Buddy Landell and gain the WCW Six-Man Tag-Team Championship. He also began a short feud that month with The Master Blaster, winning each encounter. JYD and his partners held the title until June 3, when they were defeated by The Freebirds in Birmingham, Alabama. He left the promotion in August. After dropping a significant amount of weight to improve his conditioning, Junkyard Dog returned on February 29, 1992, at SuperBrawl II. During a segment where Abdullah the Butcher was attacking Ron Simmons, JYD came out of the crowd to make the save. He found himself wrestling in tag-team matches with Ron Simmons, Barry Windham, or Big Josh for the next few months. In April and again in June, JYD faced former Six-Man Championship partner Ricky Morton, defeating him on each occasion. He also formed another tag-team, this time with The Big Cat. They feuded with The Vegas Connection (Diamond Dallas Page & Vinnie Vegas) the rest of the summer. In April 1993 he formed a new tag-team with Jim Neidhart and began a feud with Dick Slater and Paul Orndorff that would last the next few months. After defeating Slater on July 28, 1993, he left the promotion. Later career (1994–1998) After WCW, JYD went to the independent circuit where he wrestled for NWA Dallas. In 1995 he wrestled for National Wrestling Conference in Las Vegas where he had matches with former WWF stars; The Iron Sheik, Mr. Hughes, and The Honky Tonk Man. Ritter had stayed active in professional wrestling until the time of his death, appearing at Extreme Championship Wrestling's 1998 Wrestlepalooza event, just one month prior. He was the founder of the Dog Pound stable in an independent Mid-South promotion, based in southern Louisiana. Death Ritter died on June 1, 1998, at the age of 45, in a single-car accident on Interstate 20 near Forest, Mississippi, as he was returning home from his daughter LaToya's high school graduation in Wadesboro, North Carolina. Among Ritter's last contributions to professional wrestling was the training of former WWF wrestlers Rodney Mack and Jazz. His daughter, LaToya Ritter, and his sister, Christine Woodburn, represented him as he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2004 at a ceremony held on March 13, 2004, by Ernie Ladd, the day before WrestleMania XX. He is buried in Russellville, North Carolina. Championships and accomplishments Mid-South Wrestling Association Mid-South Louisiana Championship (3