A clever, talented wrestler in the late eighties and early nineties, Pillman became renowned for his agility and his trawling of Mexican lucha libre matches for spots to incorporate into his own moveset, becoming one of the first US wrestlers to promote lucha libre over the border. A highflying tag team specialist for most of his early career, Pillman joined the Four Horsemen when they reunited in WCW in late 1995. But Pillman wanted more. He began to scuzz up his clean cut image, a leftover from his Hollywood Blonds days but most importantly, he developed a reputation for danger and unpredictability. The Loose Cannon had arrived. Its difficult to overestimate the effect that such a persona would have on professional wrestling in the mid-nineties, still a couple of years from the Attitude Era. For modern fans imagine the rebellious attitude of CM Punk, the snakelike personality of Dean Ambrose, and the highflying recklessness of a Jeff Hardy, in one man. Hed constantly break the fourth wall, making the worked shoot as much a part of his arsenal as the diving corkscrew crossbody. No one, in the ring or at ringside, was entirely sure what he was going to do next. As a free agent, Pillman parlayed his notoriety into a bidding war for his services, finally starting with the WWF in June 1996. A nasty car accident had forced him to ground his high flying tactics, but The Loose Cannon would become more outspoken, leading to the infamous incident where, feuding with Stone Cold Steve Austin, Pillman would pull a 9mm handgun on the Rattlesnake in a pre-taped segment and drop the f-bomb on live television. Tragically, Pillman was found dead in his hotel room in October 1997, having succumbed to the same heart condition that had killed his father, exacerbated by painkiller and alcohol problems stemming from the injuries hed sustained in the car accident. If it wasnt for that, we could be looking at an entirely different professional wrestling landscape in 2014. Imagine the Attitude Era with Pillman and Austin leading the WWF roster Whos your favourite pro wrestling madman? Let us know all about it in the comments!
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
