Buddy Rose

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"Playboy" Buddy Rose (real name - Paul Perschmann) is an American professional wrestler

1 Career
2 Retirement
3 Championships/Accomplishments
- 3.1 National Wrestling Alliance
- 3.2 American Wrestling Association
4 Notes
5 External link

[edit] Career

Trained by Verne Gagne and Billy Robinson in the mid 70s. Wrestled primarily for the AWA, WWF, and for promoter Don Owen in Pacific Northwest Wrestling throughout his career. One of his most memorable feuds during his time in the Pacific Northwest was with a young "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, fresh from a stint in California. According to Piper in his autobiography, this was the feud that "made" both men. Rose would remain in the Pacific Northwest while Piper would eventually move on to the Carolinas and later, the World Wrestling Federation.

A consummate heel, Rose was well respected for his great ability to both work the microphone and take a bump. He even turned his excessive weight gain during the later part of his career into a gimmick. When the ring announcer listed his weight as 271 lbs., Rose would angrily grab the mike away from him and say, "I do not weigh 271 pounds. I weigh 217." This would of course bait the crowd into a booing frenzy. On occasion, he would also do one-handed push-ups in the ring, and challenge other more muscular opponents to a "pose-down."

Rose, wrestling with a mask under the name "The Executioner", lost to Tito Santana in the opening match of WrestleMania I. He later returned to the World Wrestling Federation as enhancement talent. His most infamous WWF moment was a televised skit : the "Blow Away" diet plan, a parody of infomercials which sold weight loss products. In the skit, Rose, who at the time was close to 400 lbs., poured some type of powder (laundry soap) on himself, and then he stood in front of an industrial-strength fan, which "blew away" the powder and the fat with it.

Contrary to popular belief, the "Blow Away" skit was not created to humiliate Rose. In fact, the skit was created by Rose and Jimmy Hart. They took the idea to Vince McMahon, who liked it and approved it. The skit was taped in one day.

[edit] Retirement

Rose still appears at conventions and events across the country. His last match was a six-man tag match at WrestleReunion in Tampa, Florida on January 29, 2005. Rose teamed with longtime friend Ed Wiskoski (Col. DeBeers) and Bob Orton, Jr. against Roddy Piper, Jimmy Snuka and Jimmy Valiant.

Rumor has it that Rose and Wiskoski are in the process of writing a tell-all book about their respective careers.

Rose and Wiskoski currently run a wrestling school in Portland, Oregon.

In his autobiography Heartbreak & Triumph, WWE wrestler Shawn Michaels (who worked with Rose and Wiskoski early in his career) implies that the pair are "more than friends".