Wrestling Deaths

*7/4/1898: The Terrible Turk (Drowned) 
*12/16/17: Frank Gotch (Uremic Poisioning)
*12/9/31: Wayne Munn (Kidney Problems)
*6/3/33: William Muldoon 
*9/12/1944: Gus Sonnenberg (Tuberculosis)
*1/24/50: Bull Montana
*11/24/50: Danno O'Mahoney (Auto Accident)
*8/4/54: Murice Tiliet
*11/22/54: Jess McMahon (Unkown)
*12/15/63: Rikidozan (stabbed to death)
*12/ 26/63: Gorgeous George (Heart Attack)
*9/8/66: Ed 'Strangler' Lewis 
*10/16/66: Sandor Szabo(H.A.) 
*6/29/67: Primo Carnera (Cirrhosis of the liver)
*9/23/67: Stanislaos Zbyszko
*2/19/68: Waldek Zbyszko
*7/2/69: Mike DiBiase (die's in the ring) 
*3/23/70: Skull Murphy (H.A.) 
*7/23/71: Hercules Cortez (Auto Accident)
*6/31/73: Dory Funk Sr.
*2/20/75: Bobby Shane (Auto Accident) 
*8/19/75: Jim Lindos (H.A.)
*7/27/ 76: Pepe Lopez (Auto Accident)
*3/15/77: Antonio Rocca
*6/30/79: Chris Taylor
*7/14/79: Billy McGuire
*6/13/ 82: Peter Miavia (Cancer) 
*10/12/83: The Grand Wizard (H.A.) 
*2/5/84: El Santo (H.A.) 
*2/10/84 :David Von Erich (acute enteritis)
*5/17/84: Vince McMahon Sr (Cancer)
*5/22/84: George Zaharias
*8/12/84: Eddie Graham (Suicide) 
*11/1/84: Jay Young (HA)
*1/11/ 85: Rick McGraw (HA) 
*12/20/85: Tarzan Tyler (Auto Accident)
*2/4/86: Gino Hernandez(Cocaine overdose)
*4/6/86: El Solitario (HA)
*4/12/87: Mike Von Erich (Suicide) 
*8/24/87: King Kong Kurk
*7/4/88: Adrian Adonis, Pat Kelly & The Canadian Wildman (Auto Accident)
*7/17/88: Bruiser Brody (stabbed 42 times)
*9/16/88: Leroy Brown(HA) 
*2/18/89: Mildred Burke 
*4/7/89: Paul Boesch
*3/14/89: Happy Humphrey (HA) 
*9/7/89: Edward Parez
*12/7/89: Haystacks Calhoun 
*1/7/90: Bronko Nagurski
*2/4/90: Billy Watson
*4/18/90: Gory Guerrero
*8/16/90: Pat O'Conor (cancer) 
*12/31/90: Ed Gatner (suicide) 
*6/30/91: Duke Heomuka
*8/25/91 Vivian Vachon (Auto Accident)
*9/12/91: Chris Von Erich (Suicide) 
*10/31/91: Gene Anderson 
*11/10/91: Dick The Bruiser (Internal Bleeding)
*12/25/91: Wilbur Snyder
*2/7/92: Buzz Sawyer
*2/9/92: Tojo Yamamoto(Suicide) 
*4/20/92: Jimmy Lennon Sr 
*6/26/92: Buddy Rodgers
*6/30/92: Uncle Wilbur (Diabetes) 
*7/14/92: Danny McShane
*9/12/92: Roy Heffernan (HA)
*1/ 27/93: Andre The Giant (HA) 
*2/18/93: Kerry Von Erich (Suicide) 
*3/11/93: Dino Bravo (Murdered.) 
*3/25/93: Wally Karbo (HA) 
*5/25/93: DJ Peterson
*6/14/93: Don Kent (lukemia)
*10/26/93: Brazo de Oro (Brain Aneurysym)
*11/7/93: Rufus R. Jones (HA) 
*12/13/93: Larry Cameron (HA) 
*4/9/94: Eddie Creatchman (HA) *5/23/94: Ray Candy (HA)
*7/1/94: George Cannon (Cancer) *7/4/94: Joey Marella (Auto Accident)
*9/1/94: Boris Melenko (Cancer) *1/22/ 95: Jerry Blackwell (pneumonia)
*2/18/95: Eddie Gilbert (HA) *4/20/95: Big John Studd (Hodgkins Disease)
*5/ 10/95: Ilio Di Paolo (Auto accident)
*12/24/95: Little Beaver (Emphysema)
*5/3/96: Rey Stevens (HA)
*6/15/96: Dick Murdoch (HA)
*6/25/96: The Missouri Mauler (HA)
*7/23/96: Herb Abrams (Drug Overdose)
*8/23/96: Sapphire (HA)
*1/24/97: Dr. Jerry Graham 
*2/6/97: Bulldog Bob Brown (HA) 
