Prominent Internet Wrestling Pioneer and co-founder of Impact Wrestling Bob Ryder was found dead in his house by the police. The 64-year-old was battling cancer for several years and was working for the organization from his home in Nashville.
Ryder was diagnosed with cancer several years back with the doctors proclaiming that he only had a couple of months to live. The co-founder of one of the most successful wrestling organisation in North America managed to outlive that timeline by a huge margin.
Cancer had apparently gone into remission as well, but it came back and to combat that, Ryder had been undergoing weekly chemotherapy.
He held the post of Director of Travel Operations in recent years as his health declined. The veteran had been in contact with Impact Wrestling till last night but was unable to respond to any subsequent efforts made by them to contact him after falling down in his home on Tuesday.
“Bob Ryder was found dead at his home in Nashville by police today. We don’t know more but he had fallen yesterday and was on advanced chemo. Impact officials couldn’t get in touch with him and went to his home and he never answered, police were called and found him dead,” Dave Meltzer stated in a tweet.
Bob Ryder was found dead at his home in Nashville by police today. We don't know more but he had fallen yesterday and was on advanced chemo. Impact officials couldn't get in touch with him and went to his home and he never answered, police were called and found him dead,
— Dave Meltzer (@davemeltzerWON) November 25, 2020
Longest-serving employee for Impact and a distinguished Internet Wrestling Personality sums up Ryder
The 64-year-old was one of the longest-serving employees for Impact Wrestling who shared their grief in a statement. Read the full statement over here
Everyone at IMPACT Wrestling is heartbroken by the passing of Bob Ryder, one of its founders and in many ways the heart and soul of the promotion.
“At IMPACT, we joked that the chair and desk at Bob’s house was IMPACT’s “mobile command center.” Every wrestler and staff member knew that if they didn’t have a place to stay, if they’d missed their flight, if their car had broken down, they could call the command center – Bob’s phone – and he would take care of it,”
“Bob prided himself on that and being available 24/7. Even during his annual Christmas cruises, he’d carry his cell phone and laptop everywhere, so he was available to help even from the middle of the ocean,”
Ryder was one of the forefathers of the Internet Wrestling Community after hosting an online WWE chat during WrestleMania 11. He moved on to establish 1wrestling.com with Joey Styles.
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