Buddy Rose

Professional wrestling career

Paul Perschmann was trained by Verne Gagne and Billy Robinson in the early 1970s. Under his own name, he made his debut on December 3, 1973 in Rice Lake, Wisconsin in a 10-minute draw with fellow camp mate Bob Remus, the future Sergeant Slaughter. He wrestled primarily for the AWA, WWF, and for promoter Don Owen in Pacific Northwest Wrestling.

One of the most legendary feuds in the Pacific Northwest pitted Rose against "Rowdy" Roddy Piper. According to Piper in his autobiography, this was the feud that really made him a name in the business, and it cemented Rose's status as an icon of the region. Rose also had a long feud with "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka. Colonel DeBeers was his on-and-off tag team partner for three decades.

Wrestling for the WWF during 1982-83, he would often work 90 days in a row. When he had a rare day off, he would fly back to the West Coast and headline cards there. At the peak of his WWF run, he was working main events at Madison Square Garden against Bob Backlund for the WWF World Heavyweight Title. Rose, who also had some bouts with Pedro Morales during this period, was managed by the Grand Wizard.

Rose, wrestling as the masked Executioner, lost to Tito Santana in the opening match of the inaugural WrestleMania.

Rose and Doug Somers engaged in a feud with the Midnight Rockers over the AWA World tag team title in 1986 and 1987. During this run, Rose was never pinned.

Rose had another run in the WWF from 1990 to early 1991. Having gained a large amount of weight, he turned this into a comical gimmick dating back to his AWA days. When the ring announcer introduced him and listed his weight at 317 pounds, Rose would angrily take the microphone away from him or her and claim to weigh "a slim, trim, 217 pounds". This would bait the crowd into a booing frenzy. On occasion, he would also do one-handed push-ups and kip-ups in the ring, and challenge other more muscular opponents to a "pose-down." Rose claims that Vince McMahon used to say, "I want everybody to work out...except for Buddy," knowing that Rose's weight was his gimmick. Rose memorably appeared in a faux infomercial for the "Buddy Rose Blow Away Diet," which consisted of pouring powder all over himself and then "blowing away the fat" with a household fan, which resulted in him looking the same. Rose was primarily used as an enhancement talent during this run, earning only a few victories over other undercard wrestlers on house shows, while losing all of his televised matches to elevate other stars, most notably against Kerry Von Erich in Von Erich's WWF television debut on the July 1990 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event.

In the mid-to-late 1990s, Rose hosted a call-in talk show on a Portland radio station. He was also active in Portland Wrestling, a short-lived revival of the original promotion, as the manager of The Butcher.

His last match took place at Wrestle Reunion 2005 in Tampa, Florida. He competed in a six-man tag team bout pitting himself, Colonel DeBeers and Bob Orton Jr. against Jimmy Valiant, Roddy Piper and Jimmy Snuka. This was billed as Jimmy Valiant's retirement match, but Rose retired after this as a wrestler, and only made personal appearances. He opened a wrestling training school with DeBeers in Portland after his retirement.

Death

On April 28, 2009, Rose was found dead in his home in Vancouver, Washington by his wife. The medical examiner attributed his death to natural causes. Rose, who had struggled with his weight since the late 1980s, had experienced problems with blood sugar and diabetes.

In wrestling

Championships and accomplishments