Mighty Joe Thunder
| Mighty Joe Thunder | |
|---|---|
| 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 |
| Billed height | 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) |
| Billed weight | 286 lb (130 kg) |
Bob Merrill aka Bob Stanlee is a retired American professional wrestler. He is most notable as Bob Stanlee, Rip Miller, The Golden Terror, Giant Evans and his greatest success came as one half of the Mighty Yankees tag team with Moose Evans.
Career
He 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 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 heading north.
A brief return to Detroit under the name Bob Stanlee, then onto Toronto for promoter Frank Tunney.
In April 1964 he entered the World Wide Wrestling Federation (aka WWE). He stayed for nearly two years wrestling as the masked "Golden Terror" challenging then champion Bruno Sammartino for the WWWF World Heavyweight title. He left the territory and headed to Toronto, where success came in the shape of the Canadian version of the NWA International tag team title as one of the Masked Mighty Yankees. The Yankees lost the titles to Bulldog Brower and Whipper Billy Watson. A return to Detroit saw him team with Moose Evans to win the Mid America version of the NWA World Tag Team championship.
After leaving Detroit he 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 heading to Toronto and then into semi retirement.
In 1982, Stanlee made a surprising return to the WWF as Mighty Joe Thunder, managed by Captain Lou Albano. After a brief unimpressive stay he parted ways with the WWF and retired.
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