SLAM! Wrestling Canadian Hall of Fame: E.Z. Ryder
REAL NAME: Curtis Rothenberger
BORN: April 10, 1964 in St. Boniface, Manitoba
AKA: E.Z. Ryder
5"11", 238 pounds
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E.Z. Ryder. Photo by Greg Oliver.
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Back in the late eighties, Curtis Rothenberger went to a small Winnipeg
wrestling show with some buddies and had a good time. He met the promoter
and joked that he wanted to become a referee. The two exchanged phone
numbers.
Later, Rothenberger called that promoter, and went down to see how things
were done.
The promoter, Canadian Hall of Famer
Tony Condello, told him to forget
refereeing and try wrestling.
A short time later, Rothenberger's "second identity" of E.Z. Ryder was
born.
After more than eight years on the indy circuit around Winnipeg, he has his
shot at fame at the NWA 50th Annniversary Show on October 24, 1998 when he
faces
Mr. Gillis from ECCW and Slater Jeffries from Maple Leaf Wrestling in
a triple threat match for the re-activated NWA Canadian title.
"It's a great honor just to be considered a possibility [to hold the
belt]," he told SLAM! Wrestling in a phone interview from Winnipeg. "It's
the biggest [show] I've ever been to."
The current Canadian Wrestling Federation champ described his style as
"very traditional."
"I tend to wrestle a very basic, solid match," he said. A dropkick is about
as high off the ground as he gets, but can brawl with the best of them.
By looking at him, one might assume that he's a heel, but E.Z. Ryder has
always been a babyface. He said that was intentional, wanting to play with
people's heads. Unlike today where "it seems everyone's a heel," he was
schooled at a time when a good guy was a good guy and a bad guy was a bad
guy.
During the day, he works as a local high school as a special education
teacher. The wrestling persona means "the kids listen to me," he joked.
At the CWF shows, he also finds himself teaching the next generation of
local wrestlers, such as his current tag partner Darren Daulton, who he describes as "a real good prospect."
Though he's not a household name, he has wrestled a few. He once beat The
Natural (aka Don Callis, the WWF's
Jackyl) for the West Four Wrestling Alliance Heavyweight Title, has wrestled former
world champs
Rick Martel
and
Gene Kiniski, and legends Baron von Raschke and Jim Brunzell.
He is not concerned too much about his future in wrestling. A 'whatever
happens, happens' attitude.
"I enjoy this sport whether in front of 200 people or 2,000 people," he
said. And if things work out in the future, "that'd be great..."
-- By GREG OLIVER, SLAM! Sports
Memories
I wrestled EZ Ryder in Winnipeg in 1995 and he definitely has the most
devastating fireman's carry in the business!
Steve Stryker, Local Winnipeg wrestler
I saw E.Z. Ryder for the first time on WWF Los SuperAstros in January
1999. He wrestled the huge Giant Silva. Silva dominated the match, and
Ryder did not get one lick of offense. Silva ended his misery with a
chokeslam.
Mario Ortega, Danville, CA
In Mid October 1999, I saw EZ Ryder on WWF Jakked. At first I didn't know who he was, and thought that he just some
jobber, since he didn't even get a chance of ANY offense. Later I remembered that I saw him in the SLAM! Champions page.
Why isn't the WWF using this NWA Champion at all? Is he just some jobber? I think not!!!
London, Ontario
E.Z. and I had some of the funnest, four step matches that I can remember! I got to know his
snake well. One time after I had started using my pot-bellied pig as part of my gimmic the snake
was thrown on me during a match, and this thing went crazy! It must have smelled the pig on my
cover-alls and started to wrap it self around my head and neck! E.Z. made the big save and I am
still around to talk about it! Thank-you for all the fun E.Z.!
Sincerely Jethro Hawg. (Randy Unrau)