*3/24/97: Dr. Bill Miller (HA)
*6/12/97: Stan Stasiak (HA) 
*6/30/97: Larry O'Day (Cancer)
*8/16/97: Plum Mariko (Brain Aneurysm)
*8/19/97: Jeep Swenson (HA) 
*8/30/97: Dale Lewis(Leukemia) 
*9/10/97: Fritz Von Erich (Cancer) 
*9/16/97: Bulldog Brower 
*10/5/97: Brian Pillman (Arterioclerotic Heart Disease) 
*10/26/97: Big E Sleaze (suicide) 
*11/20/98: Stanley Blackburn
*1/20/98: Bobo Brazil (HA) 
*2/15/98: Louie Spiccoli (Carisopridolouendose)
*6/1/98: Junk Yard Dog (Auto Accident) 
*6/20/98: The Spoiler (HA) 
*8/17/98: Shane Shamrock (Shot to death by Police)
*8/ 17/98: Terry Garvin (Cancer) 
*11/30/98: Giant Haystacks (Stomache Cancer)
*12/5/98: Brady Boone (Auto Accident)
*12/31/98: Shohei 'Giant' Baba Bowel
*2/23/99: The Renegade (suicide) 
*4/13/99: Kurt Von Hess (HA) *4/20/99: Rick Rude (HA)
*5/23/99: Owen Hart (Accidental fall during PPV event)
*5/25/99 Donnie York Sr
*9/8/99: Jackie Sato
*9/8/99: Mark Curtis (Cancer)
*10/6/99: Gorrilla Monsoon (HA) 
*11/13/99: Tony Rumble (HA) 
*11/27/99: Hiro Matsuda (Cancer) 
*1/7/00: Al Costello (pneumonia) 
*1/24/00: Bobby Duncum Jr
*2/29/00: Liz Chase
*4/19/00: Masakazu Fukada
*4/25/00: Assassin #1 (HA) 
*5/16/00: Tomomi 'Jumbo' Tsuruta (internal bleeding)
*7/27/00 Gordon Solie (Cancer) 
*8/18/00: Ciris Duffy (Seizure) 
*8/25/00: Toru Tanaka
*10/3/00: Bil Soloweyko (bulbar palsy)
*10/22/00: Yokozuna (HA) 
*12/16/00: Blue Demon Sr (HA) 
*4/26/01 Bennie McGuire (HA)
*4/26/01: Red Shoes Duggan (Parkinson disease)
*4/29/01: Johnny Valentine 
*7/16/01: Terry Gordy (HA) 
*7/27/01: Bertha Faye
*7/29/01: Dennis Coraluzzo (stroke) 
*10/7/01: Chris Adams (Shot to death)
*10/28/01: Chief Dave Foxx (HA) 
*11/4/01 Helen Hart (organ failure) 
*12/15/01: Russ Haas 
*12/25/01: Mike Davis (HA)
*1/7/02: Mighter Igor (HA)
*2/2/ 02: Nelson Royal (HA) 
*2/20/02: Swede Hanson
*4/18/02: Wahoo McDaniel 
*4/28/02: Lou Thesz
*5/7/02: Pee Wee Anderson 
*5/14/02: Erich Kulas
*5/16/02: Big Dick Dudley
*5/16/02 Shoici Arai
*5/17/02: 'British Bulldog' Davey Boy Smith (HA)
*9/21/02: Rocco Rock (HA)
*Edward 'Moose' Cholak 
*11/22/02: Billy Joe Travis(HA) 
*11/29/02: Jeff Peterson (Cancer) 
*11/30/02: "Mr. Wrestling 1" Tim Woods
*1/18/03: Original Shiek Ed Farahat
*2/10/03: Curt Hennig (drug overdose)
*2/20/03: Tony Altomare (HA) 
*4/17/03: Ray Mendoza
*4/19/03: Hiromich 'Kudo' Fuyuki 
*4/20/03: Sailor Art Thomas 
*5/1/03: Miss Elizabeth Heulette (drug overdose)
*6/2/03: Freddy Blassie
*9/8/03: Giant Ochiai (brain injury) 
*9/26/03: Anthony 'Pitbull #2' Duran (durg overdose)
*10/16/03: Stu Hart (pneumonia) 
*10/19/03: Mike 'Road Warrior Hawk' Hesstrand (HA)
*11/6/03: Mike 'Crash Holly' Lockwood (asphyxiation) 
*11/24/03: Dick Hutton
*11/29/03: Moondog Spot (HA) 
*Jerry 'The Wall' Tuite (HA) 
*12/26/03: Jack Tunney
*1/24/04: Hard Boiled Haggerty 
*4/6/04: Hercules Hernandez (HA) 
*5/6/04: Pepper Gomez
*7/3/04: Billy Redwood (Auto accident)
*7/17/04: Pat Roach (Cancer) 
*8/1/04: Ken Timbs (HA) 
*9/12/04: Dr. Wagner Jr (HA)
*9/17/04: Jim Barnett
*9/22/04: Ray 'Big Bossman' Traylor (HA)
*10/4/04: Mariana Komlos 
*11/27/04: Dandy Jack Donovan (construction accident)
*1/18/05: Pez Whatley (HA)
*4/28/05: Chris Candido (blood clot after surgery)
*6/17/05: Ron Tronghurd (cancer) 
*7/11/05: Shinya Hasimoto (brain anresyum) Lord Alfred Hayes (stroke)
*8/13/05: Chris Tolos
*9/18/05: Chris Cash (motorcycle accident)
*10/22/05: Reggie Lisowski 
*11/13/05: Eddie Guerrero (HA) 
*12/10/05: Chazz Rocco (HA) 
*1/15/06: El Texano (respitory failuere)
*1/16/06: Rickey Romero
*1/28/06: Victor Mar (HA)
*1/29/06: Emory Hale
*2/16/06: Mike 'Johnny Grunge' Duram (HA)
*4/2/ 06: Victor Quinones
*5/4/06: Sammy Steamboat' Mokuahi
*5/27/06: Apache Bull Ramos (shoulder infection)
*6/7/06: John Earthquake' Tena (cancer)
*6/24/06: 'Crazy' Luke Graham (HA) 
*6/28/06: Marion 'Tiger Khan' Kalkai
*7/14/06 Bob Orton Sr
*8/8/06: Karl Von Stroheim (HA) 
*10/6/06: Antonia Pera (HA) 
*10/15/06: Joey Maggs
*10/26/06: Kintaro Oki
*11/1/06: Hurricane Ramerez 
*11/2/06: Sputnik Monroe 
*11/13/06: Dennis Conway Sr 
*12/16/06: Don 'The Original Spoiler' Jardine
*1/19/07: Scott 'Bam Bam' Bigelow (HA)
*2/17/07: Mike Awesome (Suicide)
*3/6/07: Allen 'Bad News Brown' Coage (HA)
*3/10/07: "Big Cat" Ernie Ladd (Cancer)
*6/15/07: "Sensational" Sherri Martel (Accidental drug overdose) 
*6/23/10: Nancy "Woman" (Sullivan) Benoit
*6/26/07: Chris Benoit (Suicide) 
*8/13/07: Brian "Crush" Adams (Overdose)
*8/16/07: The Missing Link Dewey Robertson (Cancer)
*3/16/07: Fabulous Moolah (Complications due to surgery) 
*3/16/08: Gary Hart (Heart Attack) 
*8/30/08: Walter "Killer" Kowalski (Heart Attack)
*10/26/08: S.D. Jones (Stroke) 
*1/16/09: Paul E Normous (Heart Atrack)
*3/13/09: Andrew "Test" Martin (Accidental overdose of Oxycodone)
*3/22/09: Abismo Negro (Murdered)
*3/22/09: Steve Doll (Boodclot in lungs)
*4/28/09: "Playboy" Buddy Rose 
*6/13/09: Mitsuharu Misawa (died in the ring)
*6/29/09: La Parkita (Murdered by prostitutes)
*6/29/09: Espectrito Jr (Murdered by prostitutes)
*10/14/09: Capt Lou Albano *12/4/09: Umaga (Heart Attack) 
*12/29/10: Dr. Death Steve Williams (Throat Cancer) 
*01/10/10: Ludvig Borga (Suicide) 
*4/3/10: Chris "Kanyon" Klucsaritis (Suicide)
*6/18/10: Trent Acid (Heart Attack) 
*8/13/10: Lance Cade (Heart Failure)
*8/21/10: General Skandor Akbar (Unknown)
*8/27/10: Luna Vachon (Unknown) 
*9/12/10: Bastian Booger (Heart Attack)
*9/22/10: Giant Gonzales (Kidney Failure
*1/2/11: Verne Langdon
*1/5/11: Gordon Scozzari
*1/7/11: Big Val Puccio
*1/12/11: Paul Lincoln
*1/23/11: Jack LaLanne
*1/27/11: Johnny Heidemann
*3/2/11: Ham Lee
*3/20/11: Sir Oliver Humperdink
*3/25/11: Shiek Mar Allah
*4/23/11: Manny Guzman
*5/20/11: "Macho Man" Randy Savage
*5/28/11: Milt Avruskin
*6/5/11: Duncan MacTavish
*8/5/11: Mando Lopez
*8/11/11: Scott LeDoux
*8/13/11: Bobby Fields
*8/20/11: Rafael Halperin
*9/6/11: Little Tokyo
*11/4/11: Septiembre Negro
*11/10/11: Killer Karl Kox
*11/21/11: Bennie Matta

