Brad Rheingans

{{Infobox professional wrestler

|name = Brad Rheingans

|image = BradRheingans 830828.jpg

|alt =

|caption = Rheingans in 1983

|birth_name = Bradley Bert Rheingans

|birth_date = {{birth date and age|1953|12|13}}

|birth_place = Appleton, Minnesota, U.S.

|alma_mater = North Dakota State University

|names = Brad Rheingans

|height = 6 ft 0 in{{Cite web |url=http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/profile/brad-rheingans/ |title=Brad Rheingans OWW profile |website=OnlineWorldofWrestling |date=May 31, 2023}}

|weight = 260 lb

|billed = Appleton, Minnesota

|trainer = Verne Gagne
Billy Robinson

|debut = 1980

|retired = 1995

| module = {{Infobox sportsperson

| child = yes

| nocat_wdimage = yes

| name =

| headercolor = lightsteelblue

| show-medals = yes

| medaltemplates = {{MedalSport|Men's Greco-Roman Wrestling}}

{{MedalCountry|{{USA}}}}

}}

Bradley Bert Rheingans (born December 13, 1953) is an American former Greco-Roman wrestler and professional wrestler. He was a member of the United States' Greco-Roman wrestling teams for the 1976 and 1980 Summer Olympics, as well as winning two gold medals in the 1975 and 1979 Pan American Games and a bronze medal in the 1979 World Wrestling Championships.{{cite book |author=Mike Chapman |title=Wrestling Tough |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OcPia9mAlKQC&pg=PA146 |year=2005 |publisher=Human Kinetics |isbn=978-0-7360-5637-3 |pages=146}}{{cite web |url=http://slam.canoe.com/Slam/Wrestling/2004/08/25/602138.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925083255/http://slam.canoe.com/Slam/Wrestling/2004/08/25/602138.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 25, 2015 |title=Olympic boycott still haunts Rheingans |publisher=Quebecor Media |work=Canoe.ca |author=Oliver, Greg |date=August 25, 2004 |accessdate=April 29, 2016}} As a professional, Rheingans co-held the AWA World Tag Team Championship one time.

Early life

Rheingans was born in Appleton, Minnesota. While in high school, he won honours in football, wrestling, and track and field. His high school friends included fellow future professional wrestling personality Eric Bischoff. After graduating high school, Rheingans enrolled in North Dakota State University.

Amateur wrestling career

Originally from Appleton, Rheingans was an NCAA Division II[http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/wrestling_champs_records/2010-11/2010-11_d2wr.pdf NCAA Division II Records through 2011] champion in 1975 for North Dakota State University and wrestled in the 1976 Olympics, placing fourth.{{cite news |last=Reynolds |first=Marge |title=Olympian's story inspires wrestlers Gold medalist overcame cancer |newspaper=Chicago Daily Herald |pages=1 |date=December 24, 1998}}{{cite news |last=Reusse |first=Patrick |title=Gust missed his Olympic moment; Canby's Brian Gust, who died last weekend, was denied a shot at the Olympics by the 1980 U.S. boycott. |newspaper=Star Tribune |location=Minneapolis |pages=3C |date=March 13, 2009}} He qualified for the Olympic team in 1980, but did not compete due to the United States boycott.{{cite news |url=http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/2004/07/25/556855.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130115062805/http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/2004/07/25/556855.html |url-status=usurped |archive-date=January 15, 2013 |title=Kiniski, Rheingans entering Newton hall |date=July 25, 2004 |publisher=CANOE |accessdate=April 28, 2010}} Between Olympics, he placed third for a bronze medal at the 1979 World Wrestling Championships.{{Cite web |url=http://www.foeldeak.com/wrestlingdatabase.php?language=en |title=FILA Database |access-date=April 23, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727233949/http://www.foeldeak.com/wrestlingdatabase.php?language=en |archive-date=July 27, 2011 |url-status=dead}} He was later inducted into the Tribune Hall of Fame.{{cite news |last=Thoma |first=Scott |title=Tribune Hall of Fame finalists named |newspaper=West Central Tribune |location=Minnesota |date=November 12, 2008}} Rheingans also won gold medals in the 1975 and 1979 Pan American Games.{{cite book |author=Steven Olderr |title=The Pan American Games / Los Juegos Panamericanos: A Statistical History, 1951–1999, bilingual edition / Una Historia Estadistica, 1951–1999, edicion bilingue |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IXIwCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA327 |date=April 29, 2003 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-4336-9 |pages=327–}}

From 1976 to 1977, Rheingans served as assistant wrestling coach for the University of Minnesota.{{cite book |author=George Schire |title=Minnesota's Golden Age of Wrestling: From Verne Gagne to the Road Warriors |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r8PjMDAUwSAC&pg=PA128 |year=2010 |publisher=Minnesota Historical Society |isbn=978-0-87351-620-4 |pages=127–128}}

He went on to serve as a coach for the Minnesota Wrestling Club, where he trained Jeff Blatnick for the 1980 Summer Olympics.{{cite book |author=David L. Porter |title=Their Greatest Victory: 24 Athletes Who Overcame Disease, Disability and Injury |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fVxOAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA4 |date=August 5, 2013 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-0247-9 |pages=4}}

Like Rheingans, Blatnick qualified for the Olympic team in 1980, but did not compete due to the United States boycott.

