Ricky Hunter

Charles B. Sprott (March 1, 1936 – February 8, 2022) was a Canadian professional wrestler, better known by his ring names Ricky Hunter and the masked wrestler The Gladiator.

Sprott made his debut on October 16, 1957 in his hometown of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, wrestling under a variation of his real name, Buddy Sprott.

He won his first championship, the Atlas Wrestling Club junior heavyweight title, by defeating Ray Lasko in September 1958 in Lockport, Manitoba.

He was best known for his title-winning success in Championship Wrestling from Florida in the late 1960s, and for his stint from the mid-1980s in the World Wrestling Federation (now WWE).

Sprott was active for over 30 years, mainly performing in a number of National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) promotions.

He wrestled throughout the United States and Canada, and internationally, including in Australia, Japan, and England.

In September 1961 he teamed with George Eakin to defeat John DePaulo and Stan Mykietowich to win the Madison Wrestling Club tag team titles in Winnipeg, losing them two months later to Bob Brown and John DePaulo.

In early 1962 Sprott expanded from his base in Manitoba, entering the larger wrestling market in the United States.

He went to train with Verne Gagne of the American Wrestling Association in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Don Owen of the Pacific Northwest Wrestling promotion in Portland, Oregon.

He then wrestled with Ed Francis' promotion in Hawaii and Worldwide Wrestling Associates in Los Angeles run by Mike and Gene LeBell under the name Rocky Hunter, in the Pacific Northwest as Ricky Hunter, as well as still appearing in Manitoba as Buddy Sprott.

During this time he faced notable opponents such as Mad Dog Vachon, Pat Patterson, and Mr. Fuji.

Sprott continued to develop his in-ring ability and success rate, wrestling mainly in Hawaii and the American and Canadian Pacific Northwest through to 1966, but including at least one international tour, wrestling in Australia in 1963.

In March 1966 Sprott began wrestling in Roy Shire's NWA San Francisco territory, where he would remain for most of that year.

Sprott credited his time in California with Shire as the point where they developed his masked wrestling character The Gladiator.

In early 1967 Sprott moved onto Central States Wrestling where he would compete with the likes of Lou Thesz and Bob Orton, and later that year he entered Georgia Championship Wrestling.

At the start of 1968 he undertook an extensive tour of Japan, wrestling with the Japan Wrestling Association, and then returned via Hawaii to again wrestle in Georgia.

At the start of November 1968 Sprott moved to the Championship Wrestling from Florida promotion, where he started performing as his masked persona of The Gladiator.

He became one of the first wrestlers to employ the inverted suplex manoeuvre, and it was in this promotion that he had his greatest success, winning multiple titles over the next year.

On 23 November 1968 The Gladiator defeated Nick Kozak in Tampa to win the NWA Florida Heavyweight Championship for the first time.

The Gladiator dropped the belt to Hans Mortier two-and-half months later, on 4 February 1969.

Following this, on 3 April 1969 in Jacksonville The Gladiator defeated Boris Malenko for the NWA Florida Brass Knuckles Championship, which he lost back to Malenko two weeks later on 17 April.

On 23 April The Gladiator fought the reigning NWA World Heavyweight Champion and future Hall of Famer Dory Funk, Jr. to a sixty-minute time-limit draw, with a rematch on 21 May going for ninety minutes before The Gladiator lost by disqualification.

The Gladiator teamed with Lester Welch to defeat the team of The Medics (Billy Garrett and Jim Starr) for the NWA Florida Tag Team Championship on 29 April in Tampa, becoming only the second team to hold this title.

The Gladiator and Welch lost these belts to the team of Yasuhiro Kojima and The Missouri Mauler on 27 May.

The Gladiator then regained the NWA Florida Heavyweight Championship by defeating Mortier on 13 June 1969 to become a two time heavyweight champion, but shortly after again lost the belt back to Mortier.

Following his successful run in Florida, Sprott again moved around the wrestling territories of the time.

Throughout the remainder of 1969 and 1970 he returned to Hawaii as Ricky Hunter, and fought through Shire's San Francisco territory as The Gladiator.

In early 1971 he again toured Japan as Ricky Hunter, and then spent several months in the NWA Western States promotion, based in Amarillo, Texas, famous as the home territory of the Funks.

Wrestling as The Spartan, on 14 April 1971 he defeated Pak Song to win the NWA Western States Heavyweight Championship, losing the belt to Terry Funk in May.

He returned to the Hawaii and California territories through to 1972, wrestling again as Ricky Hunter.

In April 1972 he returned to the Pacific Northwest, where he remained for the rest of the year.

In 1973 he moved onto World Class Championship Wrestling based in Texas.

In mid-1973, adopting the new moniker of The Super Gladiator, he entered the recently created independent All-South Wrestling Alliance (ASWA) based in Atlanta, a non-National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) competitor to Georgia Championship Wrestling.

On 31 July 1973 in Atlanta The Super Gladiator teamed with Tommy Seigler to beat Rock Hunter and Assassin #2 to win the ASWA Georgia Tag Team Championship, which they would hold until 9 October before losing it back to the same opponents.

On Friday, 24 August 1973 The Atlanta Constitution & Journal reported that Sprott had sued the reigning NWA World Heavyweight Champion Jack Brisco for slander and harassment, seeking a $75,000 payment plus losses.

The lawsuit arose from an alleged incident in the parking lot of WTCG-TV the previous month, where Sprott claimed Brisco had called him names "in hearing distance of a number of wrestling fans" waiting for a wrestling television taping.

The result of the case is not known, but the alleged incident would have occurred at the height of tensions between the NWA's Georgia Championship Wrestling and Sprott's rebel independent All-South Wrestling Alliance.

Just over two weeks after losing the tag team titles he shared with Tommy Seigler, on 27 October 1973 The Super Gladiator defeated Seigler to win the ASWA Georgia Television Title.

He would never relinquish this title, retaining it in his last recorded title defence against El Mongol in March 1974.

Although briefly successful and attracting several high-profile wrestlers, the ASWA was squeezed out of business by the powerful NWA, with The Super Gladiator being the last recorded television champion when the promotion closed in November 1974.