Ray Stevens (wrestler)
Ray Stevens | |
---|---|
Birth name | Carl Ray Stevens |
Born | Point Pleasant, West Virginia, U.S. | September 5, 1935
Died | May 3, 1996 Fremont, California, U.S. | (aged 60)
Professional wrestling career | |
Ring name(s) | Ray Shire Ray Stevens |
Billed height | 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)[1] |
Billed weight | 235 lb (107 kg)[1] |
Billed from | New York City San Francisco[1] |
Trained by | Jim Henry Roy Shire Theresa Theis |
Debut | 1950[1] |
Retired | 1992[1] |
Carl Raymond Stevens[2] (September 5, 1935 – May 3, 1996), better known as Ray "the Crippler" Stevens or Ray "Blond Bomber" Stevens, was an American professional wrestler. Stevens was a wrestling superstar since the early years of the television era until his retirement during the early 1990s.
His performances and hard
In 2006, he was inducted into the
Early life
Stevens was born on September 5, 1935, in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, and was raised by an aunt in Columbus, Ohio.[3]
Professional wrestling career
Early career
Stevens began his four-decade-long career in 1950 at the age of 15, working for Al Haft.
Stevens further developed his skills in tag team matches. He initially went into a partnership with Don Fargo as Ray and Don Stevens.[3][5] In addition, on August 6, 1959, Stevens teamed up with "Professor" Roy Shire as "brother" Ray Shire to win the NWA World Tag Team Championship from Dick the Bruiser and Angelo Poffo.[4][5] The Shire Brothers were involved in many famous angles until Roy moved on to become the promoter of Big Time Wrestling wrestling programs in San Francisco's Cow Palace.[2][4] One angle, which took place in Indianapolis on October 1, 1960, involved a "match" between boxer Archie Moore, a former World Light Heavyweight Boxing Champion, and the Shire Brothers. This match did not show Ray and Roy having any significant advantage over Moore. For one thing, the Shire Brothers were required to wear boxing gloves and follow the rules of boxing when they went against professional boxer Moore. Both Ray and Roy were "knocked out" in a matter of minutes. This match did not settle the argument as to who is the superior athlete, the professional boxer or the professional wrestler. A positive outcome of this "match" was the fans, who attended this event in large numbers, having the pleasure of seeing the long-awaited comeuppance of the arrogant and rule-breaking Shire Brothers.[4]
By the end of the 1950s, Ray Stevens was ready to move on to the next stage of his wrestling career, which took place in the city of San Francisco and throughout Northern California.[4][5]
Big Time Wrestling: the San Francisco years
Stevens, reverting to his real name, started out in San Francisco for
One noteworthy characteristic of Ray Stevens was his flexible use of different cities being referred to as his birthplace. His actual birthplace was Point Pleasant, West Virginia. He was, shortly afterward, raised in Columbus, Ohio, by his aunt during the years of the Great Depression. Whenever he was introduced by a wrestling program announcer in San Francisco, his birthplace was New York City. After moving to the East Coast during the early 70s, his birthplace became San Francisco. This was done to plant the idea in the minds of the fans that he was an outsider instead of one of them.
The matches between Pepper Gomez and Ray Stevens, during the early part of the 1960s, certainly set the tenor for the Blond Bomber's dominance as top heel in the Bay Area during the entire decade.[2] Gomez, at the time, had the reputation of having a "cast iron" stomach. He constantly challenged other wrestlers to jump on his stomach and try to get him to sell. Until the Blond Bomber came along, in May 1962, to pick up on this challenge, no wrestler was able succeed in causing more than just a little discomfort from jumping on his stomach. Gomez accepted a challenge from Ray Stevens to jump on his stomach off from a fifteen feet ladder which was placed in the center of the ring.[6] Stevens did so from the halfway point on the ladder, but he did not succeed in getting Gomez to sell. Drawing from his seemingly inexhaustible arsenal of nefarious tactics, Stevens then went to the top of the ladder and, instead of jumping off feet first, he quickly switched to using his Bombs Away knee drop.[2] The impact caused Gomez to spit blood and put him out of action for several weeks.[4] After Gomez recovered from his "injury", he and Stevens had a bout at the Cow Palace which was attended by approximately 17,000 fans with many more turned away due to lack of space.[5] This was the largest paying crowd to have attended any events at the Cow Palace, including a musical extravaganza which starred Elvis Presley.[4][6]
In 1962, the KTVU television station, in conjunction with its Friday night wrestling program, conducted a major survey that incorporated the opinions of wrestling fans in the Bay Area. The purpose of the survey was to determine which pro wrestler was considered to be the most popular and which one was the most hated. Unsurprisingly, Ray Stevens was selected as the most hated wrestler. However, many wrestling insiders were stunned to find that Stevens was also voted in as the most popular. This vote showed the impact that Stevens had on the wrestling scene in San Francisco and its growing popularity among the fans.[4]
Another match, which took place in 1963, between Gomez and Stevens led to an unexpected ending. After a heated exchange of blows, Gomez grabbed the rather hefty time keeper's bell and spun around to take aim at Stevens's head. Gomez apparently misjudged the weight of the bell when hitting the Blond Bomber. Stevens quickly fell to the mat and laid prone. It took a short while before it was noticed that Stevens was seriously hurt. He was taken to the hospital unconscious. Fortunately, he did not incur brain damage and eventually recovered the next day. The San Francisco Examiner's columnist Jack Rosenbaum, headlining his story about the incident as "A Touch of Realism at the Cow Palace", compared Stevens to a fallen Greek warrior from ancient times. Gomez was fined $5,000 (which was a large sum of money during those times) by the California State Athletic Commission for his part in this mishap. Since then, Stevens and Gomez had many bouts which were always well attended by the fans.
