R.I.P WRESTLING DEATHS 2019

[TTX]

RIP Handsome Harley. His health had been down for a while and hopefully he has found peace.

[jimsteel]

This is a bad year for wrestling deaths. We didn't lose alot but we lost some bg names

WE LOST
Harley Race-76
Dick "The Destroyer" Beyer-88
King Kong Bundy-61
Perro Aguayo Sr-73
Pedro Morales-76
Jacques Rougeau Sr-89
Les Thornton-83
Big John Quinn-78
Alexis Smirnoff-71

Mean Gene Okerlund-76
Lyle C Williams-57
Paco Alonso-67

Ashley Massaro-39

AND MANY OTHERS

[WTIC]

Aug 1, 2019 14:25:05 GMT -5 jimsteel said:

Harley Race passed away today at 76

Now, THAT'S a big name in the business! If you've seen videos of him wrestling as NWA Champ, he was a precision machine, wow! Every move done to perfection!

---------------------------------

From MSN ( www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/harley-race-nwa-champion-pro-wrestler-dies-at-76/ar-AAFbZ3K?page=14 )

Harley Race, Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame inductee and 8-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion, died of lung cancer on Thursday at the age of 76, according to WWE and a statement from his Twitter page.

a close up of Harley Race© TheWrap Harley Race
"Today at 12:50, we lost the man that fought up until the very last of his existence. More information will be released soon, but just know that he loved pro-wrestling and the fans that loved him," read a statement from Race's reps.

Born in Missouri in 1943, Race overcame polio as a child and began training as a wrestler under the tutelage of famed champion brothers Stanislaus and Wladek Zbysko. His early career was filled with many obstacles, including his expulsion from the Zbyskos' school after a fight with a student and a car accident that nearly led to his leg being amputated and required months of physical therapy to recover.

In spite of this, Race overcame the odds and got his big break with the American Wrestling Association in 1965, becoming the promotion's tag team champion with Larry Hennig, father of future WWE wrestler Curt Hennig. Five years later, he jumped to the National Wrestling Alliance, making a name for himself in the territorial system before stunning fans nationwide by upsetting the popular Dory Funk, Jr. to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship for the first time in 1973.

Through the rest of the 70s, Race would gain a reputation as a pugnacious street fighter, feuding with fellow territorial legends such as Terry Funk and Dusty Rhodes. Then, in the 1980s, Race helped launch the career of another all-time great: Ric Flair. From 1981-84, Race and Flair fought over the NWA title, with Race playing a desperate, aging champion willing to do anything to hold on to his spot as the top star.


In arguably his most famous speech, Race furiously put out a hit on Flair, promising $25,000 to anyone who could get rid of Flair for good. Fellow Flair rivals Bob Orton and Dick Slater took the offer and seemingly inflicted a career-ending injury on the "Nature Boy," only for Flair to reveal that he had faked the severity of their attack. A few months later, Ric Flair defeated Harley Race at the NWA's marquee event, Starrcade, in a passing-the-torch moment that cemented Flair as a leading star in wrestling.

Race would spend the next decade in WWF and WCW, winning the WWF's King of the Ring tournament and competing at Wrestlemania while feuding with another star of the 80s, Hulk Hogan. In WCW, he became the manager for heavyweight champion Lex Luger and courted controversy when he used racist insults at rising black wrestler Ron Simmons in order to get the fans on Simmons' side. In 1995, Race's in-ring career came to an end after he was caught in a second car accident that required hip replacement surgery.

In 2004, Harley Race became one of only six men to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, the NWA Hall of Fame, the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame. This past March, Ric Flair announced on social media that Race had been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. He is survived by his son, Justin, and five grandchildren.

[topdollar]

RIP to the one true King of The Ring, The Greatest Wrestler On God's Green Earth, Handsome Harley Race.

[jimsteel]

[img src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BOWI3MjM0ZmQtM2YzMy00NmRhLWI5ZTEtZDYxYzhiNTJkY2RhXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjE5MDU1NTk@._V1_UY317_CR51,0,214,317_AL_.jpg" alt=" "


BIG JOHN KAP PASSED AWAY

This former College Basketball Player, Professional Wrestler and Bodyguard has found the fast track to a real Hollywood acting career. John has already performed with Hollywood Legends Robert Redford and Nick Nolte in A Walk in the Woods , went toe to toe with Kevin Hart and Ice Cube in the blockbuster hit Ride Along and Butted heads with 2 time Emmy Winner Tony Hale in Alvin and the Chipmunks "Road Chip" He has Starred in the Cult Classic "Dollface" and is Starring in the comedy/horror film "Slaw" out October 2017 which co-star WWE legend and Magic Mike XXl star Kevin Nash, as well as Greenleaf Star Greg Alan Williams. Big John or BJK to his friends and family, Has always done well on Television racking up 3 recurring roles playing Jay/Sal Malone on Tyler Perry's hit The Haves and Have Not's , Big Sal on the Bet Hit Zoe Ever After starring Brandy Norwood and plays the very Scary Big N' Wide on Cartoon Networks Your Pretty Face is going to Hell. John has also Appeared on Constantine on NBC, The Startup Movie of the Week for BET, Big Easy Brides the We Network, Swamp Murders The Oxygen Network and the list goes on. Biker's, Mob Guy's , Bad Boy's Seem to be is go to role's but John has Great comic timing as we are starting to see in some of his newer film. The sky truly is the limit for this 6'8 Giant.

NOT MUCH MORE INFO

[TTX]

Former Wrestler/Actor Dango Nguyen Passes Away at 48

411mania.com/wrestling/dango-nguyen-passes-away/ As always, cancer sucks.

[TTX]

Jerry Jarrett reporting that Eddie Marlin has been moved to hospice care after multiple organ failure.

[jimsteel]

Former Wrestler and Memphis Promoter Eddie Marlin passed away 2 days after his 89th birthday


Former Memphis Wrestling star and promoter Eddie Marlin passed away this morning at the age of 89, former Memphis wrestling personality Randy Hales (who had been helping to care for Marlin) announced:
Marlin was an important piece of Memphis Wrestling history, where he wrestled for Nick Gulas and later became a promoter for his son-in-law Jerry Jarrett's promotion after Jarrett split off from Gulas. Marlin was married to (and over the top in love with) Christine Jarrett and was Jeff Jarrett's grandfather.

In the ring, Marlin held several Tag Team Championships in that area, alongside Robert Gibson, Tojo Yamamoto and Tommy Gilbert but for most fans, he is best remembered as appearing on screen on WMC-TV's weekly Memphis TV series as the General Manager of the promotion, playing the face of the company (since obviously Jerry Lawler and Jerry Jarrett could not appear in that role), specifically when it was promoted under the CWA initials.

Marlin would return to the ring to feud with Tommy Gilbert and even appeared under a mask as a Frankenstein character in Memphis. He would also, from time to time, be used as a special referee. He was a fountain of information about the territory and was very much beloved by everyone he had some into contact with.

While extremely sad, Marlin's passing was not a surprise as he had been dealing with health issues for some time before being transferred into hospice care as he was suffering from major organ failure. In true pro wrestling fashion, Marlin had shocked his doctors several times by rebounding from what was thought to have been the end at least twice.

[TTX]

He played his role quite well whether as a wrestler, a masked menace or as the "promoter" for Memphis.....RIP.

[Vegas]

RIP