 Mosh (left) and Thrasher (right) | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Glenn Ruth (1969-06-13)June 13, 1969 (age 56)[3] |
| Children | 4 |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Frankie Favorite Glenn Ruth Guardian #2 The Royal Spider[1] Sister Angelica[2] The Spider Spider #2 Thrasher[3] |
| Billed height | 6 ft 4 in (193 cm)[1] |
| Billed weight | 245 lb (111 kg)[1] |
| Trained by | Larry Sharpe[1][4] |
| Debut | 1990[1] |
| Retired | 2000 |
Glenn Ruth (born June 13, 1969) is an Americanprofessional wrestler, better known by thering name,Thrasher. For much of his career he hasteamed withMosh, most famously asThe Headbangers, a pair ofmetal-heads known for their outrageous costumes such as nose rings and kilts. Thrasher is best known for his stints in theWorld Wrestling Federation between 1990 and 2000, where he held theWWF World Tag Team Championship andWWF Hardcore Championship.[1][4][3]
Ruth grew up inSouth Jersey.[4] He trained as a wrestler underLarry Sharpe and debuted in 1990 as The Spider. He later became Sharpe's assistant and helped train wrestlers includingBig Show and his future tag team partnerMosh at Sharpe's "Monster Factory"professional wrestling school.[4] Worked in New Jersey, for theNational Wrestling Alliance. In 1991, Ruth wrestled as Frankie Favorite forAll Japan Pro Wrestling. In Japan he would occasionally teamed up with Johnny Favorite. In 1991 as the Spider, he won the WWA Heavyweight Championship twice in New Jersey from 1991 to 1992 and 1992 to 1993. Also worked in Maryland. On January 23, 1993, the Spider wrestledThe Sandman in a Double DQ forEastern Championship Wrestling. In 1994, he started teaming up withChaz Warrington as the Spiders working in theindependent circuit in New Jersey and Texas. They made a few appearances forExtreme Championship Wrestling in June 1994. In 1995 they moved down to Tennessee forSmoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW). It was there that they changed their gimmicks to the Headbangers. Their slogan was "Real men wear skirts." Ruth became Thrasher and Warrington became Mosh. In December 1995 Smokey Mountain folded and they joined theUnited States Wrestling Association (USWA).
Ruth debuted in the World Wrestling Federation in August 1990 under his real name losing toRick Rude. He wrestled several matches for the promotion until leaving in November 1990, making several appearances onWWF Superstars andWWF Wrestling Challenge.[1]
Ruth made a number of appearances for theWorld Wrestling Federation from 1991 to 1993. Losing to the big names;Ric Flair,The Undertaker,Shawn Michaels andBret Hart. He appeared on the second ever episode of Raw in 1993 a losing effort againstMarty Jannetty, competing under his given name as anenhancement talent. Sometimes he even made tag teams appearances againstThe Smoking Gunns andThe Steiner Brothers.
In December 1995, they debuted as jobbers in the WWF as the Spiders, the Royal Spiders, the Arachnoids, and even used their real names. On an episode of Monday Night Raw they got a World Tag Team Title shot against the Smoking Gunns. They returned to the USWA.
Wrestling as "The Spiders", Thrasher and Mosh returned to the WWF on the September 24, 1996, episode ofWWF Superstars, losing toThe Smoking Gunns. In November 1996, they resumed wrestling as "The Headbangers". At the outset of 1997, The Headbangers briefly began wearingnun outfits and wrestling as "The Flying Nuns" and "The Sisters of Love", with Thrasher wrestling as "Sister Angelica" and Mosh as "Mother Smucker". They were briefly managed byBrother Love.[1][2]
The Headbangers captured the vacantWWF World Tag Team Championships on September 7, 1997, by defeating three other teams in a four team tag match atGround Zero. They lost the titles toThe Godwinns on October 5 of that same year.
The Headbangers split in January 1999 when Ruth suffered a knee injury and Warrington began pursuing a singles career, but reformed in late 1999 on the October 10 edition ofSunday Night Heat when Ruth came to Warrington's aid during adomestic violence angle, which saw him vilified by other wrestlers and officials alike for a number of weeks. Ruth had presented video footage of Warrington's (kayfabe) girlfriendMarianna Komlos putting on makeup to make it seem as if Warrington had been abusing her. The police officers arresting Warrington then uncuffed him and arrested Komlos for her lies. Shortly thereafter the two began appearing regularly as a team again, but were now heels and inexplicably came to the ring wearing conebrassieres which they wore while they wrestled.
In 2000, Ruth took part in the match for theHardcore Championship atWrestleMania 2000. He held the title for 37 seconds, pinningJoey Abs and then being pinned byPete Gas. After the Headbangers split for the second time in that July and Warrington went on to team withD'Lo Brown, Ruth continued to wrestle in singles competition mainly onWWF Jakked/Metal before being sent to WWF'sMemphis Championship Wrestling developmental territory that summer. He was released from the WWF in December 2000.
After his release from the WWF, Ruth continued to wrestle until 2003 forMaryland Championship Wrestling and independent promotions before retiring from professional wrestling.
In 2011, The Headbangers reformed and have been wrestling on the independent circuit once again. In June 2012, Thrasher and Mosh debuted inRing of Honor as The Guardians of Truth, amasked tag team managed byTruth Martini. As of 2014, Thrasher now wrestles for independent promotionChampionship Wrestling Entertainment in Port St. Lucie, FL. On November 14, 2014, Thrasher defeated Chico Adams to become the CWE Heavyweight Champion.
Thrasher and Mosh made an unannounced return to the WWE (formerly WWF) on the 30 August 2016 episode ofWWE SmackDown, losing toHeath Slater andRhyno in the first round of a tournament for the newly-createdWWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship. They made two further appearances onSmackDown in November 2016.[1]
Alongside Mosh, he appears as Thrasher inWWE 2K24 asdownloadable content.[5]
Ruth is married with four children.[4]
Upon retiring from professional wrestling in 2002, Ruth began working in restaurant management and marketing.[4] Ruth is currently an Area Supervisor for Papa John's in Boynton Beach, Florida.
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,Internet Wrestling Database