| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Robert Welch (1949-05-14)May 14, 1949 (age 76) Memphis, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Children | 3 |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Robert Fuller[1] Tennessee Stud II[1] Tennessee Lee[1] Col. Robert Parker[1] |
| Billed height | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) |
| Billed weight | 240 lb (110 kg; 17 st) |
| Billed from | Memphis, Tennessee[1] |
| Trained by | Buddy Fuller |
| Debut | 1970 |
| Retired | 2018 |
Robert Welch[2] (born May 14, 1949) is an Americanmanager and retiredprofessional wrestler, better known by hisring namesRobert Fuller andCol. Robert Parker. Robert and his brotherRon co-ownedContinental Championship Wrestling for a time.[3]
Fuller started wrestling in 1970 in theAlabama andTennessee regions with fellow wrestlers like Night Hawk. He often teamed with his cousinJimmy Golden and they won many tag team titles. In the 1980s, he took his brother Ron's idea and made a stable calledThe Stud Stable.[1][4] Among the members in the independent versions of this stable were Golden,Sid Vicious,Cactus Jack,[5]Dutch Mantel, Brickhouse Brown, Gary Young,[6] andBrian Lee. He spent some time in theAmerican Wrestling Association with Golden in 1988, and they feuded withThe Rock 'n' Roll Express (Ricky Morton andRobert Gibson). He also wrestled in theTexas area where he teamed withJeff Jarrett to win theUSWA World Tag Team Championship.
In 1993, Fuller went toWorld Championship Wrestling as manager Col. Robert Parker, a takeoff ofCol. Tom Parker ofElvis Presley fame. He managed Sid Vicious and teamed with managerHarley Race and his protege,Vader to form "The Masters of the Powerbomb". They feuded withSting andDavey Boy Smith. In 1994, he managed"Stunning Steve" Austin before reforming his "Stud Stable" with Golden as "Bunkhouse Buck",Meng,Dick Slater,Terry Funk,Arn Anderson andBlacktop Bully.[1] They feuded heavily withDusty andDustin Rhodes. In 1995, Col. Parker courtedSherri Martel to the dismay of both the Stud Stable and Sherri's charges,Harlem Heat. Parker and Sherri went to get married and Sherri was attacked byMadusa, who was supposed to be Parker's wife. Parker and Sherri split and feuded and then made up again, with Parker leaving the Stud Stable to help Sherri manage Harlem Heat. While with Harlem Heat, Parker's official title was "promoter", while Sherri retained the "manager" designation. One trademark of Parker's managing would be his fanning himself during matches. In October 1996, Harlem Heat fired Parker after he cost them the WCW World Tag Team Championships. He quickly started to manageThe Amazing French Canadians (Jacques Rougeau andCarl Ouellet), trading in his gray suit for aFrench Foreign Legion uniform.[1] Harlem Heat and The Amazing French Canadians began feuding.
Fuller was released from WCW in 1997 and in March 1998, he resurfaced in theWWF as Tennessee Lee, a character similar to his Col. Parker character, and began managing former partner Jeff Jarrett.[citation needed] His time in the WWF was short-lived; he would be released in August 1998 and went back to wrestling with Golden on the independent circuit inAlabama. On June 2, 2006 inIrondale, Alabama, Fuller managedShannon Spruill against El Mexico for the NWA Wrestle Birmingham Junior Heavyweight Championship. With the help of Fuller (who referred to Spruill as his "Million Dollar Baby"), Spruill defeated El Mexico to win her third wrestling title.[citation needed] On September 14, 2006, Fuller was seen, once again as Col. Parker, being interviewed byRobert Roode onTNA Impact!. On February 8, 2018, Fuller made a return to professional wrestling as Col. Robert Parker, a manager forMajor League Wrestling. He reactivatedThe Stud Stable with the Dirty Blondes as his first signees.
Robert Fuller comes from a wrestling family: his father Buddy Fuller and his grandfatherRoy Welch were wrestlers, as were his brotherRon Fuller[3] and his cousinJimmy Golden ("Bunkhouse Buck").[7]
He has been married four times: Joyce Logan, who he has his oldest daughter Kimberly by; Sylvia Wilson (Miss Sylvia), who he has Katie and Charlotte by; Susan Lostraglio, who he had no children with; and his current wife Laverne Stewart. He has 7 grandchildren. Fuller currently resides in Seminole, Florida.
His ex-wife and valet Miss Sylvia (born December 15, 1956) died surrounded by 2 of her daughters and current husband, after a years long fight with breast cancer, on November 11, 2022, at the age of 65. She is buried at Parkhill Cemetery in Columbus, Georgia.[8]
*Records aren't clear as to which NWA affiliated promotion Fuller wrestled for when 4 of his 6 total reigns with it began. While the title was usually defended only in the Southeastern Championship Wrestling promotion, it was occasionally used in others such asGeorgia Championship Wrestling.
,Wrestlingdata,Internet Wrestling Database