Brad Rheingans

Last updated

Brad Rheingans
BradRheingans 830828.jpg
Rheingans in 1983
Birth nameBradley Bert Rheingans
Born (1953-12-13) December 13, 1953 (age 70)
Appleton, Minnesota, U.S.
Alma mater North Dakota State University
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s) Brad Rheingans
Billed height6 ft 0 in (183 cm) [1]
Billed weight260 lb (118 kg) [1]
Billed fromAppleton, Minnesota
Trained by Verne Gagne [2]
Billy Robinson [3]
Debut1980 [4]
Retired1995 [4]

Bradley Bert "Brad" Rheingans (born December 13, 1953) is an American former Greco-Roman wrestler and professional wrestler. He was a member of the United States' Greco-Roman wrestling teams for the 1976 and 1980 Summer Olympics, as well as winning two gold medals in the 1975 and 1979 Pan American Games and a bronze medal in the 1979 World Wrestling Championships. [5] [4]

Contents

Early life

Rheingans was born in Appleton, Minnesota. [4] While in high school, he won honours in football, wrestling, and track and field. [5] His high school friends included fellow future professional wrestling personality Eric Bischoff. [6] After graduating high school, Rheingans enrolled in North Dakota State University. [5]

Amateur wrestling career

Medal record
Men's Greco-Roman Wrestling
Representing Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States
World Championships
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 1979 San Diego 100 kg
Pan American Games
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 1975 Mexico City 100 kg
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 1979 San Juan 100 kg

Originally from Appleton, Rheingans was an NCAA Division II [7] champion in 1975 for North Dakota State University and wrestled in the 1976 Olympics, placing fourth. [8] [9] He qualified for the Olympic team in 1980, but did not compete due to the United States boycott. [8] [10] Between Olympics, he placed third for a bronze medal at the 1979 World Wrestling Championships. [11] He was later inducted into the Tribune Hall of Fame. [12] Rheingans also won gold medals in the 1975 and 1979 Pan American Games. [13]

From 1976 to 1977, Rheingans served as assistant wrestling coach for the University of Minnesota. [2] He went on to serve as a coach for the Minnesota Wrestling Club, where he trained Jeff Blatnick for the 1980 Summer Olympics. [14] Like Rheingans, Blatnick qualified for the Olympic team in 1980, but did not compete due to the United States boycott.

Professional wrestling career

Rheingans during a professional wrestling match, c. 1983 Brad Rheingans wrestling 1983.png
Rheingans during a professional wrestling match, c. 1983

Rheingans entered professional wrestling in 1980, training under Verne Gagne and Billy Robinson. [4] [2] [3] He debuted in Gagne's American Wrestling Association.

He also wrestled briefly for the WWF as an enhancement talent in 1986, occasionally for World Championship Wrestling from 1989 to 1990, [15] and for various independent promotions in the Minnesota area during the early half of the 1990s.

New Japan Pro-Wrestling (1989–1993)

In 1989, Rheingans began touring Japan with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), allying himself with his former trainee Leon White, now known as Big Van Vader, and Buzz Sawyer in battling Antonio Inoki, Tatsumi Fujinami, Riki Choshu and Kengo Kimura, but later, he would aid New Japan in their battle against USSR amateur wrestlers such as Salman Hashimikov, Victor Zangiev, Vladimir Berkovich, Timur Zalasov and Wahka Evloev for the remainder of the year. In 1990, he started to help training young wrestlers on the NJPW Dojo, most notably Koji Kitao and Osamu Nishimura. In that time his most notable match was against another decorated amateur wrestler in Victor Zangiev from the Soviet Union on February 10 at the Tokyo Dome, in a winning effort. Later on, he would only engage against young lions such as Michiyoshi Ohara, Hiroyoshi Yamamoto, Manabu Nakanishi, Yuji Nagata and many others. His last match on New Japan saw Rheingans defeat El Samurai on December 11, 1993. [4]

Retirement

Rheingans retired in 1995 after undergoing major reconstructive surgery on both knees. [16] After recovering, he began working as a trainer and as the American booker for NJPW, hiring wrestlers to tour Japan with the promotion. In the early 1990s, Rheingans helped broker a working agreement between NJPW and World Championship Wrestling. [6] [17]

After retiring, Rheingans opened the World Wide School of Professional Wrestling in Hamel, Minnesota. [4]

Rheingans was inducted into the George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2004. [10]

Championships and accomplishments

Amateur wrestling

Professional wrestling

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lou Thesz</span> American professional wrestler (1916–2002)

