R.I.P WRESTLING DEATHS 2020

[jimsteel]

Kendo Nagasaki passed away at 71

Kazuo Sakurada debuted on June 21, 1971, in the old Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance against Kim Duk. On March 8, 1973 he became involved in a shoot when his mid-card match against rookie Tsutomu Oshiro went horribly wrong and Sakurada began beating Oshiro severely, knocking him out of the ring. Oshiro was going to jump to New Japan Pro Wrestling along with his mentor Seiji Sakaguchi and friend Kengo Kimura, and Sakurada took actions into his own hands, blaming them for jumping ship.

When the JPWA collapsed in April, Sakurada joined All Japan Pro Wrestling. In 1976 he made a North American tour, and his stock increased in earnest.

On January 12, 2020 Sakurada passed away at age 71 after his pacemaker malfunctioned, causing a cardiac issue.

[TTX]

RIP the other Kendo.

[justme]

Man, Firpo and Nagasaki... 2 more bits of my childhood... and 2 men that legit always scared me back then!!

[Bazzy]

R.I.P Pampero Firpo , AAA La Parka & Kazuo "Kendo Nagaski USA version not UK one" Sakurado . I have never seen Pampero & Kazuo wrestle and properly never seen AAA La Parka ?

[Deleted]

It is being reported that Rocky Johnson has passed.  

[whlineup]

Sad day today!

[Slymm]

RIP Rocky

[TTX]

RIP to the Original Rock.

[jimsteel]

AND ANOTHER ONE GONE



Bobby Kay passes away at 70

He is a member of the Cormier wrestling family, a group of four brothers who were all successful professional wrestlers. Romeo Cormier competed in Canada and the United States from 1967 to the mid-1980s. He also worked as a wrestling promoter. After retiring from wrestling, Cormier began performing country music professionally before taking a job with Loblaws.

Cormier grew up with eight brothers and four sisters on the family's farm in what is now Memramcook, New Brunswick.[2][3] He became interested in professional wrestling because of his older brothers Jean-Louis, Yvon, and Leonce, who competed under the ring names Rudy Kay, The Beast, and Leo Burke, respectively.[2] At age 17, Yvon took Romeo to Calgary, Alberta to train under Stu Hart.[1][4]

Cormier made his professional debut in 1967 and wrestled in several countries. While touring the world as a competitor, he used several ring names. In Calgary's Stampede Wrestling, he used the name Norton Jackson. He then took on the moniker Terry Martin while wrestling in Central States Wrestling.[5] He competed primarily as a tag team wrestler,[1] and he won his first title belt in Kansas City on October 31, 1968. Teaming with his brother Leonce, who was using the name Tommy Martin, he won the Central States version of the NWA North American Tag Team Championship. The reign lasted for one week before they dropped the title to The Texas Outlaws (Dick Murdoch and Dusty Rhodes)

Cormier also competed for the Eastern Sports Association (ESA), which was affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). His brother Jean-Louis, competing as Rudy Kay, was both a booker and wrestler for ESA, and Cormier used his brother's ring name as the inspiration to become Bobby Kay.[2] In the ESA, the four Cormier brothers often took turns facing the same wrestlers. A heel (villain) wrestler would face one brother, then move on to face the rest in succession.[1][4] Bobby Kay held the ESA International Tag Team Championship several times in the ESA; his first came when he teamed with brother Leonce (who was then competing as Leo Burke) to win the title in mid-1973 by defeating Fred Sweetan and Mike Dubois. They held the title for about one month before dropping it to Sweetan and Kurt Von Steiger. Kay then teamed with brother Yvon (who was known as The Beast) to regain the title. The teams traded the championship back and forth once again over the course of the summer. They lost the title to Sweetan and Jim Dillon in autumn 1973. After Dillon left the promotion, the championship was vacated; Kay and The Beast regained it the following year. The reign lasted less than one week before Sweetan and Dubois won the title. Teaming with Burke in June 1974, Kay had one final reign with the title; he sustained an injury, however, and Ron Thompson defended the championship in Kay's place.[4][8]

Later that year, Cormier returned to Kansas, where he won the NWA Central States Heavyweight Championship in December. Cormier later returned to Stampede Wrestling, this time adopting the ring name Bobby Burke to form a tag team with his brother Leo Burke. They defeated The Royal Kangaroos in 1977 to win the Stampede Wrestling International Tag Team Championship. After dropping the title to Mr. Hito and Michel Martel later that year, they did not regain the belts until 1980, when they defeated Duke Myers and Bobby Bass.

Cormier competed in Toronto from 1982 to 1984 under the ring name Terry Kay, a name that he had also used while wrestling in Charlotte, North Carolina.[1][5] He won the NWA Canadian Television Championship on December 26, 1982. He and his brother Leonce bought out Jean-Louis's stake in the Eastern Sports Association but ran into problems with their partner Al Zinck and television deals, which enabled Atlantic Grand Prix Wrestling (AGPW) to gain a stronger foothold in the Maritimes. His final title victory came in AGPW, where he won the company's North American Tag Team Championship in 1990 while teaming with his brother Leo.

[WTIC]

Jan 15, 2020 17:20:01 GMT -5 @hawkwarrior said:

It is being reported that Rocky Johnson has passed.  

From sports.yahoo.com/wrestler-rocky-johnson-wwe-hall-165530283.html

Rocky “Soul Man” Johnson, a former WWE wrestler and father of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, has died at the age of 75, the WWE confirmed on Wednesday.

“WWE is saddened to learn that Rocky ‘Soul Man’ Johnson (born Wayde Douglas Bowles), a WWE Hall of Famer, former World Tag Team Champion, and father of Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, has passed away at age 75,” the WWE said in a statement, adding, “Johnson found his highest levels of success when he began his WWE tenure in 1983.”

WWE is saddened to learn that Rocky “Soul Man” Johnson (born Wayde Douglas Bowles), a WWE Hall of Famer and former World Tag Team Champion, has passed away at age 75.

A native of Nova Scotia, Canada, Johnson began his sports-entertainment career in the mid-1960s, when he went from boxing to wrestling after being trained by his future father-in-law, High Chief Peter Maivia. He made his pro wrestling debut in 1966 and competed in the National Wrestling Alliance in the 1970s before joining the ranks of the WWE in 1983.

“The physically imposing and wildly charismatic Johnson has several memorable rivalries with the likes of Greg ‘The Hammer’ Valentine, Don Muraco and Adrian Adonis,” the statement continued. He found the greatest success when he teamed up with Tony Atlas as the Soul Patrol. The two men became the first African-American World Tag Team Champions in WWE history when they defeated The Wild Samoans on Dec. 10, 1983.”

Although Johnson retired in 1991, he didn’t walk away from the ring; following his career, he went on to train Dwayne, which saw “The Rock” “become one of the biggest stars in the history of sports-entertainment and carried on his father’s legacy with pride,” the WWE added.

“To some, he’s known for being one of the greatest Superstars in WWE history; to others, he’s known for being the son-in-law of the famed High Chief or the father of The Rock. However, as a pioneer and the first African-American to win coveted World Tag Team gold, Rocky Johnson will always be known as a legend and a trailblazer,” his WWE bio reads.

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R.I.P., Soulman! I remember watching on TV when he and Atlas won the Tag Belts! That was a great moment!

Todd C
WTIC