Referees: Rick Hazzard
“Up From the Grave He Arose”
#PWHS #Article #RickHazzard #WCCW #WorldClass #Wrestling #ProWrestling #TheGrappler #RickyBranch
The pro wrestling world has different message boards which can often reveal historic information about classic wrestling. However, it does not take long until one realizes there are those who are real historians who know what they speak of, and there are those who research a subject with only a passing concern for total accuracy. The latter can lead to hearsay which replaces actual truth. Such was the case concerning one-time referee Rick Hazzard, who was known to the fans that have watched WCCW in their glory years, headquartered out of Dallas.
As I read the message boards, time and again I read where people were saying Rick Hazzard died. Some even added they thought it was from a heart attack. Famed manager Gary Hart added to the growing mystery in his valuable, scarce bio book, “My Life in Wrestling” (2009). In Chapter 62 Hart lists WCCW performers, including Rick Hazzard, who had passed away. Hart passed away in 2008, which is over 10 years ago as I write this article. In addition, many WCCW alumni were even saying Rick had passed away. These were sources that most would consider as very reliable. However, in this case, they were WRONG. Gary Hart was wrong. The WCCW alumni were wrong also.
As my curiosity continued to grow, I found Rick under his real name, Rick Branch, on Facebook. I had followed his trail this far, I just had to reach out to see if he would work with me on this article. His Instagram messages and Facebook page spoke of a Toyota dealership where he was a salesman. I simply called the dealership and asked to speak to him. The receptionist asked me to “hold” for what seemed like an eternity. My active imagination conjured a scenario that some stalker must be pestering Rick, and they were making me remain on hold to trace my phone number, so I could be arrested. Well…since I was innocent, I decided to hold. They transferred me to Rick’s wife who also worked at the Toyota dealership. She explained to me that Rick had recently left the dealership to take a position in the financial department for another company. We talked about 5 minutes and she was very charming. My interview never happened, but this article was the product of my curiosity.
My curiosity helped me find out that Rick had a dual career as a wrestler/referee. In the mid-80s he wrestled as Ricky Branch in the independents in the states of Alabama and Georgia. I have read accounts of him appearing on Rocket Monroe cards in Jonesboro, Georgia along with veteran General Homer O’Dell and one of the Mongols. He appeared also in Continental Wrestling, and at least one house show for Jim Crockett Promotions in Georgia. In addition, he appeared as “The Terminator” in the Portland territory. Len Denton, as the Grappler, won the tag belts with The Terminator for a very short reign (July 2, 1988-July 9, 1988). The Terminator wore an ever-loose hockey mask and wrestled a stereotypical Japanese style with karate chops and kicks. The video I have seen showed Rick to be a better than enhancement wrestler, in my humble opinion. Rumor has it that a knee injury cut his wrestling career short.
Len Denton was used to working with Hazzard as they had worked together as a tag team in WCCW, even though the fans did not know it. While still being seen as referee Rick Hazzard, he would also appear in the ring on the same cards as masked Grappler #2 with Len Denton being Grappler #1. After Denton left the WCCW, Hazzard would go on to wrestle some cities as the Grappler, and even as Rick Hazzard in others. He would do the same in Continental.
There are two stories that are linked to Rick’s career while being a WCCW referee. Both events took place in 1986. In the first, Blackjack Mulligan was in World Class as a heel starting a storyline against Kevin Von Erich. Mulligan got into at least two behind-the-scene altercations in the same week. The first involved Blackjack and Hazzard getting into a heated argument. Words led to pushing, and pushing led to Rick getting slapped by Mulligan. Later that week because of some minor injuries, Blackjack refused to wrestle Kevin. He claimed Kevin wrestled too “stiff” and his injuries had a good possibility of worsening. Blackjack was claiming that if his injuries got worse, it would put the upcoming storyline feud on hold. Upon hearing Blackjack’s remark about his style being too stiff, Kevin got into a physical confrontation with Mulligan and got the worst end of the fight. Fritz immediately fired Blackjack and almost fired booker David Manning. Fritz’s thinking was if Manning had fired Blackjack after the first altercation, there would never have been a second one. Also, he would not have an injured Kevin while they sent Mulligan packing. They lost two main eventers in one non-scheduled slugfest.
