Junkyard Dog

Sylvester Ritter (December 13, 1952 – June 1, 1998) was an American professional wrestler and college football player, best known for his work in Mid-South Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation as the Junkyard Dog (or JYD), a nickname he received while working in a wrecking yard.

WWE author Brian Shields called Junkyard Dog one of the most electrifying and charismatic wrestlers in the country, particularly during his peak in the early 1980s.

JYD was most known for his headbutt and upper body strength, the latter of which saw him regularly bodyslam such large wrestlers as the One Man Gang, Kamala, and King Kong Bundy.

The word "thump," which referred to JYD's powerslam, was prominently displayed on his wrestling trunks.

Ritter played football at Fayetteville State University, twice earning honorable mention All-American status, and is a member of the Sports Hall of Fame.

He graduated with a political science degree.

Ritter debuted in the Tennessee territory, working for promoter Jerry Jarrett, before moving to Nick Gulas's company and using the ring name "Leroy Rochester".

From there he moved to Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling as "Big Daddy Ritter", where he captured the North American Heavyweight Championship twice.

In the early 1980s Ritter moved to Mid-South Wrestling, where booker "Cowboy" Bill Watts gave him the name and gimmick Junkyard Dog, as he would wear a long chain attached to a dog collar, and white boots.

He originally came to the ring pushing a cart filled with junk called the "junk wagon" and lost most of his early matches before his character caught on and became the top face in the company.

While on top he feuded with some of the top heels in the company, including a now infamous angle with the Fabulous Freebirds where they blinded him with hair cream.

At the peak of the feud JYD's wife gave birth to their first child, which was made part of the storyline.

It was explained that JYD could not see his new daughter, something that increased the heat on the Freebirds to the point where they needed police escorts in and out of arenas.

The feud ended with the still-blinded JYD and Freebird leader Michael "P.S." Hayes wrestling in a steel cage dog collar match.

Other notable feuds involved Ernie Ladd, Ted DiBiase, Kamala, King Kong Bundy, and Butch Reed.

The 1982 feud with DiBiase was particularly notable as DiBiase, once JYD's friend and tag-team partner, turned heel and subsequently won a loser-leaves-town match against JYD with the help of the loaded glove, which was a DiBiase calling card, at the time forcing JYD to leave town for an extended period of time.

In 1982, JYD was involved in a cross promotional Match for NWA and AWA against Nick Bockwinkel that aired on NWA Mid South Wrestling and AWA programming which he won by pinfall.

A masked man physically resembling JYD, known as "Stagger Lee", subsequently appeared in the region and began to defeat the competition, one by one, including DiBiase.

Though DiBiase and the other heels strongly suspected that Stagger Lee was in fact JYD, they were unable to unmask him to prove their suspicions.

Stagger Lee disappeared once the loser-leave-town clause in the JYD-DiBiase match had expired, and JYD returned and reclaimed the North American Heavyweight Championship.

The feud with Reed was notable in that Reed, a protégé of JYD, had turned heel.

Reed with the help of Buddy Landel attacked the Dog many times.

On a couple of occasions, they covered the Dog in chicken feathers.

The two had a series of matches, many of the bouts were for the prized North American Heavyweight Championship.

These matches were also notable for their brutality, which included "ghetto street fights", "dog-collar matches", two-out-of-three pin-fall matches and steel-cage matches.

JYD was lured to the WWF at the peak of the feud with Reed.

In the summer of 1984, Ritter left Mid-South for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), where he was a mid-card wrestler but still a heavily over face.

JYD debuted on a Georgia Championship Wrestling taping held at the Kiel Auditorium on August 10, 1984, when he defeated Max Blue.

While in the WWF, JYD made a habit of interacting with the growing number of young people in attendance, often bringing them into the ring after matches and dancing with them.

He wrestled at the inaugural WrestleMania I, defeating Intercontinental Champion Greg Valentine by countout, but did not receive the title.

Ritter won The Wrestling Classic tournament by defeating Randy Savage by countout in the finals, as well as beating Moondog Spot and The Iron Sheik in earlier rounds getting to the final.

JYD's most notable feuds in the company came against King Harley Race, the Funk Brothers (Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk), Adrian Adonis, Greg "The Hammer" Valentine and "Outlaw" Ron Bass.

He lost to Rick Rude by disqualification at the inaugural SummerSlam.

He left the company in November 1988.

Ritter made his debut for the National Wrestling Alliance on December 7, 1988, at the Clash of the Champions IV.

He appeared during an altercation between The Russian Assassins and Ivan Koloff, saving the latter.

His first match came shortly after in a television taping in Atlanta against Trent Knight.

JYD finished the year winning a $50,000 bunkhouse battle royal on December 26, which was held as a dark match after Starrcade '88 went off the air.

He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2004.

Entering the ring with his trademark chain attached to a dog collar, to the music of Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust," JYD often headlined cards that drew large crowds and regularly sold out the Louisiana Superdome and other major venues, becoming "the first black wrestler to be made the undisputed top star of his promotion".