Ray Rizzo
| Raymond Rizzo | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Rizzo in 2010 | |
| Personal information | |
| Nickname | Ray |
| Born | 1992 or 1993 (age 32–33)[1] |
| Nationality | American |
| Career information | |
| Game | Pokémon |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
Raymond Rizzo is a three-time Pokémon Video Game World Champion (2010, 2011, 2012).[2] He has won the title three times, making him the only person to have done so.[3]
His success can be partly attributed to his team building skills - one example of this is his use of a defensive, support-oriented Thundurus at a time when most players used Thundurus offensively, and this innovation subsequently dominated the Pokémon competitive scene for years after its first appearance at the 2011 World Championships.[4][5]
Personal life
[edit | edit source]Rizzo grew up in the Marlton section of Evesham Township, New Jersey[6] in the United States, He began playing Pokémon as a child. He attended Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, studying actuarial science. He passed three actuarial exams while at Drake. He resides in Tokyo, Japan.
Pokémon career
[edit | edit source]In 2010, Rizzo won his first Pokémon World Championship in Hawaii after defeating Japan's Yasuki Tochigi in the Senior Division finals.[7] He then won the 2011 World Championship[8] in San Diego, California after defeating Matteo Gini in the then-new Masters Division finals.[3] He next won the 2012 World Championship in Hawaii, defeating Wolfe Glick (who Rizzo regards highly) in the Masters Division finals, making Rizzo the first three-time Pokémon Video Game World Champion.[2] To commemorate this, the Pokémon Company released a shiny Metagross with the same moves, ability and nature as Rizzo's.[9]
Rizzo was defeated in the first round of elimination at the 2013 Pokémon World Championships.[10] In 2014, Rizzo was alleged to have cheated by using a hacked Aegislash at the 2014 US Pokémon National Championships.[11] He denied the accusations, but said that he would not be using the Pokémon in the future.[12] The allegedly hacked Pokémon would have conferred no advantage in the competition, only saving time by avoiding on-cartridge grinding, but would still have been a violation of tournament rules.[12]
In 2015, Rizzo was inducted into the Guinness World Records for his achievements.[13] However, he did not qualify for the 2015 Pokémon World Championships.[14]
Rizzo also has a YouTube channel where he discusses competitive Pokémon. As of a September 2025, he has 70.5k subscribers and 19.9 million channel views.[15]
References
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