Wrestling Pro

Edward Leon Baxter (June 4, 1938 – August 15, 2019) was an American professional wrestler who competed throughout the National Wrestling Alliance in the 1960s and 70s. He was best known for wrestling under a mask as (The) Wrestling Pro and also wrestled under the ring name Tarzan Baxter. One of the most popular heels in Gulf Coast Championship Wrestling's history, he had famous feuds with the likes of Ken Mantell for the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship and Jack Brisco for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.

Professional wrestling career Early career Baxter, raised in Malone, Florida, was a veteran of the U.S. Navy (where he had also been a boxer) and was working as a deputy sheriff in Houston County, Alabama, when he began his professional wrestling career in Oklahoma under the ring name Tarzan Baxter. Under this name, he wrestled for various NWA territories in the American South, including Oklahoma, Gulf Coast, and Tennessee. Sometimes wrestling friends, like Man Lassiter, Night Hawk. He also pulled double duty as a member of the tag team The Masked Gauchos with Juan Sebastian for Georgia Championship Wrestling and Jim Crockett Promotions. Baxter found early success in Oklahoma, where he feuded with Danny Hodge He became a mainstay for the Mid-South Wrestling Association/Tri-State capturing the NWA North American Heavyweight Championship in 1969. That same year, he won the NWA United States Tag-Team Championship with Karl Karlson.

Becoming Wrestling Pro As part of a villainous tag team, Baxter learned how to be a successful heel. By 1970 he returned to Gulf Coast Championship Wrestling as a tag team with Tim Tyler under the name "the Wrestling Pros, a masked duo managed by Joe Powell.

Murder Inc. Soon thereafter, Wrestling Pro aligned with Gulf Coast's Heavyweight Champion Duke Miller and the tag-team of Gorgeous George Jr and Billy Spears to form the short-lived but innovative stable "Murder Inc". They feuded with many of the promotion's top wrestlers including Wrestling Pro's long-time rivals "Cowboy" Bob Kelly, The California Hippie Mike Boyette, The Mysterious Medic and Sweet Daddy Watts. The four man group operated with the goal of ensuring that Miller - who dressed in suits - remained Gulf Coast Champion. It would be another ten years before The Four Horsemen debuted with a similar concept.

Southeastern Championship Wrestling and later career

Baxter travelled to Tennessee and competed in Ron Fuller's Southeastern Championship Wrestling territory in 1976, where he teamed with fellow Dothan, Alabama native Dick Dunn as the team known as "The Masked Superstars", with whom he won the NWA Southern Tag Team Champion in April, 1976. Pro continued to also compete in the Gulf Coast territory, where he went on to win the NWA Gulf Coast Heavyweight Championship on nine occasions. One of his most famous rivals, Ken Mantell, returned to Gulf Coast Championship Wrestling after losing the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship and rekindled his rivalry with Baxter, feuding over the Gulf Coast Heavyweight Title. Baxter formed a team with "The Super Pro", a fellow masked wrestler who soon turned on him. In a mask vs. mask match, "Super Pro" lost the bout and was revealed to be Randy Rose, who would later form The Midnight Express with Norvell Austin and Dennis Condrey.

In the later stage of his career, Baxter continued to wrestle for Southeastern Championship Wrestling (who had begun promoting in the Gulf Coast), putting over up and comers Austin Idol and Terry "The Hulk" Boulder (who would later become Hulk Hogan.

Retirement and death

Baxter retired from in-ring competition around 1978. His last appearance as part of a wrestling show was in 2004 at "The Continental Reunion" event, where he - as Wrestling Pro - finally unmasked. He was known to also attend the annual Gulf Coast Wrestlers Reunions. In his retirement, Baxter was involved with the local stockyard in Dothan, Alabama. He died on August 15, 2019, at age 81.

Championships and accomplishments National Wrestling Alliance NWA World Tag Team Championship NWA Gulf Coast Heavyweight Championship (nine times) NWA Alabama Heavyweight Championship (six times) NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship (only recognised in Gulf Coast territory) NWA United States Tag Team Championship (Gulf Coast version) (three times) NWA Continental Tag Team Championship (two times) NWA Gulf Coast Tag Team Championship (five times) with - Eddie Sullivan (2), Mighty Yankee (1), Duke Miller (1), and Ken Lucas (1) NWA Tri-State UWF North American Championship NWA United States Tag Team Championship (Tri-State version)