Roy Lee Albern (October 10, 1933 – November 12, 1991), known by the ring name Ripper Collins, was an American

professional wrestler Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to real-life wrest ...

, who primarily wrestled for

50th State Big Time Wrestling 50th State Big Time Wrestling (sometimes referred to as NWA Hawaii or Mid-Pacific Promotions) was a professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii in the United States that promoted professional wrestling matches throughout Haw ...

, also known as NWA Hawaii.

Professional wrestling career

Collins started his wrestling career in

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, before going to

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

. In 1961, he made his debut in the

American Wrestling Association The American Wrestling Association (AWA) was an American professional wrestling promotion based in Minneapolis, Minnesota that ran from 1960 until 1991. It was founded by Verne Gagne and Wally Karbo. The promotion was born out of the Minneapolis ...

(AWA), where he stayed until 1963.

NWA Hawaii (1965–1979)

He made his debut for

in 1965, finding success there for most of his career as a

heel The heel is the prominence at the posterior end of the foot. It is based on the projection of one bone, the calcaneus or heel bone, behind the articulation of the bones of the lower leg. Structure To distribute the compressive forces exerted ...

, and would often compete in mixed tag team matches with his wife Barbara. He would also dub himself as "The King". On January 4, 1966, Collins and

Johnny Barend John R. Barend (March 27, 1929 – September 20, 2011), better known as "Handsome" Johnny Barend, was an American professional wrestler. Early life Born in 1929 in Rochester, New York, Barend started wrestling as an amateur at the age of eight ...

defeated

Bearcat Wright Edward M. Wright (January 13, 1932 – August 28, 1982) better known by his ring name "Bearcat" Wright was an American professional wrestler who became popular in the late 1950s and 1960s. Despite racial tension in the United States, he became wi ...

and

Luther Lindsay Luther Jacob Goodall (December 30, 1924 – February 21, 1972) was an American professional wrestler, known by his ringname Luther Lindsay or Lindsey, who competed throughout the United States with the National Wrestling Alliance as well as ...

to win the

NWA Hawaii Tag Team Championship The NWA Hawaii Tag Team Championship was the primary tag team title of 50th State Big Time Wrestling and was defended between 1952 and 1979 when it was phased out. The title was later revived by the current incarnation of NWA Hawaii in 2000. It is ...

, holding them until

Neff Maiava Neff Alfred Maiava (May 1, 1924 – April 21, 2018) was an American Samoan professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances in the United States with the Honolulu, Hawaii-based promotion 50th State Big Time Wrestling in the late-1950s ...

Pampero Firpo Juan Kachmanian (April 6, 1930 – January 9, 2020) was an Argentine-born Armenian-American professional wrestling, professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Pampero Firpo. Early life Kachmanian was born on April 6, 1930, in Buenos ...

defeated them for the belts in early November. In December, Collins was involved in a miscommunication with his manager Beauregarde, who hit Collins by accident instead of his opponent; Barend came to calm him down, but they engaged in an argument and the two started fighting, ending their partnership. He won the titles for a second time with

King Curtis Iaukea Curtis Piehau Iaukea III (September 15, 1937 – December 4, 2010) was an American professional wrestler better known as King Curtis Iaukea. Iaukea won championships in several of the major regional U.S. promotions, both as a single and in vari ...

on May 3, 1967, but dropped them two months later to Barend and

Jim Hady John Hady (May 30, 1930 – January 13, 1969) was an American professional wrestler, better known by the ring name "Gentleman" Jim Hady. During his wrestling career he mainly worked in Hawaii for 50th State Big Time Wrestling. Professional wre ...

. Collins would hold the tag team titles twelve more times with different partners including "Crazy" Luke Graham,

Buddy Austin Austin Wesley Rogers (born Austin Wesley Rapes; February 27, 1929 – August 13, 1981) was an American professional wrestler, better known by the ring name "Killer" Buddy Austin. He is best known for his appearances with the Los Angeles, Californ ...

, Mad Dog Mayne, and

Ed Francis Edmund Charles Francis (June 11, 1926 – November 18, 2016) was an American professional wrestler and wrestling promoter in Hawaii in the 1960s. Many wrestlers who came through Hawaii in the 1960s and 1970s were bound to come across the name ...

. On November 28, 1973, Collins and

Johnny Valentine John Theodore Wisniski (September 22, 1928 – April 24, 2001), better known by his ring name Johnny Valentine, was an American professional wrestler with a career spanning almost three decades. He has been inducted into four halls of fame ...

won the titles by defeating

Sam Steamboat Samuel K. Mokuahi (May 4, 1934 – May 2, 2006) was an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Sammy Steamboat. Early life Mokuahi grew up in Honolulu, attending President Theodore Roosevelt High School, where he pl ...

and

Peter Maivia Fanene Leifi Pita Maivia (born Fanene Pita Anderson; April 6, 1937 – June 13, 1982), better known as Peter Maivia, was a Samoan-American professional wrestler, actor and stunt coordinator. Maivia was the grandfather of Dwayne Johnson, Dwayne ...

