Erick Rowan
Joseph Ruud (born November 28, 1981 in Minneapolis, Minnesota) better known by his ring name Erick Rowan, is an American professional wrestler. He competed in WWE from 2011 to 2020, where he was a member of The Wyatt Family along with Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper, Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton. He began performing s Erick Redbeard on the independent circuit and for All Elite Wrestling in 2022.
| Erick Rowan | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Ring name(s) | Thoruf Marius Thoruf Erick Redbeard Erick Rowan Rowan |
| Billed height | 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) |
| Billed weight | 319 lb (145 kg) |
| Born | November 28, 1981 Minneapolis, Minnesota |
| Billed from | Minneapolis, Minnesota Snake Bight, Florida |
| Trained by | Eddie Sharkey |
| Debut | September 3, 2003 |
Career
Rudd competed in various independent promotions in both the United States and Japan before signing to the WWE. In 2007, he worked for Pro Wrestling Noah in Japan under the ring name, Thoruf. After his time with them was done, he returned to the United States and started competing for F1rst Wrestling under the ring name, Thoruf Marius. During his time there he feuded with Brody Hoofer.
He signed a developmental contract with WWE and was assigned to their developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling and started competing under the ring name Erick Rowan. He debuted on FCW TV debut in August 2011 when he defeated Kenneth Cameron. When FCW was rebranded into NXT Wrestling, he debuted on the December 12, 2012 episode of NXT as a follower of Bray Wyatt, who introduced Rowan as his "second son".
As a member of the Wyatt Family, he teamed with Wyatt's "first son" Luke Harper. They defeated Percy Watson and Yoshi Tatsu on the January 9, 2013 episode of NXT and defeated them again on the January 23 episode of NXT in the first round of the NXT Tag Team Championship tournament. Rowan and Harper defeated Bo Dallas and Michael McGillicutty in the semi-finals but were defeated in the finals by Adrian Neville and Oliver Grey. Harper and Rowan won a triple threat elimination tag match on the May 2 episode of NXT and defeated Neville and Bo Dallas, filling in for the injured Grey, on the May 8 NXT (taped on May 2) to win the tag titles.[1] On June 20, they lost the NXT Tag Team Championship to Adrian Neville and Corey Graves.[2]
Vignettes became appearing on Raw to promote the upcoming debut of the Wyatt Family and they debuted on the July 8 episode of Raw when they attacked Kane.[3] He made his WWE in-ring debut in a tag team match on the July 26 episode of SmackDown, where he and Harper defeated Tons of Funk (Brodus Clay and Tensai).[4] Rowan and Harper went on a winning streak over many teams for a couple months but suffered their first lost on the October 11 episode of SmackDown from Cody Rhodes and Goldust.[5]
Championships
- NXT Wrestling
- NXT Tag Team Championship (one time) (with Luke Harper)
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- He was ranked #145 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2013.[6]
Erick Rowan Media
The Wyatt Family – Rowan (left), Bray Wyatt (center) and Luke Harper (right)
Rowan wearing his sheep mask as part of The Wyatt Family
The Wyatt Family confronting The Rock at WrestleMania 32
The Bludgeon Brothers at WrestleMania 34
Rowan is a two-time WWE Smackdown Tag Team Champion
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References
- ↑ "James's WWE NXT Report 5/8 Week 45: Wyatt Family captures Tag Titles, Ohno turning face?, Sandow in action, Paige vs. Summer Rae feud continues, Overall Reax". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2013-11-08.
- ↑ "WWE News: NXT Spoilers for summer episodes - first NXT Women's champ, Flair, more, plus NXT TV in the U.S.?". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2013-11-08.
- ↑ "Raw News: Vickie "fired" as Raw authority figure & replacement named, Wyatts debut, final MITB PPV hype, RVD, Lesnar, more". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2013-11-08.
- ↑ "Parks's WWE Smackdown Report 7/26: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of Friday show, including Wyatt Family in-ring debut, Del Rio vs. RVD match". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2013-11-08.
- ↑ "Parks's WWE Smackdown Report 10/11: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of Friday show, including Curtis Axel vs. R-Truth for the Intercontinental Title". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2013-11-08.
- ↑ "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 2013". The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved 2013-11-08.
Other websites
- Erick Rowan on WWE.com