Your Wrestlers RIP Thread

[Pete 13,699]

Thought it might make a bit more sense to use a dedicated thread for wrestlers who've passed away ala the other folders here.

Starting things off with the passing of "Rotten" Ron Starr, who was a territorial star in Southeast, LA, Stampede, Puerto Rico and all points north/east/west/south. RIP.

[NikoBaltimore 3,261]

Three things:

1. While the thread makes sense I thought there were a few deaths that happened in relatively short time.  But RIP Ron.

2. I hesitated clicking on this thinking it was Harley Race that passed.  I know it's leg injuries he had, but you never know with complications in surgery and whatnot what that could lead to.

3. If it was Harley that passed he'd be too big a name for an omnibus thread.

[Curt McGirt 8,109]

Damn. Ron was great on the Puerto Rico set, I can't point out a specific match off the top of my head but he's a hit pretty much any time he shows up, which is mostly tagging with Chicky and being the worker of the two. He was known as Rambo Ron Starr instead of Rotten Ron Starr which was his Stampede name, due to his 'Nam duties which were pretty heavy apparently. RIP

EDIT: Shit, he wrote a book?! I gotta read that http://slam.canoe.com/Slam/Wrestling/2017/02/06/22703494.html

[NikoBaltimore 3,261]

He wrote a book and Foley was talking about writing the forward.  He's been saying how working with Ron early in his career helped him out a ton and he never forgot that.  Apparently Ron was known for not being the easiest to work with at times so Mick was nervous approaching him.  But Ron was up for anything and helped Mick in their match.  So even though he was busy when approached to write the forward he was more than happy to.

[Matt D 10,495]

There are a lot of wrestling fans like me, namely people who grew up in the Northeast in the 80s/90s, watched a lot of WWF, WCW, GWF (or AWA depending on timing), later got into the online community and ended up watching more NJPW juniors or 90s AJPW or UWF or older Crockett or what have you. Ron Starr is uniquely positioned to fall through so many of those cracks. I'd probably call him the best wrestler of that sort ever, the ultimate journeyman in all of the promotions that a casual or middling fan will never even see. I first came across him when I was devouring late 70s Portland. Then I just kept bumping into him again and again, in Georgia or St. Louis or Alabama or Japan or especially Grand Prix and Puerto Rico. He could do anything, could be a face, could be a heel, could wrestle, could brawl, could get the crowd behind him, could draw heat. 

Guys like Chris Colt or Bobby Bass or Crusher Blackwell were more of one specific thing (though they were different things). Starr was the whole package, hugely adaptable, and I think that's why I'd call him, more than the others, the best wrestler that most people don't know.

[OSJ 4,489]

You are spot on with that assessment, my friend. Got to see a lot of Ron Starr in Portland back in the day and he was one of those guys that elevated everyone around him. From what I've seen of his work elsewhere, it was the same story, one of those guys that was just so good at so many different things that a lot of fans have trouble grasping just how good he was, I'd put him in the same group with guys like Bob Orton jr.; take any of their programs anywhere in the world and try and run them with someone else in the spot and it just won't be quite as good and even an experienced viewer will have some difficulty explaining  the difference, and that's because it's a combo of so many things done well that even if "Wrestler B" does two or three of them better, there's still thirteen or fourteen things that they don't do as well. The guys like that are sort of the Al Kalines of wrestling (if I may drop in an old-school baseball analogy), people had a hard time grasping just how good a player Kaline was because while never the best at any one thing, he did everything so well that there were simply no holes in his game whatsoever. That's the kind of wrestler Ron Starr was. RIP.

BTW: @NikoBaltimore: Mere broken bones take out Harley fucking Race? Crazy talk, my friend; crazy talk!

I do wonder if his childhood polio has played a part in his bones seemingly becoming a bit brittle in ways that seemingly have little to do with the grind of his wrestling career.

