Scott K. Irwin (May 14, 1952 – September 5, 1987) was an American

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 was best known for his

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 his brother Barney "Bill" Irwin.

Professional wrestling career

Debut and the World Wide Wrestling Federation

After training under

Verne Gagne Laverne Clarence Gagne (February 26, 1926 – April 27, 2015) was an American amateur and professional wrestler, football player, wrestling trainer, and wrestling promoter. He was the owner and promoter of the Minneapolis-based American Wrestling ...

in 1975, Irwin debuted for the AWA on March 13, 1976 in Davenport, Iowa, going to a time limit draw with another rookie, Dick Blood (in one of his first matches), later to become famous as

Ricky Steamboat Richard Henry Blood Sr. (born February 28, 1953), better known by his ring name Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat, is an American retired professional wrestler best known for his work with the American Wrestling Association (AWA), Jim Crockett Promot ...

. He mainly wrestled preliminary matches until June 1976 when he left for Georgia Championship Wrestling where he stayed until the spring of 1977. From there he went on to Jim Crockett's Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling. After wrestling in Mid-Atlantic throughout the rest of 1977 and in early 1978, Irwin debuted in the World Wide Wrestling Federation on March 14, 1978 as one half of

The Yukon Lumberjacks The Yukon Lumberjacks was the name of a professional wrestling tag team who worked in the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) in 1978, consisting of Eric and Pierre. The team was managed by "Captain" Lou Albano and worked as heels (wrestling t ...

, where he was given 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 ...

"Lumberjack Eric" and his tag team partner, Zarinoff Lebeouf, was given the ring name "Lumberjack Pierre". Soon after debuting, The Lumberjacks wrestled against Dino Bravo and Dominic DeNucci for the WWF Tag Team Championship on June 2, but the match ended in a double disqualification. The Lumberjacks continued their

feud A feud , referred to in more extreme cases as a blood feud, vendetta, faida, clan war, gang war, or private war, is a long-running argument or fight, often between social groups of people, especially families or clans. Feuds begin because one part ...

with Bravo and DeNucci, and after several unsuccessful title rematches, the Lumberjacks finally defeated them for the title on June 26. The Lumberjacks continued their success by retaining their title in several matches over the next several months against the likes of Bravo and DeNucci, Gorilla Monsoon and S.D. Jones and Haystacks Calhoun and Tony Garea. On November 21, The Lumberjacks lost their title to Garea and Larry Zbyszko. After the title loss, Pierre retired from wrestling and Eric left the WWWF.

Championship Wrestling from Florida

After leaving the WWWF, Irwin debuted in

Championship Wrestling from Florida Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF) was the corporate and brand name of the Tampa, Florida wrestling office existing from 1961, when Eddie Graham first bought into the promotion, until 1987, when it closed down. It is also referred to as ...

in December 1978 as "Thor the Viking", with

Oliver Humperdink John Jay Sutton (January 16, 1949 – March 20, 2011), better known by his ring name Oliver Humperdink, was an American professional wrestling manager and occasional professional wrestler who worked for Jim Crockett Promotions, Florida Championshi ...

as his manager. While in FCW, Irwin found championship success and wrestled his final match as Thor on October 14, 1979, with a victory over

Steve Keirn Stephen Paul Keirn (born September 10, 1951) is an American retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances in multiple National Wrestling Alliance territories as Steve Keirn as one-half of the tag team The Fabulous Ones, as we ...

. The following month, Irwin returned to the CWF as the masked "Super Destroyer", and went on to win a tag team match with Stan Lane against Keirn and Mike Graham.

Mid-South Wrestling

Irwin continued to use the Super Destroyer

character Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...

in the CWF throughout the rest of 1979 before debuting in

Mid-South Wrestling The Universal Wrestling Federation was a 1986 re-branding of wrestler-turned-owner Bill Watts' Mid-South Wrestling promotion. Watts' goal was to elevate his promotion from a relatively smaller, regional-level business, to a national-level rival ...

on November 27, 1980, in a losing effort to Ted DiBiase. Irwin, as the Super Destroyer, returned to Mid-South on April 18, 1981, and won the

tag team championship A championship or title in professional wrestling is a recognition promoted by professional wrestling organizations. Championship reigns are determined by professional wrestling matches, in which competitors are involved in predetermined rivalri ...

with the Grappler after defeating Dick Murdoch and the Junkyard Dog in the finals of a tournament to claim the vacant title. However, the Destroyer and the Grappler lost the tag team title days later to Murdoch and JYD, on April 27. Soon after the title loss, Destroyer rebounded by winning the Louisiana Heavyweight Championship on May 1. He held the title for over two months before losing it to

Bob Roop Robert Michael Roop (born July 22, 1942) is an American retired amateur wrestler and professional wrestler whose career spanned high school, college, the United States Army, amateur and professional wrestling. He was an American heavyweight Grec ...

on July 22. Irwin continued to perform as the Super Destroyer upon joining the

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 ...