The second altercation Rick experienced in that year was to be much more serious physically, and could have been deadly. Gary Hart tells the story of how Scott Hall, Kevin Von Erich, and Rick Hazzard were on a tour in Japan together. One night after the matches, they went out and got drunk off of Sake. While leaving the restaurant they made two mistakes: relieving themselves on the outside wall of the restaurant, and allowing the Japanese mafia (the Yakuza) to see them. The Yakuza, feeling disrespected, followed them secretly to their hotel. Hall and Von Erich retired to their room and the Yakuza grabbed Rick. They began to display their cutlery skills on Rick’s face. They stabbed him seventeen times, but did not cut into any arteries. They carefully cut over both eyes and across his nose. New Japan sent him home immediately. Rick was looking forward to landing in friendly Dallas. What he faced though was a scolding with the full fury of Fritz’s wrath. Fritz proceeded to scold Rick, telling him this was all his fault; if he had watched out for Kevin better, none of this would have happened. Kevin was uninjured, but Fritz was focused on how close his son had faced danger and showed no compassion for Rick and his seventeen stab wounds.
The next time you see Rick Hazzard in those WCCW videos with Abdullah the Butcher, Bruiser Brody, Gary Hart, and the Von Erichs, maybe you can remember how:
a) He was also a wrestler for several years.
b) He was a tag team champion in the Portland area.
c) A good referee.
d) Faced the Japanese mafia and lived to tell about it.
Long live the memory of Rick Hazzard / Ricky Branch.
The pro wrestling world has different message boards which can often reveal historic information about classic wrestling. However, it does not take long until one realizes there are those who are real historians who know what they speak of, and there are those who research a subject with only a passing concern for total accuracy. The latter can lead to hearsay which replaces actual truth. Such was the case concerning one-time referee Rick Hazzard, who was known to the fans that have watched WCCW in their glory years, headquartered out of Dallas.
As I read the message boards, time and again I read where people were saying Rick Hazzard died. Some even added they thought it was from a heart attack. Famed manager Gary Hart added to the growing mystery in his valuable, scarce bio book, “My Life in Wrestling” (2009). In Chapter 62 Hart lists WCCW performers, including Rick Hazzard, who had passed away. Hart passed away in 2008, which is over 10 years ago as I write this article. In addition, many WCCW alumni were even saying Rick had passed away. These were sources that most would consider as very reliable. However, in this case, they were WRONG. Gary Hart was wrong. The WCCW alumni were wrong also.
As my curiosity continued to grow, I found Rick under his real name, Rick Branch, on Facebook. I had followed his trail this far, I just had to reach out to see if he would work with me on this article. His Instagram messages and Facebook page spoke of a Toyota dealership where he was a salesman. I simply called the dealership and asked to speak to him. The receptionist asked me to “hold” for what seemed like an eternity. My active imagination conjured a scenario that some stalker must be pestering Rick, and they were making me remain on hold to trace my phone number, so I could be arrested. Well…since I was innocent, I decided to hold. They transferred me to Rick’s wife who also worked at the Toyota dealership. She explained to me that Rick had recently left the dealership to take a position in the financial department for another company. We talked about 5 minutes and she was very charming. My interview never happened, but this article was the product of my curiosity.
