Brad Rheingans was a pro wrestler for nearly two decades with a good deal of his time in AWA, but Jim Ross notes of the former amateur wrestling star’s influence when it comes to ring work.
Rheingans trained a litany of talents that fans have become familiar that includes the likes of JBL, Vader and Jerry Lynn (Brock Lesnar even credits him for his advice) but he’s also known for getting Rick Steiner squared circle ready. JR and Conrad Thompson discussed this very matter on a recent Rick Steiner featured episode of Grilling JR and The Boomer Sooner had high praise for the NCAA All-American.
“Brad was a great coach, great trainer,” JR said of the former AWA Tag Champ. “Real good mentor cause he could identify with these young, ‘just being former amateurs’ and very involved in training a lot of those guys in Gagne’s AWA territory.”
“He’s an unsung hero. He’s not referred to enough or his contributions. Always did a great job. I don’t know anybody that Rheigans trained that wasn’t fundamentally sound as hell. They got it cause he was a coach, he was a teacher, he was an educator and that’s missing a lot today. He wasn’t one of those, ‘Hey, brother’ this or ‘work the gimmick’ deal. All straightforward communication and a real good teacher, good communicator, good coach. So Rick started off the right way and got a real good foundation from Brad Rheingans and later on, Eddie Sharkey.”
You can check out the full Rick Steiner episode of Grilling JR below:
