Richard "Rick" Allen[4][5] (born September 24, 1963), also known by the ring name Sunny Beach, is an American retired professional wrestler and promoter.
[3] As the promotion's top "babyface" tag team, Wet N' Wild battled Cactus Jack and Bob Orton Jr., led by manager "Coach" John Tolos, with their feud concluding at the company's first PPV event UWF Beach Brawl in 1991.
[1] In the spring of 1988, while preparing to enter the police academy of the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, Allen had a minor role in the 1989 action film No Holds Barred starring Hulk Hogan.
Allen rejected football scholarships from Florida State and Georgia Southern University in order to start working for the company as a preliminary wrestler.
[4] He was trained at the famed Gleason's Gym alongside Jason Knight, Falcon Coperis, The Shark Attack Kid, Primo Carnera III and Tiger Khan.
He spent the next few weeks wrestling Scott Casey at live events in St. Joseph, Missouri, Canton, Ohio and Kittanning, Pennsylvania.
[9] Allen joined "Iron" Mike Sharpe on the October 16 episode of WWF Wrestling Challenge in a losing effort against The Young Stallions (Jim Powers and Paul Roma) at Louisville Gardens.
He received a title shot against Chris Benoit for the Stampede British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight Championship in Edmonton, Alberta the following night.
He was one of the wrestlers recruited by promoters Rob Russen and Pete Lucic when they started the International Wrestling Association in Girard, Ohio.
In the post-match interview, Tolos introduced Cactus Jack as the newest member of his stable and began a feud with the two young wrestlers lasting nearly three months.
[2][21][22] The duo proved popular with the UWF audience, one of its few homegrown stars, and who quickly became the promotion's top "babyface" tag team.
[25] Allen and Ray finally met Bob Orton and Cactus Jack on the March 18 episode of UWF Fury Hour which ended in a time-limit draw.
In addition to taking live callers and discussing pro wrestling news, they also interviewed both former WWF Women's Champion The Fabulous Moolah and Allen's then rival Cactus Jack.
[26] On the June 3 episode of UWF Fury Hour, Wet N' Wild and The Power Twins fought to a double-disqualification at the Hotel Pennsylvania.
[2] Allen and Ray's feud with Coach Tolos' stable was finally settled at UWF Beach Brawl, the promotion's first-ever PPV event, with Wet N' Wild defeating Bob Orton and Cactus Jack.
They defeated Chico Torres and El Azteca in the opening rounds on July 26, 1991, but were eliminated in the second by The Royal Family (Jack Victory and Rip Morgan).
During the next few weeks, Allen and Ace also faced the teams of Billy Black and Joel Deaton, Mighty Inoue and Rusher Kimura, Dan Kroffat and Doug Furnas, Kenta Kobashi and Tsuyoshi Kikuchi, Akira Taue and Jumbo Tsuruta, Abdullah the Butcher and Giant Kimala II, Steve Williams and Terry Gordy, Al Perez and Dory Funk Jr., Mitsuharu Misawa and Toshiaki Kawada, André the Giant and Giant Baba, and Dynamite Kid and Johnny Smith.
The promoter, in particular, claimed it was Allen's poor relationship with local wrestlers that forced him to import more expensive talent from outside the Northeast region.
[38] Scozzari also blamed the wrestler for losing the original heavyweight title alleging Allen had loaned it to then champion Paul Orndorff without his knowledge.
[39] On December 16, 1991, on the AWF's second television taping in Lowell, Massachusetts, Allen and Jeff Gaylord wrestled Bob Orton and Barry Horowitz, accompanied by manager Ronnie P. Gossett, in the co-main event.
[40] Allen and Scozzari co-promoted one live event together, a "sold show", in Staten Island following the original AWF TV tapings.
[42] On February 22, 1992, Sunny Beach and Gaylord successfully defended the belts against Galan Mendoza and Dr. Terror at an AWF show in Caguas, Puerto Rico.
On July 28, Allen and Johnny Ace teamed against Abdullah the Butcher and Giant Kimala II at the Ishikawa Industrial Exhibition Hall.
[2][48][23][49] Allen, according to wrestling historian Georgiann Makropoulos, became owner of the UWF video library when Herb Abrams died two years later.
Allen's then partner, Dave Power, introduced LeGrande to the group who would eventually train him: Paul Lauria, Mike Norman, Craig Casey and Mikey Whipwreck.
Within ten years, Allen's company had grown to 260 employees and was providing security for nightclubs, restaurants and residential buildings in New York City.
Additionally, Forte Security has been hired by visiting celebrities such as Jay-Z, Pamela Anderson, Russell Simmons, Jennifer Lopez and Michelle Rodriguez.
Allen also has served as president of the Terry Parker Alumni Fund from May 2008 to Present and helped raise $500,000 for his old high school to purchase new sports equipment for its athletic teams.