You cant really compare the death of a human to a wrestling angle, so lets just try to keep this entry separate and take a quick break at the halfway point. Wrestlers dying young seems to have slowed down the past few years, but there were still too many in 2014. Besides Mae Young, the other names on this list left us years before they should have. Time for a 10 bell salute. Ultimate Warrior - Warriors death may have been the most shocking one in quite some time. We had just seen him the night before on Raw for the first time in years. Then he was gone. At least he was able to leave us with a final, great memory. He was 54. Sean OHaire - Could have been a huge star. He didnt seem to possess a lot of confidence on a live mic, and hadnt developed the wrestling skills necessary for a top guy during his WWE run. However, instead of working to get him there, the company gave up. He was 43. Mabel/Viscera/Big Daddy V - While Mabel wasnt the most popular King of the Ring champion, he seemed to be quite loved backstage. He was able to have some level of success by transitioning from a cartoon rapper, to one of Undertakers henchmen to a love machine, to a Big Daddy. He was 43. Jimmy Del Ray - Jimmy was a journeyman who had runs in Smoky Mountain Wrestling, ECW and WCW, but it was one half of The Heavenly Bodies in the WWF where he will be best remembered. He was 53. Mae Young - The only wrestler to ever compete past 80, she was one of a kind. After decades of success in the business, she gained popularity again in the late 90s with her comedy pairing alongside The Fabulous Moolah. She was 90.
As Rust Cohle from True Detective said "Life's barely long enough to get good at one thing. So be careful what you're good at."
Sadly, I can't solve a murder like Rust...or change a tire, or even tie a tie. But I do know all the lyrics to Hulk Hogan's "Real American" theme song and can easily name every Natural Born Thriller from the dying days of WCW. I was once ranked 21st in the United States in Tetris...on the Playstation 3 version...for about a week.
Follow along @AndrewSoucek and check out my podcast at wrestlingwithfriends.com
