Ricky Ortiz

Last updated

Ricky Ortiz
Ricky Ortiz ECW.jpg
Ortiz in 2009
Born
Richard Young

(1975-05-12) May 12, 1975 (age 49)
Phoenix, Arizona, United States
Spouse
(m. 2015)
Ring name(s) Atlas DaBone [1]
Atlas Ortiz [1] [2]
Rich Young
Ricky Ortiz [3]
Billed height6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) [3]
Billed weight246 lb (112 kg) [3]
Billed from Paradise Valley, Arizona [3]
Trained by Ohio Valley Wrestling [1]
Florida Championship Wrestling
Debut2006 [1]
Retired2013

American football career
Career information
College: Tulsa
Position: Linebacker
Undrafted: 1998
Career history
Career highlights and awards
Player stats at ArenaFan.com

Richard Young [1] (born May 12, 1975) [1] is an American retired professional wrestler and former football player. He is best known for his work with WWE performing under the ring name Ricky Ortiz. [3] [4]

Contents

Young spent time in the XFL, Canadian Football League (CFL), and Arena Football League (AFL).

Football career

College

Young spent two years at Glendale Community College in Glendale, Arizona. He then transferred to the University of Tulsa and played for the Tulsa Golden Hurricane. He was a two-year letter winner. He played 22 career games and was credited with 177 tackles as a linebacker. [5]

Professional football

After college, Young attended minicamp with the Kansas City Chiefs. [6] [7] In 1999, he went to the Canadian Football League (CFL) and played for the Saskatchewan Roughriders. [7] He spent the 2000 and 2001 seasons in the Arena Football League with the Milwaukee Mustangs. In the AFL, Young played both fullback and linebacker. Following the AFL, Young joined the short-lived XFL with the Orlando Rage. [7] After the league folded, Young attempted to make the Jacksonville Jaguars roster, but was waived during training camp. He rejoined the AFL, this time with the Indiana Firebirds, in 2002. He would spend the next two years in Indiana before joining the Colorado Crush in 2004. In 2003, he led all AFL middle linebackers with 4.0 sacks. [5]

Professional wrestling career

World Wrestling Entertainment (2006–2009)

Young made his professional wrestling debut with Ohio Valley Wrestling in late 2006 under the ring name Atlas DaBone. [7] On January 12, 2008, DaBone became the number one contender to the OVW Heavyweight Championship after beating Mike Kruel in a best of 3 series. [8]

On July 1, 2008, Young made his WWE debut under the name Atlas Ortiz on the ECW brand, winning his first match against Armando Estrada. [2] The next week on ECW, Tazz and Mike Adamle referred to him as "Ricky Ortiz". [7] He acknowledged the name change in an interview segment on the same show; Lena Yada called him Atlas and he responded by saying, "My friends call me Ricky". On the July 15 episode of ECW, he used the nickname, "The Latin Assassin". Ortiz defeated Chavo Guerrero by disqualification on July 29. [9] The next week he beat Guerrero and Bam Neely in a tag team match with Evan Bourne. [10]

Although enjoying a streak of 5–0, on October 7, Ortiz would team with Kofi Kingston, CM Punk, and Evan Bourne against John Morrison, The Miz, Cody Rhodes, and Ted DiBiase in an 8-man tag match losing effort. After a distraction from Manu, Morrison would then perform a Moonlight Drive on Punk and pin him for the victory. This would be Young's first televised loss since debuting on ECW, although he was still undefeated in singles competition. [11] On the December 2 episode of ECW, he suffered his first pinfall loss at the hands of Jack Swagger, who was also undefeated at the time. [12]

On April 15, 2009, Ortiz was drafted to the SmackDown brand as part of the 2009 Supplemental Draft. [13] On the May 15 episode of SmackDown, Ortiz made his debut for the brand, losing to Jeff Hardy. [14] His last match for WWE was the August 7 episode of SmackDown, where he was squashed by The Great Khali. [7] [15] He was released from his WWE contract on August 8, 2009. [4]

Independent circuit and retirement (2009–2013)