, and soon formed a successful tag team with the

Masked Superstar William Reid "Bill" Eadie (born December 27, 1947) is an American retired professional wrestling, professional wrestler who has competed under the names of Ax as part of Demolition (professional wrestling), Demolition and The Masked Superstar. H ...

The Super Destroyers

The team soon jumped ship to Georgia Championship Wrestling, and continued their success by winning the NWA National Tag Team Championship on January 22, 1982 from The Armstrongs (

Bob Bob, BOB, or B.O.B. may refer to: Places *Mount Bob, New York, United States *Bob Island, Palmer Archipelago, Antarctica People, fictional characters, and named animals *Bob (given name), a list of people and fictional characters *Bob (surname) ...

and Brad). Beginning in March, the Superstar gave his half of the title to Big John Studd. On July 2, Super Destroyer and Studd lost the title to The Fabulous Freebirds. After the title loss, Super Destroyer returned to singles competition before he formed The Super Destroyers tag team with his

real-life Real life is a phrase used originally in literature to distinguish between the real world and fictional, virtual or idealized worlds, and in acting to distinguish between actors and the characters they portray. It has become a popular term on the ...

brother Bill Irwin. Bill became Super Destroyer No. 1 while Scott became Super Destroyer No. 2, and the brothers won their first

NWA American Tag Team Championship The WCWA World Tag Team Championship was the primary professional wrestling tag team championship (professional wrestling), championship promoted by the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex area–based World Class Wrestling Association (WCWA). The cham ...

from Bulldog Brower and

Roddy Piper Roderick George Toombs (April 17, 1954 – July 31, 2015), better known as "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, was a Canadian professional wrestler, amateur wrestler, and actor. In professional wrestling, Piper was best known to international audiences for hi ...

in October 1983. Soon after debuting, they acquired Skandor Akbar as a manager. The Destroyers lost the title to Brian Adias and Iceman King Parsons on December 25 before regaining it on January 30, 1984. The Destroyers held the title for four months before losing it to Rock 'n' Soul (Parsons and Buck Zomhofe). The Destroyers quickly rebounded and won the title back thirteen days later, but after the match, Rock 'n' Soul unmasked them.

The Long Riders

After being unmasked, the brothers dropped the Destroyers aspect of their team and instead began wrestling under their real names while their tag team was renamed to the "Long Riders". The Riders continued their feud with Rock 'n' Soul and lost the title to them again, on August 4, after Parsons defeated Bill in a singles match. The Riders won the American Tag Team Title for the fourth and final time on September 28 after defeating Rock 'n' Soul. The brothers soon lost the title to the Fantastics ( Tommy Rogers and Bobby Fulton) on October 22. On November 18, Irwin returned to Georgia Championship Wrestling and, with his brother, defeated Brad Armstrong and Jacques Rougeau in the finals of a one-night tournament to win the NWA National Tag Team Championship. The next night, the Long Riders retained their newly won title against Armstrong and Tommy Rich. On January 11, 1985, the Riders lost the title to Ole Anderson and

Thunderbolt Patterson Claude Patterson (born July 8, 1941) is an American retired professional wrestling, professional wrestler, ring name Thunderbolt Patterson. He began his career in 1964 and wrestled primarily in Florida, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and the Carolin ...

. After the Riders lost a rematch for the title the following night, Scott faced Anderson and Patterson in two subsequent rematches with

Kareem Muhammad Ray Canty (December 3, 1951 – May 23, 1994), better known by the ring name Ray Candy, was an American professional wrestler who worked for a variety of different wrestling promotions in the United States, Japan and Puerto Rico such as Jim Crocke ...

and then Doug Somers as his partners, due to Bill leaving GCW, but was unable to win either rematch. Irwin wrestled a few more matches in GCW before leaving the promotion. The Long Riders soon sprang up in the

American Wrestling Association The American Wrestling Association (AWA) was an American professional wrestling promotion based in Minneapolis, Minnesota that ran from 1960 until 1991. It was owned and founded by Verne Gagne and Wally Karbo. The territory was originally part o ...

later in mid-1985, where they lost their debut match to the Road Warriors for the Warriors'

on July 14. On September 28, the Riders and

Harley Race Harley Leland Race (April 11, 1943 – August 1, 2019) was an American professional wrestler, promoter, and trainer. Race wrestled in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), the American Wrestling Association (AWA), the World Wrestling Federatio ...

lost to

Genichiro Tenryu , better known as is a retired Japanese professional wrestler and professional wrestling promoter. At age 13, he entered sumo wrestling and stayed there for 13 years, after which he turned to Western-style professional wrestling. "Tenryu" was his ...

