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Description: Patterson is ultra-aggressive, with little interest in things like “the rules” or “his opponent’s safety”, who permanently treads a fine line between beating the hell out of an opponent because he wants to, and going that one step further and really messing them up however he sees fit. Bears a grudge against his past, anyone involved in it, and always looks to carve his name in new ways.
Appearance: Patterson seems to permanently be glaring a hole through whoever, or whatever, happens to be directly in his field of vision, with eyes that rarely flicker, shrouded in his black hair that surrounds his face, and sunken within sleep-deprived eyes. His hair is grown out and a bit messy with sweat and grime, but he keeps it out of his, eyes which is all that matters. He has almost permanent stubble, which occasionally grows into a beard before he decides it needs a crop. Although he lives in the desert sun, his skin isn’t tanned as such, more lightly toasted, indicating he doesn’t go outdoors much. He also has a few tattoos on his arms, such as a burning eye on the inside of his left elbow, a crucifix wrapped in a snake on the underside of his right wrist (usually obscured by his wrist tape), and a piece on his upper right arm featuring, among other things, a skull and crossed swords, a succubus, and dollar signs arranged similar to The Omen’s “666” symbol. Lastly, on his upper left arm, he has the phrase “No Mercy/No Future/No Escape” in Latin.
In the ring, Patterson wears a pair of black pants with dark red symbols on them – it’s hard to make them out, but there does appear to be a crucifix wrapped in a snake (like his right wrist tattoo) on the right leg, with black boots beneath. In the ring, he usually wears one of many faded black t-shirts with a variety of designs, all with the sleeves torn off. On his left wrist tape he draws either a flame design or barbed wire, whilst he tapes his right hand as well as wrist.
Biography: Patterson was born in rural La Cruces, but his family moved from state to state in order to find work throughout his younger days, be it Arizona, Texas, Nevada, Kansas, Nebraska, even as far as California. As a result, Patterson never hung around anywhere long enough in order to fit in or find friends, as sooner rather than later he’d be taken away from them. By his teenage years, he’d grown withdrawn from social circles and this, coupled with his lanky frame, made him a natural target at High School. During this time, Patterson was often involved in fights and often in trouble at schools – even though he was defending himself, Patterson would often snap and go far beyond what could be classified as “self defence.”
Having to work in order to support his family, one job he found himself working at a gym in Phoenix, where they regularly hosted wrestling try-outs. Patterson tried out, an showed sufficient skill to be seen as a diamond in the rough and invited back – only to find the promoter was stiffing him out of his payoffs, and became disillusioned with wrestling.
His interest was reawakened a few years later when he was living in Texas during early 2002, when he saw the MWA were offering tryouts, with a promise of significant pay-offs for those who were signed. His unorthodox brawling style gained the attention of the scouts, and he was signed to a deal. Although he made a decent start to his MWA career, including winning a memorable (and bloody) Toy Shop Brawl, the company folded after he made just two appearances.
Patterson made his way to the UWF based on this performance, and teamed with rising Brazilian star Marcello Dias in a team named Barros Bravas, and Patterson began to find his feet, being noted for his violent ring style and promos. But his desire to be seen to perform to his best caused him to attack Dias despite the team showing some potential, and lost to Dias in a violent No DQ match – but this actually helped Patterson, as he was now free to act alone and how he pleased, and started to rack up victories culminating with a Global Title win over The Stump, after which he unveiled a new partner, Scott Anderson, to form the Violent Messiahs.
But, just with MWA, the company folded the next week. Patterson and Anderson were picked up by ICWA, picked up a run of form, but again the company folded. A breakaway company, ICWA/TEW started up and the Messiahs were drafted, and went on a tear to win the Tag Team Titles – but the company folded yet again, in September 2003.
Patterson became inactive at this time, not due to injury but because he attacked the president of the company when he was informed that he would not have his paycheques for the past two weeks honoured as the company couldn’t afford to, and – with his hopes dashed and being in the fourth failing company in 18 months - he snapped. Four men dragged him off the president, as he tried to throttle him there in the office, and this led to a prison sentence, which Patterson served three years.
Having spent a year or two bouncing from job to job and place to place, Patterson decided to make a final run at wrestling, wearing the mentality that if he goes down, he may as well take as many down with him and get paid to do so on his sleeve; an attitude that got him a place on the ICWF roster.
Patterson quickly became hated by the ICWF fanbase for his casual violence, but it proved to be extremely effective as he worked his way up the ranks based on his performances, and his planned decimation of those ahead of him in the ranks.
Patterson was soon in the running for the newly-returned TV Championship, and made his ways to the final of the Vingvitational tournament, but fell just short against CK Walker. However, fuelled by the taint of failure, Patterson kept on with his gameplan – making sure those in contention knew he was clearing a path back to Walker, whilst continuing a vendetta against Colt Daniels, which was sparked when Daniels beat Patterson in his ICWF debut.
