50 and Under

In the world of professional wrestling, muscles and size are as important as ring work. Traveling takes presidence over rest, they work injured and in pain. The younger guys are known to party, as the veterans of the business wind down from their former partying days. Some take great pride in being both a family man and a superstar.

However, whether they partied too hard, or a tragic accident that freakishly happened and permanently pushing life out of reach. Thus proving that they are not as superhuman as fans would love to believe.

Within the last ten years (1997-current) there has been at least eighteen deaths in professional wrestling, all of these happened to superstars under 50. Some have been accidents, some suicide, some from long term drug and alcohol abuse. All of that abuse from the previous years, takes it’s toll on these guys’ hearts.

Majority of deaths in professional wrestling are from heart failure due to previous or current drug use. Since 1997, we have seen at least seven cases from heart failure, two from accidental overdoses, three random accidents, and four suicides. You can be the judge yourself.

October 5, 1997 – Brian Pillman – Age 35:

Brian Pillman’s career in the WWF (now WWE) was rather short (though he worked for many years prior), starting in 1996. Despite this short run, which ended with his death a year later, he was a major player in one of the most controversial segments in wrestling history.

This infamous segment was based around his feud with former tag team partner, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. Pillman’s house was surrounded by friends when Austin showed up, taking out all of Brian’s buddies, before he proceeded to break into the house. Pillman pulled out a gun and pointed it at Austin. The feed goes dead, leaving the viewers dumb founded. The censors up here in Canada, cut the entire segment short. Later, Both Brian and the WWF/E had to apologize for the controversial angle as well as Pillman’s accidental slip up when he used the word “fuck” on live television.

Brian was found in his hotel room in Minnesota on October 5th. The autopsy concluded that he died of arteriosclerosis heart disease.

June 2, 1998 – Sylvester Ritter (Junk Yard Dog) – Age 46:

Sylvester Ritter was a major fan favorite in the mid 80’s. Best known for his after match ritual of inviting young fans into the ring for a celebratory dance.

He died in a car accident while driving home form his daughter’s high school graduation when he fell asleep at the wheel.

April 20, 1999 – Richard Roode (Ravishing Rick Rude) – Age 40:

“Ravishing” Rick Rude was known to all WWF/E fans for his narcissistic, arrogant, womanizer who gyrates his hips to saxophone music to entice the ladies. He would insult the men, as well as some of the women in the audience before picking a beautiful woman to come into the ring. He would wrap his muscular arms around them, dip and then kiss them.

Rude died from an overdose of mixed medications, steroids and Gamma-Hydroxy-Butyric (GHB), which caused heart failure.

May 23, 1999 – Owen Hart – Age 34:

No other death in wrestling has ever received the media coverage that this young Canadian. He was from one of the most beloved families in the business. Owen Hart was a young man, with two beautiful children (and plans for a third), a beautiful wife. He was planning on retiring when his contract expired. He had just had his family’s dream house built. His death was tragic, and even more so because it could have been prevented.

Owen grew up the youngest of twelve children (7 other brothers, 4 sisters) in Calgary, Alberta. He was a second generation wrestler, following in his father’s, Stu, and older brother’s, Bret, footsteps.

The night of “Over The Edge” pay-per-view was the night that changed the lives of family, friends, co-workers, and fans around the world. Though this incident could have been prevented, it still shocked everyone. Owen was set to take on Charles Wright’s character, The Godfather. He was dressed as a masked villain who mocked Hulk Hogan’s former character, named the Blue Blazer. The Blue Blazer was suppose to enter the ring in a slow decent from the sky. In a harness.

Owen waited on the cat walk at the Kemper Arena, in Kansas City, Missouri, while he was being hooked up to his harness. Unbeknown to Owen the harness clip that was used was designed for a sailboat, and only required six pounds to trigger the quick release. Owen weighed 225 pounds.

Just before he was to be lowered, the quick release was triggered and Owen fell 78 feet (24m) into the ring, smashing his chest on the turnbuckle. The camera’s were not on but the crowd witnessed the fall. They didn’t really understand the severity of the incident. Not long after, commentator’s, Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler broke the horrific news to the pay-per-view audience. The WWE took major heat from the family, fans and media for continuing on with the show. Despite the fact that Vince McMahon made the decision optional to the Superstars to wrestle or not. The WWE banned all similar stunts to prevent another unfortunate occurrence.

October 22, 2000 – Rodney Anoa’i (Yokozuna) – Age 34:

Yokozuna was known for his size, and the gimmick of being a grand champion sumo wrestler. Rodney Anoa’i wasn’t really a sumo wrestler, in fact he wasn’t even from Japan. He was carrying on a family tradition, his uncles Afa and Sika worked as a tag team, and he had many cousins also in the business, Rikishi, Samu, Rosey, Umaga, and the now incredibly famous, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

Rodney’s weight was reported to be around 600 pounds at the time of his death. He suffered a massive heart attack due from his obesity.

