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What's the story?
WWE.com reported on Thursday morning that legendary wrestler "Dirty" Dick Slater passed away. He was 67 years old.
In case you didn't know...
Slater began competitive wrestling during his high school days in 1968 competing with the AAU; which is an organization that helps young athletes prepare for the Olympics.
He also wrestled and played college football for the University of Tampa. Slater would be approached by the Miami Dolphins to potentially play professional football in the NFL, but he opted to stick with wrestling.
Sometime later, Slater was approached to become a professional wrestling in Tampa, and that is where his career would begin.
The heart of the matter
Slater wrestled briefly for the WWE in 1986 and 1987 as a babyface; where his biggest match was a two-minute squash match against Don Muraco on Saturday Night's Main Event. After that, he would basically become a jobber before leaving the company.
He made his biggest mark in professional wrestling with Mid-Atlantic Professional Wrestling; which eventually would become World Championship Wrestling (WCW). Slater had success both as a singles competitor and in a tag team.
Some of the singles titles that Slater would hold included the NWA United States Championship on one occasion and the NWA Television Championship twice.
His best achievement came on December 3, 1983, when he won the NWA Heavyweight Championship by defeating Rufus Jones.
However, he only held the title for one day when he lost it to Ivan Koloff.
In 2003, Pro Wrestling Illustrated released their top 500 singles wrestlers throughout the "PWI years" and Slater ranked 153rd.
What's next?
Though his career in the WWE wasn't monumental, his impact on professional wrestling as a whole was. There could potentially be a video package to honor Slater on the next edition of Monday Night Raw on October 24th.
