BASED ON A TRUE STORY:
In 1989, Tommy Clifford passed away at the age of 20, and his former co-worker, Rick Ciccone, believed it was a suicide. Two years earlier, Tommy, a summer hire at a land surveying company, experienced the tragic death of his...
While the Clifford family was preparing to say "goodbye" to young Tommy Clifford, 25-year-old Rick Ciccone was just coming off an excursion through the Midwest. He was a pro wrestler, known in the business as Ricky Rage, a heel, or bad guy, who was a top challenger for International Championship Wrestling's heavyweight championship. His trademark tagline at the end of every promo was, "I am what's all the rage!" while flexing his tanned, muscular body.
He worked 20 days in 21 nights, going toe-to-toe with "Man Mountain" Moore, the champion. They packed houses in Des Moines, Lincoln, Topeka and Omaha. It was a grueling schedule. He was glad to be home.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Ricky Rage.
It was a circuitous route to what became a lucrative career for Rick. It was not his dream to become a wrestler. He "fell into it". He was an aspiring writer and liked writing of all kinds —- screenplays, journalism, etc. Not only that, he won awards and was the editor of his high school newspaper. His parents were not supportive, though. His dad would not put him through college "to do that."
He tried to keep his hand in writing, making short subject Super-8mm movies with some amateur filmmakers in the area, but the harder he tried, the more he got knocked back. Eventually, he gave it up, and spent his first few years out of high school drifting from one job to another —- janitor; delivering ice — which lasted two days; fitness instructor; back to janitor.
The Universe chose his calling for him, and it planted the seeds early. Rick believed in the order of The Universe. He was hit by a car on Labor Day, ten days shy of his 10th birthday. He suffered a concussion and believed he had a near-death experience, but it was his neighbor holding him on the ground, putting a blanket on him. He did see this, an out-of-body-experience, he concluded. It drew him into metaphysics, reading the works of Dick Sutphen, Dolores Cannon, Dr. Brian Weiss, and others.
The first seed, a back injury at age 12 — he punted a plastic football — shanked it — led him to begin weight training in his freshman year in high school.
The second seed — his brother was a fan of the World-Wide Wrestling Federation. Soon, Rick began watching with him. The physiques of Bruno Sammartino, "Superstar" Billy Graham, Ken Patera, and "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka caught his eye.
The third and 4th seeds — He loved the "Hercules" movies, starring Steve Reeves. The strongman competitions on ABC's Wide World of Sports wowed him. He'd go grocery shopping with his mom, and they'd pass Super's Gym. When the traffic light was red, 10-year-old Rick would gaze over, hoping to get a peek at what was going on inside. He lived for the President's Fitness Tests in elementary school. The Universe set up the pins. Rick just had to knock 'em down.
By the time he broke into wrestling in 1986, Rick was a 22-year-old solid mass of muscle at a height of 5'9" and 190 lbs. In his wrestling boots, he was 5'11". The ring announcers announced him as weighing 221 lbs. Nobody questioned it.
