When a wrestler passes away at a young age, it is always something sad even if the person was not overly well known throughout their career. On Saturday, it was revealed that former WWF/WWE superstar Rick Bognar had died at the very young age of 49-years-old. While even some of the most hardcore fans may not recognize his name, others remember him as a key component in the start of the “Monday Night Wars.”
Before the New World Order officially became a reality and the Attitude Era existed, the “Monday Night Wars” kicked off with some ship jumping in 1996. When Scott Hall and Kevin Nash were going by their real names, no longer answering to Razor Ramon and Diesel, and showing up on WCW Monday Nitro , things were getting real.
It was one of the strangest happenings ever and it was unlike anything that anyone had ever experienced before. Their jump from WWF to WCW was a huge move and it led to the creation of the nWo which led to some of the best wrestling histories ever.
Later that year, legendary announcer Jim Ross brought Razor Ramon and Diesel in as part of a storyline to make the Hall of Famer into a heel. It wasn’t really Hall and Nash, but it was Bognar in the role of “Fake Razor” and Glenn Jacobs (Kane) as “Fake Diesel.”
On Saturday, the Cauliflower Alley Club revealed that Rick Bognar passed away suddenly about a week ago. As of this writing, there was no cause of death given for the former wrestler.
The CAC would like to pass our condolences to the family and friends of Rick Bognar aka Big Titan from FMW and “Fake Razor Ramon” in the WWF. Per his brother, Rick passed away suddenly at the age of 49 back on the 20th of September. A great speaker, he will be sorely missed pic.twitter.com/0xloNEptry
— CauliflowerAlleyClub (@CACReunion) September 28, 2019
Bognar did not spend a lot of time in WWF as he had a one-year contract and was gone after that expired. Jacobs ended his run as “Fake Diesel” and ended up going on to become the iconic legend known as Kane.
Before joining WWF, Bognar had wrestled in a few different promotions and even was a member of ECW for a short time in 1996. He appeared at one event as Big Titan and went on to defeat Judge Dreadd.
After leaving WWF, he went and joined New Japan Pro Wrestling where he actually joined the nWo Japan stable. The irony of that move is that he was a big part of WWF when the New World Order was just getting started in WCW.
Despite not having wrestled regularly for a number of years, there were many superstars who knew Bognar from time spent with him. Different wrestling personalities paid tribute to Bognar on social media after news of his death began making the rounds.
Sad to hear the news about Rick Bognar aka Rick Titan, Big Titan, Razor Ramon 2 passing away. ?? this photo was taken while running into Rick a few years back at Chinook Center, and unfortunately was the last time I saw Rick, but we had a good talk about Japan??R.I.P. Rick ? pic.twitter.com/we0blAoLkd
— Harry Smith (@DBSmithjr) September 28, 2019
Sad to hear about the passing of Rick Bognar/Rick Titan. Great a d funny guy from the time I met him in ECW. Some remember him as Fake Razor Ramon. That gig came out of him doing it on an ECW house show. He popped the boys and the crowd. God speed Rick!
— Brian Heffron aka The Blue Meanie (@BlueMeanieBWO) September 28, 2019
I’ve just heard that Rick Bognar (FMW’s Big Titan & WWE’s impostor Razor Ramon) has died. Rick was the first one out of our crop of Calgary talent to make it in Japan & WWE, and he was always extremely cool and generous with me. If this news is true, he will be greatly missed. pic.twitter.com/Ngxqb8wSIy
— Paul Lazenby (@MaulerMMA) September 28, 2019