Bob Merrill (wrestler)
| Bob Stanlee | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Bob Merrill |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) |
Rip Carlson Bob Stanlee Golden Terror Rip Miller Joe Thunder Giant Evans Mighty Yankee Masked Yankee Michty Joe Thunder |
| Billed height | 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) |
| Billed weight | 286 lb (130 kg) |
Bob Merrill is a retired American professional wrestler. He used a number of ring names over his career, including Bob Stanlee, Rip Miller, The Golden Terror, Giant Evans, and Mighty Joe Thunder.
Career
Merrill made his professional wrestling debut in the 1957 after training with Stu Hart in Calgary as Rip Carlson. Shortly after he became one of the Miller brothers, along with Dan & Dr. Bill Miller. After a 3-year stay in Calgary he left for the Detroit territory where he challenged the likes of Antonino Rocca.
His longest most successful stay was in Championship Wrestling from Florida promoted by Clarence "Cowboy" Luttrell. He teamed with Moose Evans (as Giant Evans) to form The Mighty Yankees and they captured the NWA International & Southern Tag Team championships. He stayed in the territory for close on four years before returning to Detroit under the name Bob Stanlee, where he wrestled with real life brothers Steve Stanlee and Gene Stanlee, before moving on to Toronto for promoter Frank Tunney.
In April 1964 he entered the World Wide Wrestling Federation. He stayed for nearly two years wrestling as the masked "Golden Terror" challenging then champion Bruno Sammartino for the WWWF World Heavyweight title.
He then entered the Mike Lebell's WWA as the Golden Terror and stayed for about a year. Unmasking he headed north to Roy Shire's San Francisco territory and revisited his original ring name Rip Miller. Success greeted him there teaming with Enrique Torres to win the Pacific Coast Tag Team titles.
He returned to the WWWF in 1968 staying for about a year before returning briefly to Toronto and then into semi retirement. In 1982, after 14 years away from the business, Merrill returned to the WWF as Mighty Joe Thunder, managed by Captain Lou Albano. After appearing at several television tapings and house shows, he retired from wrestling.
Championships & Accomplishments
- NWA Southern Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Moose Evans as The Mighty Yankees
- NWA International Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Moose Evans as The Mighty Yankees
- NWA World Tag Team Championship (Mid-America version) (1 time) - with Moose Evans as The Evans Brothers
- NWA International Tag Team Championship (Canada) (1 time) - as one half of The Masked Yankees
- NWA Pacific Coast Tag Team Championship (1 times) - with Enrique Torres as Rip Miller