Cleveland area native Rizzo (who used the Jack Reynolds name on-air due to a feeling back then that his real name would sound "too ethnic") had a career in radio and television in Cleveland over several decades. He was a DJ/talk show host for
the old WGAR AM 1220 and
the old WWWE AM 1100. He was the booth announcer for then-independent TV station
WUAB channel 43 (now Cleveland's affiliate for
The CW), where he was the original host (and later frequent substitute host) of the long running afternoon
Prize Movie. He was also an on-air spokesman (on both radio and TV) for several local businesses. Reynolds landed a brief speaking part in
The Godfather as an Army captain in the wedding scene. His line "I haven't had this much fun since the blitzkrieg" was cut from the finished film.
Professional wrestling Nationally, Reynolds was known for being a professional wrestling play by play voice. His first stint announcing wrestling came with the short-lived
IWA promotion in 1975, which had attempted to establish a national wrestling promotion years before
Vince McMahon had done so. He also worked alongside Pedro Martinez's son Ron announcing for the Buffalo, NY-based National Wrestling Federation. This experience had apparently served him well, as Reynolds joined the
World Wrestling Federation's broadcast team in September 1984. He replaced Vince McMahon as the
play-by-play announcer for the WWF's
syndicated program
All-Star Wrestling, which was being taped at various venues in southern Ontario and repackaged and aired in Canada as
Maple Leaf Wrestling. At the broadcast table, he was initially paired with
Canadian Football League legend turned professional wrestler
Angelo "King Kong" Mosca, but, in January 1985,
Jesse "The Body" Ventura, making his broadcasting debut, replaced Mosca as
color commentator when Mosca left his broadcasting job to concentrate on
managing his son, Angelo Mosca Jr., who had just entered the WWF. Reynolds and Ventura were also the original hosts of
WWF Prime Time Wrestling when it debuted in January 1985 on the
USA Network. In addition, during his time with the WWF, Reynolds was the regular play-by-play announcer, paired with
Billy Red Lyons as color commentator, for matches taped at
Maple Leaf Gardens in
Toronto that aired on
Prime Time Wrestling or other WWF programming. In July 1985,
Gorilla Monsoon replaced Reynolds as the play-by-play announcer for
All-Star Wrestling. Monsoon had also replaced Reynolds as host of
Prime Time Wrestling. Reynolds stuck around as a fill-in announcer before calling one last show in Detroit for the WWF in April 1986 alongside
Ken Resnick. Post WWF (now WWE) Reynolds continued to work in wrestling, traveling around the world on tours with former WWF stars such as
Greg "The Hammer" Valentine,
King Kong Bundy,
Kamala,
Brutus Beefcake, and others all throughout the '90s and into the 2000s. ==Death==