R.I.P WRESTLING DEATHS 2019

[TTX]

Was nice to meet him when we were in Buffalo at Ilio's restaurant.

[Big Bri]

May The Destroyer rest in that big ring in the sky. The only Galacticon I've ever been to was in 2004 and remember meeting him there. Super nice guy.

[Deleted]

The Destroyer is, bar none, one of the greatest to ever lace up a pair of boots. More people need to see the hour long match with Baba and the classics with Mil Mascaras. The stories about those matches don't do them justice. That guy was decades ahead of his time.

[tystates]

Matches to look for:

DESTROYER IN JAPAN Volume 1
Running Time: 1:48

12/2/63 Destroyer vs. Rikidozan (International Title)
3/5/69 Destroyer vs. Shohei Giant Baba
5/19/71 Destroyer vs. Antonio Inoki (1971 World League Semi-Final)

DESTROYER IN JAPAN Volume 2
Running Time: 1:50

2/26/65 Destroyer vs. Toyonobori (WWA Title)
12/11/72 Destroyer vs. Shohei Giant Baba

DESTROYER IN JAPAN Volume 3
Running Time: 1:44

10/9/73 Destroyer vs. Mil Mascaras
4/27/74 Destroyer vs. Abdullah the Butcher
6/13/74 Destroyer, Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Kevin Sullivan, Johnny Rodz
7/25/74 Destroyer vs. Mil Mascaras

DESTROYER IN JAPAN Volume 4
Running Time: 1:50

8/29/74 Destroyer, Shohei Giant Baba vs. Dick Slater, Karl Kox
4/10/75 Destroyer, Samson Kutsuwada vs. Killer Kowalski, Mr. Wrestling
10/30/75 Destroyer vs. Stan Hansen
12/9/75 Destroyer vs. Great Kusatsu
12/13/75 Destroyer vs. Don Leo Jonathan
1/5/79 Destroyer, Shohei Giant Baba vs. Bruiser Brody, King Curtis Iaukea

DESTROYER IN JAPAN Volume 5
Running Time: 1:49

12/17/75 Destroyer vs. Horst Hoffman
10/28/76 Destroyer vs. Abdullah the Butcher
3/11/77 Destroyer vs. Mil Mascaras
8/26/76 Destroyer vs. Super Destroyer
12/6/77 Destroyer, Mr. Wrestling vs. Abdullah, The Sheik
6/29/79 Destroyer vs. Joe Marcus (Toronto)
8/24/78 Destroyer vs. Don Kernodle

[Bazzy]

Dick "The Destroyer" Beyer R.I.P been from England UK . Until the Legends card game I didn't know anything at all about him sadly . Over the years playing the game . He grew on me . R.I.P

[cruefan68]

RIP to both King Kong Bundy and The Destroyer, two legends that I'm happy that we have in the game.

I second the comments by @kernodle on The Destroyer and his matches with Giant Baba and Mil Mascaras, not to mention the epic bouts with Rikidozan. Just amazing stuff.

I never had the fortune to meet The Destroyer, who seemed like such an awesome guy, but with Bundy I was fortunate to have a personal connection having met him several times going to indy shows here in New Jersey back in the 1990's. He was a genuinely good guy and gave his time to the fans both before and after the shows. I haven't revealed this on here before but back then I wrote for a small wrestling newsletter in NJ and I was able to talk with Bundy several times as a result. He could not have been any nicer. I'm really sad to hear about his passing.

Although we lost Nick Bockwinkel a few years back I just wanted to say this as well. Thanks to the late NWA NJ promoter Dennis Coralluzzo, I had the good fortune of actually interviewing Nick at a show being held in Philadelphia and like Bundy you could not have met a better and more nicer guy. He answered all of my questions, for what I'll admit was an interview I was not prepared for since I had no idea it could happen, and he guided me through it as I struggled with follow-ups. He was a pro and I was nervous as I was in the presence of greatness after all. At any rate, Nick gave me his address afterward so he could get a copy of the interview when it was printed and he even sent me his new address after he had moved to Las Vegas. We corresponded a few times and when my mom had passed away in 2006 he sent me a really nice letter of condolence which is one of my most cherished possessions.

[jimsteel]

Ex-WWF Manager Yamaguchi-San passed away at 60

Former manager of Kaientai

Yamaguchi passed away after an undisclosed illness at the age of 60-years-old. He had previously suffered a stroke in December 2017.

Yamaguchi reportedly played a part in starting the FMW promotion and also helped bring the Kai En Tai stable from Michinoku Pro Wrestling to WWF.

He is the brother of Shun Yamaguchi, who is part of WWE’s Japanese announce team.

