Scott McGhee
| Scott McGee | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1960 |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) |
Scott McGhee "Irish" Pat McGhee Garfield Portz Scott Shannon |
| Trained by | Ric Flair, Rick Steamboat and Buddy Rogers |
| Debut | 1979 |
| Retired | 1988 |
Garfield "Gary" Portz, known by his ringname Scott McGhee, is a retired American professional wrestler and the son of Geoff Portz (and a former brother-in-law of Ric Flair) who competed in North American regional promotions during the 1980s and was a longtime mainstay of Florida Championship Wrestling.
Professional wrestling career
Originally working as a referee for Jim Crockett in the Carolinas during the late 1970s, he began training with Ric Flair, Rick Steamboat and Buddy Rogers and substituted for wrestlers at several events. Staying in the Carolinas for two years, he followed his father Geoff Portz to Florida Championship Wrestling then under promoter Eddie Graham.
In October 1980, shortly after his debut, he and Barry Windham defeated The Assassins in a tournament final for the then vacant tag team titles in St. Petersburg, Florida[1] and competed in several high profile matches against Hiro Matsuda and Les Thornton.
Returning to the Carolinas the following year, he later joined George Scott's Oklahoma territory defeated Tony Charles for the NWA United States Junior Heavyweight Championship[1] and faced veterans such as Johnny Rich and Brad Armstrong.
In late 1982, McGhee was again wrestling for Florida Championship Wrestling and often teamed with Dusty Rhodes, Magnum TA and Blackjack Mulligan on the promotions weekly television program. After winning a championship tournament for the NWA Florida Heavyweight title in 1983,[1] he faced Ric Flair and Harley Race in a series of matches however failed to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. After losing the title to Jos LeDuc later that year,[1] he left the promotion to compete in the Mid Atlantic territory, appearing at Starcade 1983 teaming with Johnny Weaver against Kevin Sullivan and Mark "Purple Haze" Lewin. He also briefly appeared under the name "Irish" Pat McGhee in Pacific Northwest Wrestling, winning the PNW tag titles with Curt Hennig on December 23, 1983.[1]
Upon his return to Florida, he immediately defeated "Superstar" Billy Graham to regain the Florida heavyweight title.[1] However, following Eddie Graham's suicide, McGhee left the Florida territory in late 1985. He later turned up in Max Crabtree's British Wrestling Federation from 1986 until the end of 1987 before returning to the United States. He would continue competing in Wahoo McDaniel's Florida promotion as well as the Mid-Atlantic and Calgary Stampede territories before suffering a career ending stroke on January 31, 1988. He wrestled under his real name of Garfield Portz during this time in Calgary. This was when Portz was injured as they announced on TV at the start of the February 12th, 1988 episode (as Portz had been on the show each week prior to this dating back to late November 1987). Forced into retirement, McGhee eventually entered nursing.
Championships and accomplishments
- PWI ranked him # 387 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the PWI Years in 2003.
- NWA Southeast United States Junior Heavyweight Championship (3 times)