Birth name | Lawrence Oliver |
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Born | Portland, Oregon, United States |
Professional wrestling career | |
Ring name(s) | Rip Oliver Super Ninja The Gestapo |
Billed height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) |
Billed weight | 210 lb (95 kg; 15 st) |
Debut | 1980 |
Lawrence Oliver is a former professional wrestler, known as Rip "The Crippler" Oliver, who had great success in Pacific Northwest Wrestling. He is the son of Ray Oliver, Sr., known as Rip "the Crippler" Oliver, and the brother of Ray Oliver, Jr., who also portrayed the masked Super Ninja character from time to time. His cousin, Earl Oliver, is a successful musician and founder of the oldest pro wrestling internet website, Solie's Vintage Wrestling.
In Pacific Northwest Wrestling (PNW), he set a record for holding the NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Championship more than anyone. Rip also had many titles in tag team competition, holding the NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Championship and the NWA Canadian Tag Team Championship a combined 18 times. In 1985 Chris Adams allowed Gino Hernandez to defend his television title against Billy Jack Haynes, where he lost that title, but Rip Oliver defeated and severely injured Billy to win the W.C.C.W. Television Title soon thereafter.
After wrestling in PNW, Rip began to wrestle for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). During his run Rip appeared once on Saturday Night's Main Event, going by the name of Super Ninja, challenging The Ultimate Warrior for the Intercontinental Championship. During his many title reigns Rip faced many wrestlers such as Rocky Johnson, Brett Sawyer, Billy Jack Haynes, Buddy Rose, Bobby Jaggers, Stan Stasiak, Larry Hennig, Curt Hennig, Brian Adams (wrestler), Jay Youngblood, Steve Regal, Roddy Piper, Tom Zenk, and Buzz Sawyer.