1/12/12: Pablo Fuentes Reyna

*3/2/12: Doug Furnas

*4/3/12: Joe "Chief Jay Strongbow" Scarpa

*4/12/12: Aristóteles Radamés Coccó Flores (Spinal Cancer)

*4/14/12: Dom Travis

*5/26/12: Hans Schmidt

*8/11/12: Red Bastien

*9/30/12: Bobby Jaggers

*10/18/12: Brain Damage

*10/19/12: Mike Graham

*11/1/12: Brad Armstrong

*11/29/12: Buddy Roberts

*12/22/12: Rip Hawk

Extreme Circumstances: The Untold Story Of Extreme Championship Wrestling

Many of you have watched the Rise and Fall of ECW DVD that WWE put out in 2004, but lets face it, WWE only tells you what they want to know. Here's the true story of the Rise and Fall of ECW. In 1994, Jim Crockett's no-compete agreement from when Ted Turner purchased World Championship Wrestling was up and he decided that he wanted to revive the National Wrestling Alliance again. He went to NWA/ECW founder Tod Gordon and had him set up a tournament to crown a new NWA World Heavyweight Champion, which Shane Douglas was booked to win. NWA president Dennis Coralluzzo thought that Crockett and Gordon planned to monopolize the title like Crockett did in the 80's. Coralluzzo said that they did not have NWA approval and took control of the tournament. Gordon became irate and plotted along with Paul Heyman to have Douglas throw down the NWA World Heavyweight Championship and declair himself the ECW World Heavyweight Champion thus splitting Eastern Championship Wrestling from the NWA and giving thier championship World Title status. In the infamous speech Douglas said that he didnt want to be a part of a organization that had had died 7 years earlier. After withdrawing from the NWA, ECW changed it's name to Extreme Championship Wrestling and the underground wrestling sub-culture was born. Specializing in bloody hardcore matches, nudity, vulgarity and insaine storylines, ECW offered a grittier alternative to the multi million dollar companies WWF and WCW. ECW brought Japanese and Lucha Libre to the United States Wrestling fan's attention with star's such as Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, Deam Melinko, Psicosis, Rey Mysterio and Juventud Guerrea. They also brought in wrestler's that WWF and WCW considered to dangerious like Sabu, Cactus Jack, The Sandman, Tazz, New Jack and Public Enemy. Controversial angles like the Raven/Sandman crucifix brought in a whole new generation of wrestling fans. ECW held Bring Your Own Weapon's Night in which fans provided weapons, them bulk of which came from a dollar store next door. Weapons such as crutches, kyak's, vinyl record's, VCR's and Ninetendo's were used during shows. he Bring Your Own Weapon's concept ended abruptly when Cactus Jack nailed The Sandman in the head with what he thought was a cheap aluminum pan. Turns out it was a cast iron skillet and Sandman had to miss 2 weeks due to his injury. ECW Hardcore TV 1st began airing on Sport's Channel Philadelphia before moving to multiple independent tv stations airing Friday or Saturday nights at 1am or 2am. Because the stations were so small and the time slots they were give, most explectives and violence wasnt edited out, which resulted in a bigger fan following. WWF and WCW took notice of ECW and began adopting it's idea's and signing away ECW wrestler's. At the 1995 King Of The Ring, the fans broke out into a ECW chant which caught the attention of Vince McMahon which led to WWF begining a working relationship with ECW. ECW star's