July 27, 2001 – Rhonda Singh (Bertha Faye) – Age 40:

Rhonda is most likely remembered as the perky and pampered, trailer-trash girlfriend of the overly nerdy, skinny manager, Harvey Wippleman. Her most notable feud was with Alundra Blayze (WCW’s Medusa). Her run in the WWF/E was a short one as Rhonda had a hard time adjusting from her former long-time character of Monster Ripper to the gimmick which was trusted on her.

She retired from the ring in early 2001, and later died from a heart attack due to a drug overdose.

May 18, 2002 – David Smith (British Bulldog Davey Boy Smith) – Age 40:

Davey Boy Smith was one half of an amazing tag team, on more than one occasion. He had a successful run as WWF/E Intercontinental Champion. He was a man of amazing physique of pure solidness. He was a member of the Hart family, Bret and Owen’s brother-in-law, marrying their sister Diana.

While vacationing in British Columbia, Smith suffered a heart attack. Allegedly the heart attack was due to long time use of steroid and Human Growth Hormones (HGH).

February 10, 2003 – Curt Hennig (Mr. Perfect) – Age 45:

Mr. Perfect was one of the most technically sound superstars in history. His memorable vignettes showed off Hennig’s character in the perfect way. Being the perfect athlete. Hennig’s vignette’s pioneered the use of vignette’s in order to help get character’s over. His were outstanding and showed just how perfect Mr. Perfect was. Fans were treated to weekly video’s of how Mr. Perfect was the all-around superior athlete, as he showed he was perfect he was at everything, from football, basketball, baseball, bowling, pool, diving, darts, and more.

Hennig died in his Florida hotel room from acute cocaine intoxication.

May 1, 2003 – Elizabeth Hulette (Miss Elizabeth) – Age 43:

Miss Elizabeth brought in the beauty amongst the beasts in the wrestling world. She gained popularity during her time in the WWF/E in the mid 80’s as “Macho Man” Randy Savage’s classy manager. She was involved in some classic angles during her six years with the company.

Weeks prior to Elizabeth’s death, her live-in boyfriend Lex Luger (Larry Pfohl), had been arrested for domestic abuse. The police had found numerous amounts of drugs, hydrocodone, alprazlam (Xanx), anabolic steroids, testosterone and saizen in their home. Two weeks later, Luger called 9-11 from his home, where the operator instructed him to administer mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. She was pronounced dead on arrival. The police launched an investigation due to Luger’s recent arrest, however he was cleared of any wrong doing in her death.

The autopsy showed that she died of an accidental overdose having ingested her medication with vodka.

October 19, 2003 – Michael Hegstrand (Hawk) – Age 46:

Hegstrand was known for being one half of one of the greatest and most decorated tag teams in wrestling history. The Road Warriors (and Legion Of Doom), Hegstrand (Hawk) and Joey Laurentis (Animal) were the only tag team to have captured all three North American tag titles; AWA, NWA, and WWF. Also captured the All Japan-Pro tag titles. Hawk’s catch phrase “uhhhhh-ohh-whhhataaa Ruu-shhhh” was history making.

Once the party guy on the road, he later changed his ways and sobered up. However, those days caught up with him. The former abuse had put stress on his heart, and died of a heart attack in his sleep.

November 6, 2003 – Michael Lockwood (Crash Holly) – Age 32:

Michael Lockwood joined the WWF/E as one of the Holly “cousins”, Crash. His success came when he defeated Andrew “Test” Martin for the Hardcore Championship. The famous rule of 24/7 came from Crash’s willingness to take on all comers. This made the title a hot commodity with the fans. The belt could change hands at any time, making Crash a marked man. At anytime, any place as long as a WWF official was present, that title could change hands. He held the Hardcore Championship 22 times.

Lockwood died while staying with close friend and wrestler, Steven Richards. He choked on his own vomit after allegedly taking over 90 pills of Carisoprodol.

March 6, 2004 – Ray Fernendez (Hercules) – Age 47:

Ray Fernendez was known for being one half of the tag team, Power and Glory with Paul Roma. Fernendez was a powerhouse, a former bodybuilder who had appeared in several muscle magazines. In 1992, Fernendez headed to WCW where he earned very little success as a masked wrestler, “Super Invader”.

He died in his sleep. However I was unable to find documented cause of death.

September 22, 2004 – Ray Traylor (Big Boss Man) – Age 42:

Being the Big Boss Man wasn’t as far of a stretch for Traylor. He worked as a prison guard who wrestled part-time. Soon his part-time gig would take on as a full-time career. His former life was his gimmick. He left the WWF/E in 1993, but returned to the same gimmick, but much more evolved than before, in 1998. He no longer wore the same blue prison guard uniform as before, but now wore a black (and slimming) S.W.A.T style uniform. He joined Vince McMahon as security for McMahon’s corporation.

Traylor died at home from a massive heart attack.

April 28, 2005 – Chris Candido – Age 33:

Another freak accident took the life of Chris Candido. Not just a freak accident for a wrestler, but for anybody. In 2005, Candido was working for (then) newer promotion, TNA (Total Non-stop Action), and during their Lockdown pay-per-view, Candido fractured both his tibia and fibula, as well as dislocating his ankle. He had surgery on April 25th to repair the damage and was expected to be out of action for six to eight weeks. He appeared at the TNA television taping the following day which was set to run on the 29th of April.