Aloysius Martin Thesz, known by the ring name Lou Thesz, was an American professional wrestler. Considered to be one of the last true shooters in professional wrestling and described as the "quintessential athlete" and a "polished warrior who could break a man in two if pushed the wrong way", Thesz is widely regarded as one of the greatest wrestlers and wrestling world champions in history, and possibly the last globally accepted world champion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Verne Gagne</span> American professional wrestler and football player (1926–2015)

Laverne Clarence Gagne was an American amateur and professional wrestler, football player, wrestling trainer and wrestling promoter. He was the owner and promoter of the Minneapolis-based American Wrestling Association (AWA), the predominant promotion throughout the Midwest and Manitoba for many years. He remained in this position until 1991, when the company folded.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Taylor (wrestler)</span> American professional and amateur wrestler (1950–1979)

Christopher J. Taylor was an American super-heavyweight wrestler. He competed in freestyle and Greco-Roman events at the 1972 Summer Olympics and won a bronze medal in the freestyle. At 412 pounds (187 kg), he was the heaviest Olympian ever until the appearance of judoka Ricardo Blas Jr. in 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leo Nomellini</span> Italian-American football player and professional wrestler (1924–2000)

Leo Joseph Nomellini was an Italian-American professional football player and professional wrestler. He played as an offensive and defensive tackle for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL). He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ken Patera</span> American professional wrestler and weightlifter

Kenneth Wayne Patera is an American retired professional wrestler, Olympic weightlifter, and strongman competitor.

The Beverly Brothers were a professional wrestling tag team comprising Mike Enos and Wayne Bloom in the World Wrestling Federation. They were also known as The Destruction Crew in the American Wrestling Association and the Minnesota Wrecking Crew 2 in the National Wrestling Alliance. The Destruction Crew won the Pro Wrestling Illustrated 1990 Rookie of the Year award, the only tag team to win this accolade.

Jeffrey Carl "Jeff" Blatnick was an American super heavyweight Greco-Roman wrestler and sports commentator. He won NCAA Division II heavyweight wrestling championships in 1978 and 1979 and won the Olympic gold medal in Greco-Roman wrestling in 1984 after battling back from cancer. During his wrestling days, he and Dan Severn were on the same U.S. National Wrestling Team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minnesota Golden Gophers wrestling</span> Wrestling team of the University of Minnesota

The Minnesota Golden Gophers wrestling program is an intercollegiate varsity sport at the University of Minnesota. They are a member of the Big Ten Conference and NCAA. Wrestling began at Minnesota in 1910, but the first formal dual meet was not until 1921 when coach Frank Gilman led the team to a victory over Wisconsin. The Gophers have won the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships team title three times, in 2001, 2002, and 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dick Hutton</span> American amateur and professional wrestler (1923–2003)

Richard Heron Avis Hutton was an American amateur and professional wrestler. He was a three-time NCAA champion and, as a professional, held the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, making him a one-time world champion in professional wrestling.

William "Bill" Weick was an American wrestler and coach.

Robert Brooks Weaver Sr. is an American former freestyle wrestler. He won a gold medal at 48 kg at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. He also won a silver medal at the 1979 World Championships and was a member of the 1980 Olympic team that boycotted the Moscow Olympics.

Gregory M. Wojciechowski is a former American amateur wrestler and professional wrestler, best known by his ring name The Great Wojo, who competed primarily for the Indianapolis-based World Wrestling Association during the 1980s, most notably being featured in the $10,000 Challenge, in which he issued an open challenge to face him in a "shoot wrestling" match with the winner receiving $10,000.

Mark Philip Schultz is a former American freestyle wrestler. Schultz was a 3-time NCAA champion, Olympic champion and 2-time World champion. In 1995, Schultz was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame as a Distinguished Member. He is also in the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame, the California Wrestling Hall of Fame, and the San Mateo Peninsula Sports Hall of Fame.

Shota Samsonovich Chochishvili was a Georgian professional wrestler and judoka.

