Ricky Rickard
Ricky Rickard (born 1958) is a retired New Zealand professional wrestler. He was trained by his father, Steve Rickard, and began wrestling professionally in 1978. He wrestled mainly for All Star-Pro Wrestling, the New Zealand arm of the National Wrestling Alliance, and he also toured Australia, Singapore, Malaysia and the United States in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He was a regular on the TV show On the Mat.
Rickard faced many well-known wrestlers and sometimes teamed with younger stars like Kid Hardy. His brother Tony worked as a referee for the promotion. A memorable moment on On the Mat came when Ricky wrestled while Tony refereed and Steve Rickard commented—the three family members shared the same match.
Rickard says his toughest opponent was Bruce Hart, who held the Stampede World Mid-Heavyweight Championship at the time. He also suffered injuries, including a broken nose, leg, back sockets and collarbone, but he kept wrestling.
In 1983 Rickard won the NWA British Empire/Commonwealth Championship from Butcher Brannigan and later that year lost the title to Larry O'Day. After On the Mat was canceled in 1984, he retired from wrestling and became a hotel manager.
Before turning pro, Rickard had a decade-long amateur wrestling career representing New Zealand, including competitions in the United States. He began as an amateur at age 10 in Raynor Greeks Hall, training on a small canvas mat before his father bought a rubber mat for practice.
Even after retirement, Rickard remained a figure in New Zealand wrestling circles. Some of his matches and interviews have appeared online, and a 1980 On the Mat episode featuring his tag team with Kid Hardy against Merv Fortune and Larry O'Day was later shown on NZ On Screen.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 14:17 (CET).