Erick Rowan
Joseph Ruud is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Erick Rowan and is a member of The Wyatt Sicks.
Having previously wrestled in Japan, where he trained and performed for Pro Wrestling Noah, Ruud signed a contract with WWE in 2011. He was sent to its developmental territory, Florida Championship Wrestling, before debuting on the NXT brand in 2012, a member of The Wyatt Family. He went on to become a one-time NXT Tag Team Champion and a two-time SmackDown Tag Team Champion.
Ruud was released from WWE in April 2020, and returned to the independent circuit under the ring name Erick Redbeard, and appeared in All Elite Wrestling, also under said ring name. He returned to WWE in June 2024.
Early life
Joseph Ruud was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on November 28, 1981. He grew up in Montrose, Minnesota. Ruud is of predominantly Norwegian descent, with his ancestors having emigrated to the United States from Nannestad, Norway. He also has some German ancestry. In High School he was a singer and played football. After graduation he attended the University of Minnesota Morris, where he continued to play football.Professional wrestling career
Independent circuit (2003–2011)
Ruud began his professional wrestling career after training with Eddie Sharkey in 2003. He debuted under the ring name "Thoruf Marius", competing for various promotions throughout the Midwest until 2007. He was invited to go to Pro Wrestling Noah's dojo in Japan to live, train, and wrestle. During this time, he competed in both tag team and singles matches. Following his tour in Japan, Ruud returned to the United States in 2008 and began competing for the Minnesota-based F1rst Wrestling promotion. Albeit, without much success. Upon joining the promotion, he began feuding with Big Brody Hoofer, with the pair exchanging wins across several events.World Wrestling Entertainment / WWE (2011–2020)
Florida Championship Wrestling (2011–2012)
In February 2011, Ruud signed a developmental contract with World Wrestling Entertainment and was assigned to their developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling under the ring name "Erick Rowan". He made his FCW TV debut in August 2011 with a win over Kenneth Cameron, while being accompanied by Byron Saxton and James Bronson. To tie in with Saxton's feud with Titus O'Neil, Rowan and Bronson lost to O'Neil and Leakee in a tag team match. Although Rowan continued to compete in both singles and tag team matches with Bronson, he was not involved in any further feuds and did not challenge for any titles on FCW TV.The Wyatt Family (2012–2014)
After FCW was rebranded to NXT Wrestling, Rowan made his debut on the December 12, 2012 episode of NXT as a follower of Bray Wyatt, who introduced Rowan as his "second son". As a member of The Wyatt Family, Rowan formed a tag team with Wyatt's "first son" Luke Harper, and they defeated Percy Watson and Yoshi Tatsu on the January 9, 2013 episode of NXT. On the January 23 episode of NXT, Harper and Rowan again defeated Watson and Tatsu in the opening round of the NXT Tag Team Championship tournament. Following a win over Bo Dallas and Michael McGillicutty in the semi-finals after Wyatt's interference, Harper and Rowan were defeated in the finals by Adrian Neville and Oliver Grey. On the May 2 episode of NXT, Harper and Rowan won a triple threat elimination tag team match by last pinning Adrian Neville.On the May 8 episode of NXT, Harper and Rowan defeated Adrian Neville and Bo Dallas to win the NXT Tag Team Championship, Rowan's first professional wrestling championship. On the June 5 episode of NXT, Harper and Rowan successfully retained their championship against Corey Graves and Kassius Ohno, and on the June 19 episode of NXT, The Wyatt Family defeated the team of Neville, Graves and Ohno. On the July 17 episode of NXT, Harper and Rowan lost the NXT Tag Team Championship to Neville and Graves.
From the May 27 episode of Raw, WWE aired vignettes promoting the upcoming main roster debut of The Wyatt Family. The vignettes showed The Wyatt Family's backwoods origins and Rowan wearing a sheep mask. On the July 8 episode of Raw, The Wyatt Family made their debut by assaulting Kane. Rowan made his WWE in-ring debut on the July 26 episode of SmackDown, where he teaming up with Harper to defeat Tons of Funk in a tag team match. Over the next few months, Rowan and Harper competed as a tag team and went on a winning streak over many teams, until Cody Rhodes and Goldust handed them their first loss on the October 11 episode of SmackDown. In early 2014, Rowan took part in The Wyatt Family's feud with The Shield, while also supporting Bray Wyatt in his feud against John Cena. While Cena and Wyatt's feud continued, Rowan and Harper also started a feud with The Usos, unsuccessfully challenging for the Tag Team Championship at Money in the Bank and Battleground.
