Early career (1978–1993) Following his boxing career, Petty trained as a professional wrestler under
Afa Anoa'i. He debuted in 1978, working on the
independent circuit in the
northeastern United States as the
masked "Cheetah Kid". Their next scheduled appearance was at
Crossing the Line '99 on February 12 in Queens, New York against the Dudleys, which they cancelled due to negotiating with the WWF. The team was buried on the February 20 edition of ECW
Hardcore TV as being cowards who ran from a fight. Footage of the Dudleys hitting big moves on the team at an event in Detroit was shown, with a headline stating "Breaking News: The Dudleys Destroy Public Enemy." Two days later, the team would make their WWF debut.
World Wrestling Federation (1999) The Public Enemy signed with the
World Wrestling Federation Following the Public Enemy's subsequent release, the APA claimed that they "ran The Public Enemy out" of the WWF. They said they could do the same to another famous ECW tag team (the Dudley Boyz); after the Dudley Boyz succeeded in the feud, it was commonly referred to as "Passing the Acolyte Test" since the Dudley Boyz did get
over after a feud with the APA while The Public Enemy failed. The Public Enemy wrestled their final match for the WWF on March 30, 1999, in a match taped for
Shotgun Saturday Night, losing to the
Hardy Boyz via disqualification. The match was aired on television on April 10, 1999. Shortly after airing, both members of Public Enemy were released in mid-April 1999.
Return to World Championship Wrestling (1999) After leaving the WWF, the Public Enemy returned to WCW in July 1999 at the
Bash at the Beach pay-per-view, taking part in the "Junkyard Hardcore Invitational" that was won by
Fit Finlay. Over the following weeks, the Public Enemy wrestled in the tag team division, facing teams such as the
Insane Clown Posse;
Chris Benoit and
Perry Saturn; and
Barry Windham and
Curt Hennig. On the August 5, 1999 episode of
WCW Thunder, Rock lost to
Goldberg. They made their final appearance with WCW on the August 19, 1999 episode of
WCW Thunder, losing to
Sid Vicious in a
handicap match.
Late career (1999–2002) After leaving WCW in late-1999, the Public Enemy began wrestling on the
independent circuit. In June 1999, they briefly held the
NWA World Tag Team Championship. From December 1999 to May 2000, they appeared with
Xtreme Pro Wrestling. In July and August 2000, they wrestled in
Perth and
Sydney for the Australian
i-Generation Superstars of Wrestling promotion, briefly holding the
i-Generation Tag Team Championship on two occasions. In November 2001, Rock and Grunge (as the "South Philly Posse") took part in television tapings for the
X Wrestling Federation in
Orlando, Florida. In May 2002, Rock and Grunge began appearing with the Philadelphia-based
Pro-Pain Pro-Wrestling promotion. ==Death==