During his San Francisco years, Stevens took on and vanquished wrestlers of such caliber as
In 1965, Stevens teamed up with
On July 15, 1967, Bruno Sammartino, WWWF World Heavyweight Champion, wrestled a two out of three falls match for the title against the Blond Bomber in San Francisco.[7] Stevens pinned Sammartino with the "Bombs Away" to win the first fall; Sammartino forced Stevens to submit to win the second fall; Stevens won the third and deciding fall via countout.[7] It was later determined that according to WWWF rules, a champion could not lose the title due to a count out. Thus, Bruno Sammartino was able to return to the East Coast with his title still intact and the title change was never officially recognized.[7]
Stevens was known for using risky acrobatic moves in his matches.[3] An example of a crowd-pleasing stunt, created by the Blond Bomber in 1965, was the Turnbuckle Flip. After being arm thrown into the far corner, Stevens would go into a half somersault landing with his back on the top turnbuckle and then do a blade job on his forehead before falling to the cement floor. This bumping technique was replicated by a few wrestlers like Ric Flair as part of their in-ring repertoire.[3]
Over the years, Ray Stevens has been viewed by many wrestling insiders as the best
American Wrestling Association and National Wrestling Alliance
He then moved on to the
While working with the AWA in 1972, Stevens had a television match with a masked wrestler known as Doctor X (Dick Beyer) in which he applied the Bombs Away coup de grâce to win the match while Doctor X's leg was tangled between two ring ropes.[6] This resulted in the "breaking" of Doctor X's leg (which allowed Beyer to leave the area to work with a wrestling tour in Japan as "The Destroyer") and also led to the outlawing of the Bombs Away maneuver by the AWA. It was shortly after that match when Ray Stevens was no longer called the Blond Bomber and became known as "The Crippler."[2]
In 1976, Stevens and Bockwinkel were still the team to beat, but friction was growing within the team. An angle developed where Heenan and Bockwinkel did the talking during their promos and cut Stevens off whenever he tried to speak. When Bobby Heenan was named the 1976 Manager of The Year by a pro wrestling magazine called 'Sports Review Wrestling' on a Christmas Day episode of AWA All-Star Wrestling, Bockwinkel attacked Stevens. This happened because the Crippler pushed Heenan, while Bockwinkel was trying to congratulate Bobby on being the manager of the year; however, Stevens was able to get the upper hand and eventually destroyed a trophy presented to Heenan for his being named "Manager of the Year." This led to the eventual break up of the team and a feud between the two to start the year 1977.
World Wide Wrestling Federation
From there, he moved to the
Late career
After leaving the WWF, Stevens returned to the AWA,[1] where he joined forces with Larry Zbyszko in feuding with the babyface-turned Bockwinkel, only to turn face himself after Zbyszko turned on him.[5] Stevens was doing color commentary for ESPN's AWA Championship Wrestling during the AWA World Heavyweight title match between champion Bockwinkel and Curt Hennig in San Francisco on May 2, 1987, when interference by Zbyszko (who handed a roll of coins to Hennig from ringside to use against Bockwinkel) led to Hennig winning the title from Bockwinkel. Stevens and Bockwinkel protested the outcome of the match to the AWA Championship Committee, which held up the championship immediately after the match, but the original match decision was upheld days later after the committee ruled that there was no evidence that Zbyszko had illegally aided Hennig. As a result, the championship was returned to the now heel-turned Hennig. Stevens returned to WWF for the Legends Battle Royal won by Lou Thesz on November 16, 1987. He left the AWA in 1988. Stemming from the events of that match, Stevens feuded briefly with Zbyszko before finishing out his career in 1992, after 42 years.[2]
One of his final appearances was for
On May 20, 2006, Ray "The Crippler" Stevens was posthumously honored by being inducted into the
Personal life
In 1952, Stevens was married to female wrestler Theresa Theis, who also did some work as Stevens's trainer and helped to hone his skills as a professional wrestler during the initial stage of his career.[2] They were divorced in 1972.[6][3] He appeared in the 1974 movie The Wrestler and the 1978 Sylvester Stallone movie Paradise Alley.
