Dick Murdoch

At 49 years old, Dick Murdoch has this physical status:

Richard "Dick" Murdoch (August 16, 1946 – June 15, 1996) was an American professional wrestler.

Early life

Murdoch was born in Waxahachie, Texas. He grew up with fellow second-generation wrestlers Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk Jr., all around Texas, as the stepson of 1950s Texas wrestler Frankie Hill Murdoch. Frank Murdoch won the NWA Southwest Junior Heavyweight Championship three times in his career. Dick attended Caprock High School, where he competed in amateur wrestling.

Personal life

Murdoch married Janice Hix in Potter County, Texas, on September 21, 1966. They had one child before divorcing on October 1, 1973.

Murdoch is the cousin of wrestler Tim Brooks.

Several people in professional wrestling who knew Murdoch have said he was white and was a member of the Ku Klux Klan. Bad News Brown accused him of being a member of the Klan in a shootout. This was also mentioned by Tito Santana in his autobiography Tales From The Ring. Alex Greenfield, a former WWE SmackDown head writer, also retold a tale told to him by Dusty Rhodes about Murdoch's ride to a Klan party without alerting him that it was a KKK party. "Because he was KKK and didn't like blacks, he kept kicking me hard and punching me," former wrestling star Rocky Johnson, father of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, said in an interview. You're hitting me one more time, I'm hitting you back.' "I assaulted Murdoch and knocked him out." However, Dick's one-time boss Jim Cornette's assertions were debunked on his podcast.

Murdoch appeared in four films: The Wrestler (1974), Paradise Alley (1978), Grunt! The Wrestling Movie (1985) and The Manhattan Merengue (1989) and the Wrestling Film (1985). (1995). He appeared on an episode of Learning The Ropes and an episode of The Jerry Springer Show. Murdoch appeared in various rodeo events and, at one point, owned his own bar, "Dirty" Dick's Dive.

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Professional wrestling career

Don Carson and Murdoch's "Ron Carson" began wrestling in 1965 as "Ron Carson" in a tag team. He soon began wrestling under his real name. In 1968, he formed The Texas Outlaws, a tag team that would continue with Dusty Rhodes, and during that time he adopted his Dick Murdoch name. Since splitting with Rhodes, he competed for several territories within the National Wrestling Alliance, most notably Florida Championship Wrestling, and also wrestled in Mid-South Wrestling. Also, Murdoch will compete with All Japan Pro-Wrestling, feuding with Giant Baba, The Destroyer, Genichiro Tenryu, and Jumbo Tsuruta. On May 8, 1979, Tsuruta defeated Murdoch (2–1) in a game against Harley Race for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, which resulted in a draw (1–1) after time limit expired, with one of them being a Two Out Of Three Falls against Harley Race for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. Despite the fact that Murdoch played for so long, he didn't get as much exposure as his fellow international stars would and lost to Jumbo Tsuruta and Tiger Tongchi on March 3, 1981.

Murdoch's best known wrestler was in Mid-South Wrestling in the 1980s, where he partnered with Junkyard Dog in Mid-South Wrestling. With his "Captain Redneck" persona and JYD, the two became the most popular champions in the area, attracting the hardcore, working class white crowds. Their rivalry with the Fabulous Freebirds was perhaps Mid-South's most enthralling taleline.

Murdoch joined the World Wrestling Federation in 1984 and formed "North-South Connection," with Adrian Adonis, since Adrian was a New York (North) native while Dick was a Texas (South) native. Both men were involved in a series of vignettes with Mean Gene Okerlund, with both men visiting each other's hometowns, not being familiar with each other's urban or country lifestyles. They earned the World Tag Team Championships and defended them against Jack and Jerry Brisco, Barry Windham, and Mike Rotunda, The Wild Samoans, Paul Roma, and Salvatore Bellomo, among other teams. After losing the tag-team title to The United States Express for Mid-South, Adonis departed to wrestle in Japan in 1985, when he returned to the United States Express for Mid-South.

Murdoch started what was likely to be his international exposure by competing for New Japan Pro-Wrestling in 1981. He entered the MSG Tag League of that year, working with fellow Texan Stan Hansen, winning with a score of 36 points over El Canek and Super Maquina, Riki Choshu, Seiji Sakamoto, and Tatsumi Fujinami, as the team's third place.

