The Renegade

 

The Renegade

Born: October 19, 1965 in Marietta, Georgia

Died: February 23, 1999 in Atlanta, Georgia

Was the Renegade a rip-off of the Ultimate Warrior? Yes.

Renegade with Savage, Hart, and Hogan

The Renegade had a Warrior-like backstory as Hulk Hogan proclaimed; he found The Renegade atop a mountain of human bodies (sounds like a Manowar album cover). Hogan said The Renegade was the powerful man he had ever met, and he was unlike the Ultimate Warrior, but like the Warrior, The Renegade ran to the ring; he was a power-based wrestler, had face paint, long wild hair, and did several of the Warrior’s signature moves, including his finishing move, the Ultimate Splash which The Renegade called his the Renegade Splash. But, unlike the Warrior, Renegade was able to do more in the ring than the Warrior could as he was able to jump off the top rope and handspring-like move which was rather impressive for a man of his size. The Renegade might have been based on the idea of the Warrior, but he was also more than a Warrior clone.

Renegade winning WCW World Television title

Richard Wilson’s wrestling career started in 1992 when he was trained by Killer Kowalski and wrestled as the Rio, Lord of the Jungle working for the Japanese promotion, WAR. In 1995, Wilson signed with WCW to become The Renegade. Hulk Hogan introduced the Renegade during a promo where Hogan billed Renegade as, “the man that would bring Hulkmania into the 21^st Century.” Once Renegade debuted, Jimmy Hart quickly became his manager was part of the main event feud with Ric Flair and Vader. Renegade would have several wins against heel opponents to build his character before meeting Arn Anderson at The Great American Bash to win the WCW World Television title. He would defeat Paul Orndorff at Bash at the Beach and Clash of the Champions XXI. With the Renegade gaining steam, the Warrior would appear in several wrestling magazines stating he was not the Renegade, and the steam was lost, and Renegade dropped the title to Diamond Dallas Page at Fall Brawl. The end of the Renegade happened after a defeat to Kevin Sullivan, where Jimmy Hart turned on Renegade by splashing water on his face and removing the face paint and saying, You’re not a Renegade! You’re just plain old Rick! A nobody! You’re nothing!”

Renegade with new look

The Renegade returned with a Conan the Barbarian type look look to television in February 2006 in a losing effort against Lex Luger. The Renegade would remain with WCW and would be used as enhancement talent. Renegade would form a short-lived tag team with Joe Gomez in late 1996, with the team breaking apart in early 1997 and the Renegade turning heel for the first time in his career. The Renegade would continue to work as enhancement talent throughout the rest of his days with WCW and was used as Warrior’s stunt double during Warrior’s 1998 WCW run. At the end of 1998, Wilson was released from WCW and became severely depressed about being released from WCW and other companies showing no interest in hiring him, Wilson took his own life at the age of 33.

The Renegade was on the PWI 500 for fourth straight years from 1995 to 1998, ranging from 245 to 347. Wrestling Observer named The Renegade the Worst Wrestler in 1995.