Harry Geris was a Canadian Olympic wrestler who represented Canada in the 1968, 1972, and 1976 Olympics, 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games and 1975 Pan American Games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank Andersson</span> Swedish amateur wrestler (1956–2018)

Frank Öivind Stefan Andersson was a Swedish amateur wrestler and entertainer. He started in amateur wrestling, winning several world championship gold medals as well as a bronze medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. He later became a professional wrestler with mixed success. He was also a television personality appearing on several Swedish reality and game shows.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aleksandr Kolchinsky</span>

Oleksandr Leonidovych Kolchynskyy was a Soviet Ukrainian heavyweight Greco-Roman wrestler of Jewish-Ukrainian descent. He won Olympic gold medals in 1976 and 1980 and a world title in 1978, placing second in 1975, 1977 and 1979. Most Olympic wins came by way of pin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dale Lewis (wrestler)</span> American wrestler (1933–1997)

Dale Folsom Lewis was an American wrestler who competed in the Greco-Roman heavyweight division at the 1956 and 1960 Summer Olympics. He won the 1959 Pan-American Games in Greco-Roman wrestling. Lewis was also a two-time NCAA wrestling champion at Oklahoma.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Howard Stupp</span> Canadian wrestler (born 1955)

Howard Michael Stupp is a Canadian former wrestler. An Olympian, he won five Canadian championships, two Pan Am Games titles, two Canadian Interuniversity Athletics Union championships, and four titles at the Maccabiah Games in Israel. After graduating from McGill University, he worked at the International Olympic Committee, including 35 years as the Director of Legal Affairs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe Corso</span> American wrestler (born 1951)

Joseph Marion "Joe" Corso is an American wrestler and coach. He competed in the men's freestyle 57 kg at the 1976 Summer Olympics, and was USA Women's Wrestling's first coach.

References

  1. 1 2 "Brad Rheingans OWW profile". OnlineWorldofWrestling. May 31, 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 4 George Schire (2010). Minnesota's Golden Age of Wrestling: From Verne Gagne to the Road Warriors. Minnesota Historical Society. pp. 127–128. ISBN   978-0-87351-620-4.
  3. 1 2 Billy Robinson; Jake Shannon (June 1, 2012). Physical Chess: My Life in Catch-As-Catch-Can Wrestling. ECW Press. pp. 104–. ISBN   978-1-77090-215-2.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Oliver, Greg (August 25, 2004). "Olympic boycott still haunts Rheingans". Canoe.ca . Quebecor Media. Archived from the original on September 25, 2015. Retrieved April 29, 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Mike Chapman (2005). Wrestling Tough. Human Kinetics. p. 146. ISBN   978-0-7360-5637-3.
  6. 1 2 Eric Bischoff; Jeremy Roberts (2006). Controversy Creates Cash. Simon and Schuster. p. 134. ISBN   978-1-4165-2729-9.
  7. ↑ NCAA Division II Records through 2011
  8. 1 2 Reynolds, Marge (December 24, 1998). "Olympian's story inspires wrestlers Gold medalist overcame cancer". Chicago Daily Herald. p. 1.
  9. ↑ Reusse, Patrick (March 13, 2009). "Gust missed his Olympic moment; Canby's Brian Gust, who died last weekend, was denied a shot at the Olympics by the 1980 U.S. boycott". Star Tribune. Minneapolis. pp. 3C.
  10. 1 2 "Kiniski, Rheingans entering Newton hall". CANOE. July 25, 2004. Archived from the original on January 15, 2013. Retrieved April 28, 2010.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  11. ↑ "FILA Database". Archived from the original on July 27, 2011. Retrieved April 23, 2014.
  12. ↑ Thoma, Scott (November 12, 2008). "Tribune Hall of Fame finalists named". West Central Tribune. Minnesota.
  13. 1 2 Steven Olderr (April 29, 2003). The Pan American Games / Los Juegos Panamericanos: A Statistical History, 1951–1999, bilingual edition / Una Historia Estadistica, 1951–1999, edicion bilingue. McFarland. pp. 327–. ISBN   978-0-7864-4336-9.
  14. 1 2 3 David L. Porter (August 5, 2013). Their Greatest Victory: 24 Athletes Who Overcame Disease, Disability and Injury. McFarland. p. 4. ISBN   978-1-4766-0247-9.
  15. ↑ Costa, Norman Da (February 22, 1990). "Lords of the ring face tough fights in weekend wars". The Toronto Star. pp. D8.
  16. ↑ Steve Williams (December 13, 2013). Steve Williams: How Dr. Death Became Dr. Life. Skyhorse Publishing Company, Incorporated. p. 202. ISBN   978-1-61321-517-3.
  17. ↑ Jeremy Wall (2005). UFC's Ultimate Warriors: The Top 10. ECW Press. p. 119. ISBN   978-1-55022-691-1.
  18. ↑ Goode, Mike (March 1, 1976). "First Cup Match at Home". Toledo Blade . Retrieved April 29, 2016.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.