Murdoch competed in the MSG League 1982 tournament for the fourth time in 1982, finishing 4th place with 41 points over wrestlers including The Iron Sheik, Seiji Sakagochi, Don Muraco, and Tiger Tokachi. He also participated in a few encounters with Hulk Hogan, which resulted in double count-out or dismissal of Murdoch. He has joined MSG Tag Team for the fourth time, this time with the Masked Superstar, winning over teams including El Canek and Perpetro Adonis, teammate Adrian Adonis, and Murdoch's future tag team partner Adrian Adonis.

He mainly feuded with Ishin Gundan, mainly wrestling Choshu, Killer Khan, Animal Hamachi, and Yoshiaki Yatsu in 1983. Besides working with Paul Orndorff and Adrian Adonis against the Gundan, a few New Japan loyalists, including Osamu Kido, Seiji Sakaguchi, and Kengo Kimura were among the Gundan's loyalists, including Osamu Kido, Seiji Sakaguchi. He will enter the MSG Tag League of that year for the second time, this time with Adonis, with the team losing to the winners Antonio Inoki and Hulk Hogan in a losing effort against the champions. A year after his team with Adonis formalized in the WWF, they began regularly to participate against Japan's top tag-team candidates, including Inoki, Fujinami, Andre The Giant, Gerry Morow, Strong Machines (#1 and #2) and other top threats. Both men qualified for the MSG League, with Murdoch finishing 5th place with 30 points over Ken Patera, Big John Quinn, Otto Wanz, and even his own partner Adonis. Murdoch and Adonis' team entered the MSG Tag League of that year, winning by 23 points but falling short against the winners Inoki and Fujinami.

Murdoch began the IWGP League in 1985, a single-elimination system-styled tournament, defeating Kengo Kimura in the first round and progressing to the quarter-finals, where he defeated Andre The Giant in the semifinals. Both he and Adonis were wrestling in Japan, while the WWF Tag Team Champions were defending both belts against Kengo Kimura and Tatsumi Fujinami at one point. Both men retired from the WWF, fighting full time with New Japan Pro-Wrestling, once again competing for the vacated World Tag Team Championship against the team that had defended their national belts, Kimura and Fujinami, which was also losing effort. They tried to capture them in a rematch, but both men came up short. Murdoch and Adonis partied, with each man going solos competition after losing the belts. Murdoch will resurrect his solos career by clashing with Inoki and Fujinami, as well as having bloody conversations with Abdullah The Butcher and Bruiser Brody. He returned to Masked Superstar to compete in the IWGP Tag Team League of that year, with both men placing fourth place with 19 points, defeating the Kelly Twins (Mike and Pat), Dos Caras and El Canek, and Kendo Nagasaki and Mr. Pogo. Murdoch's 1986 began to feud with the new breed of wrestlers, including Keiji Mutoh, Shinya Hashimoto, Tatsutoshi Goto, and UWF crusaders Akira Maeda, as well as veterans like Osamu Kido and Yoshiaki Fujiwara. Murdoch played in the IWGP League of that year, battling his way to the finals, where he lost to Inoki. Later, he and Masked Superstar took another shot at the IWGP Tag Team League tournament, defeating Akira Maeda and Osamu Kido in the semifinals.

Murdoch did not have much fame in the following year because he was often seen in tag team action alongside younger foreign wrestlers, such as Scott Hall, Owen Hart, Matt Borne, and The Cuban Assassin. Later, he formed an unusual tag team with Inoki as both men competed in the Japan Cup Tag Team League together. Both men qualified to Kengo Kimura and Tatsumi Fujinami, who lost to Kengo Kimura and Tatsumi Fujinami.

