"Rocket" Roger Rush
A Houston high flyer in red, white, and blue, Rocket Roger Rush was a three-time Gulf Coast Champion and the 1988 Western Traditions Champion across eighteen years in the GWA.
AT A GLANCE
Ring Name: "Rocket" Roger Rush
Born: Houston, Texas, 1954
Billed From: Houston, Texas
Height: 6'0"
Weight: 230 lbs
Active in the GWA: 1976 to 1993
Territory: Gulf Coast
Eras: Golden Era (1976 to 1987), Traditions Era (1988 to 1993)
Finishing Move: The Splashdown
Championships: GWA Gulf Coast Championship (three reigns), GWA Western Traditions Championship (one reign)
CAREER
Breaking in (1976 to 1977)
Roger Rush came up through the Gulf Coast circuit out of Houston and debuted on Gulf States Athletics Club cards in January 1976, at twenty-two, opening Houston and Galveston shows against local competition. That fall he lost twice to "Bayou" Benny Lacroix on Saturday television, then beat him clean in November, his first win over a name. He closed the year with a loss to "The Gentleman" James Montgomery.
Gulf Coast Champion (1978 to 1982)
Rush won the GWA Gulf Coast Championship in March 1978, two years after his debut. The belt came back to him twice more, and for most of the four years between his first win and his last loss in the summer of 1982, he was the champion. Through 1978 he pulled double duty in Houston: Monday nights at the Sam Houston Coliseum, and Wednesday tapings of Solid Soul Wrestling at the Moody Park Community Center. The nickname did its best work in the shuttle years, with Mission Control twenty-five miles up the road.
Western Traditions Champion (1988 to 1989)
From 1983 to 1985 he took Pacific Coast dates between Houston bookings, then Great Plains dates from 1986. In October 1988, at thirty-four, he won the GWA Western Traditions Championship, the belt the promotion had built by consolidating its regional titles. "Cowboy Diplomat" Hank Remington beat him for it in February 1989, and Rush never challenged for it again.
The last years (1990 to 1993)
He stayed on Gulf Coast cards, taking Rio Grande Valley dates, and wrestled his last match in 1993 at thirty-nine.
CHAMPIONSHIPS AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS
GWA Gulf Coast Championship (three reigns)
GWA Western Traditions Championship (one reign)
RIVALRIES
"Bayou" Benny Lacroix. Lacroix beat Rush twice on television in the fall of 1976. Rush beat him clean that November, and the win moved him off the opening match for good.
IN THE RING
Appearance: Red trunks with white and blue trim, blue kneepads, white boots with red laces, and a short royal blue jacket with white stars across the shoulders. He wore red, white, and blue his whole career. His nose had been broken and set badly, and a small scar cut through the end of his left eyebrow.
Style: A high flyer on a circuit built around dock brawling and Southern psychology. He took his offense in short bursts from the ropes and the top turnbuckle, and his dropkick finished most of his early matches. Signature moves: dropkick, flying headscissors, sunset flip, crossbody block off the top rope.
Finisher: The Splashdown, a splash from the top rope. Announcers called the top turnbuckle his launch pad, and before every climb he wiped his boots on the canvas.
Television: In Olympic summers, Gulf Coast television gave him feature spots in the full-length version of his jacket.
IN HIS OWN WORDS
"Everybody wants to know about the space business. I never once said I was an astronaut. I wore red, white, and blue and my name was Rush, and the people in Houston did the rest of it themselves."
"You go up there, you land it, you get up. You don't land it, you don't get up. That's all it ever was."
LEGACY
Rush spent eighteen years in one territory. Houston watched the whole arc: the kid opening cards in 1976, the three-time Gulf Coast Champion, the veteran who carried the promotion's top belt into 1989, and the man who kept taking dates until 1993. He debuted and retired in the same colors.
