www.tsn.ca/former-wwe-star-brian-lawler-dead-at-46-1.1150095

Former World Wrestling Entertainment star Brian Lawler has died at the age of 46.

The son of wrestling legend Jerry "The King" Lawler attempted suicide on Saturday night in a Memphis jail cell, as TMZ first reported, and was not expected to recover.

His death was confirmed on Sunday afternoon by a number of industry sources, including The Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer.

This sucks, while they were never as successful as the TLC trio of tag teams, I always liked his partnership with Scotty 2 Hotty.

Damn dude. 2000 me and my friends were all about E&C and Too Cool. That sucks.

Also looks like Nikolai Volkoff has died as well. Probably don't need a separate thread tho.

Yeah, edited the thread title, to add Nikolai Volkoff to it.

www.cnn.com/2018/07/29/us/nikolai-volkoff-wrestler-death/index.html

Add Brickhouse Brown to the list as well. Spent most his career wrestling in the south. I remember his mid 80's run in Mid-South as a mid card baby face.

Holy crap. Every time I google the next one... another dies.

Damn. A sad day for wrestling. I will give all three men a little obituary.

Brickhouse Brown is the one I am least familiar with. I remember seeing him wrestle on tv for one of those dying early 90s territories. Always thought he had a cool ring name and a good look. Marked out a tiny bit when he randomly showed up to wrestle (I think) Hunter Hearst Helmsley on a mid 90s episode of Superstars or Shotgun. I once saw somebody give a Brickhouse Brown vs. Iceman Parsons match *****. Maybe I will seek that one out. He also held USWA tag team gold with my man The Gambler! 

I was not a Nikolai Volkoff fan but he had to have done something right since he lasted on and off in WWF for over 20 years, main eventing shows against both Bruno and Hogan. Volkoff singing the Soviet national anthem before his matches was a good heel bit and a guaranteed heat getter in the patriotic 80s. Occasionally had an impressive feat of strength like gorilla pressing Hulk Hogan. The Volkoff/Sheik tag team was big right before I started to watch wrestling. Peak Volkoff was his 80s Mid South run where he was instrumental in the transformation of Barry Darsow into Krusher Kruschev, which is a far cooler angle than it sounds.

Volkoff lived in my general area- Baltimore County- about 8-10 miles away. He was something of a small time local celebrity. Practically every local wrestling fan I ever knew saw Volkoff in a grocery store at some point. I told the story a few times on the old PW of how I once saw Nikolai Volkoff coaching a girls soccer team at the local park during the Attitude Era. He signed the back of his old LJN WWF action figure box and ranted about the state of then-current wrestling. I also saw him at the grocery store a time or two after that but never bothered him again. Volkoff ran for a local political office a few years ago. I got lots of texts during that period like "Just saw NIKOLAI VOLKOFF handing out fliers and waving to people at (this or that intersection)!" Sadly Volkoff did not run in my district because of course I would have voted for him.

Volkoff also had an interesting life story. I forget all the details but it's something to the extent of His family fled Lithuania(?) when the Communists took over that country. He was initially upset about being given a Soviet Commie gimmick until the promoter convinced him that he could get payback on those Russian bastards by portraying his character as the worst person in the world.

*Be back later to cover Brian Christopher.

RIP Brickhouse Brown & Nikolai Volkoff

Brian Christopher will get the full storytime treatment.

I was a Brian Christopher fan long before I ever saw him wrestle. He was a huge Apter Mag darling during the prime Apter Mag years of 95-97. For at least 6 months I believed USWA was equal, or superior, to ECW, and Brian Christopher appeared to be USWA's lone homegrown regular who happened to be young and in good shape. So, yeah, I thought he was a big deal. The 1997 PWI Preview edition had profiles on 50 wrestlers/tag teams. 49 of those acts were already competing in WWF, WCW or ECW. The 50th was Brian Christopher. I took this as 'proof' that Christopher was the best wrestler not already in the Big 3. That article went so far as to sell Christopher being a potential game changer in the Monday Night War. Just how much was Jerry Lawler paying Apter?  It must have been a lot since only once did the Apter Mags even hint at Christopher being Lawler's son, and it was so subtle that I didn't even realize it until years later. Oh, and as far as Apter Mag darlings went, after seeing them both a few times, Brian Christopher >>>>> that "overhyped botch machine" Sabu. 

