R.I.P WRESTLING DEATHS 2023

[gamtime247]

The only way I really was able to follow Memphis as a kid was reading about them in the Apter mags. As an adult, it’s one of my favorite things to go back and watch. Great contributions to the wrestling world. RIP.

[natureboi]

RIP Lou Sahadi, publisher of Wrestling World magazine.

[TTX]

RIP

[jimsteel]

Not a wrestler but wrestling related in a way



STORY
DETROIT-BASED PUBLISHER BRIAN BUKANTIS DIES

While you might not know the name Brian Bukantis, you will know his work as the publisher of Strangehold and Body Press magazines, and as the man behind Goldmine Magazine: Record Collector & Music Memorabilia.

Bukantis’ death at age 73, on February 17, 2023, was not unexpected, as he had been in poor health for many years.

It has left friends and colleagues considering Bukantis’ legacy.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, there was a tight-knit group out of the Detroit scene, wrestling fans who became much more.

Gary Mancuso was one of them and he and Bukantis became best friends.

“He started and published Arena magazine in 1972, which later became known as Stranglehold, and was sold outside in front of Cobo Arena in Detroit at all the matches every other Saturday night,” Mancuso wrote in tribute. “That is, in fact, how myself and fellow long-time friend ‘Handsome’ Gary Kamensack met and got to know Brian.”

Dave Burzynski was another of those Detroit kids, superfans who knew all that was going on locally, and participated in the larger wrestling scene through fan clubs, newsletters, and attending fan conventions run by the WFIA. A photographer and writer, later Burzynski became manager “Supermouth” Dave Drason.

“I first met Brian in 1969 when a group of us fans would gather at Cobo Arena to talk wrestling, trade pictures and exchange material we gathered from pen pals around the world. I contributed to his Arena magazine that he started selling outside of Cobo Arena, much to the dismay of The Sheik and the Big Time Wrestling (BTW) promotion. He contacted city hall and was told that the promotion had no impact on what he could sell on the city street,” recalled Burzynski.

Brad McFarlin was another of the “Detroit 5” and called Bukantis “the elder statesman.” “We all knew each other for years and years,” said McFarlin, who was also a photographer and writer, and became manager “Handsome” Johnny Bradford.

With the Arena newsletter being sold outside the arena, “The Sheik” Ed Farhat and his wife, Joyce, hired Bukantis to do the Body Press magazine for the Detroit territory. Bukantis would move on, hired to do the Stranglehold programs for Dick the Bruiser‘s competing WWA promotion at Olympia Stadium in Detroit.

[jimsteel]

A LITTLE LATE





STORY

Lorne Corlett, who wrestled under numerous names but was most known as Karl Von Steiger, died on November 8, 2022, of congestive heart failure. He was 75.

But don’t go looking for any references to Corlett in the obituaries in Nevada, where we believed he lived with his wife, Patricia.

And look we did — only confirming his death in February 2023, when a reference was found in The Daily News, a newspaper in Longview, Washington: “VonSteiger- Karl, 80, of Woodland, WA passed away on November 8, 2022. All County Cremation and Burial Services.”

The VonSteiger / Von Steiger part was legit.

On July 27, 1982, Edward Lorne Corlett and his wife, Patricia Caroll Corlett had their names officially changed to Karl Von Steiger and Patricia Von Steiger, the paperwork filed in Hawaii.

Corlett, er, Von Steiger is part of the rich talent that came out of Winnipeg, Manitoba, in the 1950s and 1960s.

He debuted in June 1960, in Winnipeg, and wrestled often for the Madison Club, where he was a Middleweight tag team champion in 1960, a tag champ in 1963, and the Madison heavyweight champion in 1966. He was often billed as “Butcher Boy” Corlett. He can be seen on early AWA shows as enhancement talent Paul Caruso.

Speaking of title belts, technically, one could argue that Karl Von Steiger and his partner Kurt Von Steiner — another Winnipeger, Arnold Pastrick — are still the AWA World Tag Team champions. The pair of evil Germans beat Mad Dog and Butcher Vachon on February 23, 1971, in Portland, Oregon for the belts. The Vachons dropped the belts without the permission of AWA honcho Verne Gagne before a trip to Japan. On their return swing through Portland, the Vachons regained the titles on March 16th on a technicality.

The phantom title change is now a part of wrestling lore, and brought a laugh from Butcher Vachon in the book, The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Tag Teams. “We got s*** for it too, from Verne,” he said. When we came back, he said, ‘What the f*** did you guys do with the title?’ It was Mad Dog’s idea. Mad Dog and Don Owen were really good friends. Mad Dog said, ‘Why not, for Christsakes?'”

The late Pacific Northwest mainstay Dutch Savage was on both of those cards. “This made the Vons hotter than ever,” he said in The Tag Teams. “Verne never knew what was going on, and to this day he had no idea, but what the heck, it never hurt him, nor the prestige of the AWA belts. Made them even more believable and the Vachons even better.”

[TTX]

RIP Karl.

[jimsteel]

Jason Silver, an independent scene veteran out of Dallas, Texas has died at the age of 36.

The cause of death is unknown at this time, but it was learned that Silver has battled with epilepsy based on a post from his nephew, Shawn Monk.

Silver started wrestling in 2004, at the young age of 17 and for the last 19 years, he has become a veteran in the Texas indy scene. He was trained by Skandor Akbar and Tim Brooks, who both have passed away over the years.

Silver became a regular in a number of promotions including Heart of Texas Pro Wrestling (formerly ACW), Metroplex Wrestling (MPX) and VIP Wrestling. Silver would advertise for MPX constantly on his Facebook, urging his friends to buy tickets to all their shows.

Silver just lost the MPX Tag Team Titles a few weeks ago, he was holding them with Sky de Lacrimosa for the third time, together they were The Lost Boys.

[jimsteel]

Indy wrestler Ryan Phoenix passe away at 40

[jimsteel]

Beyond Wrestling and Limitless Wrestling Photographer Jessica Lynn passed away

[TTX]

RIP Jessica