R.I.P WRESTLING DEATHS 2023

[jimsteel]

New Jersey Wrestling star James Pasquale - known by his stage name Jimmy the Jester - has died following a car crash aged 34.

[TTX]

too young, RIP.

[jimsteel]

WINNIPEG’S MIKE PHILLIPS — SGT. TOM STEELE, JR BUNDY — DIES AT 57

He had a series of names during his career, which began in 1985, including Man Mountain Mike, Sgt. Tom Steele, JR Bundy, Tex Watson, Mountain Lou, Jim Driver, Sgt. Psycho and the masked Bo Nanas.

On the scene based out of Winnipeg — his hometown — Phillips stood out for his sheer size. He was 6-foot-1, and weighed over 350 pounds at times.

Size mattered, with the independent rings, recalled Marty Goldstein, who managed Phillips when he was JR Bundy. “Mike once famously broke the bottom rope after being slammed on it by Rick Martel,” said Goldstein. “It was the first time we’d seen that here and people popped.”

In his book, The Central Canadian Professional Wrestling Almanac, historian Vern May (wrestler Vance Nevada), profiled Phillips:

[TTX]

RIP.

[jimsteel]

FROM SLAM WRESTLING
Being a pro wrestling historian is tough at the best of times. It is often solitary work, poring through old newspapers, whether via microfilm or microfiche, or, more recently, in online archives.

With the death of Don Luce at age 84 — our “godfather” of pro wrestling results — the historian world is a little lonelier.

Who will be emailing fellow historians with results, out of the blue, on Buffalo, New York, from 1865, Minneapolis 1923, or Columbus, Ohio, in 1965?

I suspect no one else besides Don would compile a near-complete list of results for Ivan Michailoff in North America and complain that “the various spellings of his last ring name would drive anyone crazy” — Boris Mikailoff, Ivan Mickailoff, Mikailoff, Mikeloff, Micheloff, Mikiloff — and remind us that “likely more than one wrestler used the name over here.”

Don received the James C. Melby Historian Award from the Cauliflower Alley Club at the 2018 reunion in Las Vegas. After being introduced by Tom Burke, Luce shared the story about beginning to watch wrestling in 1951 while at a friend’s home. It was wrestling from the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium, and naturally, that’s where his research started. He ran the Rock and Groan newsletter from 1960-63.

“You solve one mystery, there’s something else always takes its place,” Luce explained to the CAC crowd. “What gets me is there was so much B.S. from these promoters, and solving what the truth was is really what’s interesting.”



At one point, researching in Columbus, Ohio, Luce stumbled upon promoter Al Haft, and he had a thousand questions, but was a bit tongue-tied. When Luce did tell him about his research, Haft suggested: “Don’t take it so seriously”

“I should have took his advice, I guess,” cracked Luce.

Luce died Monday, April 24, 2023 at Buffalo General Hospital of a heart issue.

[TDalton]

Met Don Luce at CAC a few years back. Super nice guy and super knowledgeable in baseball and wrestling. Believe his project at the time was trying to determine when wrestling moved from platforms to rings in various areas. He lived in Batavia NY, which we bonded over a bit, as that's where I began my accounting career. This is a big loss to the historian community, and I'm going to try and attend his service.

[TTX]

RIP Don.

[jimsteel]

Wrestler Reverend Redemption passed away

[jimsteel]

Aussie wrestling trailblazer Kristen ‘Miami’ Mitchell dead at 36

Mitchell paved the way for South Australia's women's wrestling and has been remembered as an 'irreplaceable friend and mentor' to the Australian wrestling community.

[on_the_edge]

Too young. RIP