A week after his WWE release, on August 15, 2009, Young appeared at a World Wrestling Council show, using the name 'Ricky Ortiz' and challenging Shane Sewell for the WWC Puerto Rico Heavyweight Championship. He failed to win, and attacked Sewell after the match. [1] In early 2010, Ortiz appeared for the Combat Championship Wrestling promotion, wrestling against Shawn Spears and Sinn Bodhi. [1] He then began competing for Florida-based promotions, including I Believe in Wrestling and WWA. [1] On January 14, 2011 Young appeared at Vintage Pro Wrestling's Wrestlebrawl 2 event with Scott Hall, using the NWO Wolfpac theme for his entrance, to face Kennedy Kendrick. Despite originally winning the match, Young would lose when the referee reversed his decision and disqualified him due to refusing to release a hold.

In May 2011, it was revealed that Ortiz would take part in a new hiphop/pro wrestling collaboration, the Urban Wrestling Federation, with taping of the first event "First Blood" taking place on June 3. [16]

On December 28, 2013, Ortiz debuted in Extreme Rising, defeating Homicide. Subsequently, Ortiz would retire from professional wrestling, so that he could concentrate more on his personal life with fellow wrestler, Layla El.

Even though he is retired, Ortiz works as a producer for various independent promotions.

Other media

Young appeared on the November 25, 2008 episode of Cha$e as a hunter. [17] Young also appeared on Scott Hall's web show Last Call with Scott Hall.

Personal life

In July 2015, Young got engaged to English professional wrestler Layla El, [18] [19] and the two were married on November 27. [20] [21]

Championships and accomplishments

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daniel Hollie</span> American professional wrestler

Daniel Richard Hollie is an American retired professional wrestler. Hollie is best known for his appearances with World Wrestling Entertainment between 2003 and 2006 under the ring name Danny Basham, and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling under the ring name Damaja.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crash Holly</span> American professional wrestler (1971–2003)

Michael John Lockwood was an American professional wrestler. He was best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) / World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) from 1999 to 2003 under the ring names Crash Holly or simply Crash.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hardcore Holly</span> American professional wrestler

Robert William Howard is an American professional wrestler better known by the ring name Hardcore Holly or Bob Holly. He is best known for his 16-year career with the World Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Entertainment (WWF/E) where he also worked under the ring names Thurman "Sparky" Plugg, Bob "Spark Plug" Holly, and Bombastic Bob.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jamie Noble</span> American professional wrestler

James Gibson is an American retired professional wrestler better known by the ring name Jamie Noble. He is currently signed to WWE as a producer. In addition to his appearances with WWE, Noble is known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling from 1999 to 2001 as Jamie Howard, Jamie-San and Jamie Knoble and with New Japan Pro-Wrestling and Ring of Honor in 2004 and 2005 under his birth name. He is a former WWE Cruiserweight Champion and ROH World Champion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Super Crazy</span> Mexican professional wrestler

Francisco Islas Rueda, better known by his ring name Super Crazy, is a Mexican luchador. In Mexico, Islas has worked for Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA) and made appearances for various independent promotions but is not currently associated with one specific Mexican promotion. As Super Crazy, Islas gained American exposure by working for Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) between 1998 and 2000 and for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) between 2005 and 2008. He has also toured Japan on several occasions, working for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), Pro Wrestling Zero-One (Zero-1), All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) and Pro Wrestling Noah.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michelle McCool</span> American professional wrestler

Michelle Leigh Calaway is an American professional wrestler. She is best known for her tenure in WWE, where she is a former two-time WWE Divas Champion and a two-time WWE Women's Champion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vladimir Kozlov</span> Ukrainian-American actor and former professional wrestler

Oleg Aleksandrovich Prudius better known by his ring name Vladimir Kozlov, is a Ukrainian-American actor and professional wrestler currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) under his real name. He is best known for his time in WWE, where he won the WWE Tag Team Championship once with Santino Marella. He is trained in freestyle wrestling, rugby, football, sambo, kickboxing, judo, jujutsu, Brazilian jiu-jitsu and mixed martial arts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kelly Kelly</span> American professional wrestler

Barbara Jean Blank Coba, known professionally as Barbie Blank and by her ring name Kelly Kelly, is an American professional wrestler and model.

