milonas in the main event of the Homecoming benefit show inByfield, Massachusetts, a fundraising event held byChaotic Wrestling and Fabulous Productions to raise money for charities in the New England area including theMothers Against Drunk Driving, the Newbury Police Association and the Trista Zinck Scholarship Fund.[19] The match, which featuredWWE World Heavyweight ChampionJohn Cena as special referee, also sawVince McMahon in a rare appearance on the independent circuit who attempted to interfere in the match only to be stopped by Cena.[20]
In June 2007 he wrestled for URW Ultimate Rings Wars out of Fall River Ma and ended the management of The Mind
On December 28, 2007, Fuller defeated Brian Fury to win theNECW Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship inQuincy, Massachusetts.
On June 27, 2008, Fuller and tag team partnerFred Sampson defeated The Blowout Boys to become the newChaotic Wrestling Tag Team Champions.
In 2008 Fuller competed forNew Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he formed a tag team withGiant Bernard. He is also a singles competitor in the New Jersey–based ISPW and the New England–based Big Time Wrestling (BTW).
Fuller wrestled his final match in 2014.
During his career, Fuller appeared as an extra in many movies and commercials. Including a football player inThe Game Plan starringThe Rock as well as the bouncer in "The Fighter".
Fuller was frequently known by the nicknames of "The Lumberjack" and "Big".[2][1] His finishing moves included areverse piledriver known as theFuller Effect and aspinning heel kick.[21][22]
Fuller is married and has two children.[2][1]