Professional wrestling career

File:Brad Rheingans wrestling 1983.png

= American Wrestling Association (1980–1986) =

Rheingans entered professional wrestling in 1980, training under Verne Gagne and Billy Robinson.{{cite book |author1=Billy Robinson |author2=Jake Shannon |title=Physical Chess: My Life in Catch-As-Catch-Can Wrestling |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kru8jBa9a3YC&pg=PT104 |date=June 1, 2012 |publisher=ECW Press |isbn=978-1-77090-215-2 |pages=104–}} He debuted in Gagne's American Wrestling Association.

= World Wrestling Federation (1980, 1987) =

In 1980, Rheingans made an appearance for World Wrestling Federation based in New York where he defeated Pete Doherty.{{cite web|url=http://thehistoryofwwe.com/80.htm|title=1980 WWF results|access-date=November 25, 2012|author=The History of WWE}} He returned as an enhancement talent in 1987.{{cite web|url=http://thehistoryofwwe.com/87.htm|title=1987 WWF results|access-date=November 25, 2012|author=The History of WWE}}

= Return to American Wrestling Association (1988–1990) =

He worked for the AWA again in 1989 where he and Ken Patera formed The Olympians tag team and beat Badd Company for the AWA World Tag Team Championship but were forced to vacate the belts when Patera was kayfabe injured in a strongman contest by The Destruction Crew who subsequently won the vacant title. Rheingans worked for AWA until August 1990 when the company went bankrupt. Afterwards, he worked for various independent promotions in the Minnesota area during the early half of the 1990s.

= World Championship Wrestling (1989–1990) =

Rheingans also wrestled occasionally worked for World Championship Wrestling from 1989 to 1990.{{Citation needed|reason=Need references or sources. Cannot find any records of him in WCW.|date=November 2024}}

= New Japan Pro-Wrestling (1989–1993) =

In 1989, Rheingans began touring Japan with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), allying himself with his former trainee Leon White, now known as Big Van Vader, and Buzz Sawyer in battling Antonio Inoki, Tatsumi Fujinami, Riki Choshu and Kengo Kimura, but later, he would aid New Japan in their battle against USSR amateur wrestlers such as Salman Hashimikov, Victor Zangiev, Vladimir Berkovich, Timur Zalasov and Wahka Evloev for the remainder of the year. In 1990, he started to help training young wrestlers on the NJPW Dojo, most notably Koji Kitao and Osamu Nishimura. In that time his most notable match was against another decorated amateur wrestler in Victor Zangiev from the Soviet Union on February 10 at the Tokyo Dome, in a winning effort. Later on, he would only engage against young lions such as Michiyoshi Ohara, Hiroyoshi Yamamoto, Manabu Nakanishi, Yuji Nagata and many others. His last match on New Japan saw Rheingans defeat El Samurai on December 11, 1993.

= Retirement =

Rheingans retired in 1995 after undergoing major reconstructive surgery on both knees.{{cite book |author=Steve Williams |title=Steve Williams: How Dr. Death Became Dr. Life |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KKctAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT202 |date=December 13, 2013 |publisher=Skyhorse Publishing Company, Incorporated |isbn=978-1-61321-517-3 |pages=202}} After recovering, he began working as a trainer and as the American booker for NJPW, hiring wrestlers to tour Japan with the promotion. In the early 1990s, Rheingans helped broker a working agreement between NJPW and World Championship Wrestling.{{cite book |author1=Eric Bischoff |author2=Jeremy Roberts |title=Controversy Creates Cash |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eUxrpGfkew4C&pg=PA134 |year=2006 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-1-4165-2729-9 |pages=134}}{{cite book |author=Jeremy Wall |title=UFC's Ultimate Warriors: The Top 10 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S1a0M_otVYYC&pg=PA119 |year=2005 |publisher=ECW Press |isbn=978-1-55022-691-1 |pages=119}}

After retiring, Rheingans opened the World Wide School of Professional Wrestling in Hamel, Minnesota.

Rheingans was inducted into the George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2004.

Championships and accomplishments

= Amateur wrestling =

Alan & Gloria Rice Greco-Roman Hall of Champions
Class of 2014
Amateur Athletic Union Greco-Roman National Championships
Winner, 220 lbs class (1979)
National Collegiate Athletic Association
NCAA Division I All-American (1975)
NCAA Division II Champion (1975)
Olympic Games
United States Greco-Roman wrestling team member (1976, 1980)
Pan American Games
Gold medal, 220 lbs class (1975, 1979)
World Cup of Amateur Wrestling
Winner, 220 lbs class (1976){{cite news |last=Goode |first=Mike |date=March 1, 1976 |title=First Cup Match at Home |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1350&dat=19760301&id=nTZPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=SwIEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6692,2274084&hl=en |newspaper=Toledo Blade |access-date=April 29, 2016}}
World Wrestling Championships
Bronze medal (1979)