Randy Muehl (born June 27, 1952) is a retired American professional wrestler, best known by his ring name Randy Hogan, who competed in North American promotions including the

National Wrestling Alliance The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) is an American professional wrestling professional wrestling promotion, promotion and former professional wrestling governing body operated by its parent company Lightning One, Inc. Founded in 1948, the NWA ...

, the Florida Wrestling Federation and

World Championship Wrestling World Championship Wrestling, Inc. (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of Nation ...

from the early 1980s until the early 1990s.

Professional wrestling career

Early career (1981–1987)

After making his debut in 1981, Randy Hogan competed in National Wrestling Alliance territories including the Continental Wrestling Association in the Southeastern United States and won a number of secondary titles, including the Alabama Junior Heavyweight Championship, the

Georgia Junior Heavyweight Championship Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

, the Florida Junior Heavyweight Championship, the

Florida Heavyweight Championship The FCW Florida Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling heavyweight championship owned and promoted by Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), a former developmental territory of WWE. It is contested for in their heavyweight divisio ...

, and the NWA Junior Heavyweight Championship.

National Wrestling Alliance – Jim Crockett Promotions (1988–1989)

On February 10, 1988 he joined

Jim Crockett Promotions Jim Crockett Promotions Inc. is a family-owned professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States, restarted by Jim Crockett's son and Jim Crockett Jr's brother, David Crockett. Founded in 1931, the promot ...

, which was quickly consolidating the remaining NWA promotions. Bearing a facial resemblance to then World Wrestling Federation champion

Hulk Hogan Terry Eugene Bollea (; born August 11, 1953), better known by his ring name Hulk Hogan, is an American retired professional wrestler. He is widely regarded as the most recognized wrestling star worldwide and the most popular wrestler of the 19 ...

and having grown a Hogan-esque mustache, the company took the opportunity to cast the look-a-like Randy Hogan as a jobber. He made his debut on the February 13 episode of World Championship Wrestling (WCW) when he teamed with Steve Atkinson and

Gene Miller Gene Miller (1928–2005) was a longtime investigative reporter at the ''Miami Herald'' who won two Pulitzer Prizes for reporting that helped save innocent men on Florida's Death Row from execution. He was also a legendary editor, mentoring genera ...

to take on

Ivan Koloff Oreal Donald Perras (August 25, 1942 – February 18, 2017) was a Canadian professional wrestler, better known by the ring name "The Russian Bear" Ivan Koloff. He was the third wrestler to hold the WWWF Championship. Early life Perras was b ...

and the

Powers of Pain Powers may refer to: Arts and media * ''Powers'' (comics), a comic book series by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming ** ''Powers'' (American TV series), a 2015–2016 series based on the comics * ''Powers'' (British TV series), a 200 ...

. Hogan appeared sporadically in the spring and summer, facing The Powers of Pain,

Rick Steiner Robert Rechsteiner (born March 9, 1961) is an American real estate broker and retired professional wrestler, better known by the ring name Rick Steiner. Steiner is best known for his tenure with World Championship Wrestling (WCW), where he was ...

, The Midnight Express and others in various matches. On the December 31, 1988 edition of World Championship Wrestling, Hogan teamed with Mike Justice to face

The Texas Broncos ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

Dustin Rhodes Dustin Patrick Runnels (born April 11, 1969) is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed with All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he performs under the ring name Dustin Rhodes. He is best known for his multiple tenures with WWE f ...

' debut match. His final match in his initial run was against

The Road Warriors The Road Warriors, also known as the Legion of Doom, were a professional wrestling tag team composed of Road Warrior Hawk (Michael Hegstrand) and Road Warrior Animal (Joseph Laurinaitis).. They performed under the name "The Road Warriors" in th ...

on the January 28, 1989 episode of World Championship Wrestling. Randy achieved additional national fame by appearing in

Pro Wrestling Illustrated ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American internationally sold professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publish ...

alongside

Jim Cornette James Mark "Jim" Cornette (born September 17, 1961) is an American author and podcaster who has previously worked in the professional wrestling industry as an agent, booker, color commentator, manager, promoter, trainer, and occasional prof ...

, in a pose that echoed the famous photo of Hulk Hogan and

Freddie Blassie Frederick Kenneth Blassman (February 8, 1918 – June 2, 2003) was an American professional wrestler and manager, known by the ring name "Classy" Freddie Blassie. Renowned as "The Hollywood Fashion Plate","Classy" Freddie Blassie with Keith Elliot ...

World Championship Wrestling (1993-1994)

Following an injury sustained in 1989, Randy took a sabbatical from professional wrestling. While recovering, he purchased the Cedar Creek Seafood restaurant. Eventually, he would expand his business to six locations. While managing the restaurants he received the opportunity to return to the now-rebranded

in 1993. Seeing it as an opportunity to further promote his restaurant, he made his return on November 14, 1993 in a match that aired on January 22, 1994 episode of WCW Worldwide. There he faced Vader, who had recently lost the

WCW World Heavyweight Championship The WCW World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship originally used in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and later, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It was the original world title of ...

. On the April 4 episode of WCW Worldwide he teamed with

P. J. Walker Phillip "P. J." Walker (born February 26, 1995) is an American football quarterback for the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Temple, and was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Indian ...

in a match against

The Nasty Boys The Nasty Boys are a professional wrestling tag team consisting of Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags. The team were active from the mid-1980s through the 1990s. Their gimmick was that of anti-social punks who specialized in hardcore wrestling and brawl ...

. Ironically, while working for a local radio station he was dispatched as a reporter to cover the signing ceremony of Hulk Hogan on June 11, 1994, appearing on screen and fielding questions to WCW's latest acquisition.

Personal life

He retired from pro wrestling in the 1990s. After selling off his franchises, in 2010 he opened another Cedar Creek Seafood restaurant in Lakeland, FL.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hogan, Randy 1952 births Living people American male professional wrestlers