Thomas Couch

Thomas Couch
Ring name(s) Tommy Rogers
Tommy Couch
Billed height 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Billed weight 222 lb (101 kg; 15.9 st)
Born May 14, 1961 (1961-05-14) (age 50)
St. Petersburg, Florida
Billed from Los Angeles, California
Debut 1980

Thomas R. Couch[1] (born May 14, 1961) is a professional wrestler better known as Tommy Rogers of The Fantastics.[1]

Contents

Career

Couch started wrestling in 1980 as Tommy Rogers in North Carolina. He made his pro debut (as a replacement for Charlie Cook) in a match with Eddy Mansfield with no formal training.

Tommy then headed to Florida for a brief stay before heading to Portland, then Memphis where he met his future tag team partner Bobby Fulton. In a talent trade agreement between Memphis (Jarrett) and Mid South (Watts) the newly formed Fantastics (Rogers and Fulton) headed to Mid South. There they had their first major program with the Midnight Express (Condrey and Eaton).

In late 1984, Rogers went to World Class Championship Wrestling where he and Bobby Fulton and continued their legendary feud with the Midnight Express. In 1986, Rogers and Fulton went to the Universal Wrestling Federation where they had a long series of violent matches against The Sheepherders (Butch Miller & Luke Williams).[2]

They went back to WCCW in 1987 and feuded with Mike Davis & Tommy Lane, The Rock 'N Roll RPMs. The feud ended after The Fantastics won a scaffold match at "The Parade of Champions".

In 1988, they went to the NWA's Jim Crockett Promotions to renew their feud with the Midnight Express.[2] They left in 1989 and have been wrestling in the independents ever since. The Fantastics spent several tours in Japan during the '90s working with such names as Dean and Joe Malenko.[2]

In 1997, Rogers and Fulton both wrestled in the WWF's Light Heavyweight Division.[1] They were pit against each other in the first round of the Light Heavyweight Championship Tournament.[1] Rogers defeated Fulton with the Tomakaze, a finishing maneuver of Tommy's invention later adopted by Christian Cage.

Rogers wrestled in ECW from 1997 to 1998, where he briefly teamed with Jerry Lynn.[1] Rogers also worked behind the scenes helping the ECW product as an agent.

In 2005, the Fantastics reformed on the indie circuit. They won the SCW Tag Team Titles by defeating the Midnight Express in a steel cage match.[1]

In 2006, Tommy moved to Honolulu, Hawaii.

In wrestling

Championships and accomplishments

  • PWA Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Bobby Fulton
  • PWI ranked him # 63 of the 100 best tag teams during the "PWI Years" with Bobby Fulton and # 269 of the Top 500 in 2003.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Tommy Rogers' Profile". Online World of Wrestling. http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/profiles/t/tommy-rogers.html. Retrieved 2007-06-17. 
  2. ^ a b c Greg Oliver and Steve Johnson (2005). The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Tag Teams. ECW Press. ISBN 978-1-55022-683-6. 
  3. ^ "Jim Cornette profile". Online World of Wrestling. http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/profiles/j/jim-cornette.html. Retrieved 2009-11-20.