John Rodriguez

Born

1938-05-16

Birthplace

New York City, New York, USA

Biography

John Rodriguez is an American former professional wrestler. He has previously worked as a professional wrestler under the ring name Johnny Rodz. WWE (1965–1985) He was part of WWE from its early years, appearing on WWE cards as far back as 1965. He wrestled Bob Backlund in Madison Square Garden while working for the WWE at the time. Dubbed the "Fire Brand from the Bronx" and the "Unpredictable", he was a proficient worker and a solid heel. Johnny would often tag with Jose Estrada, and Frank "the Gypsy" Rodriguez. For much of the next two decades through mid-1985, Rodz was a mainstay of the federation, though largely used as enhancement talent, for which he was praised by some of his peers. At times Rodz worked in Japan, Puerto Rico and other territories. On August 9, 1980, at the Showdown at Shea, he was defeated by Ivan Putski. His last WWE match was a loss to Gama Singh on June 19, 1985. NWA Hollywood Wrestling (1976-1978) For a time, he also worked with Mike and Gene LeBell's NWA Hollywood Wrestling. He won a greater share of matches wrestling as "Arabian Wildman" Java Ruuk and even won the promotion's battle royal in 1976. Post-retirement In 1996, Rodz was inducted into the WWF Hall of Fame class of 1996 by Arnold Skaaland. On the March 1, 2007 episode of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's Impact showed the Latin American Xchange (LAX) attacking Rodz as part of their feud with Team 3D. Ten days later at Destination X, he accompanied Team 3D to the ring for their Ghetto Brawl match with LAX at the pay-per-view. Training Johnny Rodz has been training students for over 30 years, out of Gleason's Gym in Brooklyn. Rodz has trained many students who have gone on to have successful careers in and out of the ring for various wrestling promotions, serve as high-level executives at television networks, and some even went on to become high level government officials at agencies such as FDA and FDIC. Wrestlers trained by Rodz include: Taz, Tommy Dreamer, D-von Dudley, Damien Demento, Prince Nana, Marti Belle, Wendy Choo, Big Vito, Masha Slamovich, William Morrissey, Vince Russo, and many more. A few of Rodz' students have gone on to train other future superstars at their own wrestling academies. Rodz founded the independent wrestling promotion known as World of Unpredictable Wrestling.