I had forgotten about it until just now but Brian Christopher's debut was a big deal at our weekly Raw viewing party. "OhMyGod! That's BRIAN CHRISTOPHER!"- My friends and I- 6/16/97. As if Sting or somebody of that caliber had just shown up. Unlike that hack Sabu*, Christopher would soon live up to the hype. He had some cool moves (that sunset flip powerbomb to the floor was SICK) and an actual personality, which was rare for a 'workrate' guy. Plus he never fell off the Raw sign, or lost clean as a sheet to his heel rival of 18 months.

*lol I obviously came around on Sabu eventually, but for about one full year I thought Sabu was overrated/outright sucked.

Sadly, BC didn't get much of a push, and was far from the game changer the Apter Mags had promised. I was a little bummed out when he lost his feud over WWF's new Light Heavyweight Championship to Taka, and even more bummed out when he was stuck in a lower card tag team with lifelong jobber Scott Taylor. But Too Much quickly grew on me. Christopher made Scotty tolerable rather than Scotty dragging Christopher down to his level. I doubt any wrestling fan in the world was more hyped for Al Snow & ?? vs. Too Much at KOTR 98. I was expecting a midcard workrate classic with Snow winning back his job. And who might Al Snow's partner be? Surely somebody from ECW. Taz(!) perhaps? Or maybe just somebody with ECW ties? Like Terry Funk!! Too bad it turned out to be one of the worst matches ever, and Snow lost when Too Much pinned Head (w/ Shoulders). UGH! This really happened! And who could have seen that coming?!? Well, I mean besides every wrestling fan in the world who wasn't me.

Yet I was undaunted! I continued to be a Too Much supporter. They spent most of their time on Shotgun. And I loved Shotgun! Too Much had a lot to do with that. Way back in late 98-early 99 I had visions of a potentially great WWF tag division anchored by Shotgun regulars like Too Much, Hardys, Acolytes, Brood & Kaientai. It wasn't uncommon for the WWF Match of the Week to come from some combination of these teams on Shotgun. Too Much had some cool moves (even Scotty) while never forgetting they were bad guys whose job was to get booed. Plus they used the Midnight Express Vegematic finisher, and that is always going to earn some cool points in my book. I anxiously awaited that glorious day when Too Much would once again return to PPV, or even win the tag titles in a shocking upset. 

Around February 1999 Too Much was FINALLY rumored to be in for a big push. Legend has it that Vince Russo wanted to have Brian & Scotty get married at the St. Valentine's Day Massacre pay per view....in Memphis....over 3 years before Billy & Chuck. But depending on the story, either Christopher balked or Lawler used his clout to veto the idea because Memphis. So the wedding and ensuing push never happened. Then one of them got hurt. Semi-regular Shotgun jobber Kevin Quinn (who broke in and often teamed with Christopher Daniels in the Chicago area) subbed in as the 3rd member of Too Much in a neat little C show storyline. It ended with him getting beat up and kicked out of the team. Brian & Scotty only had eyes for each other, maaan. Actually I think this happened before the aborted gay wedding storyline, but whatever. 

Anyway, Too Much returned to action in late 1999. Only now they were white hip hoppers called Too Cool instead of an ambiguously gay duo called Too Much. I wasn't a fan of the gimmick change. But the individual name changes were even worse. I suppose Scotty Too Hotty was tolerable enough, but I HATED the name Grandmaster Sexay. Grandmaster Sexy would have been an acceptable enough wrestling name. But Sexay was just stupid. I was finally ready to give up and throw in the towel on Brian Christopher (and his luggage) when.....