[thee Reverend Axl Future 1,091]

Thee Ron Starr book is a nice read if you like details and anecdotes from the Territory Era, and lots of autobiography on the man in addition to thee rasslin' stuff. It reads in a very conversational tone that fits it well. I ordered the deluxe package with a DVD-R of matches that I never got around to watching, now I certainly must...

- RAF

[RIPPA 29,157]

I don't think this had been mentioned already

Quote

Bucky Palermo, a famous referee in the 70s in Pittsburgh as well as the rest of the WWWF, passed away on 6/6 age the age of 86. According to Bill Apter’s 1Wrestling.com, Palermo fell down on 5/31 and hit his head on the floor. He first complained of headaches but didn’t get it checked. But he blacked out at one point and when he was taken to the hospital, the doctors found he was bleeding on the brain, and at his age they likely couldn’t do surgery. He was taken to Hospice care. Palermo was a referee second and ran a shoe shop in Lawrenceville, PA as his main occupation. He started working on fixing shoes back in 1941 at the age of ten, and didn’t retire until 2015. He was also a referee for 35 years and won a Golden Gloves boxing championship in his youth in 1950, so always had the respect of the wrestlers for being a real fighter. For decades, he was a referee on virtually every show held in Western Pennsylvania. The local KSWA promotion gave him a Hall of Fame plaque in 2013

 

[MADCAP 1,526]

4 hours ago, Matt D said:

There are a lot of wrestling fans like me, namely people who grew up in the Northeast in the 80s/90s, watched a lot of WWF, WCW, GWF (or AWA depending on timing), later got into the online community and ended up watching more NJPW juniors or 90s AJPW or UWF or older Crockett or what have you. Ron Starr is uniquely positioned to fall through so many of those cracks. I'd probably call him the best wrestler of that sort ever, the ultimate journeyman in all of the promotions that a casual or middling fan will never even see. I first came across him when I was devouring late 70s Portland. Then I just kept bumping into him again and again, in Georgia or St. Louis or Alabama or Japan or especially Grand Prix and Puerto Rico. He could do anything, could be a face, could be a heel, could wrestle, could brawl, could get the crowd behind him, could draw heat. 

Guys like Chris Colt or Bobby Bass or Crusher Blackwell were more of one specific thing (though they were different things). Starr was the whole package, hugely adaptable, and I think that's why I'd call him, more than the others, the best wrestler that most people don't know.

Not to really argue you point, but I would say Randy Colley should have that designation. 

[Happ Hazzard 374]

Buddy Wayne passed away. This is the pacific northwest guy that did jobs in WWF and WCW, trained Bryan Alvarez and regularly appeared on his radio shows back in the day. RIP.

[cav 6]

A shame.

Regularly heard him on F4W over the years. Seemed like a solid guy.

 

Any idea of the cause of death ?

[Happ Hazzard 374]

Heart Attack according to Alvarez.

[Michael Sweetser 2,927]

Fuck.  Buddy was a legend in the Northwest - still training people and still coming out to shows to this day.  He worked a few matches for ECCW a couple of years ago, and he didn't lose a step.  A joy to be around and a huge loss.

[Infinit 1,634]

I remember watching Buddy Wayne team with The Frog for Tomko's All Star Wrestling back in the say. RIP Buddy!

[RIPPA 29,157]

Quote

Buddy Wayne, who was one of the first regular guests on the Figure Four and Wrestling Observer website, a veteran Pacific Northwest wrestler who trained and wrestled Bryan Alvarez probably on a regular basis for decades, passed away on Friday at the age of 50.

Wayne, who was born Steve Finley in Everett, Washington, suffered a sudden heart attack. It came out of nowhere as he was fine and talking with former WWE wrestler Antonio Thomas on the phone shortly before his death.

Because of the name Buddy Wayne, he was sometimes confused with the Memphis Buddy Wayne, Dwayne Peale, who passed away in 2015 and was the father of Ken Wayne.

