Reno Riggins

Reno Riggins
Birth name Neal Hargrove
Born (1967-01-13) January 13, 1967
Nashville, Tennessee, United States
Residence Nashville, Tennessee
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s) Reno Riggins
Billed height 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
Billed weight 200 lb (91 kg)
Trained by Tojo Yamamoto
Debut 1986

Neal Hargrove, better known by his ring name, Reno Riggins, is an American professional wrestler. Riggins has competed in Southeastern independent promotions including the United States Wrestling Association during the 1990s.

Professional wrestling career

Hargrove was the last wrestler to be trained by Jimmy Mitchell and Tojo Yamamoto before Yamamato's death in 1992.

Hargrove made his World Wrestling Federation debut as Reno Riggins in March 1988, spending several years as an enhancement talent, competing against many of the top heels of the time.[1] He also appeared in a dark match losing to Rip Rogers at the NWA's Halloween Havoc in October 1990.[2] Leaving the WWF in 1992, he began competing for the USWA and eventually won the USWA Southern Heavyweight Championship from Brian Christopher in August 1992.[3] After a brief stint in Smoky Mountain Wrestling in early 1993, he returned to the WWF and frequently appeared as an enhancement talent (now as a heel putting over numerous faces) on Monday Night Raw until deciding to retire in early 1995.

Following the close of the USWA in 1997, Hargrove came out of retirement and began teaming with Steven Dunn as the Tennessee Volunteers in Music City Wrestling feuding with Flash Flanagan and Wolfie D over the promotion's North American tag team titles (later renamed the NWA North American Tag Team Championship) during the late 1990s.[4] Appearing at the first Brian Pillman Memorial Show in 1998, he and Dunn would later compete as Main Event in the National Wrestling Alliance eventually winning the NWA World Tag Team titles in Eskan, Saudi Arabia on April 7, 2000. Hargrove now does advertising, commentating and booking for Showtime All-Star Wrestling.[5] On October 8, 2011, Riggins defeated Kid Kash to win the SAW International Heavyweight Championship but was later stripped of the title when it was discovered he used an illegal substance thrown to him during the match by none other than Duck Dubin. Security video after the match revealed Dubin leaving the arena with longtime partner Stephen "Batman' Moles—they were later seen watching NBA games at a local watering hole.[6]

Championships and accomplishments

  • MCW North American Tag Team Championship (3 times) - with Steven Dunn
  • PWI ranked him # 189 of the 500 best singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 1998.
  • Spectrum Sports Heavyweight Championship (1 time)[3]

Notes

1His reign as NWA World Tag Team Champion began while wrestling on a card in Saudi Arabia. Records are unclear as for what promotion he wrestled at the time, as they are for when he first became NWA North American Tag Team Champion.

References

  1. ↑ "Reno Riggins: Getting the job done". CANOE SLAM! Sports.
  2. ↑ Karlsson, Peter. "Halloween Havoc 1990". American Wrestling Trivia. Retrieved 2007-04-17.
  3. 1 2 3 Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2006). Wrestling Title Histories (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  4. ↑ "N.W.A. North American Tag Team Titles". Puroresu Dojo. 2003. Retrieved 2007-04-05.
  5. ↑ "N.W.A. World Tag Team Title". Puroresu Dojo. 2003. Retrieved 2007-04-17.
  6. ↑ Meltzer, Dave (2011-10-10). "Mon. update: : WWE week, Sonnen fight, Another UFC fighter with stips, WWE network, WWE video game". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved 2011-10-11.
  7. ↑ "SAW International Heavyweight Title History". Wrestling-Titles.com. Retrieved 2010-02-13.
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