Richard John Beyer (July 11, 1930 – March 7, 2019) was an American professional wrestler is best known by his ring names, The Destroyer and Doctor X. Among other places, he worked extensively in Japan and in 2017 he was awarded one of the country's highest honors, the Order of the Rising Sun. Early life As an athlete at Syracuse University, Beyer was a member of the varsity football and wrestling teams. He played in the 1953 Orange Bowl for Syracuse. He graduated with a master's degree in education and was a member of the Fraternity of Phi Gamma Delta's Syracuse Chapter, as well as an Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America. He was a schoolteacher and swim coach in New York until he began his wrestling career. Beyer worked the first seven years of his mat career near his Western New York home, due in large part to his coaching job and commitment to the U.S. Army Reserve. Beyer also served as an assistant to Ben Schwartzwalder. Professional wrestling career Worldwide Wrestling Associates Beyer began as a babyface wrestler in the mid-1950s, and he was voted 1955 Rookie of the Year by the Wrestling Life magazine. His career as masked wrestler The Destroyer began in 1962 in Los Angeles. Beyer traveled to California after Freddie Blassie praised Beyer’s heel skills to local promoter Jules Strongbow, who informed him he would wrestle as the masked Destroyer. Beyer's original mask was hard to see through and itchy, but Ox Baker lent him a mask made from a woman’s girdle, which served well for Beyer. He boasted about his East Coast academic background to help develop his heel character. He used the figure four leg lock (which became his signature finisher) on his way to the Worldwide Wrestling Associates (WWA) championship on July 27, 1962 in a win over Freddie Blassie, who convinced him that the mask gimmick would give him a large push. He defended the championship for ten months. In early 1963, Beyer wrestled three sold-out matches against Giant Baba at the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles. In May 1963, he traveled to Japan for the first time in his career, to wrestle Rikidōzan in a match watched by over 70 million TV viewers, being Japan's highest rated show at the time. Beyer was also the last person to hold a victory over Rikidōzan before his death. In