On April 28th, Chris was rushed to the hospital to have his lungs drained due to a sudden case of pneumonia, he was administered a local anesthesia twenty minutes later. During this time Chris Candido would die from a blood clot in his leg.

November 13, 2005 – Eddie Guerrero – Age 38:

I clearly remembered where and what I was doing the night of the 13th, when I found out Eddie had died. My best friend and I were debating whether or not to by TNA’s pay-per-view, since there were rumors flying around that her favorite former WWE star could appear (she’s a Test fan). We held off. Instead we planned to read the results first and if he showed up, then we would get the replay later.

As I skimmed through the results on
totalnonstopaction.com
, I caught a glimpse of the word “Guerrero”. I went back, and saw “Eddie” ahead of it. Then, it was there. A notation that was with the current results, saying that there was a 10-bell salute. I had to re-read it several times. I had my friend re-read it. Neither of us could process this information. It was like someone had drop kicked you. We definitely did not want to believe it. Then we went to WWE.com.

Eddie Guerrero had this presence in the ring. He could fuel an entire match with just his emotions. His facial expressions were his connection to the fans, with those expressions, he brought us fans into the match. He loved what he did. He loved the business.

Chavo Guerrero, Eddie’s nephew and fellow WWE superstar, found him in the morning in his hotel room. Eddie was approaching his fourth year of sobriety. Pass use of painkillers and alcohol contributed to his death. The autopsy showed that Eddied died of undiagnosed arteriosclerosis cardiovascular disease.

June 7, 2006 – John Tenta (Earthquake) – Age 43:

John Tenta was best known for his WWF/E character, Earthquake. His most notable feuds were with Hulk Hogan and Jake “The Snake” Roberts in the early 90’s. No one can forget when Earthquake squashed Robert’s snake, Damien (kaye fabe of course).

The one battle Tenta was not able to squash, despite his efforts, was bladder cancer.

January 19, 2007 – Scott “Bam Bam” Bigelow – Age 46:

Bam Bam was this massive dude with his skull tattooed with colorful flames. His smile was a devious, toothless grin full of aggression. His career highlight would be his match against NFL great Lawrence “L.T.” Taylor at WrestleMania.

At the time of his death, Bigelow was suffering from an infection and diabetes. However, despite the speculation of death from complications, it was later reported that he died from an overdose of various drugs.

February 17, 2007 – Mike “Awesome” Alfonso – Age 42:

Mike Alfonso became a star over in Japan where he would receive his first major exposure. In ECW he would be a two-time ECW Champion and tag team champion.

His friends found him in his home late at night. He had hung himself.

Death before the age of fifty, has unfortunately become a frequent occurrence in professional wrestling. Accidents and suicide can’t be helped by an outside party, and even if one could prevent one or the other, it’s often too late. Fate intervenes. Drug use can be stopped. Chairman of the WWE, Vince McMahon took immediate action following Guerrero’s death. He put together a Wellness Program, where his Superstars, would randomly be tested for any type of drugs. Actions have been taken against all who have failed. Usually punishments starts with suspension without pay, then rehab, and if the problem continues, the immediate dissmissle.

It’s not just the last ten years that has seen a rise in deaths. There was a small rise in 1993. Andre Roussimoff (Andre the Giant) diet at the age of 43 on January 28, 1993. He died from congestive heart failure in his sleep. Kerry Adkisson (Kerry von Erich) committed suicide at age 33, a few weeks later on February 18th. He was the third brother in the family to commit suicide. Less then a month later on March 11th, Aldolfo Bresciano (Dino Bravo) was 45 when he was murdered in Montreal. On March 20th, 1995, John Minton (Big John Stud) died from Liver Cancer at the age of 47. That is just a brief list.

Death is not something you can prevent. That bell tolls for everyone sooner or later. The suicide rate is about 50%. Either your time on this Earth is up or not. Death is shocking, scary, sad, and for some, a relief. Some see death as an easy escape from their problems, but what problems were yours beforehand become those of your family. Even if you washed down some somas with a glass of Jack Daniels in order to find that temporary relief, it can kill you and you won’t see it coming.

Everyone involved in the wrestling world from the wrestlers, divas, the guys behind the theatrics to the fans, all the way up to the head offices are a small community. Fans invite this product and these superstars into their homes each week, on occasion more than once. Though technically we don’t actually know these guys, we still feel like we have lost a member of our family. Our secondary family. A family who helps us escape from our very own everyday hassles for two hours at a time. Losing Owen, Brian, Chris, Elizabeth, and Eddie was like losing a member of our family.

Wrestling is a give and take business. We give them our money, and we take their time to entertain us. They give us amazing shows, take our money, and then use that money to feed and clothe their own families. It’s never going to be easy, you can’t take bets or predict who will be next to because in every wrestling fan, we never want to see any member of our family pass on.

The best we can do is, keep their legacies alive in our heads and our hearts. Allow them to Rest In Peace, as we all ring our own bell in a 10-bell salute.