My curiosity helped me find out that Rick had a dual career as a wrestler/referee. In the mid-80s he wrestled as Ricky Branch in the independents in the states of Alabama and Georgia. I have read accounts of him appearing on Rocket Monroe cards in Jonesboro, Georgia along with veteran General Homer O’Dell and one of the Mongols. He appeared also in Continental Wrestling, and at least one house show for Jim Crockett Promotions in Georgia. In addition, he appeared as “The Terminator” in the Portland territory. Len Denton, as the Grappler, won the tag belts with The Terminator for a very short reign (July 2, 1988-July 9, 1988). The Terminator wore an ever-loose hockey mask and wrestled a stereotypical Japanese style with karate chops and kicks. The video I have seen showed Rick to be a better than enhancement wrestler, in my humble opinion. Rumor has it that a knee injury cut his wrestling career short.
Len Denton was used to working with Hazzard as they had worked together as a tag team in WCCW, even though the fans did not know it. While still being seen as referee Rick Hazzard, he would also appear in the ring on the same cards as masked Grappler #2 with Len Denton being Grappler #1. After Denton left the WCCW, Hazzard would go on to wrestle some cities as the Grappler, and even as Rick Hazzard in others. He would do the same in Continental.
There are two stories that are linked to Rick’s career while being a WCCW referee. Both events took place in 1986. In the first, Blackjack Mulligan was in World Class as a heel starting a storyline against Kevin Von Erich. Mulligan got into at least two behind-the-scene altercations in the same week. The first involved Blackjack and Hazzard getting into a heated argument. Words led to pushing, and pushing led to Rick getting slapped by Mulligan. Later that week because of some minor injuries, Blackjack refused to wrestle Kevin. He claimed Kevin wrestled too “stiff” and his injuries had a good possibility of worsening. Blackjack was claiming that if his injuries got worse, it would put the upcoming storyline feud on hold. Upon hearing Blackjack’s remark about his style being too stiff, Kevin got into a physical confrontation with Mulligan and got the worst end of the fight. Fritz immediately fired Blackjack and almost fired booker David Manning. Fritz’s thinking was if Manning had fired Blackjack after the first altercation, there would never have been a second one. Also, he would not have an injured Kevin while they sent Mulligan packing. They lost two main eventers in one non-scheduled slugfest.
The second altercation Rick experienced in that year was to be much more serious physically, and could have been deadly. Gary Hart tells the story of how Scott Hall, Kevin Von Erich, and Rick Hazzard were on a tour in Japan together. One night after the matches, they went out and got drunk off of Sake. While leaving the restaurant they made two mistakes: relieving themselves on the outside wall of the restaurant, and allowing the Japanese mafia (the Yakuza) to see them. The Yakuza, feeling disrespected, followed them secretly to their hotel. Hall and Von Erich retired to their room and the Yakuza grabbed Rick. They began to display their cutlery skills on Rick’s face. They stabbed him seventeen times, but did not cut into any arteries. They carefully cut over both eyes and across his nose. New Japan sent him home immediately. Rick was looking forward to landing in friendly Dallas. What he faced though was a scolding with the full fury of Fritz’s wrath. Fritz proceeded to scold Rick, telling him this was all his fault; if he had watched out for Kevin better, none of this would have happened. Kevin was uninjured, but Fritz was focused on how close his son had faced danger and showed no compassion for Rick and his seventeen stab wounds.
The next time you see Rick Hazzard in those WCCW videos with Abdullah the Butcher, Bruiser Brody, Gary Hart, and the Von Erichs, maybe you can remember how:
a) He was also a wrestler for several years.
b) He was a tag team champion in the Portland area.
c) A good referee.
d) Faced the Japanese mafia and lived to tell about it.
Long live the memory of Rick Hazzard / Ricky Branch.
Unique content strictly for the Professional Wrestling Historical Society.
Referees: Rick Hazzard.
Author: Terry Kent.
Published: May 11, 2020.
Article: #238.
Editor: Jimmy Wheeler.
Referees: Rick Hazzard.
Author: Terry Kent.
Published: May 11, 2020.
Article: #238.
Editor: Jimmy Wheeler.
Other articles by Terry can be Read Here.