He won his first championship, the Atlas Wrestling Club junior heavyweight title, by defeating Ray Lasko in September 1958 in Lockport, Manitoba.

[2] In March 1966 Sprott began wrestling in Roy Shire's NWA San Francisco territory, where he would remain for most of that year.

[2] He became one of the first wrestlers to employ the inverted suplex manoeuvre,[1] and it was in this promotion that he had his greatest success, winning multiple titles over the next year.

On 23 November 1968 The Gladiator defeated Nick Kozak in Tampa to win the NWA Florida Heavyweight Championship for the first time.

In early 1971 he again toured Japan as Ricky Hunter,[2] and then spent several months in the NWA Western States promotion, based in Amarillo, Texas, famous as the home territory of the Funks.

Wrestling as The Spartan, on 14 April 1971 he defeated Pak Song to win the NWA Western States Heavyweight Championship, losing the belt to Terry Funk in May.

[9] On Friday, 24 August 1973 The Atlanta Constitution & Journal reported that Sprott had sued the reigning NWA World Heavyweight Champion Jack Brisco for slander and harassment, seeking a $75,000 payment plus losses.

Although briefly successful and attracting several high-profile wrestlers, the ASWA was squeezed out of business by the powerful NWA, with The Super Gladiator being the last recorded television champion when the promotion closed in November 1974.

[2] Approaching fifty years of age, and beyond his prime, Sprott joined the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) (now WWE) in mid-1985, shortly after the first WrestleMania event.

In the WWF he performed as both Rick Hunter and The Gladiator,[2] with both characters taking on the role of a jobber,[1] cleanly losing to the stars of the day.

[11] Despite this, Sprott stayed in the business, wrestling occasionally as a fill-in for absent or injured wrestlers[4] in house shows or dark matches, as well as assisting with setting up the ring.

[4] Sprott finally left the sport around 1996, stating in a 2006 interview that "... for thirty-six years I was a professional wrestler and loved every minute of it".