Adrian Adonis, a member of Murdoch, reuniting with Murdoch, reforming their tag team, and then forming a trio with Owen Hart in 1988. On June 23, Murdoch and Adonis' only title match took place, but they were unsuccessfully defeated reigning IWGP Tag Team Champions Masa Saito and Riki Choshu. The pair worked together until Adonis' death in July 4, and Murdoch did not return to Japan for 5 months after that date. Murdoch returned to NJPW in November 1988, competing in the Japan Cup Team Elimination League, a round-robin tournament of trios consisting of six-man tag team elimination matches. Murdoch teamed up with Scott Hall and Bob Orton Jr. in their first tournament match on November 17, defeating Antonio Inoki, Riki Choshu, and Kantaro Hoshino, with Murdoch last removing Inoki with Orton's assistance. They lost their first game in the hands of Masa Saito, Tatsutoshi Goto, and Seiji Sakai, but soon recovered by defeating Super Strong Machine, The Tiger and The Jaguar, with Murdoch destroying the Strong Machine. And though Murdoch was eliminated by Kimura after the match, they still beat Kengo Kimura, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, and Osamu Kido, later beating Osamu Kido. After Murdoch last eliminated Takano, they continued their winning streak when they defeated George Takano, Steve Armstrong, and Tracy Smothers. However, they suffered another setback in the hands of Tatsumi Fujinami, Shinya Hashimoto, and Masahiro Chono, but they soon recovered by defeating Hiro Saito, Shiro Koshinka, and Kuniaki Kobayashi after Murdoch eliminated Kobayashi and Saito. They met the Saito, Sakasaki, and Goto combo after losing Buzz Sawyer, Manny Fernandez, and Kendo Nagasaki by forfeit. Murdoch single handedly eliminated Sakaito and Saito before going back to Goto and avenging their loss in what seemed to be another setback after Hall and Orton were eliminated. However, the team was unable to qualify for the finals due to the two losses.

Murdoch's last stand with New Japan came in 1987 as he returned from July, facing the likes of Shinya Hashimoto, Hiroshi Hase, Vladimir Berkovich, and Evgeny Artyukhin in an intimate manner. His last match was played on August 5, where he defeated Berkovich. Since last year, Murdoch never registered for New Japan.

He briefly competed in Mid-South wrestling before turning up in the NWA's Jim Crockett Promotions in 1986 as a babyface. He fought with Ric Flair and attempted to capture the NWA World Championships in Flair. He also worked with Ron Garvin against Flair and the Four Horsemen. Murdoch reacted angrily and joined Ivan Koloff and Vladimir Petrov in their attempts to obtain Nikita Koloff and Dusty Rhodes in early 1987. After a brain-buster suplex on the floor this summer, Nikita's neck was broken, resulting in his (kayfabe) suspension for 30 days and the team being stripped of the trophy. Ivan is then a NWA United States Tag Team Champion with Ivan. He continued wrestling as a heel until 1988, when he would face Dusty and his brother Garvin, who had just turned heel on Rhodes and Al Perez. He retired from the NWA and competed in the World Wrestling Council and Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling in 1990, before returning to World Championship Wrestling as one half of the "Hardliners," or "Hardline Collection Agency" in 1991, a heel by this time. They feuded with Rick and Scott Steiner, but they were unable to win their first title.

Murdoch left WCW and returned to Puerto Rico for the World Wrestling Council, where he defeated TNT in the WWC Television Championship on November 23, 1991, defeating TNT. Invader 1 was dubbed the title a month later by the author. He defeated Invader 1 for the WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship on October 25, 1992, then losing the title to Carlos Colon a month later. He and Colon, Invader 1, and Miguel Perez Jr. feuded during his time in Puero Rico.

He worked in Japan from 1992 to 1994, including W*ING, WAR, and IWA Japan. In May 1993, he returned to WCW's Slamboree 1993: A Legends' Reunion, where he teamed with Don Muraco and Jimmy Snuka against Blackjack Mulligan, Jim Brunzell, and Wahoo McDaniel in a non-competition. He appeared in Extreme Championship Wrestling's Super Summer Sizzler Spectacular in June, where he defeated Dark Patriot II. Jim Cornette, who was in charge of Smoky Mountain Wrestling, feud with Bob Armstrong from 1993 to 1994, fought with him. Later in his career, he served on the Texas independent circuit, where he rivaled with Black Bart, Kevin Von Erich, and Greg Valentine.

Murdoch was the twenty-seventh entrant in the 1995 WWF Royal Rumble. Henry O. Godwinn had him disqualified. Wahoo McDaniel was beaten in a black-and-white "Legends Match" at Slamboree in May. He defeated Vampire Warrior and The Viking in Kuantan, Malaysia, in March 1996, then made his last appearance in Japan on May 23 in Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi's main tournament, losing to Yoshiaki Fujiwara. On June 6, 1996, he defeated Rod Price in his last match at a show in Amarillo, Texas.

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