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2021 Wrestling RIP Thread


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If I, or many of us for that matter, had gone through that we would have crumpled. Somehow, Gary didn't. Buddy didn't. Austin Idol didn't. So, they deserve their regard. That's why I felt the need to share that story. 

Edited by Curt McGirt
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15 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

Here is the tale of the plane crash with Buddy Colt from Gary Hart's book. It is harrowing, I warn you. RIP, Buddy. 

  Reveal hidden contents

It really speaks to what a tremendous heel Gary Hart was. Body half destroyed and blinded in one eye for the rest of his life from a horrific accident that made national headlines... and he STILL got his heat back.

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  • 2 weeks later...

RIP Barry Orton

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I always thought Barry was very underrated. Like a lot of guys he came along at the wrong time, if he'd been 10 years older he'd have had a good career in the territories. WWF could have done more with him, he didn't really lack anything that they looked for. He probably would have benefitted from leaving early on and wrestling elsewhere and then coming back in the late 80s when they were starting to look for new stars. But he did jobs for too long to ever get a push.

 

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As a 4th/5th grader, I always got a kick out of Barry O being introduced as hailing from "the Fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada." At the same time, I was disappointed that he tagged at least once with Mr. X, and they never went full-time as "Team Tic-Tac-Toe." (I was 10 at the time!)

Doesn't appear to be on YT, but there was a 1985 TV match where O and Moondog Spot won a tag squash, with the finish of O walking the middle rope before dropping a knee on the jobber, who Spotty had in the "Demolition Decapitator" position. The finish looked rough (O seemed to be regretting his rope walk as soon as he started it), but I always wanted to see a full-time tag team adopt that finisher. 

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22 minutes ago, Cobra Commander said:

Before tonight, I didn't know that Randy Orton and Barry O have the same first name (Randal). I also didn't know that Bob Sr/Bob Sr/Randy all have the initials RKO (Robert Keith or Randal Keith).

Well, that certainly came out of nowhere.

I mean all those RKO's.

Not that I would have expected to read of Barry O's passing either, which is very unfortunate and unexpected as well.

Edited by Shartnado
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When alot of the bigger televised house shows started surfacing from WWE 24/Classic on demand, I got to see alot of these opening card guys have 10 to 15 minute plus matches. I was impressed Orton alot and he was probably one of the younger guys in that position. 

It's surprising that they didn't eventually repackage him under a different gimmick like they did with Lanny Poffo

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https://www.f4wonline.com/other-wrestling/barry-orton-passes-away-62-years-old-336461

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Randall Barry Orton, the uncle of Randy Orton and son of Bob Orton Sr., passed away yesterday at the age of 62.

Orton, who wrestled under names like Barry Orton, Berry Orton, Barry O, Superstar Barry O and the masked Zodiak, was best known in wrestling in 1991 and 1992 for being in the media spotlight in talking about issues in pro wrestling and claiming Terry Garvin, who at the time worked in Talent Relations with Pat Patterson, tried to sexually harass him on a car ride while he was a teenager breaking in wrestling in the Amarillo territory in the late 70s

This led to appearances on shows like Phil Donahue, Larry King and Geraldo Rivera shows, including two confrontations with Vince McMahon, who tried to discredit him on the air noting he had served time in prison for being involved in an auto accident where somebody had died and was writing a book. Garvin and Mel Phillips had been let go by McMahon shortly before the show aired, and Patterson resigned.

He was one of the first wrestlers to befriend Tom Cole, who passed away recently and had claimed Phillips came on to him when he was a teenager working for the ring crew, which Phillips was the supervisor of.

Orton foiled McMahon's attempt for a Perry Mason-like moment on the Donahue show as McMahon had planted Cole, who he had just secretly settled out of court in the days leading to the show, in the audience at the show with Linda McMahon and Liz "Elizabeth" Hulette if his name was mentioned by the panel before the show. Cole was to then say how the panel members who made claims about McMahon were lying and that he was Tom Cole. Orton, in the green room, noted that Cole had become incommunicado with him for a few days and had an intuition something funny was up and told others on the show not to mention Cole's name on the air.

That largely ended Orton's wrestling career at the age of 33. He was a good in-ring performer and strong talker who was a headliner in 1987 in Stampede Wrestling under a mask as The Zodiak, taking after his father who used the Zodiac name under a mask.

Zodiak & Jason the Terrible wrestled all the top babyfaces in the promotion, including Owen Hart, as well as the tag team of Bad Company (Bruce Hart & Brian Pillman) and future Hall of Famer, Senator and Cabinet member Hiroshi Hase, and future legend Jushin Liger as Fuji Yamada.

He worked two stints in the WWF, both as a prelim wrestler and television enhancement talent as Barry O. He worked 1985-86, and after spending time in prison, returned in 1990 and 1991 in a similar role.

As a wrestler, he held the Americas tag team championship at the age of 19 teaming with Hector Guerrero, and formed a tag team with brother Bob and held the Southeastern tag team championship with the Poffo family's ICW promotion. He also had a run as Jody Hamilton's partner in a remake of The Masked Assassins in Jim Crockett Promotions.

He had felt that making public revelations about the industry ended his career and transitioned into acting, where he appeared in a number of movies.

 

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