made a small appearence. At the September 96 In Your House PPV, ECW stars were sitting in the front row when Sandman spit beer in Savio Vega's face. On Febuary 24th 1997, ECW invaded RAW to promote thier 1st PPV. This episode of RAW is said to be the begining of the Attitude Era in WWF. On April 13 1997 ECW held thier 1st PPV Barely Legal, which was highlighted by Terry Funk winning the ECW World Heavyweight Championship. At WrestlePalooza 97, Jerry Lawler joined up with Rob Van Dam to beat down Tommy Dreamer. This led to Dreamer vs Lawler at Barely Legal 98, which Dreamer won. WWF began providing ECW with financial aid to compensate for wrestler's that they were signing away. Eric Bishoff refused to compensate them and WCW wouldnt event mention ECW on the air. In August of 1999, ECW on TNN debuted and despite not having any advertirer's, became the highest rated show on TNN. In March of 2000, Mike Awesome left ECW for WCW, while he was still the reigning ECW World Heavyweight Champion. Rumor's came out that Eric Bishoff planned to have Awesome throw the title into a trash can on Nitro, like he had Alaundra Blaze do with the WWF World Womens Championship. Paul Heyman threatened legal action. .against WCW so Awesome agreed to return to ECW to drop the title to anyone they wanted. Awesome lost the title to Tazz, who was now a WWF contracted wrestler. This was the only time in history that a WWF contracted wrestler wrestled a WCW contracted wrestler during a ECW event for the ECW World Heavyweight Championship. In October of 2000, TNN canceled ECW On TNN due to them reaching a agreement with WWF to move RAW to TNN. This began the downward spiral that led to ECW's demise. ECW struggled to find another national tv deal to no avail. On December 30th 2000 the last Hardcore TV aired. In January of 2001, Guilty As Charged took place, which ended up being ECW's last PPV. Living Dangeriously was scheduled to air in March of 2001 but due to financial issues it was canceled. Despite still being financed by the WWF On April 4th 2001, Paul Heyman declaired bankruptcy on behalf of ECW. ECW listed it's asset's as having $1,385,500. It owed $8,881,435 to wrestler's, building owner's, tv stations, travel fee's
and attourney fee's. owed Rob Van Dam $150,000 , Tommy Dreamer $100,000 , Joey Styles $50,480 , Shane Douglas $48,000 and Francine $47,275. A few month's after ECW folded it was revived as part of the WCW Invasion Angle in WWF before being phased out when WCW and ECW joined together to form The Alliance. The Alliance angle ended at the 2001 Survivor Series. In 2003, WWE purchased ECW's assets in bankruptcy court, aquiring rights to the ECW video library, which they used to make The
Rise And Fall Of ECW dvd that was released in 2004. In response to the WWE's dvd, Jermey Borash released his own unauthorized dvd Forever Hardcore which featured stories told by non-WWE employee's. Due to the sucess of both DVD's, WWE held a ECW reunion show One Night Stand, due to a high PPV buyrate, the next year it held the reunion show again this time turning it into a WWE brand. In
2005, ECW founder Todd Gordon filed a lawsuit challenging WWE's ownership of the Eastern Championship Wrestling part of the library since Eastern Championship Wrestling and Extreme Championship Wrestling are two seperate entities. In May of 2006 the case was thrown out. Gordon is still trying to appeal for a new
hearing.