In 1995, the mayors of San Francisco and Oakland jointly proclaimed April 5 "Ray Stevens Day".[1][2] Stevens suffered a heart attack in Minnesota in late 1994.[2][3] In later years, he took part in rodeo performing, motorcycle racing and go-karting, among other endeavors.[4] Stevens was also known for his brawling antics, run-ins with the IRS, and his love for women.[3][4][6]
Death
On May 3, 1996, Stevens died of a heart attack in his sleep at his home in Fremont, California, after drinking brandy and beer, and taking pills shortly before he slept.[4][6] He had quadruple-bypass surgery at Stanford University[6] a year before his death. He was survived by five children: Carl, Timothy, Laura, Roy and Kelly.[3][4]
Championships and accomplishments
- American Wrestling Alliance
- 7 times)[10]
- American Wrestling Association
- Pat Patterson (1)[11]
- Big Time Wrestling (San Francisco)
- Cauliflower Alley Club
- Championship Wrestling from Florida
- NWA Florida Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Nick Bockwinkel (1) and Mike Graham (1)[14]
- NWA Florida Television Championship (2 times)[15]
- Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling
- Midwest Wrestling Association
- MWA American Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Don Stevens[18]
- MWA Ohio Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Don Stevens (1) and Ed Francis (1)[19]
- MWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)[20]
- National Wrestling Alliance
- NWA Hall of Fame (Class of 2013)[21]
- NWA Mid-Pacific Promotions
- 1 time)[22]
- NWA Mid-America
- NWA Western States Sports
- Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame
- The Blond Bombers.
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- World Championship Wrestling (Australia)
- World Wide Wrestling Federation / WWE
- Wrestling Observer Newsletter
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7566-4190-0.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Sokol, Chris; Oliver, Greg (April 4, 2009). "Ray "The Crippler" Stevens' Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame profile". Archived from the original on April 4, 2009. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-55490-284-2.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Mooneyham, Mike (March 21, 2015). "WWE Hall misses boat on Ray Stevens; Canvas King painting Macho Man". The Post and Courier. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Von Slagle, Stephen (May 19, 2020). "Ray Stevens". History of Wrestling. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f g Mooneyham, Mike (May 19, 1996). "Ray "The Crippler" Stevens: Bombs Away". The Wrestling Gospel According to Mike Mooneyham. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-4928-2597-5.
- ^ Keith, Scott (December 4, 2002). "The SmarK Retro Re-Rant – Slamboree 1994 (Director's Cut)". 411Mania. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
- ^ a b "WWE Hall of Fame Legacy Induction Ceremony - Classes of 2020 and 2021". WWE. April 6, 2021. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
- ^ a b c d e Kreikenbohm, Philip. "Ray Stevens". Cagematch. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
- ^ "AWA World Tag Team Title". Wrestling Titles. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
- ^ "AWA/NWA United States Heavyweight Title (San Francisco)". Wrestling Titles. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
- ^ "World Tag Team Title (San Francisco 1960s - 1970s)". Wrestling Titles. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
- ^ "Florida Tag Team Title". Wrestling Titles. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
- ^ Hoops, Brian (January 16, 2019). "Pro wrestling history (01/16): Arn Anderson & Bobby Eaton win WCW Tag Team Titles". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved January 18, 2019.
- ^ "NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Title". Wrestling Titles. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
- ^ "NWA World Tag Team Title (Mid-Atlantic/WCW)". Wrestling Titles. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
- ^ "American Tag Team Title (Ohio)". Wrestling Titles. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
- ^ "Ohio Tag Team Title". Wrestling Titles. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
- ^ "MWA World Junior Heavyweight Title (Ohio)". Wrestling Titles. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
- ^ "National Wrestling Alliance Hall of Fame". Wrestling Titles. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
- ^ "NWA United States Heavyweight Title (Hawaii)". Wrestling Titles. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
- ^ "NWA Southern Junior Heavyweight Title (Tennessee & Alabama)". Wrestling Titles. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
- ^ "Texas Brass Knuckles Title (W. Texas)". Wrestling Titles. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
- ^ a b "PWI Awards". Pro Wrestling Illustrated. Kappa Publishing Group. Archived from the original on January 21, 2016. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
- ^ "Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame". Wrestling Titles. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
External links
- Ray Stevens's profile at Cagematch.net
- Profile of Ray Stevens at the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame
- Profile of the Ray Stevens and Pat Patterson Tag Team at the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame
- An article about Ray Stevens from the Professional Wrestling Online Museum
- Ray Stevens profile from the Ring Chronicle's online Hall of Fame Archived 2016-03-09 at the Wayback Machine