Dennis Stamp

Professional wrestling career Early career Stamp, who grew up in Brainerd, Minnesota, won the 1965 Minnesota State High School Wrestling Championship for the 175 pound weight class. After entering professional wrestling and having his first match on August 9, 1971, in Thunder Bay Ontario, He also appeared occasionally in the WWF in the mid-1980s, including a December 1986 match shown on the TV program WWF Wrestling Challenge where he teamed with fellow jobber Mike Luca against the Fabulous Rougeau Brothers. He later returned to the AWA, which was in decline at the time due to heavy competition from the WWF and World Championship Wrestling. He was used primarily by the AWA to put over major stars and veterans, like Superfly Jimmy Snuka, Colonel DeBeers, Jerry Lawler, and The Midnight Rockers.

In 2016, Stamp announced that his cancer had returned. He died of lymphoma on March 13, 2017, after which wrestlers including Ted DiBiase and Tommy Dreamer paid tribute to him on social media.

In November 2017, Stamp was posthumously inducted into the Amarillo Pioneer Hall of Fame by the local Amarillo Pioneer newspaper.

Beyond the Mat Stamp attained a measure of cult popularity after appearing in the 1999 documentary Beyond the Mat. The film's footage of him was from 1997, when he was the referee for one of Terry Funk's many "retirement" matches (this one against Bret Hart at Terry Funk's WrestleFest). In the film, Stamp said that he did not wrestle as much anymore because he had not been booked for matches, but had kept in shape in case he received a call. His training ritual involved holding arm weights and jumping up and down on a trampoline in his backyard in his underwear. His repeated use of the phrases "I'm not booked!" while discussing his referee job with Funk, and "I don’t do tricks. I just jump." while working out, resulted in popular memes.

Championships and accomplishments American Wrestling Association 1971 AWA Rookie of the Year NWA Tri-State territory NWA Tri-State Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Bull Bullinski (1) and Dewey Robertson (1) Worldwide Wrestling Associates NWA "Beat the Champ" Television Championship (2 times) NWA All-Star Wrestling NWA Canadian Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Tiger Jeet Singh NWA Western States NWA Western States Tag Team Champion (2 times) - with Davey O'Hannon (1) and Al Perez (1) NWA Brass Knuckles Champion (4 times)