Sylvester Ritter

Sylvester Ritter (December 13, 1952 – June 1, 1998) was an American professional wrestler and college football player, best known for his time in Mid-South Wrestling, where he would serve as a world heavyweight champion, and the World Wrestling Federation as the Junkyard Dog (or JYD). He was known for entering the ring with his trademark chain attached to a dog collar, headlining cards that drew large crowds and regularly sold out the Louisiana Superdome and other major venues. WWE author Brian Shields called him one of the most electrifying and charismatic wrestlers in the country, particularly during his peak in the early 1980s. JYD was also known for his upper body strength, which saw him regularly bodyslam large wrestlers. The word "thump," which referred to JYD's powerslam, was prominently displayed on his wrestling trunks. He was posthumously inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2004.

Early life and football career

Ritter played football at Fayetteville State University, twice earning honorable mention All-American status. He graduated in 1975 with a political science degree and a minor in geography. He then signed with the Green Bay Packers in April 1976. Ritter was placed on injured reserve after suffering a knee injury during the offseason. He was waived from injured reserve in October 1976.

Professional wrestling career

Early career (1977–1979)

Ritter debuted in 1977, initially wrestling for NWA Tri-State, the Continental Wrestling Association and Southeastern Championship Wrestling under his real name. In late 1977, Ritter moved to Nick Gulas's NWA Mid America promotion and adopted the ring name "Leroy Rochester". Afterwards, he wrestled in Germany. He worked for Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling promotion the following year as "Big Daddy Ritter", holding the Stampede North American Heavyweight Championship twice.

Mid-South Wrestling (1979–1984)

In September 1979, Ritter moved to Mid-South Wrestling, where booker "Cowboy" Bill Watts gave him the name and gimmick of Junkyard Dog, taken from Jim Croce's song "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown". Sporting a long chain attached to a dog collar and white boots, he originally came to the ring pushing a cart filled with junk called the "junk wagon" and lost most of his early matches before his character caught on and became the top face in the company. He feuded with some of Mid-South's top heels, including a now infamous angle with the Fabulous Freebirds where they blinded him with hair cream. At the peak of the feud, his wife gave birth to their first child, which was made part of the storyline. It was explained that JYD could not see his new daughter, increasing the heat on the Freebirds to the point where they needed police escorts in and out of arenas. The feud ended with the still-blinded JYD and Freebird leader Michael "P.S." Hayes wrestling in a steel cage dog collar match at the New Orleans Superdome.

A survey which was conducted among New Orleans school children during the 1981-82 academic year found that JYD was the overwhelmingly preferred choice among local sports stars who New Orleans schoolchildren wanted to meet the most, even more popular than renowned local athletes Archie Manning and "Pistol" Pete Maravich. In addition, JYD would also gain notoriety for being an African American who headlined a wrestling promotion at a time when African Americans in other wrestling promotions were billed as side acts.

JYD was also involved in other notable feuds with Ted DiBiase and Butch Reed. Once JYD's friend and tag team partner, DiBiase turned heel and won a loser-leaves-town match against JYD with the help of a loaded glove, which was a DiBiase calling card, forcing JYD to leave town for an extended period of time. In 1982, JYD defeated Nick Bockwinkel in a cross promotional match for NWA and AWA that aired on NWA Mid South Wrestling and AWA programming. A masked man physically resembling JYD, known as "Stagger Lee", subsequently appeared in the region and began to defeat the competition, one by one, including DiBiase. DiBiase and the other heels strongly suspected that Lee was in fact JYD, but were unable to unmask him. Stagger Lee disappeared once the loser-leave-town clause in the JYD-DiBiase match had expired, and JYD returned and reclaimed the North American Heavyweight Championship.

While in Mid-South Wrestling, JYD would use various entrance themes, such as Queen's "Another One Bites The Dust" and George Clinton's "Atomic Dog."

World Wrestling Federation (1984–1988)

In the summer of 1984, Ritter left Mid-South at the peak of his feud with Reed for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). He initially used "Another One Bites the Dust" as his theme on a regular basis and made a habit of interacting with the growing number of young people in attendance, often bringing them into the ring after matches and dancing with them. He was eventually given his own theme, "Grab Them Cakes," which he co-sang with Vicki Sue Robinson.

On March 31, 1985, he wrestled at the inaugural WrestleMania, defeating Intercontinental Champion Greg Valentine by countout, but not winning the title. In July, he lost to Don Muraco in the first round of the inaugural King of the Ring tournament. On November 7, JYD won ''The Wrestling Classic'' tournament by defeating The Iron Sheik, Moondog Spot and Randy Savage by countout in the finals. JYD was subsequently involved in feuds with the likes of Adrian Adonis and the Funk Brothers ( Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk). A feud with King of the Ring winner Harley Race led to a match between the two at WrestleMania III on March 29, 1987, where JYD lost and had to bow down to Race per the stipulation. He competed in the inaugural Royal Rumble match at the namesake event on January 24, 1988, but was eliminated by Dino Bravo. Shortly after a loss to Rick Rude at the inaugural SummerSlam on August 29, he left the WWF.

