The Patriot

Del Wilkes

The Patriot debuted in the American Wrestling Association in 1988, under his real name **Del Wilkes** for a year, before wrestling under the ring name "**The Trooper**." He wrote his opponents tickets after beating them as part of his police gimmick, and would also hand out plastic police badges to the fans as he came to and from the ring. The Trooper won the AWA World Tag Team Championship with D.J. Peterson on August 11, 1990, at the final AWA television taping. Peterson and Trooper would turn out to be the last AWA World Tag Team Champions.

Alongside Paul Diamond, Wilkes headlined the AWA's *SuperClash IV*. In a cage match, they were victorious over the Destruction Crew, Wayne Bloom and Mike Enos.

Wrestling as The Trooper, Wilkes received a tryout match at a *WWF Superstars* taping in Rockford, Illinois on May 6, 1991, when he defeated WT Jones. The following day in Green Bay, Wisconsin, at a *Wrestling Challenge* taping, Wilkes defeated Tom Stone. He returned on November 12, 1991, in a dark match at a *Wrestling Challenge* taping in Springfield, Massachusetts. Wrestling this time as **The Patriot**, Wilkes defeated Brooklyn Brawler. He would then appear in five matches in March 1992, wrestling as either Del Wilkes or The Patriot, and facing Rick Martel, Kato, and Repo Man.

In 1994, Wilkes signed with World Championship Wrestling to form a team with Marcus Alexander Bagwell called Stars and Stripes. They feuded with Paul Orndorff and Paul Roma over the WCW World Tag Team Championship. The two teams battled for the titles and exchanged victories in non-title matches for several months. One week after losing the titles at Fall Brawl 1994, Stars and Stripes defeated Pretty Wonderful on September 25, 1994, on *WCW Saturday Night*. Stars and Stripes held the titles for a month, but lost them back to Pretty Wonderful at Halloween Havoc 1994. On November 16, 1994, at *Clash of the Champions XXIX*, Stars and Stripes regained the titles in a match where Patriot's mask was on the line. Three weeks later, on December 8, Stars and Stripes lost the titles to Harlem Heat (the match would air on edition of January 14, 1995 of *WCW Saturday Night*). Patriot continued wrestling for WCW for several more months until leaving in May 1995.

On June 30, 1997, he returned to the WWF and defeated Rockabilly at a *Raw is War* event in Des Moines, Iowa. His television debut came two weeks later on the July 14, 1997 episode of *Raw*, and feuded with Bret Hart. The premise of this feud was that Hart had just started his anti-American Hart Foundation, and the Patriot was, as the name implied, a man who stood up for America. He wore a mask with American stars and stripes and carried the American flag. He defeated Hart on television in a match on July 28, 1997, after interference from Shawn Michaels. Patriot went on to challenge Hart for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship at Ground Zero: In Your House, where Hart forced him to submit with the *Sharpshooter*. At Badd Blood: In Your House, Patriot teamed with Vader against the Hart Foundation's Bret Hart and The British Bulldog, but lost the match. Following Badd Blood, Patriot was scheduled to team with Vader, Goldust, and Marc Mero as part of Team USA at Survivor Series 1997, but suffered a torn triceps weeks earlier; he was replaced by Steve Blackman. He was released in early 1998.

The Patriot passed away on July 1, 2021.