, but the titles were then vacated and remained inactive until 1977. In 1978, Collins won the titles for the fourteenth and final time with Whipper Watson Jr. and dropped the titles in 1979. On January 19, 1966, Collins defeated

Ron Reed Ronald Lee Reed (born November 2, 1942) is an American former professional baseball and basketball player. He spent two seasons as a power forward in the National Basketball Association with the Detroit Pistons before spending nearly two decade ...

to win the

NWA Hawaii Heavyweight Championship The NWA Hawaii Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling championship sanctioned by the National Wrestling Alliance and was defended in the US state of Hawaii. The title, which began in 1935. From February 1940 through 1942 the titl ...

. In August, he dropped it to Neff Maivia and recaptured the title in October, before dropping it on March 15, 1967, to Jim Hady. On October 29, 1969, Collins won the championship from Pampero Firpo, and had reigns with the title over the next two years, whilst engaging in a feud with Sam Steamboat. He would drop the belt to his former partner

in December 1970, but he would defeat Barend a month later to win back the gold. He dropped the belt in his final reign to

Frankie Laine Frankie Laine (born Francesco Paolo LoVecchio; March 30, 1913 – February 6, 2007) was an American singer and songwriter whose career spanned nearly 75 years, from his first concerts in 1930 with a marathon dance company to his final performa ...

on February 6, 1971. Collins had his first reign with the

NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Championship The NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling championship sanctioned by the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and defended in its member promotion Pacific Northwest Wrestling (PNW), which promoted shows in the U ...

on May 12, 1967, defeating

Tony Borne Anthony Wayne Osborne (July 13, 1926 – August 27, 2010) was an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, "Tough" Tony Borne. Professional wrestling career Osborne was an amateur wrestler in both high school and in the Uni ...

, before dropping it to him later that month. He next held the title after defeating

Jimmy Snuka James Reiher Snuka (born James Wiley Smith; May 18, 1943 – January 15, 2017) was a Fijian and American professional wrestler, better known by the ring name Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka. Snuka wrestled for several promotions from the 1970s to 2010s ...

on January 12, 1974, before losing it to him on February 23. However, on March 30, the title was vacated after a match with Snuka; he would win the vacated championship by defeating Snuka in a rematch on April 13, before yet again dropping it to Snuka on June 4. In 1979, Collins engaged in feuds with former tag team partner Ed Francis and Tor Kormata before leaving NWA Hawaii.

Later career (1976–1980)

In 1976, he wrestled for Stampede Wrestling in

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

, where on February 20, Collins and Don Gagne defeated Ed and Jerry Morrow to win the

Stampede Wrestling International Tag Team Championship The Stampede International Tag Team Championship was the main tag team title in the Canadian professional wrestling promotion Stampede Wrestling. It was created in 1958 as the NWA International Tag Team Championship (Calgary version). When promote ...

; they held it until April 2, when they lost to Lumberjack Luke and Prince Tapu. However, Collins and

Bobby Bass Bobby Bass (occasionally Bob Bass; August 6, 1936, California – November 7, 2001) was an American actor, stunt performer, and stunt coordinator/second unit director. Early life Bass, a graduate of Morningside High School in Inglewood, California ...

defeated Luke and Tapu a week later to win back the titles, before dropping them on May 7 to

Gama Singh Gadowar Singh Sahota ( Punjabi: ਗਦੋਵਰ ਸਿੰਘ ਸਹੋਤਾ); born December 8, 1954) is an Indo-Canadian retired professional wrestler known as Gama Singh ( Punjabi: ਗਾਮਾ ਸਿੰਘ) and Great Gama Sahota was a villa ...

and Crary Stevenson. He last held the tag team titles with Larry Sharpe, which they had won from the Morrows on September 24, before dropping it back to them in October. In 1980, Collins spent the final part of his career for NWA Polynesian Wrestling, winning the NWA Polynesian Pacific Heavyweight Championship. Despite retiring, he remained in the wrestling business, working for the South-Pac Wrestling Federation, an

independent promotion In professional wrestling, the independent circuit (often shortened to the indie circuit or the indies) is the collective name of independently owned promotions which are deemed to be smaller and more regionalized than major national promotions. ...

based in Hawaii.

