Wrestling star Sylvester Ritter, alias The Junkyard Dog, regularly filled football stadiums in the 1980s thanks to his popularity. Massive drug problems led to a professional and personal downfall that ended tragically.
At the height of his career, he was a folk hero – so popular that his opponents were scared for their lives.
In New Orleans, the stronghold of his popularity, his companions report that anyone who stepped into the ring against the Junkyard Dog needed police protection.
Sylvester Ritter, as the wrestling legend was actually called, regularly filled football stadiums in the 1980s. The 6-foot-3 man was the big favorite at Mid-South, one of the then-thriving regional wrestling territories in the US.
The “Junkyard Dog” – who actually entered the ring wearing a dog collar with a chain attached – was a force of nature with enormous stage presence and unbridled charisma. When Queen’s classic “Another One Bites the Dust,” his entrance music, rang out, the halls boiled over. Tens of thousands of fans regularly cheered him on at the big shows in the New Orleans Saints’ Superdome.
JYD, as Ritter was usually called, was often compared to the young Hulk Hogan. And he eventually moved to WWE, hoping to become just as big a star there.
This hope was dashed, and instead the story of the former regional superstar turned into a tragedy that came to a sad end 27 years ago.
