Rick Link

While in New Zealand, the 24-year-old Link and then NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair celebrated their birthdays together, Flair's 34th birthday being three days before his, along with Steve Rickard.

Link also worked in Tonga, Samoa and Hawaii for Lia Maivia during his New Zealand tour.

The King of Tonga, Taufa'ahau Tupou IV, was in attendance during one of his matches.

Years later, Link became the first wrestler to appear in New Zealand cartoonist Jason Conlan's "On The Mat" comic strip for Pro Wrestling Illustrated.

He was also interviewed by Kiwi Pro Wrestling, one of New Zealand's three major wrestling companies, which was later posted on their website.

Richard Link (born February 28, 1959) is an American semi-retired professional wrestler, trainer and promoter.

He wrestled throughout Canada and the United States for the National Wrestling Alliance during the 1970s and 80s under a number of ringnames, most notably, as M.E.B. (Man Eating Beast) in NWA Central States and as Man Mountain Link in the Continental Wrestling Association where he was among the "monster heels" who challenged AWA Southern Heavyweight Champion Jerry "The King" Lawler and was involved in the ongoing feud between Lawler and Andy Kaufman.

Other promotions Link competed in included Georgia Championship Wrestling, International Championship Wrestling, the International Wrestling Association, Jim Crockett Promotions, and Stampede Wrestling.

During his rookie year, Link joined up with the International Wrestling Association, an "outlaw" promotion run by Johnny Powers which competed against Jim Crockett Promotions in the Carolinas during the 1970s.

He appeared in televised matches for well over a year against wrestlers such as Bulldog Brower, The Love Brothers, Don Fargo, Buddy Austin, Killer Karl Krupp and Karl Von Stronheim.

Link later credited these men for giving him valuable experience during his early career though, he joked in a later interview that "it took a few months of getting stretched before they warmed to me".

After about six months of training, Link made his pro debut on March 1, 1975, one day after his 16th birthday.

He spent the first few years of his career wrestling for local North Carolina-based independent promotions such as Johnny Hunter's Eastern Wrestling Association.

In 1979, Link began wrestling for the National Wrestling Alliance in Atlanta, Georgia.

He initially worked for Ernie Ladd and later Georgia Championship Wrestling bookers George Scott and Buck Robley through 1980–81.

Link was then brought into Angelo Poffo's International Championship Wrestling by his son "Macho Man" Randy Savage and took part in TV tapings with Angelo and Lanny Poffo, Ronnie Garvin, Ox Baker, Rip Rogers, Pez Whatley, and The Samoans (Tio and Tapu) during 1982.

Later that year, Link left the United States for Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling in Calgary, Alberta and accompanied the promotion on its first-ever Caribbean tour in Antigua and Montserrat in the West Indies where he wrestled Bret Hart, "Dr. D" David Schultz, Gama Singh and JR Foley.

He was also part of the NWA's 1983 visit to New Zealand, frequently appearing on the country's long-running wrestling programme On the Mat, and remained undefeated throughout the tour.

Following the end of the NWA territory system, Link relocated to his native North Carolina where he became a trainer and promoter of independent wrestling in the Southeastern United States.

It was on the independent circuit that he reinvented himself as a formidable "hardcore" wrestler and engaged in bloody brawls with Abdullah the Butcher, The Iron Sheik, Buddy Landel, Jimmy Valiant and Wahoo McDaniel.

He has also been long billed as "World Brass Knuckles Champion" in his home state.

He also joined the NWA on a major tour of New Zealand in 1983.

He was among the many foreign wrestlers to appear on the country's long-running wrestling programme On the Mat and whose opponents included Lars Anderson, Mark Lewin, Curt Kummala and Steve Rickard.

He initially arrived as a "heel" wrestler, offering $1000 to anyone who could bodyslam him and challenged local wrestlers to handicap matches, but later "turned face" to feud with the Mongols, Zar & Gor.

One of his most memorable matches from this period was a 6-man tag team match with Ricky Rickard and Mark Lewin against Butcher Branigan, Jos LeDuc & "Brutal" Bob Miller.

Link returned to the US in the summer of 1983 and spent most of the decade wrestling for promoter Jerry Jarrett in Memphis, Tennessee and NWA Central States promoters Harley Race, Pat O'Connor and Bob Geigel in Kansas City, Missouri.

He first arrived in the Continental Wrestling Association as one of the "monster heels", such as Jos LeDuc, the Mongolian Stomper, Kamala, King Kong Bundy and André the Giant, brought to Memphis to challenge Jerry "The King" Lawler for the AWA Southern Heavyweight Championship.

Link was managed by Jimmy Hart during his first run in the territory and whose "gimmick" included eating a raw chicken walking to the ring or during interviews.

Hart later claimed that Link was probably his least favourite wrestler to manage because of this eccentricity.

Link fared better than prior opponents defeating Lawler for the title at the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis on June 20, 1983, ending Lawler's 25th reign.

He and Lawler traded the title during the feud before losing the title back to Lawler three weeks later for a second a final time; Link's victories made him one of the first men to pin Lawler two consecutive weeks in a row at the Mid-South Coliseum.

That same night, he took part in a 10-man tag team match with Dream Machine, Porkchop Cash and The Grapplers (Grappler #1 and Grappler #2) against Steve Regal, Spike Huber, Mad Dog and The Rock 'n' Roll Express (Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson).

Since the 1990s, he has been associated with Alternative Championship Wrestling, Carolina Championship Wrestling, Coastal Championship Wrestling, New Age Championship Wrestling and New Dimension Wrestling, the latter promotion associated with his Piedmont Triad wrestling school, the TNT Training Center.

In recent years, he has appeared with other NWA territorial veterans of the Carolinas such as Bobby Eaton, The Barbarian, Ivan Koloff, Bobby Fulton, Jimmy Valiant, Tommy Young and The Rock 'n' Roll Express (Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson).

A South Carolina native, Rick Link became a fan of professional wrestling at a young age and was the president of the Ron Garvin Fan Club in his teens.

One Man Gang was also one of his childhood friends while growing up in the Carolinas.

Link started training to become a pro wrestler at the age of 15.

He was taught by Johnny Hunter, an older NWA veteran who also trained Ken Spence and George South, who set up a ring in Link's backyard and worked out with the teenager 7 days a week unless Hunter was on the road.

The training conditions, according to Link, were "brutal" as the two wrestled "stiff" and regardless of "whether it was freezing or it was in 100 degree heat".

The lessons learned from Hunter, that hardship would teach students to have a love and old-school respect for the business, would carry over as a trainer years later.