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Carl Raymond Stevens was born on September 15th, 1936 in West Virginia
but soon moved to San Fransisco. He began his career as a tag team wrestler
alongside his kayfabe brother Don Stevens. He abandoned his own last name
and became Roy Shire to team with another kayfabe brother, Ray Shire. Ray
Stevens took his real name back and formed a team with the legendary Pat
Patterson and moved to the American Wrestling Association of Verne Gagne,
where he achieved his greatest fame.
Stevens joined Bobby Heenan's "Heenan Family" and formed another successful team with Nick Bockwinkel, and together they won the AWA World Tag Team Championship on four separate occasions between January of 1972 and October of 1974. He would take Patterson back as his partner and together, they defeated Jim Brunzell and Greg Gagne for the AWA World Tag Team Titles for his fifth reign in July of 1977. In 1979, Ray Stevens earned the nickname "Crippler" when his Bombs Away finisher broke the leg of Dr. Dick Beyer during an edition of AWA programming. When Verne Gagne & Maddog Vachon captured the AWA World Tag Team Titles, Stevens moved on to the World Wrestling Federation.
The man made history by being part of Bobby Heenan's ultra-successful Heenan Family, winning tag team titles alongside some of wrestling's great talents, and was a pioneer of high risk professional wrestling. He was able to whip any crowd into a frenzy of hatred and had classic bouts with Jimmy Snuka, Ric Flair, Verne Gagne and others before hanging up the boots. There is no doubt that the original Crippler belongs here among his peers in the UWOW Hall of Fame. |
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Stevens joined the World Wrestling Federation alongside Pat Patterson and
began feuding with Bob Backlund and Curt Hennig, while also having matches
against the NWA's Ric Flair and Jimmy Snuka. Stevens returned to the AWA
for Superclash 1985, teaming with Nick Bockwinkel and Larry Zbyszko in
a losing effort to Greg Gagne, Scott Hall and Curt Hennig. He turned face
to join the Midnight Rockers in 1987's SuperClash to defeat Buddy Wolfe,
Doug Sommers and Kevin Kelly. Stevens retired in the late 1980s, but occasionally
appeared for independent promotions including the Global Wrestling Federation
out of Texas. Stevens passed away at the relatively young age of 60 in
May of 1996.