Kenneth Rinehurst (born July 3, 1964) is an American professional wrestler and manager, better known by his ring name, Jack Victory. He is perhaps best known for his appearances with the Universal Wrestling Federation and the World Class Wrestling Association in the mid-1980s, with World Championship Wrestling between 1988 and 1991, and with Extreme Championship Wrestling between 1998 and 2001.[1][6]

Jack Victory
Rinehurst as Russian Assassin #2 in 2013
Birth nameKenneth Rinehurst[1][2]
Born (1964-07-03) July 3, 1964 (age 59)
Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)The Blackmailer
Jack Victory[1]
Jacko Victory[3]
Russian Assassin #2
Super Destroyer
The Terrorist
Titán
Billed height6 ft 3 in (191 cm)[4][5]
Billed weight245 lb (111 kg)[4]
Billed fromNew Zealand
(as Jacko Victory)[3]
Atlantic City, New Jersey
Russia
(as Russian Assassin #2)
Debut1984[2]

Professional wrestling career edit

Universal Wrestling Federation (1984–1987) edit

Rinehurst debuted in 1984 in the Oklahoma City, Oklahoma-based Universal Wrestling Federation under the ring name Jack Victory.[2] He went on to wrestle throughout the Southeastern United States. Early in his career, Victory accompanied The Sheepherders to ringside while carrying the New Zealand flag.

Victory formed a tag team with John Tatum. Managed by Tatum's girlfriend, Missy Hyatt, Victory and Tatum won the UWF Tag Team Championship in 1986.[6][7] Victory, Tatum and Hyatt joined "Hot Stuff International", a stable headed by "Hot Stuff" Eddie Gilbert.[8]

World Class Championship Wrestling (1985–1988) edit

In 1985, Victory began appearing with the Texas-based World Class Championship Wrestling promotion. He won the WCCW Television Championship from David Peterson in December 1985, losing the title to Mark Youngblood less than a month later.

Victory and Tatum won the WCWA Texas Tag Team Championship on three occasions in 1988, trading the titles with Shaun and Steve Simpson.[9] On the 30th of November 1987, Victory and Tatum also teamed together in the Fort Worth, Texas-based Wild West Wrestling, where they defeated Missing Link and Jeff Raitz in a tournament final to become the first tag team champions of the organization. These titles would unify with the WCCW tag team championship on the 12th of October, 1988.

Jim Crockett Promotions (1988–1991) edit

In the late 1980s, Victory (as Jacko Victory) began wrestling for Jim Crockett Promotions, where he formed a tag team with Rip Morgan known as The New Zealand Militia.[3][10]

At the 1989 NWA pay-per-view Chi-Town Rumble, Victory replaced Dennis Condrey as Randy Rose and Paul E. Dangerously's tag team partner. The three men were defeated by the Midnight Express and Jim Cornette in a losing team leaves the NWA match.[10] Victory wrestled at four Clash of the Champions events in 1989, appearing as the masked heel jobbers "Russian Assassin #2", "the Blackmailer", "the Terrorist", and "the Super Destroyer".[10] In the same year, the two were repackaged as "The Royal Family" and were given a manager, Lord Littlebrook.[10] The Royal Family family was one of eight teams entered in a tournament for the vacant WCW United States Tag Team Championship. The group lost in the first round to eventual tournament winners Flyin' Brian and "Z-Man" Tom Zenk.[11] WCW held the "Pat O'Connor International Tag Team Tournament" as part of the 1990 Starrcade with eight teams representing various countries. The storyline was that the Royal Family had won a tournament in Australia to earn the rights to represent Australia and New Zealand; in reality none of the teams had won qualifying tournaments. Victory and Morgan lost to "Team Japan" (Masa Saito and The Great Muta) in the first round of the tournament.[12] The Royal Family's last significant appearance with WCW was on April 28, 1991, where they teamed up with Black Bart as they unsuccessfully challenged the team of the Junkyard Dog, Ricky Morton and Tommy Rich for the WCW World Six-Man Tag Team Championship.[13]

Various promotions (1991–1998) edit

In 1991 Victory and Morgan made their way to the Global Wrestling Federation in Dallas, Texas, this time as "The Maulers." The duo competed in the tournament for the first ever GWF Tag Team Championship. In the first round they defeated "Wet'n'Wild" (Steve Ray and Sunny Beach), followed by a victory over Chaz and Terry Garvin. In the third round -- the semi-finals of the tournament -- the Maulers lost to eventual tournament winners Chris Walker and Steve Simpson.[13] Wrestling as the Maulers, Victory and Morgan also wrestled a dark match at a WWF Superstars taping in Mobile, Alabama on March 9, 1992, defeating Jim Cooper and John Allen.[14] The Maulers did not stay in the GWF after the tournament, instead moving on to Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW) in Tennessee. They competed in a tournament to determine the first ever SMW Tag Team Champions. In the first round the Maulers defeated the Rich Brothers (Davey Rich and Johnny Rich), but lost to The Fantastics (Bobby Fulton and Jackie Fulton) in the second round to be eliminated from the tournament.[13] Their short lived run in SMW was the last time Morgan and Victory teamed together on a regular basis. In the latter half of 1992, Victory was a regular for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre, wrestling as Titán.[15] After his time in Mexico, he returned to the American independents.

