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I was genuinely shocked when I read in a magazine that Renegade had killed himself in 99 I think it was. By all accounts he was described as a quiet, nice man who kept to himself. Really makes me sad.
He didn’t have many friends in the business apparently. I think he was green and didn’t understand how it all worked and was dejected when he was dropped - speaks a lot about how the business treats the talent.
"I'm disgruntled for the product we could have had, not that we did have." Boy, if that don't just sum the heartbreak of looking back at those years. So many times for so many reasons, you'd tune into Nitro or Thunder and watch WCW take a beautiful idea and shoot it in the head for some dumbass reason.
Damn 48 seconds into this video and I have to pause it. Its such a shame that often when I watch these videos Stevie Ray is talking about someone and it turns out the person has passed away. Stevie Ray is always respectful regarding these individuals which shows the kind of man he is. Stevie Ray tells good stories & its fun to hear his incite on certain events from his own career experiences. Unfortunately, this interview segment regarding Renegade is a sad one. The wrestling business is a brutal one.
I remember Paul Orndorf giving him two piledrivers at Hog Wild and the crowd erupting in cheers for it. The poor guy never had a chance. They should have repackaged him under a mask and given him a legit shot at success.
I was actually a Renegade fan. But since I was an Ultimate Warrior fan and a huge mark at the time, that explains why. If I had been watching for a while back then, I probably would've hated the Renegade gimmick like many did.
and the way they(Hogan) set him up as "The Ultimate Surprise" and did this Bait and Switch,fans were legit probably PIssed at Rick Wilson and he couldn't get rid of that Stench of being this Cosplay Ultimate Warrior. sad thing...wasn't even his fault that his career was over before it began
@Shawn Kinser you’re right, but I think the fallout of the Renegade debacle & the fact that WCW didn’t try to do anything with him afterwards didn’t help matters much either. Sad situation all around
I read some stories that Rick came from an abusive childhood. I don't remember if it was his father or stepfather that used to beat up him daily. Then all of a sudden, he ran away from home and went live with one of his coach. It's funny, because Warrior had a similar upbringing but the difference was Warrior had problems with his classmates from school also. It's funny how a man who took a gimmick from a person with similar background years later.
It was crazy WCW wanted their version of the Warrior. As they saw around '98 when the Warrior actually came to WCW that it was nothing more than a waste of time and money. Even more sad the Renegade died so young.
I think a lot of guys who get into the wrestling business who don't last long, are caught of guard because they put all their eggs in one basket. Having know idea what to expect yet they think that this is the way to success until an unexpected road block of destruction brings their career to a screeching halt. He did what he was told to do emulating a legend and when it didn't work out he was informed that his time was up in so many words. Obviously having no experience of the business and no agent you would think other fellow successful wrestlers would have seen what was coming and warned him or maybe he saw it coming and did not want to face the reality.
Lutheran Martin The King. Firstly, Indy booking shows, perhaps would have been interested in him, but the WWF? No way. And say what you want about Virgil, and believe I’m not a fan, but he was a part of the WWF at a time where they were really hot. Him being the sidekick to the best heel at the time, “Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase meant that he got to work with the likes of Hulk Hogan, Randy “Macho Man” Savage, Andre the Giant and more. So Virgil does have name some name value, even if he now spends his time hustling fans for whatever money he can get these days. The same cannot be said about the Renegade. Although yes, he has worked with the likes of Hogan and Savage as well, it wasn’t during a high point in wrestling. I never thought I would say this, but yeah, Virgil is a bigger name and bigger star than Renegade.
Supercool. Highly HIGHLY doubtful. The WWF was definitely not interested in him and it’s honestly not hard to see why. I don’t mean to speak bad of the dead, but the dude was a shit wrestler, couldn’t cut a promo and had zero charisma. Sorry, but it’s just the truth.
for what WCW did to the Renegade was just evil point blank.... you give a young wrestler an Ultimate Warrior knockoff gimmick then you give him a massive push putting him over Arn Anderson and Paul Orndoff winning the world television championship then about 4 months later strip him of all that glory in one heartbeat second
I believe Jimmy Hart and Orndoff were behind his burial. If you look at it from the perspective. Orndoff wasn't really appreciated for putting Rick over and Jimmy felt like he was like a fool managing him.