The Rise And Fall Of The American Wrestling Association

To truly understand the legacy of AWA you gotta know the backstory to it's forming. Lets start on June 14th 1957. Lou Thesz has just lost his NWA World Heavyweight Championship to Edouard Carpentier. The NWA later overturns the referee's decison and gives the title back to Thez, however cirtain NWA territories refuse to go along and continue to reconize Carpentier as the champion. On August of 1958 Verne Gagne defeats Carpentier, who is still be billed as champion. The NWA refuses to reconize Gagne as the new champion.In 1959, Gagne and Wally Karbo buy Dennis Stecher's majority stake in the Minneapolis Boxing and Wrestling Club and take over promotin. In 1960 after unsuccessfully lobbying NWA for a title match with the reconized champion Pat O'Connor, Gagne and Karbo convince multiple territories to split from the NWA, thus forming the AWA. The AWA reconizes O'Connor as both the NWA and AWA World Champion and gives him 90 days to defend his title against Gagne. The NWA ignored the challenge so on August 16th 1960, O'Connor was stripped of the AWA World Heavyweight Championship and it was awarded to Verne Gagne, who went on to hold the title 10 times before retiring in 1981. Even though O'Connor was reconized as the 1st Champ he didnt compete in AWA until a few years later when he teamed with Wilbur Snyder to win the AWA World Tag Team Titles. After Gagne's retirement the company focused around Nick Bockwinkle. During the 1980's the AWA became one of the most sucessfull promotions in the United States drawing huge crowds wherever they went all across the country. In 1982 with the success from Hulk Hogan's role in Rocky 3, Hogan became the top babyface and AWA's biggest draw. Even though he was extremely popular, Gagne refused to make him AWA World Champion, beliving that the AWA should be centered around technical wrestling and not gimmicks. Hogan did beat Bockwinkel for the title, but he was stripped of it 6 days later for using a foreign object and the title was returned to Bockwinkel. It happened again in 1983. Hogan beat Bockwinkel and was announced as champion but Bockwinkel argued that Hogan threw him over the top rope before the pin but the match was No Disqualification. AWA President Stanley Blackburn once again stripped Hogan and gave the title back to Bockwinkel. The crowd almost rioted and Hogan had to get on the mic and calm them down. It was revealed that Gagne planned to make Hogan champion that night, but only if Hogan gave Gagne the bulk of his revenues that he made. Hogan refused wanting a 50/50 split so Gagne kept his belt. Frustrated by Gagne Hogan accepted Vince McMahon's offer to join WWF in 1983. One month later Hogan became WWF World Heavyweight Champion. The AWA began to lose momentum when they began focusing around Verne's son Greg Gagne. Soon after WWE signed away Gene Okerlund, Bobby Heenan, Adrian Adonis, Ken Pantera and Jesse Ventura. Despite the hit to his roster AWA had its most sucessful year in 1984 due to the arrival of The Road Warriors. In response to WWF's expansion the AWA formed a alliance with NWA, Mid-South, World Class, CWA and PNW in a attempt to go national and compete with WWF. They called the alliance Pro Wrestling USA. By 1985 the AWA lost fans as the WWF was coming off the highly sucessful WrestleMania 1. Tword the end of 1985 Wally Karbo sold all his AWA stock to Verne Gagne. In September 1985 Pro Wrestling USA held thier own big event SuperClash. Gagne began accusing the NWA of trying to sign AWA to thier lockeroom which led to Pro Wrestling USA breaking up. AWA fell to the 3rd major promotion behind NWA and WWE and signed stars such as Curt Hennig, Scott Hall, Shawn Michaels, Vader and the Nasty Boys. AWA maintained a relationship with Mid-South Wrestling. Shortly after AWA formed a alliance with World Class Championship Wrestling. In 1991 Verne Gagne became involved in a legal battle with the United States Government over property he owned on Lake Minnetonka. He lost and filed for bankruptcy andthe AWA folded. WWE would later buy all AWA property.