| Ricky Blues | |
|---|---|
| Ring name(s) | "Hard Rock" Ricky Blues "Street Punk" Ricky Blues Ricky Blues, Sr. |
| Born | Baltimore, Maryland, United States |
| Trained by | Barry Hardy Duane Gill Axl Rotten Rip Sawyer Dave Casanova |
| Debut | August 3, 1990 |
| Retired | c. 2000 |
"Hard Rock" Ricky Blues is a semi-retired American professional wrestler and trainer who competed in the East Coast and Mid-Atlantic independent circuit during the 1990s and 2000s. He is regarded as a pioneering cruiserweight wrestler and dominated the Baltimore-area, especially in the Mid-Eastern Wrestling Federation and Maryland Championship Wrestling, in the early-to-mid 1990s. He also wrestled for Universal Independent Wrestling, the Wrestling Independent Network, Larry Sharpe's World Wrestling Association, and for Doug Flex and Brick Bronsky in International Pro Wrestling.
He was the first MEWF Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight Champion. In 1995 he defeated Mark Shrader for his second reign as the MEWF Light Heavyweight Champion. He was also a 3-time MEWF Tag Team Champion with Nick Tarentino, Flexx Wheeler (1997) and The New Patriot (1999). He and Nick Tarentino, as Sonic Express, were a successful tag team during his early career and together won both the MEWF and WWA Tag Team titles in 1993.
Blues influenced a number of future high-flying cruiserweights and, as an instructor at the Brainbusters Wrestling School, helped train future Ring of Honor star Ruckus. In 2009, he was inducted into the Maryland Wrestling Hall of Fame.
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Trained at the Baltimore Monster Factory beginning in February 1990 by Barry Hardy, Duane Gill, Axl Rotten, Rip Sawyer and Dave Casanova, Ricky Blues made his professional debut on August 3, 1990 in promoter Jim Kettner's Delaware based East Coast Wrestling Association as part of the tag team The Chicago Hitmen with Steve Valentino. He spent his first year in various East Coast and Mid-Atlantic independent promotions. The following year, he began wrestling for the Mid-Eastern Wrestling Federation[1] and, on October 11, 1991, appeared on its debut show in Pasadena, Maryland where he defeated Adrian Hall to become the first Light Heavyweight Champion.[2][3] Though he was stripped of the title within a few months, he beat Agent Orange in Odenton on January 18, 1992, to be crowned the first MEWF Heavyweight Champion.[2][4]
Later that year, Blues began teaming with Nick Tarentino as Sonic Express. On October 23, they unsuccessfully challenged Leather & Lace (Rich Carlisle and Adrian Hall) in Essex, Maryland for the then vacant MEWF Tag Team Championship, however, they won the titles a month later in Gaithersburg. They had faced Rich Carlisle and Ricki Lane who substituted for an injured Adrian Hall. After a near 4-month reign, they lost the titles to The Outrageous Ones (Ricki Lane and Quinn Nash) in Dundalk on March 6, 1993.[2][5][6] Two months later in Larry Sharpe's World Wrestling Association, they defeated Chris Evans & Chris Candido in Williamstown, New Jersey for the promotion's tag team titles. They dropped the titles to The Super Jocks (Ed Atlas & Chris Weider) in Clementon on June 4, 1993.[2][7]
Over the next few years, Blues would have memorable bouts against some of the region's top stars including "Stone Cold" Chad Austin,[8] Corporal Punishment and Steve Corino.[9] In the early 1990s he had career defining matches with the [(Lightning Kid / Sean Waltman)] for WIN and WWA, where they battled over Blues' WIN Atlantic State Light Heavyweight Championship. Later, on November 14, 1998, Blues lost to Adam Flash in Hampstead, Maryland in a match for the vacant MEWF Mid-Atlantic Championship.[10] A year later, he and The New Patriot defeated Max Thrasher & Dino Casanova for the MEWF Tag Team titles on November 13, 1999.[2][5]
Around this time, creative differences and salary disputes with the MEWF[11] caused Corporal Punishment and Mark Shrader to leave the promotion and took half its roster with them to form Maryland Championship Wrestling. By early-2000, Blues began wrestling for MCW facing Christian York[12] and Joey Matthews in singles matches in April. In both these matches, Blues was noticeably distracted by fans and, in his April 15 match against Matthews, he left the ring in mid-match to argue with hecklers at ringside.[13]
Blues took on MCW Heavyweight Champion The Bruiser two months later at a special MCW show near Ocean City, Maryland on June 10, 2000. Though Blues and The Bruiser headlined the show, WWF legends George "the Animal" Steele, Mae Young and The Fabulous Moolah made an appearance as did Xtreme Pro Wrestling valet Chastity.[14][15] On July 19, Blues wrestled Balls Mahoney at the 2000 Shane Shamrock Memorial Cup in Glen Burnie.[16] Over the summer, Blues also had a series of matches against Adam Flash.[17] One of these, a No-DQ match in Ocean City, was later featured on The Indies: The Best Of 1997 - 2000 video series.[18][19]
On August 25, a rematch against The Bruiser in Odenton saw Blues pin the Bruiser, but he did not win the MCW title because of interference by Cpl. Punishment. The next month in Glen Burnie, he wrestled Gillberg at Micheal’s Eighth Avenue on September 27, 2000.[17] After the match, Blues was approached by manager Platinum Nat offered his services to "guide [him] to the next level". Blues accepted and was welcomed into the manager's "heel" stable, The Congregation, with The Holy Rollers (Earl the Pearl & Rich Myers).[20] However, Blues did not remain with The Congregation for very long as he soon went into retirement by the end of the year
After nearly a decade, Blues was formally inducted into the Maryland Wrestling Hall of Fame at a special ceremony held at the New Green Room in Dundalk. Later that night, he defeated his old rival Agent Orange at "Legends of Maryland" on November 7, 2009.[21][22] Blues made a second appearance at MCW's MCW "Xtreme Rules" supercard where he was defeated by Ricky Blues Jr. on April 4, 2010.[23][24]
In 2010 Ricky Blues, under his given name, became a published author with the novel To Kill The Town. It is the story of independent professional wrestling in Baltimore, Maryland from the mid 1980s through 2000. The story gives the insider's view of all the triumphs and tragedies of those that blazed the trail of the Mid Atlantic hotbed.[25]