"Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers

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Buddy Rogers
Statistics
Ring name(s) Herman Rohde
Dutch Rogers
Buddy Rogers
Billed height 6 ft 2 in (188 cm)
Billed weight 227 lb.
Born February 20, 1921
Camden, New Jersey
Died June 26, 1992
Trained by Joe Cox
Fred Grubmeyer
Debut June 1939
Retired 1992

"Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers , born Herman C. Rohde, Jr., (February 20, 1921–June 26, 1992) was a professional wrestler and one of the biggest wrestling stars in the beginning of the television era. His performances inspired generations of professional wrestlers, such as "Nature Boy" Ric Flair, who used Buddy Rogers' nickname, as well as his look, his attitude, and his finishing hold, the Figure Four Leglock. He was the first of many historic names to hold the title now known as the WWE Championship.

Contents

[edit] Career

The son of German immigrant parents, Rogers was a New Jersey police officer before being discovered by a local promoter and soon became a top wrestler using his real name around his hometown where he gained his first major win over Ed "Strangler" Lewis.

He continued his career in Houston, where he assumed the name "Buddy Rogers". Rogers would get his first major taste of gold during his tenure there, winning the Texas Heavyweight title four times, once from the great Lou Thesz, beginning a long feud both in and out of the ring. After leaving the Texas territory for Columbus, Ohio, the final pieces of his character were added. He bleached his hair and was given the moniker "Nature Boy" by promoter Jack Pfeffer after the popular jazz song.

[edit] No-name promotions and CWC (WWE)

With the advent of television, Rogers' flashy look, great physique and bombastic personality instantly caught the ire of audiences. The first sign of Rogers' impact was his involvement in Sam Muchnick's opposition promotion in St. Louis, Missouri, a major wrestling market at the time. He was pitted against the well respected Lou Thesz as a draw. In the end, Muchnick's promotion was powerful enough with Buddy Rogers as its main star that the two promotions merged. Rogers continued control of the Midwest as a booker and wrestler, most notably in Chicago, frequently selling out the 11,000-seat arena. In the 1950s, Rogers expanded into Vince McMahon Sr.'s Capitol Wrestling Corporation.

[edit] National Wrestling Alliance (1960–1963)

In 1961, the National Wrestling Alliance voted him NWA World Heavyweight Champion. He took the belt off of Pat O'Connor on June 30 in front of 38,622 fans[citation needed] at Comiskey Park, the largest crowd for an NWA and a wrestling attendance record that would not be matched until a WWF show at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto in July 1986 (main evented by Hulk Hogan vs. Paul Orndorff) drew more than 74,000 fans. To many promoters, it seemed that Buddy Rogers favored northeastern promoters over other territories. Promoters and noted shooters Karl Gotch and Bill Miller confronted Rogers in Columbus and broke his hand. Another injury in Montreal in a match against Killer Kowalski kept Rogers on the sidelines. On his return, the heads of the NWA voted to switch the title back over to Lou Thesz, who made it public that he did not like Buddy Rogers. On January 24, 1963, the match took place in Toronto. Rogers was hesitant about dropping the title, so promoter Sam Muchnick put in place two safeguards to guarantee Rogers' cooperation. First, the match was only one fall, out of the ordinary since most title matches were two out of three falls until the mid-seventies. The second safeguard was his threat to give Rogers' bond away to charity. Thesz won the match and the title.

[edit] World Wide Wrestling Federation: the second stint (1963)

Northeast promoters, led by McMahon and Toots Mondt, withdrew their membership from the NWA and formed the World Wide Wrestling Federation, as Thesz was not a strong draw in the area. Rogers was awarded the WWWF World Title as its first holder in April 1963. However, his reign was cut short by a mild heart attack that greatly hindered his endurance. He quickly dropped the title to Bruno Sammartino on May 17th of that year, in a match that lasted a mere 48 seconds. Legend says that Mondt dragged Rogers out of his hospital bed and forced him into the match, but it was obvious that Rogers couldn't take the burden of a world championship in his condition. By the end of the year, he was retired and only wrestled an occasional show for The Sheik's promotion in Detroit and Montreal.

[edit] Jim Crockett Promotions and WWF: the third stint (1978-1992)

In 1978, Rogers returned to wrestling as a babyface in Florida although he was in his late 50s. He later moved up to Jim Crockett Promotions in the Carolinas as a heel manager managing wrestlers like Jimmy Snuka, future WWE Intercontinental champion Ken Patera, Gene Anderson of the Minnesota Wrecking Crew and Big John Studd. His most notable moment during his run in the Carolinas was his feud with the new "Nature Boy", Ric Flair. The two had a hot feud before Rogers put over the younger Nature Boy on July 9, 1978. Flair would follow in Rogers' footsteps, becoming the second and last person to hold both the official NWA World title and WWE World title (Rogers' being the first) , which he would accomplish in 1992. After his time in Mid-Atlantic, he moved back into WWF where he was a babyface manager and part-time wrestler who also hosted the interview segment "Rogers' Corner." During a feud teaming with his old protégé Jimmy Snuka against Lou Albano and Ray Stevens, Rogers broke his hip and retired from wrestling for good.

[edit] End of career and death

He was set to wrestle yet another "Nature Boy", this time Buddy Landell, in a comeback match for the Tri-State Wrestling Alliance (a predecessor of ECW) in early 1992, but the promotion went out of business and the match never occured. Later in the year, Rogers was weakened by a severe broken arm and suffered three strokes, two on the same day. He was put on life support and died a short time afterwards, on June 26, 1992.

[edit] Information

Rogers was not well liked during his prime years because he had a habit of taking advantage of opponents in the ring. With age he mellowed and became a very respected veteran. Rogers was considered the first total package wrestler. He had all the looks, physique, personality and ability promoters wanted. He is often attributed with developing the psychology that several heels went on to use with great success, and with inventing the "Figure Four Grapevine" (later renamed the Figure-Four Leglock).

He had one of the longest consistent top drawing periods of any main eventer, 15 years, and the ability to draw in several different territories successfully. In 1994, he was posthumously inducted into the World Wrestling Federation Hall of Fame.

[edit] Championships and accomplishments

  • AWA Eastern States Heavyweight Championship (1 time) - first and only champion
  • AWA World Heavyweight Championship (Ohio version) (3 times)
  • Montreal Athletic Commission
  • World Heavyweight Championship (Montreal version) (3 times)
World
National
  • Regional
  • Other
  • Maryland Eastern Heavyweight Championship (3 times)
  • Ohio Tag Team Championship (4 times)
  • World Heavyweight Championship (Jack Pfeffer version) (5 times)
  • 2004 Wrestling Crew Hall of Famer

[edit] External link

Persondata
NAME Rogers, Buddy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rohde, Herman (real)
SHORT DESCRIPTION American professional wrestler
DATE OF BIRTH February 20, 1921
PLACE OF BIRTH Camden, New Jersey
DATE OF DEATH June 26, 1992
PLACE OF DEATH
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../22/n/a/_Nature_Boy__Buddy_Rogers_d1ff.html"
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