Yamaguchi-San’s most infamous WWE moment occurred in the late ’90s when it was made to look like he chopped off Val Venis’ penis with a giant sword.

choppy choppy pee pee.

[jimsteel]

Jobber J.D. Wolfe passed away

Can find much info on him but here is a match he had in WCW Against Paul Orndorff

[TTX]

J.C. Ice and Wolfie's D's secret love child.....but seriously, RIP.

[jimsteel]

Roger Kirby Passed away today at 79

He is a cousin of Les Thatcher

Roger passed away this afternoon at age 79. He fell three weeks ago and broke his hip. In the hospital, they discovered that he had stage 4 pancreatic cancer. He contracted pneumonia and died today.

Roger and I traveled together whenever he came to Tennessee. At our reunion here in 2009, he stood up in front of everyone and told them that I had always been his best friend; and that I was the only person who stayed in touch regularly in the years after we got out of the business. We talked regularly, and every time, before he hung up, he always thanked me for being his friend.

Many people come in and out of out lives during our lifetimes, but there are only a select few we can truly say we loved. For me, Roger is one those special few.
He primarily competed within the National Wrestling Alliance, where he is a former NWA World Junior Heavyweight Champion, and also competed in promotions such as the World Wrestling Association, the World Wrestling Federation and Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre. Fellow wrestlers have called Kirby "one of the greatest performers to ever work in the squared circle

A Golden Gloves boxer prior to entering professional wrestling, he was trained in grabbling by Dick the Bruiser and The Sheik in Indianapolis. After graduating in 1957, Kirby attended a wrestling event at his high school, where he got into an altercation with Ron Shire for standing on the ring apron. After telling his mother about this, he was informed that his cousin's husband was a wrestler named "Cowboy" Dennis Hall. That Sunday, Kirby visited Hall and soon thereafter was wrestling as Wild Bill Baker. He worked at a glass factory while he underwent his wrestling training and four years later he was working full-time as a professional wrestler. As was custom prior to the 1990s due to kayfabe, Kirby would often accept if he was challenged at a bar. Despite being almost 6 feet and 230lbs, Kirby stated that he "was very aggressive because (he was) small, and stayed in shape so (he) could be aggressive."

Kirby made his name wrestling through the territories of Georgia, Florida, Oregon, Minnesota and Kanasas City (where he lives today). He was a prolific traveller, competing throughout the National Wrestling Alliance.[8] With blonde hair and a resemblance to his close friend Buddy Rogers he took on the moniker "Nature Boy", wrestling as a heel and taking on numerous world champions, including Pat O'Connor. He also wrestled overseas in Mexico and Puero Rico, along with six tours wrestling in Japan. Fellow wrestler and booker Bill Howard has stated that "Roger was the best there ever was. He could do everything that they're doing today, and probably even better. He had the body, the looks, the arrogance."

In 1967, Kirby won his first championship, when he and Les Thatcher won the NWA (Mid-America) United States Tag Team Championship.[2] He would achieve success as a tag team competitor throughout the Mid America and Gulf Coast territories throughout the same year, winning the NWA Gulf Coast Tag Team Championship three times and the NWA (Gulf Coast) United States Tag Team Championship, all with his relative, Dennis Hall. For the rest of the 1960s, he became a successful singles competitor throughout the American South, becoming a prominent star in the Central States and Pacific Northwest territories. He defeated Ron Etchison on August 12, 1969 to capture the NWA Central States Heavyweight Championship and won the NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Championship two times (both with victories over Moondog Mayne) the following year in 1969.

On May 20, 1971 Kirby defeated Danny Hodge to become the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Champion. Bill Watts had decided that Kirby was the man to carry the Junior Heavyweight title, which he went on to lose to Ramon Torres. Hodge called Kirby a "first class" wrestler who had "the right personality, the right actions, the right steps". In turn, Kirby stated that Hodge was the toughest man he ever wrestled with. As champion, Kirby worked extensive programmes with Tom Jones, with whom he started with wrestling in Indiana. "We sold out everything we touched" Kirby remarked about his bouts with Jones.

Kirby continued to capture NWA championships throughout the 1970s and on April 1, 1978, he teamed with Igor Volkoff to win the WWA Tag Team Championship. The following year he won the titles on two more occasions, both times with Paul Christy.

Roger Kirby briefly wrestled for the World Wrestling Federation in 1986 (where he also refereed a few matches in Kansas City) but gave it up and retired from the wrestling business, stating that he "wanted to be remembered as a top wrestler", feeling that the time of his in-ring retirement had come. He stated "I'd done everything that I wanted to do...I didn't want to go back down the ladder