I broke into the wrestling business back in 1997 and left permanently in 2023. It is amazing in that amount of time how many friends that you think you have made. But what it really comes down to is how many of them stick with you after you leave the business.
I am not for sure how “RoughHouse Rob” Rob Avram came into my life. My trainer “Sweet Daddy” Malcolm Monroe used to test me, to see how long I would last with some of the bigger guys in the ring.
I wasn’t a big guy, 5-foot-8, 210 pounds, but he would put in there with guys like The Devil Dawg, Skull Ganz, Kamala J, Big Jason Fuller — all guys that were legitimately 6-foot-3 or taller, and between 230 and 400 pounds.
It didn’t matter; I would take them all on. I would wrestle, take my licks and go home. I wasn’t one that went out after shows to hang out with the boys. I didn’t party. I wasn’t there to make friends and I sure wasn’t there to make enemies. I was a blue-collar worker trying my hand at professional wrestling, trying to get out of the meat cutting business and make it to TV.
In one evening that all changed.
I was introduced to RoughHouse Rob at the Lincoln Park Community Center in Lincoln Park, Michigan. I don’t remember much about the match. What I can tell you, is that when I first met Rob, it was like we were friends from the get-go, like we had known each other all of our lives. He had this big smile and a booming laugh that just stuck with you.
From then on, after that first match, we became the definition of what being married is … in the wrestling business.
One of my earliest big matches was teaming with The Arabian Knight versus Rob in a Kendo Stick on a Pole Match at the Lincoln Park Community Center. Of course, I cheated to win! He loved to tell the story that I swung that kendo stick like Mark McGwire.
Another time, he ribbed me. He had DJ F*ck Up (Jason Cawley) change my entrance music to the “Lollipop Guild” from The Wizard of Oz. When it got to the part of “We wish to welcome you to Munchkinland” he presented me with a three-pound sucker which I promptly swung like Mark McGwire and cracked him in the head with it. Believe me, he talked about that and that swing for 20-plus years too!
Rob and I had so many matches against each other, whether I was OOga bOOga or The Rebel, The Prettyboy Redneck or whatever incarnation Levi Blue took.
You had better believe, though, if we were facing one another, there was hardly a time where it wasn’t a bloodbath. From wrestling in a church rectory in front of two people to the Phoenix Theatre in Pontiac or even Cobo Hall in a battle royal in Detroit, no matter where we were at, no matter how many people we were in front of, Rob wanted to give 110% in every match we were in.
Rob did so much for so many people and did it with his whole heart and asked for nothing in return.
When I think back on my wrestling “career” and as far back into it, R-O-B was there.
When I was “retired” and I was doing my thing as a Ghostbuster — a long story for another day — Rob was there to record my entrance with Adam Rose as a Rosebud in Flint at an indy show.
When I was inducted into the Michigan Independent Hall of Fame, Rob was the one with Keith Calhoun who did the induction.
When the XICW Hall of Fame called, he made sure he was there and recorded it for me.
For the DSW Hall of Fame, we were inducted together.
Rob was a big kid, just a big fan of the wrestling business. It became a long-standing thing here in Michigan, that if you were a former name, you stayed at the RoughHouse Rob Bar and Motel. Many, many names passed through those doors and Rob was proud as hell that he got to house many of his heroes at his home.
Here’s the thing — Rob was so humble, he didn’t realize that he was a hero to so many people, including the fans. When he and I were a team as The Brew Crew, we would Facetime with the fans, and that was just the way he was, and it was the way he gave back the love that they showed him.
The last few years, Rob really hit a low point in his life. As I said, you really can tell once you leave the business, how many people are really your friends. Rob and I would sit and talk for hours about the way he was feeling.
The last time I talked to Rob, in the fall of 2024, he had cleaned up his act, made right with God, and was going to church. While he missed his wrestling family, he seemed like he was in a better and happier place.
Then he died on January 17, 2025. Rob was 58.
I didn’t think this would affect me the way it has.
I keep thinking about the concerts we went to, The Brew Crew Beer Breaks we hosted. We hung out at block parties.
Truthfully, Rob has been in the better part of my life for almost 30 years.
I’m not going to hear the excitement in his voice anymore as he tells me of meeting all of his wrestling heroes. I’m not going to hear that big booming laugh any longer when he raved about our wrestling exploits. I’m genuinely going to miss my friend, my partner and my brother.
Rob, I certainly hope you found the happiness you were looking for. I hope you’re enjoying another drink with Piper and brother. The last words we said to one another were “I love you, bro.”
I do love you, bro. You were a big part of my life and I will miss you.
We are all going to miss you.