<i>WWE ECW</i> WWE television program

WWE ECW is an American professional wrestling television program that was produced by WWE, based on the independent Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) promotion that lasted from 1992 to 2001. The show's name also referred to the ECW brand, in which WWE employees were assigned to work and perform, complementary to WWE's other brands, Raw and SmackDown.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SummerSlam (2007)</span> World Wrestling Entertainment pay-per-view event

The 2007 SummerSlam was the 20th annual SummerSlam professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw, SmackDown!, and ECW brand divisions. The event took place on August 26, 2007, at the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Tickets for SummerSlam went on sale on December 30, 2006, and sold out in 40 minutes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Layla El</span> English professional wrestler

Layla El is an English retired professional wrestler, dancer and model. She is best known for her tenure in WWE from 2006 to 2015, where she performed under the mononymous ring name Layla. She danced for Carnival Cruise Lines, the Miami Heat franchise of the National Basketball Association, and Kanye West during his performance at the MTV Video Music Awards before becoming a contestant on the 2006 edition of WWE's Diva Search, which she won to earn a contract with the company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eric Pérez</span> Puerto Rican professional wrestler

Eric Alexander Pérez is a Puerto Rican professional wrestler who currently performs under the ring name Escobar. In 2005, Pérez signed a developmental contract with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), where he worked for developmental territories Deep South Wrestling and Florida Championship Wrestling, winning the tag team championship in both and the FCW Florida Heavyweight Championship. In the fall of 2009, he was promoted to WWE's main roster as Eric Escobar, appearing on the SmackDown brand. On January 17, 2010, he was released from his WWE contract. Pérez subsequently returned to Puerto Rico, performing in the IWA and Puerto Rico Wrestling Association, winning the heavyweight titles of both promotions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colin Delaney</span> American professional wrestler

Colin Matthew Delaney is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his time with WWE on its ECW brand, All Elite Wrestling (AEW), and has performed extensively on the independent circuit for promotions such as Squared Circle Wrestling, Chikara, NWA Upstate, Combat Zone Wrestling, and the International Wrestling Cartel under the names Colin Olsen and the "Extremely Cute Wrestler" Colin Delaney.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lena Yada</span> America model and professional wrestler

Lena Yada-Draiman is an American former model, actress, professional tandem surfer, valet and professional wrestler. She is best known for her time in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bam Neely</span> American former professional wrestler

Justin Bruce Rocheleau is an American former professional wrestler. He is best known for his stint with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) on its ECW brand under the ring name Bam Neely.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rosa Mendes</span> Canadian professional wrestler and model

Milena Leticia Roucka is a Canadian retired professional wrestler, valet and model. She was known for her time in WWE under the ring name Rosa Mendes. She managed former WWE Tag Team Champions Primo & Epico from 2011 to 2013. She was also a main cast member on the E! reality series Total Divas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ezekiel Jackson</span> Guyanese-American wrestler and bodybuilder

Rycklon Edward Stephens is a Guyanese-American professional wrestler, professional wrestling coach, personal trainer, preacher, bodybuilder and actor. He is best known for his tenure in WWE from 2007 to 2014, under the ring name Ezekiel Jackson, where he was the final ECW Champion under WWE's ECW brand, as well as a former WWE Intercontinental Champion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Morrison and the Miz</span> Professional wrestling tag team

John Morrison and The Miz were an American professional wrestling tag team in WWE.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Hart Dynasty</span> Professional wrestling stable

The Hart Dynasty was a Canadian professional wrestling stable who appeared in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). The unit consisted of the tag team of Tyson Kidd and David Hart Smith, and Natalya as a manager. The group was named due to the connection of all three wrestlers to the Hart wrestling family; David Hart Smith is the son of Davey Boy Smith, Natalya is the daughter of Jim Neidhart, and Tyson Kidd trained under Bret Hart and at Stu Hart's Dungeon and would later marry Natalya. They are recognized as the final team to hold WWE's original World Tag Team Championship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Rumble (2010)</span> World Wrestling Entertainment pay-per-view event