Extreme Championship Wrestling (1998–2001) edit

In 1998, Victory debuted in Extreme Championship Wrestling as a mercenary hired to assault New Jack. His wrestling ended for ECW when he broke his leg at 1998's November to Remember in a tag team match pitting himself and Justin Credible against Tommy Dreamer and Jake "The Snake" Roberts, when he was backdropped over the top rope by Dreamer. While using a wheelchair for rehabilitation, Victory became the manager of Steve Corino. When his leg healed, Victory began interfering in Corino's matches on behalf of his client. Along with Corino, Victory was a member of the stable known as The Network. He remained in ECW until the promotion declared bankruptcy in April 2001, defeating C.W. Anderson on the promotion's last show in January.

Independent circuit (2001–present) edit

Following the closure of ECW, Victory began wrestling on the independent circuit. Along with several other ECW alumni, he made several appearances with the Premier Wrestling Federation, winning the PWF Tag Team Championship in February 2002 and the PWF Xtreme Championship in August 2002. He also wrestled for Pro-Pain Pro Wrestling, Pro Wrestling Zero1, and Ring of Honor.

Championships and accomplishments edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d Johannes Meyer (2013). Join the Revolution: Der inoffizielle ECW Almanach. Books on Demand. pp. 100, 264–267. ISBN 978-3-8482-3782-1.
  2. ^ a b c Scott E. Williams (13 December 2013). Hardcore History: The Extremely Unauthorized Story of ECW. Skyhorse Publishing Company, Incorporated. p. 237. ISBN 978-1-61321-582-1.
  3. ^ a b c Dave Meltzer (July 2003). Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Wrestling Observer Newsletter. p. 17.
  4. ^ a b Nix, Marc (2000). "Jack Victory". ECW Hardcore Revolution Guide. IGN. Retrieved March 21, 2016.
  5. ^ "Jack Victory". ECWWrestling.com (via Wayback Machine). January 25, 2001. Archived from the original on January 26, 2001. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
  6. ^ a b Kristian Pope (14 August 2005). Tuff Stuff Professional Wrestling Field Guide: Legend and Lore. Krause Publications. p. 478. ISBN 1-4402-2810-8.
  7. ^ Missy Hyatt; Mark Goldblatt; Charles Salzberg (2001). Missy Hyatt: First Lady of Wrestling. ECW Press. p. 42. ISBN 978-1-55022-498-6.
  8. ^ George Napolitano (1 October 2011). Hot Shots and High Spots: George Napolitano's Amazing Pictorial History of Wrestling's Greatest Stars. ECW Press. p. 249. ISBN 978-1-77090-064-6.
  9. ^ a b c Harris M. Lentz III (1 January 2003). Biographical Dictionary of Professional Wrestling, 2d ed. McFarland. p. 348. ISBN 978-0-7864-1754-4.
  10. ^ a b c d Cawthon, Graham (2014). The History of Professional Wrestling Vol 4: World Championship Wrestling 1989-1994. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. ISBN 978-1499656343.
  11. ^ Will, Gary; Royal Duncan (1994). "United States: 19th century & widely defended titles – NWA, WWF, AWA, IWA, ECW, NWA". Wrestling Title Histories (3 ed.). Archeus Communications. p. 23. ISBN 0-9698161-1-1.
  12. ^ Adamson, Matt (17 February 2008). "Going Old School: Starrcade '90". 411mania. Retrieved 28 May 2008.
  13. ^ a b c Duncan, Royal and Gary Will (2006). Wrestling Title Histories (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  14. ^ "1992". thehistoryofwwe.com.
  15. ^ "CMLL – Titan" (in Spanish). Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre Gaceta. April 17, 2012. Retrieved October 14, 2012.
  16. ^ Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2000). Wrestling Title Histories (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  17. ^ Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2000). "Texas: WCWA Television Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. p. 396. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  18. ^ "World Class Television Title". Wrestling-titles.com. Retrieved November 19, 2016.
  19. ^ Will, Gary; Duncan, Royal (2000). "Texas: WCWA Texas Tag Team Title [Von Erich]". Wrestling Title Histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present. Pennsylvania: Archeus Communications. p. 277. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  20. ^ "World Class Wrestling Association Texas Tag Team Championship". Wrestling-Titles. Retrieved December 26, 2019.

External links edit