Singles competition (2014–2015)
Beginning on September 29, vignettes were shown of Rowan and Harper being "set free" by Wyatt, marking the dissolution of The Wyatt Family and the transition of its members into singles competition. On the November 17 episode of Raw, Rowan had a brief feud with the Authority when he joined Team Cena for Survivor Series, going after his former Wyatt Family partner Luke Harper, who had joined Team Authority, turning face in the process. At Survivor Series, Rowan scored no eliminations and was himself eliminated by Harper, with the assistance of Seth Rollins; however, Team Cena later won the match. Afterwards, Rowan started a feud with Big Show, the team member who had betrayed the rest of Team Cena at the event. At TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs, Rowan was defeated by Big Show in a stairs match.On the January 5, 2015 episode of Raw, Rowan, along with Dolph Ziggler and Ryback were fired by The Authority for being a part of Team Cena. On the January 19 episode of Raw, Rowan, Ziggler and Ryback were rehired after Cena won a 3-on-1 handicap match against Seth Rollins, Big Show and Kane following assistance from Sting. On the January 22 episode of SmackDown, Rowan lost to Luke Harper in a qualifying match for the 2015 Royal Rumble. Despite this, Rowan appeared during the Royal Rumble match and attacked number 6 entrant Curtis Axel, before Axel could make his entrance to the ring, sparking a brief The Wyatt Family reunion with Harper and Wyatt, before all three men brawled. At Fastlane, Rowan teaming up with Ziggler and Ryback in a six-man tag team match against Seth Rollins, Big Show and Kane, which they lost. Rowan participated in the second annual André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 31, but was eliminated by Big Show.
Return of the Wyatt Family (2015–2017)
In May, Rowan reunited with former tag team partner Luke Harper after attacking Harper's opponent Fandango, turning heel once again. In late June, Rowan suffered a torn bicep, leaving him out of action. Rowan returned on the October 19 episode of Raw as a member of The Wyatt Family once again, against Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns, and Seth Rollins, which his team won by disqualification after Ambrose attacked new The Wyatt Family member Braun Strowman with a kendo stick. Rowan took part in The Wyatt Family's feud with The Brothers of Destruction, after they kidnapped The Undertaker at Hell in a Cell, and Kane on the October 26 episode of Raw. At TLC: Tables, Ladders, and Chairs, The Wyatt Family defeated ECW Originals in an eight-man tag team elimination tables match, with Rowan being the only Wyatt Family member eliminated from the match. On January 24, 2016, Rowan would go on to compete in the Royal Rumble match with fellow The Wyatt Family members and was eliminated by Brock Lesnar, but he would later return to the ring along with another members to eliminate Lesnar.On April 3, Rowan competed in his first ever WrestleMania singles match at WrestleMania 32 against The Rock, after the latter confronted The Wyatt Family. Rowan was defeated by The Rock in six seconds, breaking the record for the quickest WrestleMania match of all time; after the match, when The Wyatt Family attempted to attack The Rock, a returning John Cena came to his aid. The next night on Raw, The Wyatt Family attacked The League of Nations, starting a feud between the heel factions. Rowan and Strowman were set to compete in a match at Payback, but Wyatt suffered a calf injury as well as Harper, who dislocated his patella and tore his medial patellofemoral ligament in late March. These injuries resulted in the suspension of the feud between The Wyatt Family and The League of Nations. The Wyatt Family returned on the June 20 episode of Raw, subsequently getting into a feud with The New Day, who interrupted Wyatt during his return speech. The feud culminated at Battleground, where The Wyatt Family defeated The New Day.
On July 19, as part of 2016 draft, Rowan was drafted to SmackDown brand along with Bray Wyatt, while Braun Strowman was drafted to Raw. While Rowan kept wrestling with Wyatt, in October Rowan underwent surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff and would be out of action for eight months. He made his return on the April 4, 2017 episode of SmackDown Live. On April 10, The Wyatt Family disbanded again when Wyatt was moved to the Raw brand as part of Superstar Shake-up. The short rivalry between Rowan and Luke Harper was ended at Backlash on May 21, where Harper defeated Rowan.
The Bludgeon Brothers (2017–2018)
On the October 10 episode of SmackDown Live, Rowan returned to television in a vignette where he was once again aligned with Luke Harper. The duo were dubbed as The Bludgeon Brothers, where his ring name shortened to "Rowan". The team wrestled their return match on the November 21 episode of SmackDown Live, defeating The Hype Bros. At the Clash of Champions pay-per-view event, The Bludgeon Brothers defeated Breezango in a squash match.On March 11, 2018, The Bludgeon Brothers made an appearance at Fastlane, interfering during the SmackDown Tag Team Championship match between The Usos and The New Day. The team won the SmackDown Tag Team Championship at WrestleMania 34 from The Usos, a match also involving The New Day; this marked Rowan's first main roster championship win. They would go on to successfully defend the titles against The Usos at the Greatest Royal Rumble event, against Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson at Money in the Bank, and against Team Hell No at Extreme Rules.
The Bludgeon Brothers lost by disqualification in a championship defense against The New Day at SummerSlam, resulting in them retaining the titles. Two nights later on the August 21 episode of SmackDown Live, The New Day defeated The Bludgeon Brothers in a no disqualification match to win the championships, ending their reign at 135 days. The following day, it was announced that Rowan had suffered a torn right bicep and would have surgery later in the week.