Buddy Rogers (wrestler)

Herman G. Rohde
Data
Ring name	Buddy "Nature Boy" Rogers, Dutch Rogers
height	185 cm
Fighting weight	103 kg
birth	February 20, 1921 Camden , New Jersey
death	June 26, 1992 Fort Lauderdale , Florida
Trained by	Joe Cox Fred Grubmeyer
debut	4th July 1939
retirement	November 25, 1982

Buddy Rogers (born February 20, 1921 in Camden , New Jersey , † June 26, 1992 in Fort Lauderdale , Florida ) was an American wrestler . He was born as Herman Gustav Rohde jr. His parents were the German emigrants Hermann G. Rohde and Freda Rohde geb. Piercing.

Career

Rohde first became a police officer and was trained as a wrestler by Joe Cox and Fred Grubmeier. From 1939 he appeared at fairs, partly as Dutch Rogers, partly under his real name. In the 1940s he appeared together with his brother John, who called himself Buddy Rogers, and their alleged brother Billy, who later also became a well-known wrestler under his real name Billy Darnell.

When his brother gave up wrestling, Hermann took over the name Buddy Rogers. This was actually borrowed from the actor Charles Rogers . In Ohio, Rogers met the promoter Jack Pfefer , who gave him the nickname Nature Boy (after the song ) and advised him to bleach his hair and adopt an arrogant style.

With this gimmick he hit the zeitgeist exactly. Television was just taking off, and with his charisma and physique, Rogers became one of the greatest wrestling stars of the 1950s.

However , Rogers did not become World Heavyweight Champion until June 30, 1961 , when he was allowed to shoulder Pat O'Connor in front of the then record crowd of 38,622 spectators . The reason for this was that Lou Thesz had always refused to lose the title to Rogers because he was not a hooker .

As a champion, Rogers worked preferably for Capitol Wrestling , the league of Vincent J. McMahon and Toots Mondt , which meant that other promoters could no longer offer their viewers world championship fights. To put an end to this condition, Lou Thesz was allowed to win the title in 1963 by defeating Rogers with his real-life martial arts skills.

The result was that McMahon and other promoters did not recognize the title change and broke away from the NWA under the name Worldwide Wrestling Federation . The first world champion was Rogers, who allegedly had won a title tournament in Rio de Janeiro . However, since Rogers was struggling with health problems, the title was soon lost to Bruno Sammartino . Rogers ended his active career and now appeared as a manager for wrestlers like Jimmy Snuka .

In 1979 he got back into the ring to be defeated in a battle of the Nature Boys by Ric Flair , who had taken over the gimmick. With this win, Flair took a big step up the corporate ladder. Then Rogers returned to the - now called WWF - renamed WWWF, where he got his own interview segment called Rogers' Corner in the TV shows.

In 1992 the Tri States Wrestling Association (later the ECW ) planned another battle of the Nature Boys, in which the 70-year-old Rogers was supposed to step into the ring against Buddy Landell, but Rogers had previously died of a heart attack.

successes

• 1 × AWA Eastern States Heavyweight Championship
• 3 × AWA World Heavyweight Championship
• 4 × MWA Ohio Tag Team Championship (with Great Scott (3 ×) and Juan Sebastian (1 ×))
• 3 × Montreal Athletic Commission World Heavyweight Championship
• 2 × NWA United States Tag Team Championship (Capitol version) (with Johnny Valentine (1 ×) and Johnny Barend (1 ×))
• 1 × NWA World Heavyweight Championship
• 1 × NWA United States Heavyweight Championship
• 1 × NWA Mid-America Heavyweight Championship
• 1 × NWA World Tag Team Championship (with Ronnie Etchison)
• 1 × NWA North American Heavyweight Championship
• 6 × NWA Texas Heavyweight Championship
• 1 × NWA Texas Tag Team Championship (with Otto Kuss)
• 3 × Maryland Eastern Heavyweight Championship
• 5 × Jack Pfeffer World Heavyweight Championship
• 1 × WWWF World Heavyweight Championship
• WWE Hall of Fame (1994)

Remarks

Buddy Rogers held the AWA Eastern States Heavyweight Championship , NWA Mid-America Heavyweight Championship and the WWWF World Heavyweight Championship as the first title holder. In addition, he was the sole title holder of the AWA Eastern States Heavyweight Championship .

Five of his six title reigns as the NWA Texas Heavyweight Championship took place before this was carried out under the flag of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). These reigns, like those of the NWA Texas Tag Team Championship , were later recognized by the NWA .

Individual evidence

1. ^ [1] Rogers' death report in the Sun Sentinel
2. ↑ http://www.dvrbs.com/camden-streets/ARL-0204/2033-120539-Rohde.jpg
3. ↑ http://www.dvrbs.com/people/camdensports-BuddyNatureBoyRogers.htm
4. ↑ ^{a b} http://www.genickbruch.com/index.php?befehl=einfluss&kapitel=16
5. ↑ http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/2007/09/08/4480688.html
6. ↑ ^{a b} Legends - Jay Shannon. In: Pro Wrestling Daily. January 30, 2008, archived from the original on May 18, 2008 ; accessed on January 4, 2015 . 
7. ↑ http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/2006/03/11/1483388.html
8. ↑ http://www.wrestlingmuseum.com/pages/wrestlers/buddyrogers2.html
9. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original dated February 21, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 

Web links

• Profile in the WWE Hall of Fame