If I wrote or booked for WCW back in the day. I would have had the Renegade continue getting pushed and then have a match between him and The Ultimate Warrior and having Warrior win the match but then have them form the Ultimate Renegades tag team and go on a tag title run.
I love renegade more than the ultimate warrior because he wasn't unstable,bitter,going business for himself,demanding money,begging for a push,etc. I do remember watching rick Williams vs earthquake,it was off the chain. Yeah,he became an ultimate warrior ripoff,I did love him as television champion and arn anderson have no problem putting him over. Well,politics and the wrestling industry ruin a friend of Stevie Ray' s career after receiving a phone call letting him know that his services are no longer require. Depression does lead to suicide.
I watched all the renegade videos and Im a fan of him. Alot of people are blaming the ultimate warrior for the renegade passing as the renegade loved the gimmick but when warrior sued wcw over the gimmick everything went down and he took his own life due to it and the interview of warrior been asked about the renegade he laughs at him. U can tell Stevie hurting alto about him. I wish the renegade went to wwf and joined the undertakers ministry of darkness. I guaranteed if the renegade was here in wrestling he would have been one of the biggest names in wrestling. The renegade vs the undertaker at wrestlemania would have been good to watch. The renegade to mike ausome and Sean ohaire would have been a cool faction all 3.
@@drexlspivey5828 Renegade being undertrained was partially the fault of wcw who hardly even trained people at the power plant on actual wrestling. people who were there said training was lots of jumping jacks, push ups and sit ups while people yelled at you
Can't draw if you're not given the booking to help you draw but that's what happens when a company let's a man with a ridiculous ego (and constant insecurity) run shit from behind the scenes.
Man a lot of wrestlers who I couldn’t feel in the ring as a kid ie a maven Stevie ray or disco inferno , they do a great job on the internet. I wonder why they don’t translate well on tv.
Everyone says that renegade wasn't as good as ultimate warrior but renegade could actually wrestle a little warrior just clotheslined over and over again.
i'm sure he did because harlem heat was fucking hot and then just be a lackey for the nwo and then that whole harlem heat 2000 w/ ahmed johnson. ugh, that shit was terrible.
He got knocked to C-lister level of the new World order B/W next to guys like Scott Norton and Brian Adams...they even stuck Curt Hennig on C-List which is absolutely astounding to me, a guy of his talents...
Booker T actually won the TV Title while Stevie was injured and got hot as a singles guy. That Best of 7 Series with Benoit for the TV title was amazing. By the time he was healed up, Booker was on the rise so they threw Stevie in the NWO kind of as an afterthought.
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Would love to know about Stevie's brief firing / rehiring at a lower rate in late-1999, which seemingly led to Stevie being a part of the racial discrimination lawsuit. Unlike most of the other people in the case, you were still being booked in 2000 when the case started getting going. Were you treated differently by the agents? Also, does he feel like he lost motivation once Harlem Heat was broken up? No offense intended, but he seemed to get out of shape and was having some real bad matches before he was made an announcer.
They didn't even consider talks with Warrior at that point. Bischoff speaks of it in his 83 weeks show. So a guy gets built up and knocked down on a shitty idea and is wasted. That would make anyone feel like shit. Another could of been, just pissed on. This isn't only happening in wrestling, this happens in most jobs.
Rick Williams had to be one of the most "mis-used" performers in the the history of pro wrestling. The Renegade gimmick was atrocious. These WCW writers set Williams up to fail. Then they released him, and he committed suicide. This is what happens when the talent has no creative control.
Stevie Ray is much more eloquent when he speaks Tha I would have thought. He still has a drawl to his voice but the accent is gone. I guess his promos were character driven because it's a big separation from listening to him now. He's really good and this story seemed to upset him quite a bit.
Alli Ling im sure they did just about anyone or any tag team ref etc .. Was asked to jump ship one way or the other around that time..I think they would of been a great fit for the attitude era. Wrestling The Dudleys, Hardys, Edge n Christian
@docthemetalfreak Mantaur came before Ric Hogan and they were two different guys. Mantaur = Mike Halac and Macho Warrior = Michael Imburgia who went on to become a DJ and was arrested on charges for child pornography possession in 2002.
