Phil Hickerson (born October 4, 1946) is an American retired

professional wrestler Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

. He is best known for his appearances with the

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

-based

NWA Mid-America NWA Mid-America was a professional wrestling promotion territory under the umbrella of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) that promoted shows in Tennessee, Kentucky and Alabama from the 1940s until 1981. The company was founded in the 1940s by N ...

and

Continental Wrestling Association Continental Wrestling Association (later the Championship Wrestling Association) was a wrestling promotion managed by Jerry Jarrett. The CWA was the name of the "governing body" for the Championship Wrestling, Inc. promotion which was usually ref ...

promotions.

Professional wrestling career

Hickerson debuted in 1974 in the

-based NWA Mid America promotion. In July 1974, he formed a

tag team Tag team wrestling is a type of professional wrestling in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. Tag teams may be made up of wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of establish ...

with Al Greene, with whom he won the NWA Southern Tag Team Championship ''(Mid-America version)'' three times that year, trading the titles with

Jerry Lawler Jerry O'Neil Lawler (born November 29, 1949), better known as Jerry "The King" Lawler, is an American color commentator and professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, although he has not performed as a full-time commentator since Apr ...

and Tojo Yamamoto. In December 1974, Hickerson formed a short-lived new tag team with Doug Patton. In mid-1973, Hickerson formed a tag team with

Dennis Condrey Dennis Condrey (born February 1, 1952) is an American retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with the Continental Wrestling Association, Jim Crockett Promotions and World Championship Wrestling in the 1970s and 1980s. ...

known as "The Bicentennial Kings" (in reference to the then-upcoming

United States Bicentennial The United States Bicentennial was a series of celebrations and observances during the mid-1970s that paid tribute to historical events leading up to the creation of the United States of America as an independent republic. It was a central event ...

). In 1975, they teamed with Al Greene to win the NWA World Six-Man Tag Team Championship. Between 1976 and 1978, The Bicentennial Kings won the NWA Southern Tag Team Championship ''(Mid-America version)'' / AWA Southern Tag Team Championship nine times. They also won the NWA United States Tag Team Championship ''(Mid-America version)'' five times and the

NWA Mid-America Tag Team Championship The NWA Mid-America Tag Team championship was a tag team title promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion NWA Mid-America that ran more or less exclusively in Alabama, Tennessee, and Kentucky, United States, from the 1940s until 1 ...

twice. In 1977, Hickerson left NWA Mid America to join

's Memphis-based

. In 1985, he won the

AWA International Heavyweight Championship The AWA International Heavyweight Championship, originally known as the CWA/AWA International Heavyweight Championship (also identified as the Mid-Southern International Championship and the AWA International Championship) was a major professional ...

three times. In 1988, he won the

CWA Heavyweight Championship The CWA Heavyweight Championship was a major professional wrestling title defended in the Championship Wrestling Association. It was created through the unification of the NWA Mid-America Heavyweight, AWA Southern Heavyweight and CWA/AWA Intern ...

. In November and December 1988, Hickerson toured Japan with

All-Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW/AJP) or simply All Japan is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion established on October 21, 1972 when Giant Baba split away from the Japanese Wrestling Association and created his own promotion. Many wrestlers had left with Baba, w ...

, competing in the

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

World's Strongest Tag Determination League alongside

Jerry Blackwell Jerry Blackwell (April 26, 1949 – January 22, 1995) was an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name "Crusher" Jerry Blackwell. Blackwell competed in the 1979 World's Strongest Man contest, but withdrew early in the competit ...

. In February 1989, Hickerson began wrestling for the

United States Wrestling Association The United States Wrestling Association (USWA) was a professional wrestling promotion based in Memphis, Tennessee. The company was founded when the Memphis-based Continental Wrestling Association merged with the Dallas-based World Class Wrestling ...

, where he portrayed a faux-Japanese character and was managed by Tojo Yamamoto. He adopted the

ring name A ring name is a type of stage name used by an athlete such as a professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, or boxer whose real name is considered unattractive, dull, difficult to pronounce or spell, amusing for the wrong reasons, or projecting ...

"PY Chu-hi" (a pun based on Yamamoto's former ring name, "PY Chung", and the alcoholic drink Chu-hi). In July 1989, he defeated Eric Embry for the

WCWA Texas Heavyweight Championship The NWA Texas Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling title that has existed since the 1930s. Though its exact date of creation isn't known, it is among the oldest championships used in professional wrestling today. The title has us ...

; he lost the title back to Embry the following month. In 1995, Hickerson was inducted into the Memphis Wrestling Hall of Fame.

Retirement

After retiring from wrestling, Hickerson has worked as a radio DJ for WYN 106.9 in

Jackson, Tennessee Jackson is a city in and the county seat of Madison County, Tennessee, United States. Located east of Memphis, Tennessee, Memphis, it is a regional center of trade for West Tennessee. Its total population was 68,205 as of the 2020 United States ...

. In the latter part of his wrestling career Hickerson managed Tremors Nightclub in Jackson TN from 1981-1987.

Championships and accomplishments

( 3 times) **

( 1 time) **

(

2 times "2 Times" is a song co-written and recorded by British Italian-based singer Ann Lee. It was released in 1999 as the lead single from her debut album, ''Dreams'' (1999). The single entered and peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart. Outside ...

) – with

** NWA Southern Tag Team Championship ''(Mid-America version)'' / AWA Southern Tag Team Championship ( 14 times) – with Al Greene (3 times),

(9 times), and The Spoiler (2 times) **

NWA United States Tag Team Championship The NWA United States Tag Team Championship is a name used for several secondary tag team championship used by various National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) members since 1958. There are eleven different versions of the NWA United States Tag Team Champ ...

(''Mid-America version'') ( 5 times) - with Dennis Condrey ** NWA World Six-Man Tag Team Championship (

) - with Al Greene and

** Memphis Wrestling Hall of Fame * Southeastern Championship Wrestling **

NWA Southeastern Tag Team Championship The NWA Southeastern Tag Team Championship was the major tag team title in the National Wrestling Alliance's Alabama territory known as Continental Championship Wrestling, Southeastern Championship Wrestling. It existed from 1974 until November 19 ...

( 3 times) – with

* World Class Wrestling Association **

( 1 time)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hickerson, Phil 1946 births American male professional wrestlers Faux Japanese professional wrestlers Living people People from Jackson, Tennessee Professional wrestlers from Tennessee 20th-century professional wrestlers AWA International Heavyweight Champions