Blog
At Midco Sports Network we have been all over South Dakota this summer covering rodeos… from Clear Lake to Mitchell to Deadwood. Some of the contestant names in rodeo are fabulous… rivaled only by professional wrestling. So, with that in mind, can you tell: Are these wrestlers or rodeo cowboys?
Answers below.
1. Bubba Buckaloo
2. Sterling Gold
3. Richmond Champion
4. Blackjack Mulligan
5. Twister Cain
6. Crippler Canyon
7. Shank Edwards
8. Thunderbolt Patterson
9. Tooter Silver
10. Jimmy Jack Funk
11. Zeke Thurston
12. Ryan Dirteater
13. Catfish Brown
14. Bad News Brown
15. Brett Colt
16. Dusty Rhodes
17. Balls Mahoney
18. Straws Milan
19. Dude Love
20. Kip Winchester
21. Chris Shivers
22. Rowdy Parrott
23. Pork Chop Cash
24. Skeeter Quackenbush
1. Bubba Buckaloo is a team roper from Oklahoma. (Bubba Ray Dudley was a wrestler from New York.)
2. Sterling Gold is the pro wrestling name for Terrence Gene Bollea and also the term for sterling silver plated or dipped in gold. (Not to be confused with Goldust who is a wrestler who is the son of Dusty Rhodes who is also in this quiz.)
3. Richmond Champion is a bareback rider who won the Deadwood (SD) Days of ’76 Rodeo in 2016 and placed in three rounds of last year’s Wrangler National Finals Rodeo.
4. Blackjack Mulligan (who died in 2016 at the age of 73) was a professional wrestler who was 6-foot-7 and 300 pounds. He wore a cowboy hat and carried a cattle rope in the ring.
5. Twister Cain is a team roper from Texas. (Texas Tornado was a tragic pro wrestling figure whose real name was Kerry Von Erich.)
6. Crippler Canyon’s real name is Christopher Pallies, better known in pro wrestling by his other ring name, King Kong Bundy. (There is a bareback rider from Texas named Clint Cannon who is a 5-time WNFR qualifier.)
7. Shank Edwards is built like a pro wrestler (6-4, 240) but he is a tie down roper and team roper who lives in New Mexico.
8. Claude “Thunderbolt” Patterson (also known as Sweet Daddy Brown) lives in Atlanta. He was a World Tag Team Champion in the 60s, 70s and 80s who spoke out against racial and social injustice and tried to start a labor union for pro wrestlers.
9. Tooter Silver is a steer wrestler from Oklahoma. His real name is Kenneth.
10. Jimmy Jack Funk was a villain and jobber (professional wrestling loser) from Florida who rose to “fame” in the 1980s in the NWA and the WWF.
11. Zeke Thurston is a saddle bronc rider from Alberta, Canada. He won the PRCA World Championship last year after earning $265,449. He won the Champions Challenge in Rapid City, SD, earlier this year with an 87.5 point ride on one of Sutton Rodeos’ most famous horses, Chuckulator.
12. Ryan Dirteater (his real name) is a professional bull rider from Oklahoma. He competed (but did not have a qualified ride) in Sioux Falls in April this year at a PBR event.
13. Catfish Brown is a tie down roper, steer wrestler and former college football player from Texas. His real name is John.
14. Bad News Brown was a professional wrestler (died in 2007) who was known for never smiling, always scowling. (Not to be confused with rodeo cowboy, Billy Bob Brown, who is currently alive and well and a PRCA team roper.)
15. Brett Colt is not a cowboy although he did wear a cowboy hat and leather vest in the ring. He was trained at one time by Blackjack Mulligan (see above). He also went by the name Bodacious Bart and teamed with Bombastic Bob as part of the Midnight Express tag team that held the NWA World Championship in the late 90s.
16. This one is too easy. Dusty Rhodes is a WWE Hall of Famer. He got his nickname from his time growing up on the dirt streets near Austin, Texas. His real name is Virgil Runnels. His son is Dustin Runnels who is the wrestler, Goldust.
17. This would be an awesome name for a Bull Rider, but it is not. Balls Mahoney is from New Jersey and started his pro wrestling career at the age of 15. He was known as part of a tag team duo named The Hardcore Chair Swingin’ Freaks. He died in 2016 of a heart attack at the age of 44.
18. Straws Milan is 5-foot-10 and 250 pounds. He is a Canadian steer wrestler and former hockey player. He tied the best time in the PRCA this season with a 2.9 second run at a rodeo in Edmonton.
19. Dude Smith is a rodeo cowboy. Dude Love is one of the many characters portrayed in the wrestling ring by WWE Hall of Famer, Mick Foley, who has also appeared as Cactus Jack and Mankind.
20. Kip Winchester was/is a rodeo cowboy AND professional wrestler! He currently goes by the name, Billy Gunn, but his real name is Monty Kip Sopp. In the late 80s, he was a bull rider and member of the Pro Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA). He signed his first pro wrestling contract in 1993 and now works for New Japan Pro Wrestling.
21. Chris Shivers retired from bull riding in 2012. He was inducted into the Bull Riding Hall of Fame in Texas this year. He is the first man to reach $3-million in earnings on the PBR circuit and holds the record for the highest point ride (96.5) in PBR history.
22. Rowdy Roddy Piper is the famous wrestler. Rowdy Parrott is a young steer wrestler from Louisiana who is a big LSU football fan and works part-time in his dad’s crawfish business.
23. Cash Myers and Kash Deal and Money Local are all rodeo cowboys, but Bobby “Pork Chop” Cash has been a professional wrestler since 1973 and has bounced around as a jobber (see above) in the WWF/E.
24. Skeeter Quackenbush is neither a cowboy or a wrestler, but could and should be.
With nods to Howdy Cloud and Stetson Vest and Matt Marvel and the other real cowboys who did not make the list, thanks for playing.