The 2010 Royal Rumble was the 23rd annual Royal Rumble professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw, SmackDown, and ECW brand divisions. The event took place on January 31, 2010, at the Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia. As has been customary since 1993, the Royal Rumble match winner received a world championship match at that year's WrestleMania. For the 2010 event, the winner received their choice to challenge for either Raw's WWE Championship, SmackDown's World Heavyweight Championship, or the ECW Championship at WrestleMania XXVI—this was the last Royal Rumble in which the ECW Championship was an option as the ECW brand was disbanded in February, also deactivating the title, thus also being WWE's last PPV to include the ECW brand.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Ricky Ortiz profile". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved August 15, 2008.
  2. 1 2 "Extreme Mismatch". World Wrestling Entertainment.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Official WWE Bio". World Wrestling Entertainment. Archived from the original on June 2, 2009. Retrieved April 15, 2009.
  4. 1 2 "Ricky Ortiz released". World Wrestling Entertainment. August 8, 2009. Retrieved August 8, 2009.
  5. 1 2 AFL. "404". AFL. Archived from the original on February 16, 2009. Retrieved March 23, 2018.{{cite web}}: Cite uses generic title (help)
  6. Zary, Darren (June 19, 1999). "Talk, talk, talk". Star-Phoenix. Retrieved April 15, 2024.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Waldman, Jon (August 8, 2009). "Ricky Ortiz the latest WWE release". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Archived from the original on January 15, 2013. Retrieved August 9, 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  8. "Ohio Valley Wrestling – Tomorrow's Superstars...Today!". February 13, 2008. Archived from the original on February 13, 2008. Retrieved March 23, 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  9. Medalis, Kara A. (July 29, 2008). "Proof of Strength". World Wrestling Entertainment . Retrieved August 15, 2008.
  10. Burdick, Michael (August 5, 2008). "The Dirt Spat". World Wrestling Entertainment . Retrieved August 15, 2008.
  11. DiFino, Lennie (October 8, 2008). "Wild West". World Wrestling Entertainment . Retrieved October 15, 2008.
  12. Burdick, Michael (December 2, 2008). "Wild Half man ... not so amazing". World Wrestling Entertainment . Retrieved December 14, 2008.
  13. "2009 WWE Supplemental Draft results". World Wrestling Entertainment. April 15, 2009. Retrieved April 15, 2009.
  14. Waldman, Jon (May 16, 2009). "Smackdown: re-writing a good show". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Archived from the original on July 15, 2012. Retrieved May 16, 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  15. Bishop, Matt (August 7, 2009). "Smackdown: Returning superstar makes big impact on World Title match". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Archived from the original on July 16, 2012. Retrieved August 9, 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  16. Martin, Adam (May 6, 2011). "UWF roster update and hip hop stars involved". WrestleView. Archived from the original on September 1, 2011. Retrieved May 13, 2011.
  17. Medalis, Kara A. (November 25, 2008). "'CHA$E' with Ricky Ortiz". World Wrestling Entertainment . Retrieved January 9, 2011.
  18. Tello, Craig (July 29, 2015). "Layla retires from WWE". WWE . Retrieved August 3, 2015.
  19. El, Layla (July 28, 2015). "Aawwwww who woulda thought .... @iamrichyoung2 richandlay #love #engagement #future #young 💖💕". Twitter . Retrieved July 28, 2015.
  20. "Layla Young on Twitter". Twitter. April 19, 2018. Retrieved December 29, 2015.
  21. "Former WWE Diva and Superstar tie the knot". WWE. April 19, 2018. Retrieved December 29, 2015.
  22. Kreikenbohm, Philip. "IWA Florida « Events Database « CAGEMATCH – The Internet Wrestling Database". www.cagematch.de. Retrieved March 23, 2018.