Giant Baba , best known by his ring name , was a Japanese professional wrestler, promoter, and professional baseball player. He is best known as a co-founder of All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), a promotion he founded in 1972 along with Mitsuo Momota ...

and

Jumbo Tsuruta , better known by his ring name , was a Japanese professional wrestler who wrestled for All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) for most of his career, and is well known for being the first ever Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion, having won the PWF Heavyw ...

in a

six-man tag team match Much like the singles match, tag team professional wrestling matches can and have taken many forms. Just about any singles or melee match type can be adapted to tag teams; for example, hardcore tag team matches are commonplace. Tag team ladder m ...

at SuperClash. The Riders continued in the AWA until April 20, 1986, where they lost a tag team title match to Curt Hennig and

Scott Hall Scott Oliver Hall (October 20, 1958 – March 14, 2022) was an American professional wrestler. He was best known for his tenures with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) under his real name and under the ring name the Diamond Studd and with the ...

at WrestleRock. The Long Riders also worked in Montreal for Gino Brito`s Internation Wrestling between treatment for cancer and Scott had lost his hair.

Death

On September 5, 1987, Irwin died from a

brain tumor A brain tumor occurs when abnormal cells form within the brain. There are two main types of tumors: malignant tumors and benign (non-cancerous) tumors. These can be further classified as primary tumors, which start within the brain, and seconda ...

. He was 35 years old.

Championships and accomplishments

* Cauliflower Alley Club **Posthumous Award (

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

) with Betty Joe Hawkins *

** NWA Florida Tag Team Championship ( 1 time) – with Bugsy McGraw ** NWA Southern Heavyweight Championship ''(Florida version)'' ( 1 time) ** NWA United States Tag Team Championship ''(Florida version)'' ( 1 time) – with

Jos LeDuc Michel Pigeon (August 31, 1944 – May 1, 1999) was a Canadian professional wrestler better known by his ring name, Jos LeDuc. Wrestling with a lumberjack gimmick, he debuted in Stampede Wrestling with his kayfabe brother, Paul LeDuc. The pair ...

* Georgia Championship Wrestling ** NWA National Heavyweight Championship ( 1 time) ** NWA National Tag Team Championship ( 3 times) – with Big John Studd (1),

(1), and

Bill Irwin William Mills Irwin (born April 11, 1950) is an American actor, clown, and comedian. He began as a vaudeville-style stage performer and has been noted for his contribution to the renaissance of American circus during the 1970s. He has made a n ...

(1) *

Lutte Internationale Lutte Internationale (; "International Wrestling") was a professional wrestling promotion based in Montreal from 1980 until 1987. The promotion was founded by Frank Valois, André the Giant and Gino Brito as Promotions Varoussac (VAlois, ROUSSimof ...

Canadian International Tag Team Championship The Canadian International Tag Team Championship was the tag team title in the Montreal-based wrestling promotion Lutte Internationale Lutte Internationale (; "International Wrestling") was a professional wrestling promotion based in Montreal ...

( 1 time) – with Bill Irwin * Pro Wrestling Illustrated **PWI ranked him No. 77 of the 100 best tag teams of the "PWI years", with the Masked Superstar in 2003 * Mid-South Wrestling Association **

Mid-South Louisiana Heavyweight Championship The Mid-South Louisiana Heavyweight Championship was a secondary professional wrestling championship that was used and defended from 1964 though 1983. Initially, the championship originated in the NWA affiliated Gulf Coast Championship Wrestling ...

( 1 time) **

Mid-South Tag Team Championship The UWF Tag Team Championship was the tag team title in the Universal Wrestling Federation from 1986 until the promotion closed in 1987. It was formerly known as the Mid-South Tag Team Championship from 1979 until 1986 when Mid-South Wrestling b ...

( 1 time) – with The Grappler * World Class Championship Wrestling **

( 4 times) – with Super Destroyer #1/Bill Irwin ** WCCW Television Championship (

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 ...

) * World Wide Wrestling Federation ** WWWF World Tag Team Championship ( 1 time) – with Yukon Pierre * Wrestling Observer Newsletter Awards ** Best Wrestling Maneuver (1982)

Superplex A suplex is an offensive move used in sport wrestling as well as amateur wrestling and professional wrestling. It is a throw that involves lifting the opponents and bridging or rolling to slam them on their backs. Professional wrestling feature ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Irwin, Scott 1952 births 1987 deaths American male professional wrestlers Masked wrestlers Professional wrestlers from Minnesota Sportspeople from Duluth, Minnesota 20th-century American male actors 20th-century professional wrestlers NWA National Heavyweight Champions NWA Florida Television Champions NWA Southern Heavyweight Champions (Florida version) NWA United States Tag Team Champions (Florida version) NWA National Tag Team Champions