Rudy Charles
| Rudy Charles | |
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| File:RudyCharles.jpg
Charles in 2007.
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| Birth name | Daniel Engler |
| Born | November 20, 1977 Evansville, Indiana |
| Children | Logan William Engler (born April 11, 2013) Micha Engler (born June 11, 2015) |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Rudy Charles Dan Engler |
| Billed height | 5 ft 7 in (170 cm) |
| Billed weight | 160 lb (75 kg) |
| Trained by | Mark Vance |
| Debut | July 6, 1996 |
Daniel "Dan" Engler (born November 20, 1977) is an American professional wrestling referee, better known by his former ring name, Rudy Charles, best known for his time as a referee in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where he was the promotion's senior referee. Also has worked in 2011 with SWE, Supreme Wrestling Entertainment, in Wisconsin. In July 2013 Charles joined WWE at their Performance Center as a referee for WWE NXT. He is currently signed to WWE
Contents
Career
Charles trained as a referee under former United States Wrestling Association referee Mark Vance, whom he met at a wrestling show in the Evansville Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Coliseum, and refereed his first match on July 6, 1996.
In 1997, Charles enlisted in the Indiana Army National Guard, and underwent four months of training.
Charles joined TNA shortly after its inception in June 2002, and was quickly named senior referee. In addition to working for TNA, Charles runs a high school football website, along with his brother.
Rudy Charles was the wrestling referee for the season three premiere of Pros vs Joes.
Rudy Charles has run several family oriented wrestling promotions in his hometown of Evansville, IN. He has run shows at the historic Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Coliseum (former home to the USWA), the Vanderburgh County 4-H Fairground (home to the Frog Follies classic car festival) and the CK Newsome Center, an urban community center for inner-city children.
Rudy currently has a show on YouTube.com called The Rudy Charles Talk Show. His guests so far have been: former TNA/WWE referee Mike Posey, wrestlers such as Mike Rapada, Mike Rapada Jr., Steve-0, Matt Boyce, and Shawn Shultz.
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2002-2009; 2011)
Charles was one of the few that had been with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) since its start in 2002. Rudy was one of the first referees shown on the show, having to help hold Toby Keith back from entering the ring to fight Jeff Jarrett.
Rudy's first trading card (#59) was released in 2004 by Pacific Trading Card Inc. Charles has come to have five other cards, three being in the latest TNA Trading Cards.
On January 29, 2009, Rudy made his wrestling debut on TNA Wrestling, along with referee Andrew Thomas, in a handicap match against Booker T. In a backstage interview, Charles seemed confident and talked about his amateur wrestling background. Thomas was nervous, but Charles said to follow his lead. This was all short lived as Booker T hit Rudy with an Axe Kick and finished off Andrew Thomas with the Bookend for the pin, and forced Earl Hebner to make the count.
In July 2009, Charles left TNA. However, he again appeared for TNA Impact (now branded Impact Wrestling) on the Thanksgiving Day 2011 episode and featured in several segments alongside wrestler Eric Young as well as refereeing a match between Eric Young and Robbie E. Despite not appearing since, he has referee'd in TNA's subsidiary project Ring Ka King.
Independent circuit (2009-2013)
On his debut in NWA, Shawn Shultz lost his NWA Mid-America Heavyweight Championship. On various episodes, Shultz said that Rudy screwed his match. Shultz and his manager, Tony Lucassio, called Rudy a reject referee from another promotion in Orlando, noting his time in TNA. Rudy Charles made his OVW debut as the special guest referee of a match between heel referee Chris Sharpe and OVW senior official Ray Ramsey in December 2009. He has refereed several matches in OVW since. Rudy Charles was the referee for the All Wheels Wrestling TV Pilot taping in Orlando, FL on June, 29, 2011.
WWE (2013-Present)
In July 2013 Charles indicated on his Twitter account that he had signed with WWE and would be working WWE NXT tapings and would be present at the WWE Performance Center grand-opening.
Charles made his WWE pay-per-view debut at Hell In A Cell on Sunday, October 27, 2013 refereeing the Divas Championship, AJ Lee vs. Brie Bella. Charles worked under his real name Dan Engler.
He was also spotted the following Monday night on RAW refereeing another Divas match, Natalya vs. Summer Rae in her debut match.
Personal life
Charles is married to wrestler Matt Boyce's twin sister, Melissa Boyce. The two started dating early in 2007. The couple was married in 2008. Boyce left her job at iMPACT! Wrestling in 2013. They have two children together. They currently live in Evansville.
References
- Former TNA Referee makes WWE debut at Hell in a Cell
- Rudy Charles at NXT Taping
- WWE hires Former TNA Referee Rudy Charles
- Rudy Charles issues statement regarding his release
- Big Update on TNA's Rudy Charles "Quitting" the Company
- Rudy Charles talks about his release from TNA
- TNA's Rudy Charles Speaks To TNAHeadlines.com!
External links
- The Rudy Charles Talk Show on YouTube.com
- Rudy Charles on Twitter
- The Official MySpace Profile of Rudy Charles
- Rudy Charles at the Internet Movie Database
| Sporting positions | ||
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| Preceded by
First
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Total Nonstop Action Wrestling Senior Referee 2002-2006 |
Succeeded by Earl Hebner |
