Spreading Like Wildfire

Tommy Rich started wrestling in 1974. Sometime early on, he added Wildfire to his moniker. Rich wrestled mainly in the south, winning many NWA regional titles. He is also one of a very few wrestlers who never wrestled for the WWE. In 1981, he became one of the youngest NWA World Heavyweight Champions in history. Some say the title win was done to show that anything can happen at any time, since Rich was a huge underdog to Harley Race. Some say the title change happened as a result of a screwjob from one territory to another. Either way, Rich dropped the belt back to Race just four days after winning it.
Rich still wrestles on the independent scene. I met Rich backstage at an event in Kokomo, IN.

Tommy Rich and me in Kokomo, IN-November 2007.