They also had a Sting ripoff character called The Hornet. They even introduced the character by having Lawler do a pre-taped sit down interview with the kid (Ron Oates) and saying he reminded him of Sting and that maybe ne needed just a little something extra to take him to the next level. Lawler proceeds to paint his face like Sting and give him the name. So not only was it a ripoff gimmick they openly acknowledged that they were just straight up ripping off the gimmick.
after wcw fired him i would have loved seeing Renegade in XPW and czw both companies were starting up in 1999. imagine Renegade in death matches vs Lobo. Nick Gage, Pogo the clown, Supreme it could have worked out. Renegade had a good handspring elbow and lifted people high up when body slamming them. his top rope splash was decent too
And I Don't Want Sound Disgruntled..."BUT" I'm Disgruntled For...LOL...You Can't Say You're Not Trying To Be a Certain Way Then Turn Right Around and Use It To Describe What You're Feeling In The Same Damn Sentence Stevie Ray...JS!
2:52 this was a WCW ripping off a gimmick. It's not like he suggested this. We need to keep in mind, he was doing what he was told, and try to do the best. Probably wasn't content with this. Imitating a superstar like the Ultimate Warrior could bring a lot of pressure. Can't be himself, and that is depressive. I rather try my best and be rejected than do someone else and succeed. In the end, you only fool yourself. This sad story tells future wrestlers to be creative Zero copy of gimmicks that are runned.
I remember Arn Anderson himself get beaten by the Renegade for the TV title. That gimmick was pure shit but I think they probably should have transitioned that guy in tag teams with another masked guy instead of having him become a jobber so quickly. It would have a been an energetic team the kids might have liked even if the older crowds would have snikered on the Warrior rip off stuff. It would have been less obvious. You have these two guys wrestle in a hot masked team for a while then they could drop the mask later on. Many wrestlers start off as rip offs of other wrestlers. Rollins in the WWE started off as a CM Punk rip off, he had the same look.
If I'm not mistaken he won the tv title off Paul orndorff then lost it to orndorff I think I forgot who beat renegade for the tv belt but this was a hogan screw up to cuz I do believe they said it was hogans ideal
The main thing about Stevie Ray why he didn't become as big a star as Booker T is because Stevie Ray was only great as a Tag team wrestler. Most of his best moves were designed so him and Booker could use them together. In singles he was slow and plodding and his only best moves were his running powerslam and jumping mafia kick and his finisher was a Pedigree which he usually botched. He had typical big guy moves nothing special.
Alexander G and jinder mahal and the great khali has what? And they were/are real WWE champions! Save that bullshit about working in a scripted sport. Yell
They did "repackage" him in a negative manner. Jimmy Hart turned on him, took off his face paint and said he "wasn't the Renegade, [he] was Plain Ol' Rick."
I never seen anything about Renegade, & sincerely no disrespect, to him. 1 anybody that would really even compare him to the REAL Ultimate Warrior, like, "Oh! Well maybe he goes by a different name now." you need to stop watching wrestling, because you're the band wagon fans. You like wrestling when it's cool, then you hate it, when you don't know anybody. Anyways even if Renegade was WCW's version of Ultimate Warrior, they should've never stopped just because Ultimate Warrior, said he's a fake. Fuck him! I love Ultimate Warrior, my very 1st favorite wrestler, his theme song always gets me pumped, but obviously he's an asshole. It wasn't like they were trying to make money off his name. What WCW did, was no different, from what WWF did with Demolition, creating their own Road Warriors, & yes kids they are originally called the Road Warriors. LOD/Legion of Doom is WWF property. Because what Vince does (even to date) he'll take someone who has made their name worldwide known in wrestling, & ask if he can call them something else, because when Vince owns that version of that character, both him, & the wrestlers get money, when they sell merchandise. Example is Kevin Owens/Kevin Stern, D-Von & Bubba Ray Dudley/Brother D-Von & Brother Ray/Bully Ray. Vader was offered to be called the Mastadon. Vince told him, "well you'll always be known as Vader, even to our fans, it's just a way so i can make us both money, if you leave." Character Likeness folks!
the renegade was awful from day one. the best wrestlers in the business couldn't make him look good or put him over because he was awful from the first time i saw to the very last. his physique and his style didn't compare to the warrior....not even close.....and this was a terrible rip off of what the warrior had established and it was shameful.
