Jimmy Del Ray

Professional wrestling career

Early career (1985–1992) Ferrier was trained by the Mighty Yankee and debuted in 1985 as "Jimmy Richland", which most thought was his real name. In the late 1980s, Del Ray joined Championship Wrestling from Florida as "Jomo Kenya". He later changed his ring name to "Jimmy Backlund" and formed a tag team with Brett Sawyer known as "The Playboys". The Playboys were awarded the vacant FCW Tag Team Championship on July 1, 1989. They held the titles until August 22, when they were defeated by the Nasty Boys. From 1989 to 1991 he worked in Japan for Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling. On November 22, 1991, he worked for WWF as Jimmy Richland losing to Skinner on a house show. In 1992, he worked for W*ING.

Smoky Mountain Wrestling (1993–1995)

In January 1993 Del Ray joined Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW), where he replaced Stan Lane as one half of the Heavenly Bodies with Tom Prichard. They made two more appearances on Raw that year; they were defeated by World Tag Team Champions The Steiner Brothers in a title match on August 30, and were victorious over Mark Thomas and Scott Taylor on August 4. At SummerSlam 1993 on August 30, the Heavenly Bodies faced the Steiner Brothers with the World Tag Team Championship on the line, but were defeated.

At the 1993 Survivor Series on November 24 in the Boston Garden, the Heavenly Bodies faced the Rock 'n' Roll Express for the SMW Tag Team Championship. Though the Rock 'N Roll Express appeared to have the match won, the Heavenly Bodies defeated them after Del Ray struck Robert Gibson with Cornette's tennis racket while the referee was distracted, enabling Prichard to pin Gibson and win the titles. They returned to WWF television on the April 25 episode of Raw, defeating John Paul and Jason Headings.

At the 1994 Survivor Series on November 23, the Heavenly Bodies took part in a ten-man survivor match, teaming with Bam Bam Bigelow, Tatanka, and King Kong Bundy as Ted DiBiase's "Million Dollar Team". The Million Dollar Team defeated their opponents, "Guts and Glory" (Lex Luger, Mabel, Adam Bomb, and the Smoking Gunns), although both Prichard and Del Ray were eliminated from the match. Prichard and Del Ray both participated in the 30 man Royal Rumble match on January 22, 1995. He was part of the cruiserweight division and competed against Dean Malenko, Chris Jericho, Rey Mysterio, and Billy Kidman. He took part in the three-ring battle royal at the 1996 World War 3 event on November 24. He also wrestled as Jim Richland. Del Ray remained in WCW until a knee injury forced him to retire in 1997.

Retirement (1997–2014) After retiring, he worked as an instructor in Steve Keirn's Floridian professional wrestling school for several years,

Championships and accomplishments Championship Wrestling from Florida FCW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Brett Sawyer Wrestling International New Generations W*ING World Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time) Florida Championship Wrestling / Pro Wrestling Federation PWF Junior Heavyweight Championship (3 times) Future Championship Wrestling FCW Light Heavyweight Championship (1 time) Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South IWA Mid-South Light Heavyweight Championship (1 time) Pennsylvania Championship Wrestling PCW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Tom Prichard Pro Wrestling Illustrated PWI ranked him 73 of the 100 best tag teams of the "PWI Years" with Tom Prichard in 2003 Smoky Mountain Wrestling SMW Beat the Champ Television Championship (1 time) SMW Tag Team Championship (3 times) – with Tom Prichard United States Wrestling Association USWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Tom Prichard