Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
Grappling with Tragedy is a series of articles that deal with unfortunate, tragic incidents that have occurred throughout the history of professional wrestling. It is unlike the ‘Wrestling with Sin’ series that deals more with the seedier side of wrestling like arrests, murders and suicides. Grappling looks more at particular tragic incidents that have in some instances altered pro wrestling in some way.
Big Dick Dudley
Alex Rizzo was trained under the tutelage of ‘The Unpredictable’ Johnny Rodz and made his professional debut in 1986. Wrestling as Alexander The Great, Rizzo competed in several northeast independent promotions, as well as a stint in Puerto Rico. His career really didn’t take off until he began wrestling for Eastern Championship Wrestling and later Extreme Championship Wrestling in 1994.
It was there where Rizzo, Taz and Tommy Dreamer came up with the idea of ‘Big’ Dick Dudley. Slowly, but surely new Dudley brothers were added and the group really became popular. Big Dick was the powerhouse of the group standing 6 ft 6 in tall and weighing over 300 pounds. Big Dick eventually quit ECW after having a professional falling out with Paul Heyman in 1999.
Big Dick would help form XPW with Rob Black and become the XPW heavyweight champion. He would also compete for independent promotions and do another tour of Puerto Rico for Carlos Colon’s World Wrestling Council. He married ECW valet Elektra and together had a daughter named Alexandria. The couple would later divorce and he would go on to have a son named Alex Jr. with his girlfriend.
On May 16, 2002, Rizzo started complaining of stomach pains. The pain became so severe that Rizzo called his sister to ask for advice on how to handle it. His sister suggested drinking cranberry juice thinking he had a urinary tract infection. He sent his girlfriend out to the store to purchase juice, while she was out…Rizzo ran to the bathroom to urinate, but instead collapsed and died. An autopsy confirmed that Rizzo died of kidney failure. Alex ‘Big Dick Dudley’ Rizzo was just 34 years old at the time of his death.
WendyweFirst offwe
First of all I was Alex’s girlfriend and I did not go out for cranberry juice I was the one who found him that morning! He called me at work the night before complaining that he wasn’t able to urinate, I asked him if he wanted me to come home because we LIVED together and take him to the hospital he said yes. But when I got home he would not go he told me if he still had pain in the m9rning he would go. We sat on the couch and I was rubbing his legs as we always did then went to bed. But before all this Alex and I had gotten into a argument so I left and left the engagement ring he gave me on his night stand. The TRUTH is the next morning I heard a load thump so I lifted my head and though he was just fucked up again so I went back to sleep. About a hour later my mother who ALSO lived with us came into Alex’s and my room saying she heard Alex fall but has not heard another thing since so I got up and charged to the bathroom where I found it hard to open the door because his 6’4 body was on the floor. I busted in screaming and was slapping his face trying to wake him up, I though he was just in a soma coma yet again scteamed for my mother to call 911! When the cops came it took a cop and a emt to pull me off him. They led me to our bedroom which was crossed the hall from our bedroom and I was crying asking if ge was OK and the cop told me they were working on him. They rolled him out then after that the cops let me out of our bedroom and started searching the spare bedroom looking in the dresser that was in there. I didnt understand what they were searching for because I had given them all his medications that he was on. So here I am thinking he is at the hospital getting medical help and then the Sargent walks out of the spare room and all he said to me in a cold manner was “well now you can start planning his funeral and if i was you id get a aids test!!” I felt my world turn upside down i screamed your saying he’s dead!! They had found needles in that dresser because he took steroids raids sometimes. I then called his sister Laura and screamed Alex is dead!!!. After everyone left our house i went back into our bedroom and went over to his nightstand where I had placed my ring and it was gone!! It was there the night before when we went to bed! So no I was not out fucking getting him juice I was the one that found him!!!
177613735
Thank you for the clarification. That was the report I read a few years ago. I’m glad you could comment on the incident.