Patterson’s efforts finally came to fruition when he won a three-way against Walker and Alexander Megalos to raise the TV Title, pinning Walker to underline his thirst for retribution.
From there, Patterson defended the title with a vengeance, defeating Marcus Davis, Colt Daniels and Kayoken Shiro in back-to-back defences, as well as defending it in a TV title versus tag team title match when teamed with Dexter Payne against NextWave. Patterson was also entered into a title-versus-title match with ICWF Champion Dexter Payne, but the match never came to fruition as the federation closed its doors.
Management were quick to tell Patterson – and the rest of the roster – their contracts would be honoured until the end of the year, giving them all time to look for employment elsewhere. And, with this in mind, Patterson has come to Shootfire World to find some new faces to break.
Entrance:
[The sound of a heartbeat fills the arena, and with each beat the lights get dimmer, and dimmer, and dimmer, until reaching darkness – at which point, a woman’s scream pierces through the PA system, and all that can be seen throughout the arena is the message across the Shootfire Screens…]
I
AM
A
REFLECTION
OF
YOU
[…as “Lava” by Ministry begins to pound through the speakers around the darkened arena, the message remaining onscreen – albeit looking as if the screen is malfunctioning]
[As the bass kicks in and reverberates around the arena, red lights begin to pulse in synch with the theme, and Rich Patterson emerges at the top of the ramp wearing a black duster coat, and immediately begins a slow, purposeful walk down the rampway towards the ring]
“Hot lava
Big Monkey flow
Chokin' on a colour
Floating down like a rain (Oh yeah…)”
[Patterson walks down the ramp, working a kink out of his shoulder, eyes locked on the ring in front of him]
”Hot lava
On the always
Make ready to burn
What the hell is in your
Lost and your found
Got lotta those time
Some owner lost
He wants nothin' but the kick underground”
[Patterson reaches the bottom of the ramp and tosses the coat to the floor, revealing a skull and crossed guns t-shirt, and slides under the ropes into the ring]
"(Be Healed, Be healed!)"
[Patterson stands up and throws a couple of practice punches at the nearest turnbuckle, followed by a hard kick for good measure]
“Hot lava, lava…”
[Patterson mounts the middle rope, and looms over the crowd, his fists clenched in anticipation for the violence about to unfold]
"(Be Healed Be healed!)"
[Patterson climbs down and stares across the ring, holding his ground, rubbing one palm against the other, before cracking his knuckles together]
RA: FROM LAS CRUCES NEW MEXICO, STANDING 6 FOOT 3 AND WEIGHING IN AT 243 POUNDS,
HE IS THE BAD SEEED.... RIIIIIICH!!! PAAAATTERSON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
[MONSTER HEEL POP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!]
Moveset:
Notes: Patterson will use any weapon available to him, which in a regular match usually means chairs, or untying his wrist tape or a bootlace for a quick garrotte. In extreme circumstances, he’ll wrap his fist in barbed wire to bloody his opponents, and in No DQ matches he’ll bring anything from thumbtacks to plastic bags to lighter fluid to glass bottles to the ring himself. Considering he’s used decapitated Barbie dolls as a weapon before, he can and will get disturbingly creative. | Signatures: Rapture: Chokeslam STO Enigma: Full Nelson bulldog False Prophet: Running powerbomb into ring apron or crowd barrier Paradise Lost: Argentine Rack Neckbreaker Divine Comedy: Flapjack spinebuster Inferno: Folding powerbomb Into the Void: Exploder suplex through a table in the corner Finishing Maneuvers: Near Life Experience: Scoop cradle tombstone - Patterson cradles the opponent’s leg and scoops them onto his shoulder, and in one swift movement drops to his knees whilst bringing the opponent down head-first to the canvas. The Devil’s Backbone: Face-down rear naked choke - With the opponent face-down, Patterson locks in a rear naked choke, but instead of rolling onto his back he sits back on the opponent’s lower back and chokes them out - usually set up with a piledriver, or occasionally in combination with the NLE. HK08 (Hunter-Killer 2008): Fireman’s carry into brainbuster - Patterson lifts the opponent into a fireman’s carry before throwing them to one side whilst dropping to the canvas, spiking them head-first into the mat - he tends to hit this either when an opponent has avoided a NLE, if there’s a personal issue between him and the opponent – or if he wants to send a message. False Witness: Elevated powerbomb through a standing chair - Self explanatory: Patterson sets up a chair in the ring, and hits an elevated powerbomb that breaks the chair and the opponent at the same time – saved for matches where, apparently, the NLE or HK08 aren’t brutal enough. MDK Finisher: Near Death Experience: Like the NLE, but when the opponent is on his shoulder Patterson runs a couple of paces and jumps, driving the opponent's head into the mat with extra force. |
