Richard Eugene Link, Jr

Our beloved “BEASTMASTER” Richard Eugene Link Jr., left us here to go to the Heavenly Father that he served, Jesus Christ on January 14, 2026.
We are left to grieve for him here but we are filled with wonderful memories that are full of the love he had for his family. Rick was a longtime member of Psalm 91 Church Pastored by Darrell Shoaf. 

Meeting him at the Gates of heaven where he met the Lord Jesus whom he boldly proclaimed are his earthly dad, Richard Eugene Link Sr, his grandma Reatha, and his beloved pets Snoopy and Daisy Mae.
Rick left to follow after his Wife Lori, his mother Betty, his brother Bill (Janet), his sister Leigh Ann (Walter) his niece Princess Kayla, her brother Kaleb and sister Bella, and his nephew Tim, who wrestled with him for a while under the name King Konga.We would like to thank a special friend Kelly James for loving us all and taking care of the Princess. The softness and love he had for his family was infectious. we all love, admire, and respect him and will forever until we are reunited. And Princess Kayla made his heart turn to jelly.

Rick practiced a career that he lived, loved, and breathed; Professional Wrestling. It was his dream and he left it a legend. He wrestled his first match

on March 1, 1975, just one day after his 16th birthday.

He was an American professional wrestler, trainer and promoter. He wrestled throughout Canada and the United States for the National Wrestling Alliance during the 1970s and 1980s under a number of ring names, most notably, as M.E.B. (Man Eating Beast) in NWA Central States and as Man Mountain Link in the Continental Wrestling Association where he was among the “monster heels” who challenged AWA Southern Heavyweight Champion Jerry “The King” Lawler and was involved in the ongoing feud between Lawler and Andy Kaufman. Other promotions Link competed in included Georgia Championship Wrestling, International Championship Wrestling, the International Wrestling Association, Jim Crockett Promotions, and Stampede Wrestling. He was also part of the NWA’s 1983 visit to New Zealand, frequently appearing on the country’s long-running wrestling program On the Mat, and remained undefeated throughout the tour.

Following the end of the NWA territory system, Link relocated to his native North Carolina where he became a trainer and promoter of independent wrestling in the Southeastern United States. It was on the independent circuit that he reinvented himself as a formidable “hardcore” wrestler\[3] and engaged in bloody brawls with Abdullah the Butcher,\[4] The Iron Sheik, Buddy Landel, Jimmy Valiant and Wahoo McDaniel. He was also long billed as “World Brass Knuckles Champion” in his home state.\[2] From the 1990s, he was associated with Alternative Championship Wrestling, Carolina Championship Wrestling, Coastal Championship Wrestling, New Age Championship Wrestling and New Dimension Wrestling, the latter promotion associated with his Piedmont Triad wrestling school, the TNT Training Center. In later years, he appeared with other NWA territorial veterans of the Carolinas such as Bobby Eaton, The Barbarian, Ivan Koloff, Bobby Fulton, Jimmy Valiant, Tommy Young and The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express (Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson).“If you’ve been around wrestling a long time … you already know what kind of loss this is,” Steve Stasiak of Book Pro Wrestlers shared on Facebook. “Rick wasn’t just a name. Rick wasn’t just a big man from another era. Rick was one of the boys. A true locker room guy. A tough, old-school worker who gave a lifetime to this business and earned respect everywhere he went.

Link wrestled from 1975 to 2012. He did television enhancement work on Georgia Championship Wrestling during its heyday and got a first push around 1983 during the dying days of the Poffo family’s ICW promotion as Sir Rickton Link. In 1983, he had a main event run in Tennessee which saw him beat Jerry Lawler for one week to become Southern Champion. He was managed by Jimmy Hart and would eat raw chicken in the background while Hart would do promos for him. He held the Southern title twice that year and came back in 1985 as Mid-American champion.

He also wrestled as MEB in the Central States and was pushed as 666 in 1984 for Ole Anderson’s Championship Wrestling from Georgia that formed as the new NWA promotion in the state after Vince McMahon purchased Georgia Championship Wrestling that year.

During that run, he worked with top babyfaces in Anderson, Bob Armstrong, Jerry Oates, Ron Garvin and Masked Superstar (Bill Eadie). He was also pushed in New Zealand on a tour that year. In 1985, he came back to Tennessee as Man Mountain Link, the Mid American champion, losing it to Lawler on July 15 in Memphis. Jimmy Valiant had been champion and left the territory and Link was brought in as the new champion. He only worked there a month that year. The 6-foot-3, 348-pound Link battled the likes of Jerry “The King” Lawler for the AWA Southern Heavyweight Championship, and per PWInsider, he became the first person in Memphis wrestling history to pin “The King” two weeks in a row.

But from 1987 on, it was mostly indies in the Carolinas where he worked bloodbaths with the likes of Abdullah the Butcher, Wahoo McDaniel, The Iron Sheik, Valiant and Buddy Landel, often being billed as the World Brass Knux champion, and also working with the likes of The Rock \& Roll Express, Ivan Koloff, The Barbarian, Bobby Fulton and Eaton. For years, he would tour indie promotions with traveling buddy Manny Fernandez and they would do bloodbath matches and chop and beat the hell out of each other.

“Many fans remember him as ‘Beastmaster’ Rick Link,” the post continued. “Others knew him as Man Mountain Link … but no matter what name you first saw him under, the same thing always came through — Rick had a presence. Rick had grit. Rick had that real, no-nonsense energy you don’t fake in professional wrestling. He was part of the era where the miles mattered, the rings were smaller, and the work was harder. He fought for everything he got, and he belonged in the business because he lived it. Rick lost his fought with renal failure after moving to hospice when he made the brave decision to end dialysis. He fought until the end like the champion he was.

“Rest easy, Beastmaster, “Thank you for the years, the battles, and the memories.” Your family loves you and you will forever be missed.

A Celebration of Life will be held Sunday, February 8, 2026 at 3:00pm at Affordable Funerals and Cremations of Davidson County, 1403 S Main St. Lexington NC 27292 with Brian Myers conducting the Eulogy. The visitation will be held from 2pm to 3pm, prior to the service at funeral home.

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