NAME: TOMMY "WILDFIRE" RICH AKA THOMAS RICH AKA MISTER R AKA TOMMY RICHARDSON REAL NAME: THOMAS RICHARDSON HOMETOWN: HENDERSONVILLE, TN FINISHING MOVE: LOU THESZ PRESS

     Thomas Richardson began wrestling in 1974 at the age of 18.  He wrestled in the Memphis territory, winning both the Southern Heavyweight Title and the Southern Tag Team Championship.  After a few years in Memphis, Rich wrestled in the Southeastern territory, teaming with Bill Dundee before moving to Georgia Championship Wrestling.

After arriving In Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW) in 1978, Rich defeated "Killer" Karl Kox for the Georgia Heavyweight Championship and won Pro Wrestling Illustrated's "Rookie of the Year" award.  An immensely popular babyface, Rich won Pro Wrestling Illustrated's "Most Improved Wrestler" award in 1979 as his career began to get red-hot and Rich wrestled for a promotion with a national television audience (thanks to it airing on Superstation TBS).

In a surprise move to his fans, Rich turned heel when he went back to wrestling in Memphis.  Rich hired the much hated Jimmy Hart as his manager and began feuding with local hero Jerry "the King" Lawler.  However, when fellow heel Jimmy Valiant and manager Tojo Yamamoto insulted his mother on television, Rich took a beating from them defending her and turned babyface.  Rich then teamed with Superstar Bill Dundee and feuded with Austin Idol.

In 1981, Rich returned to Georgia, continuing his feud with Austin Idol.  At one point Rich won the Georgia TV title but dropped the title so he could focus on winning the NWA championship from Harley Race.  Rich also teamed with the Junkyard Dog in matches against the Fabulous Freebirds after the Junkyard Dog's partner Ted DiBiase was injured and unable to wrestle.

April 27, 1981 was the day when Tommy Rich became the third youngest NWA champion in history when he defeated Harley Race for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.  While Rich dropped the title back to Race in less than a week, it was a tremendous accomplishment for someone so young.  Wrestling historians have long speculated as to why Rich won the title.  Rich's title reign was the shortest in NWA history at the time which made his win all the more unusual.  At this point in time, the world championship did not change hands without the approval of the NWA's board of directors voting on it and the title was not just handed to anyone.  Some have speculated that Race dropped the title due to an accident by the referee which could not be covered up without breaking kayfabe (unlikely since the belt could have gone back to Race on a reversal by a higher official).  Another theory has it that Race dropping the title to Rich was some sort of disciplinary action.  Still another theory has it that the title was given to Rich as a favor to GCW promoters.  The man in charge of "booking" the NWA Title at the time was Jim Barnett, who was a partial owner of Georgia Championship Wrestling.  There is some support for this theory as there were three world title switches in Georgia within three months in 1981, an unusual number of title switches in such a short period, and an unusal number for one promotion. Jim Wilson's book Chokehold also alleges that Barnett rewarded Rich with the title as a favor towards Rich.  Whatever the reason, Rich became world champion at the age of 24, a remarkable achievement as the NWA belt was not given to just anyone, and apparently Rich was felt to have enough credibility to hold the belt, even if it was for a short period. 

Rich continued to wrestle in Georgia and battled an army of heels who showed up to collect a $10,000 put on Rich by Freebird Michael Hayes.  Rich fought off the heels before beginning a long feud with "Mad Dog" Buzz Sawyer.  The two competed throughout GCW in every type of match conceivable night after night.  After months of feuding, the two ended their feud in a steel cage in a match known as "The Last Battle of Atlanta".  Legend has it that promoter Ole Anderson taped the cage match but threw it in the garbage.

After his feud with Sawyer, Rich feuded with Ted DiBiase as the masked wrestler "Mister R".  Then Rich returned to the Memphis area where he formed a tag team with Eddie Gilbert as "The New Fabulous Ones" winning the Southern Tag Team Championship before dropping the titles to the Spoiler and Phil Hickerson.  The duo battled with Jimmy Hart's First Family before they split up and began feuding with each other.  At one point, Rich held both the Southern Heavyweight Title and the International Heavyweight Title before dropping them to King Kong Bundy and Eddie Gilbert respectively.

Around 1985, Rich left wrestling except for occasional appearances on the indie circuit.  However in 1987, Rich launched a comeback and appeared in Memphis wrestling as a heel.  Rich teamed up with Austin Idol and injured Jerry Lawler during a hair match between Idol and Lawler. Not suprisingly, Rich began a lengthy feud with Lawler.  Rich also wrestled in the American Wrestling Association (AWA) before he returned to the national stage in 1989.

After his success in Memphis, Rich began wrestling for WCW in 1989 as a babyface.  He challenged United States champion Lex Lugar but was unable to defeat "The Toal Package" for his U.S. Title.  Rich teamed with a variety of people in WCW such as old teammate Eddie Gilbert, Ricky Morton,  and Mike Rotunda. Rich later turned heel, joing the York Foundation as "Thomas Rich".  Rich teamed up with Richard Morton and Terrance Taylor to win the WCW Six Man Tag Team Championship.

As Rich's career began to wind down, he returned to wrestling in regional promotions such as Memphis, Smokey Mountain Wrestling, the United States Wrestling Association (USWA), and even Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) where he wrestled as a member of the Full Blooded Italians.