Personal life

He was married to female wrestler Barbara Baker. The two had met in a diner in

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

, and together they had two daughters. Albern was openly

homosexual Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" exc ...

, spending time in jail in Calgary and

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

for allegedly soliciting underage boys.

Bret Hart Bret Sergeant Hart (born July 2, 1957) is a Canadian retired professional wrestler. A member of the Hart wrestling family and a second-generation wrestler, he has an amateur wrestling background at Ernest Manning High School and Mount Royal U ...

recalled in his autobiography that Albern once molested a teenage hitchhiker, whom he had picked up while getting gas for

Stu Hart Stewart Edward Hart (May 3, 1915 – October 16, 2003) was a Canadian sport wrestling, amateur and professional wrestling, professional wrestler, wrestling Booker (professional wrestling), booker, professional wrestling promotion, promoter, and ...

's van, but the kid was able to fight him off. Albern died at the Straub Hospital in Oahu, Hawaii on November 12, 1991, at the age of 58. He had been suffering from

melanoma Melanoma is the most dangerous type of skin cancer; it develops from the melanin-producing cells known as melanocytes. It typically occurs in the skin, but may rarely occur in the mouth, intestines, or eye (uveal melanoma). In very rare case ...

, a form of

skin cancer Skin cancers are cancers that arise from the Human skin, skin. They are due to the development of abnormal cells (biology), cells that have the ability to invade or metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. It occurs when skin cells grow ...

which had started in his armpits.

Championships and accomplishments

(8 times) **

(14 times) – with

(3),

(4), "Crazy" Luke Graham (1),

(1),

Lonnie Mayne Ronald Doyle "Lonnie" Mayne (September 12, 1944 – August 14, 1978) was an American professional wrestler in the 1960s and 1970s who frequently went by the name Moondog Mayne. He wrestled in various National Wrestling Alliance territories, as ...

(2),

(1),

(1), and Whipper Watson Jr. (1) *

All Star Pro Wrestling All or ALL may refer to: عرص Biology and medicine * Acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a cancer * Anterolateral ligament, a ligament in the knee * ''All.'', taxonomic author abbreviation for Carlo Allioni (1728–1804), Italian physician and profe ...

NWA Australasian Tag Team Championship The New Zealand version of the NWA Austra-Asian Tag Team Championship was a professional wrestling tag team championship defended in the National Wrestling Alliance-affiliated All Star Pro Wrestling from 1981 to 1984. The titles were awarded to S ...

(1 time) – with

Larry O'Dea Larry Davies (1944 – 30 June 1997) was an Australian professional wrestler best known as Larry O'Dea. He was one half of the tag team known as "The Australians" with Ron Miller. Larry made his professional wrestling debut in the 1960s fo ...

Dominion Wrestling Union The Dominion Wrestling Union (DWU) was the first professional wrestling promotion in New Zealand. It was one of two organisations first active in the Australasian region, along with Australia's Stadiums Limited, and served as the country's sing ...

** NWA British Empire/Commonwealth Championship (1 time) *

NWA Hollywood Wrestling NWA Hollywood Wrestling (sometimes referred to as NWA Los Angeles) was a professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Los Angeles, California in the United States that promoted professional wrestling matches throughout Southern California. It ...

NWA "Beat the Champ" Television Championship The NWA "Beat the Champ" Television Championship was a secondary professional wrestling singles title defended in Johnny Doyle's NWA Los Angeles from 1951 to 1959. The title was defended in the same area during the 1960s under promoters Gene and M ...

(1 time) * NWA Polynesian Wrestling **NWA Polynesian Pacific Heavyweight Championship (1 time) *

Pacific Northwest Wrestling Pacific Northwest Wrestling (PNW) (also known as Big Time Wrestling and Portland Wrestling) is the common name used to refer to several different professional wrestling companies, both past and present, based in Portland, Oregon, United States. ...

(3 times) *

Stampede Wrestling Stampede Wrestling was a Canadian professional wrestling promotion based in Calgary, Alberta. For nearly 50 years, it was one of the main promotions in western Canada and the Canadian Prairies. Originally established by Stu Hart in 1948, the prom ...

(3 times) – with Don Gagne (1),

(1), and Larry Sharpe (1) *

World Championship Wrestling World Championship Wrestling (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of National W ...

** IWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Ripper 1933 births 1991 deaths 20th-century male professional wrestlers 20th-century American professional wrestlers American male professional wrestlers People from Muskogee, Oklahoma Professional wrestlers from Oklahoma NWA "Beat the Champ" Television Champions Stampede Wrestling International Tag Team Champions NWA Americas Tag Team Champions IWA World Heavyweight Champions (Australia) LGBTQ professional wrestlers