Big Dick Dudley

**Alexander Paul Rizzo** (12 January, 1968 - 16 May 2002) was an American professional wrestler, best known for his work in Extreme Championship Wrestling as **Big Dick Dudley**, the eldest of the Dudley Family.

## Professional wrestling career

Alex Rizzo grew up idolizing many different wrestlers in the 1980s, from Hulk Hogan to André the Giant. As he grew larger himself, Rizzo decided to go into the craft, going to train with Johnny Rodz in 1986. Creating the character of **Alexander the Great**, Rizzo tried out the independent scene for a few years, drifting through federations like the WXW.

While being a monster wrestler with a great physique, Rizzo rarely became the star attraction. Still, he continued honing his skills, until coming to a Philadelphia-based organization, Eastern Championship Wrestling, in 1994. He entered just as the federation began to take off, breaking away from its NWA ties and becoming Extreme. This allowed Rizzo a chance to shine, and he took it, transforming into **Big Dick Dudley**, the man from **Dudleyville**.

With his partner, Dudley Dudley, the "brothers" became a strong group in ECW, with their strong-arm antics. Big Dick became known for his powerhouse finisher, the Total Penetration, a double arm chokeslam into a tigerbomb, as well as his dangerous habit of attacking fans at ringside.

Soon, the Dudley Family grew, including Buh Buh Ray, D-Von, Snot, Spike, Psycho Sam & Dances With Dudley, creating a very dangerous family. Big Dick, being the eldest as well as the largest, formed the heart of the group, planning out attacks and leading the group. He also had to deal with brotherly problems, including feuds with D-Von and Spike.

Although Big Dick was the leader of the family, he rarely was given title shots, instead content to sit back and direct his brothers in their quests for gold. His aid to Buh Buh Ray and D-Von helped create the great tag team that was the Dudley Boyz, and his giant stature made Spike even more popular in their feud.

As some of the Dudley family left, the remaining members, Buh Buh Ray and D-Von, became Tag Team Champions. They soon became top heels in the company. He also carried on an almost year-long feud with Spike Dudley, the biggest brother against the smallest, with the fans firmly on the side of the underdog. In 1999, though, Big Dick's time with ECW ended, as he left the company.

    Big Dick would spend time in many different organizations over the next couple of years. He helped found the semi-popular XPW, known, like ECW, for its hardcore antics. At one point, Big Dick took home the XPW World Heavyweight Championship.

He would go on to earn belts in the NWA Jersey faction and the USPW federation. But things soon began to go downhill for the senior member of the Dudleyz. In only two years, Big Dick was involved in four auto accidents, including a serious motorcycle crash that left him with a broken neck.

This kept Big Dick on the sidelines of wrestling for over a year, while his former partners Buh Buh Ray and D-Von went on to the WWF. There was some speculation that Big Dick, once he healed up, would soon join his "family" together for another three man run in the World Wrestling Federation.

Outside of the ring, Rizzo was good friends with Buh Buh Ray Dudley and Nicole Bass. He also has one daughter born in 1990 with Donna Adamo and one son born in 1997 with a different spouse.

Rizzo also had a reputation of being a legitimate badass, as tough outside the ring as inside the ring. For example, in a shoot interview with The Dudley Boyz produced by RF Video Buh Buh Ray Dudley claims to have seen him beat up five people on his own in a nightclub on Long Island.

## Death and memorial shows

On May 16, 2002, Rizzo was found dead in his apartment of kidney failure due to a dependency on pain killers from his injuries at the age of 34. According to former wife Elektra on what happened the day of his death:

> "The day he did pass on, he woke up, he had stomach pains all week because of a change in prescription on Monday. And he woke up, he had stomach pains all week, he had woke up and tried to go to the bathroom and actually couldn't urinate. So he became a little concerned because he did have the sensation to go. I know it sounds really gross but this is the truth. So he called my sister-in-law and he asked her what to do. Should he go to the hospital because he really felt lousy. She told him to try a glass of cranberry juice, thinking is was likely a urinary tract infection or something to that effect. Then if he still couldn't go and didn't feel good maybe it was a good idea to go to the doctor but it didn't seem like any kind of a big deal. Which that, the woman he was with, I'd assume, I'm not sure if they were married or not, I don't think they were. I think it was a boyfriend/girlfriend type of thing, who was living with him, he sent her out to get some cranberry juice. So she came back and poured him a glass. He went into the living room to sit and drink his juice. He just didn't want to be bothered because he didn't feel very well. He got up to use the lavatory, and that's where he just fell face first and passed away."
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The **Big Dick Dudley Memorial Show** was an annual professional wrestling memorial event produced by the USA Pro Wrestling (USA Pro) promotion, held between 2002 and 2003. The event also served as a reunion show for former alumni of Extreme Championship Wrestling, where Dudley had spent much of his career as a member of The Dudley Brothers, as many appeared at the show to pay their respects.

Predating the Hardcore Homecoming shows of later years, ECW wrestlers that participated were generally those already actively competing in the promotion and elsewhere on the independent circuit. It was also the first of many memorial shows held for former ECW stars followed by the Ted Petty Memorial Invitational Tournament (2002-2008), the Chris Candido Memorial Tag Team Tournament (2005), Chris Candido Memorial Show (2005-2006), Chris Candido Memorial J-Cup (2005-) and the Pitbull/Public Enemy Tag Team Memorial Cup (2006).The winner of the first battle royal was Psycho Sam Dudley, with Tim Arson winning the second.