National Wrestling Alliance / World Championship Wrestling (1988–1993)

Ritter made his debut for the National Wrestling Alliance at Clash of the Champions IV on December 7, 1988, during an altercation between The Russian Assassins and Ivan Koloff, saving the latter. At Clash of the Champions VI on April 2, 1989 he defeated former rival Butch Reed. Before the match, he was accompanied to the ring by a jazz band. JYD was promptly fired from the company after no-showing a live appearance and missing the WrestleWar pay-per-view in May.

Following his surprise return at Capitol Combat on May 19, 1990, JYD began a main event run and quickly became embroiled in a feud with Ric Flair for the World Heavyweight Championship, garnering several non-title victories. On June 13, JYD defeated Flair by disqualification at Clash of the Champions XI, but did not win the title. JYD was then part of the short-lived Dudes with Attitudes faction along with Sting, Paul Orndorff, and El Gigante. On February 17, 1991, he teamed with Ricky Morton and Tommy Rich, defeating Dr. X, Dutch Mantell and Buddy Landel to win the WCW World Six-Man Tag-Team Championship. JYD and his partners held the title until June 3, when they were defeated by The Freebirds.

After dropping a significant amount of weight to improve his conditioning, Junkyard Dog returned on February 29, 1992, at SuperBrawl II, saving Ron Simmons from an attack by Abdullah the Butcher. He found himself wrestling in tag-team matches with Simmons, Barry Windham, or Big Josh for the next few months. In April and again in June, JYD faced former Six-Man Championship partner Ricky Morton, defeating him on each occasion. He also formed another tag team, this time with The Big Cat. They feuded with The Vegas Connection (Diamond Dallas Page and Vinnie Vegas) the rest of the summer. In April 1993, he formed a new team with Jim Neidhart and began a feud with Dick Slater and Paul Orndorff that would last the next few months. After defeating Slater on July 28, he left the promotion.

Later career (1994–1998)

After WCW, JYD wrestled on the independent circuit, most notably for NWA Dallas and the National Wrestling Conference. He was the founder of the Dog Pound stable in an independent Mid-South promotion based in southern Louisiana. Ritter also worked at a Walmart in Las Vegas and had a part-time job repossessing cars. On May 3, 1998, he made his last major appearance at Extreme Championship Wrestling's Wrestlepalooza event. He also trained former WWF wrestler Rodney Mack.

Death

At around 11:40 a.m. on June 1, 1998, Ritter died in a single-car accident on Interstate 20 near Forest, Mississippi. He was returning home from his daughter LaToya's high school graduation in Wadesboro, North Carolina when his car rolled three times after he fell asleep at the wheel. He was 45 years old.

Championships and accomplishments

* Mid-South Wrestling Association
** Mid-South Louisiana Championship ( 3 times)
** Mid-South North American Heavyweight Championship (4 times)
** Mid-South Tag Team Championship ( 8 times) – with Buck Robley (1), Terry Orndorff (1), Killer Karl Kox (1), Dick Murdoch (3), Mike George (1), and Mr. Olympia (1)
*Memphis Wrestling Hall of Fame
**Class of 2022
* NWA Mid-America
** NWA Mid-America Tag Team Championship ( 1 time) – with Gypsy Joe
* ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated''
** Inspirational Wrestler of the Year (1980)
** Ranked No. 51 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the "PWI Years" in 2003
* Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame
** Class of 2012
* Stampede Wrestling
** Stampede North American Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
* United States Wrestling Association
** USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship ( 1 time)
* World Championship Wrestling
** WCW World Six-Man Tag Team Championship ( 1 time) – with Ricky Morton and Tommy Rich
* World Wrestling Federation / Entertainment
** The Wrestling Classic (1985)
** WWE Hall of Fame ( Class of 2004)
** Slammy Award (1 time)
*** Best Single Performer (1986)
* ''Wrestling Observer Newsletter''
** Feud of the Year (1982)
** Worst Feud of the Year (1990)
** Worst Tag Team (1986)

See also

*List of gridiron football players who became professional wrestlers

See also

* List of premature professional wrestling deaths

References

External links

*
TRIBUTE PAGES for Junkyard Dog
*
Junkyard Dog Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame page
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Junkyard Dog
1952 births
1998 deaths
20th-century American male actors
20th-century male professional wrestlers
20th-century American professional wrestlers
20th-century African-American sportsmen
20th-century American sportsmen
African-American professional wrestlers
American male professional wrestlers
American professional wrestling trainers
Fayetteville State Broncos football players
Green Bay Packers players
Road incident deaths in Mississippi
Professional wrestlers from Los Angeles
Stampede Wrestling alumni
People from Wadesboro, North Carolina
Players of American football from Los Angeles
Professional wrestlers from North Carolina
Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum
Stampede Wrestling North American Heavyweight Champions
USWA Unified World Heavyweight Champions
WCW World Six-Man Tag Team Champions
WWE Hall of Fame inductees