Wayne started his career as a teenager in 1985 for All-Star Wrestling in Vancouver, along with current Showtime and Bellator fight announcer Mauro Ranallo, who was a heel manager with the promotion as a teenager.

Considered a great worker, a combination of his size and the death of the territorial system kept him from becoming a bigger star. He worked most of his career in the Pacific Northwest, holding a number of championships in smaller promotions, including Championship Wrestling USA, which was Sandy Barr's promotion that ran the territory in the 90s.

Wayne had major heart surgery at a young age.

He worked many enhancement matches in the 90s, through 2003, for both WWF and WCW, including with the likes of Bam Bam Bigelow, Edge, Scott Hall, and Shawn Michaels.

Alvarez talked about him extensively at the start of last night's Wrestling Observer Radio and there will be more shows this week with others who had worked with him over the years.

He had been running the Buddy Wayne School of Wrestling and was very well respected as a trainer.

http://www.f4wonline.com/other-wrestling/buddy-wayne-passes-away-50-years-old-237571

[odessasteps 11,028]

Buddy was cool when i met him and he made sure to pick up the check when we went to lunch. Loved talking about portland wrestling with him. 

[Matt D 10,495]

DEAN reviewing the strap match vs Billy Two Eagles:

 

[Ryan 4,903]

RIP Buddy, always was fun to listen to back when I had a subscription. OT: Did anyone ever have THREE Eagles?

[J.T. 8,669]

14 hours ago, Ryan said:

RIP Buddy, always was fun to listen to back when I had a subscription. OT: Did anyone ever have THREE Eagles?

Native American tribes that revered eagles knew that female eagles can only lay one egg at a time and there tend to be two eggs per clutch.  Hence, Two Eagles.

You hear stuff like this all of the time when one of your great aunts is one part Cherokee and you're blessed enough to have her around until she's ninety five.

The fucking toll house cookies she baked were off the chain.

[Michael Sweetser 2,927]

There isn't a single worker in the Northwest from the past ten years (or longer) that hasn't been influenced by Buddy in some way.  That's both the Buddys gone now - Buddy Rose and Buddy Wayne.

[Pete 13,699]

1 hour ago, J.T. said:

Native American tribes that revered eagles knew that female eagles can only lay one egg at a time and there tend to be two eggs per clutch.  Hence, Two Eagles.

You hear stuff like this all of the time when one of your great aunts is one part Cherokee and you're blessed enough to have her around until she's ninety five.

The fucking toll house cookies she baked were off the chain.

Mmm, peyote toll house cookies...

[J.T. 8,669]

6 minutes ago, Pete said:

Mmm, peyote toll house cookies...

I was six years old when I first heard that stuff, Pete. 

I was not introduced to peyote until I was seventeen.

[Pete 13,699]

1 hour ago, J.T. said:

I was six years old when I first heard that stuff, Pete. 

I was not introduced to peyote until I was seventeen.

Reminds me of my mom's story about the party she and dad went to with Richard Roundtree right after Shaft had dropped. Someone brought "Alice B Toklas brownies." She still talks about those brownies and the damn party was 46 years ago.

[Michael Sweetser 2,927]

2 hours ago, Pete said:

Reminds me of my mom's story about the party she and dad went to with Richard Roundtree right after Shaft had dropped. Someone brought "Alice B Toklas brownies." She still talks about those brownies and the damn party was 46 years ago.

You can't fool me, Pete. Alice B. Toklas doesn't live here anymore!

[PetrolCB 7,603]

I had heard of him via Alvarez, but had never seen him. These two matches stood out to me after looking them up. 

Steamboat turns an enhancement match into a good match, letting him get his shit in. 

Same as above. Buddy takes a great bump for the finish. 

Theres a match on his channel against HBK, but honestly, I couldn't get into it. 

Anyways, here's his channel which has his tv jobs. 

https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCtMPYpV64LiXs9L-N3N-iJA 

That DDP match is weird, for no other reason, other than a totally brunette DDP without his dye-job. 

RIP, man.