Tag Team Wrestlers
Public Enemy
Ted Petty (aka Rocco Rock) graduated from Rutgers University with a degree in Nutrition. While in Rutgers, Petty competed on the Rutgers Wrestling team. After numerous victories, Petty joined the management team, becoming a trainer.
After his college days, Petty became a boxer. While Petty was successful as a boxer, it began taking it's toll, and he began to look for a new profession.
Petty decided to alter boxing rings and sell them to wrestling promoters. Since there were no major companies selling wrestling rings at the time, this was a great idea. Ted soon got the "bug" and decided to enroll in the Wild Samoan Wrestling School, under the tutelage of Afa A'noia.
Petty began wrestling as the Cheetah Kid around the country and found great success in Japan. After a period of time, the fans started to lose interest in the Cheetah Kid gimmick so Petty began to think about changing his character.
In the 1980's, when wrestling was starting to become popular, Mike Durham
moved to New Jersey from Louisiana. After getting his feet wet in many
indy organizations, Durham met Petty. The two formed the team of the Public
Enemy (Rocco Rock and Johnny Grunge) in 1993 in Woodbridge, NJ in the
UWF.
In 1994, Public Enemy decided to try out Eastern Championship Wrestling (which then became Extreme Championship Wrestling) in Philadelphia. They soon became main eventers along with Raven, Tommy Dreamer, and Sandman. Public Enemy helped change the face of professional wrestling by creating a whole different "hardcore" style. While in ECW, Public Enemy fought their way through some of the most hardcore wrestling matches fans in this country had ever seen. They were in the first ever "Double Tables" match. They went on to battle everyone from the Gangstas, to the Eliminators to everyone else in between. The Public Enemy held the ECW Tag Team Titles five times.
After competing in ECW the Public Enemy left to join World Championship Wrestling. They made their debut in WCW on January 15, 1996 defeating the American Males on Nitro.
On September 22, 1996, Public Enemy defeated Booker T and Stevie Ray
to become the new WCW Tag Team Champions.
Public Enemy made a brief return to ECW, feuding with the Dudley Boys
before jumping to the WWF.
The Public Enemy's stint in the WWF only lasted a few weeks as they were made an offer from WCW.
On July 18, 1999, Public Enemy made their WCW return, competing in the Bash at the Beach PPV.
Public Enemy soon left WCW and went on to work for indy promotions such as MECW, TCW, XPW, IWF, and many other promotions across the United States.
On September 21, 2002, after wrestling a match with Crowbar in Jersey City (that I was lucky enough to have attended and witnessed in person), Ted Petty died of a heart attack while on the way to another match. He was 49 years old.
No one can deny the impact Public Enemy had on the wrestling scene. No one can deny that they were able to get a crowd to react like no one else could. Thank you Public Enemy for all you have brought wrestling fans.
(Written by Brett Schwan)