Rikishi happened. WWF inexplicably struck gold when they paired a clownish lower card tag team with a fat dancing Samoan. It was just one of those weird wrestling things that occasionally catch fire with the fans. People quickly grew to love the dancing trio. And this longtime Brian Christopher fanboy was thrilled. I was a huge fan of the dancing trio. The Hardys, Dudleys, Edge & Christian, and Acolytes also caught fire around the same time. At last my dream of a potentially great WWF tag team division based around Shotgun regulars had become a reality. It would soon exceed my wildest expectations. And, again, nobody was happier about this than I was. 

Too Cool & Rikishi were suddenly the 2nd or 3rd most popular act in the company. They were the highlight of the 2000 Royal Rumble. They were involved in an all time great Raw 10 man tag. They were suddenly in the main event mix teaming with my boys Rock & Sock against those DX jerkoffs and their deporable Radical friends. Brian Christopher had finally made it big. This went on for a few months. They were always on PPV now! BC missed a little bit of time with an injury but came back to almost immediately win the tag titles from Edge & Christian. At last he had done it! Brian Christopher was finally a WWF champion!

I started getting tired of their act that summer and was done with Too Cool (and Rikishi) once Rikishi turned heel and squashed them in a Smackdown handicap match. It wasn't long before Too Cool became one of my LEAST favorite acts in the company. All that dancing, Christopher's constant cackling, and that bloody Worm were no longer cute or funny. It had now become annoying. And Rikishi just flatout sucked as a bad guy. 

Apparently Scotty got hurt and Christopher teamed with Steve Blackman for a little while. I do not remember this. BC was fired a short time later when he got caught trying to carry drugs over the US/Canadian border. This would sadly be a sign of things to come for Mr. Sexay. For all intents and purposes Brian Christopher was done at age 29.

He naturally made his way to TNA not long after that promotion started up. I was excited to see what Brian Christopher could do with "no restrictions." Surely now he would cut out the overdone sports entertainment (BC was ALWAYS on 10 when a 7 would have worked much better) and concentrate on wrestling. Nope. If anything, he was more obnoxious than ever. He was put in a crappy Legacy 1.0 stable w/ fellow 2nd generation wrestlers David Flair & Erik Watts. I actually found Christopher worse than David Flair. Sure, David Flair sucked. But he sucked in a quiet way. Brian Christopher sucked in a loud, obnoxious "LOOK AT ME SUCK" kind of way. Erik Watts blew both of them away. But TNA Erik Watts blew just about everybody else away too. Because TNA Erik Watts was awesome. But that's a story for another time. Anyway, the "highlight" of Christopher's TNA run was an awful ladder match with Dusty Rhodes.

Apparently he came back to WWF for a month in 2004. This is another thing I do not remember. Hell, I don't even remember hearing about this. I suppose I really was done with Brian Christopher by this point. I don't regret many of my weird wrestling opinions. I still go to bat for the concept of Fake Diesel & Fake Razor. I still love all things MONGO. But for over a decade I regretted ever being a Brian Christopher fan. 97-00 Brian Christopher, along with early Hurricane and early Disco Inferno (who actually still rules) were the closest things I ever had to a wrestling guilty pleasure. 

After doing some research tonight I learned Christopher had a few more brief WWF comebacks, and a lot more problems with substance abuse and the law. Sad.

RIP Brian Christopher. We'll always have 1997-2000.

I've been watching some of the old WWF PPVs from '98 where Christopher is doing commentary for the Michinoku matches. While it was incredibly crass at times, his timing and chemistry with his dad and JR was on-point and so good I found it difficult to get invested in the matches. He's a second generation star who did it the right way. He acknowledged his relationship, but made his own path and despite being dealt a pretty crappy hand in the WWF somehow still managed to get over. I wasn't an avid watcher like Bake, so whenever I'd tune in I always dug the under-dog antics of Too Cool.

By the time my cable provider carried the WWF, Christopher (and his father and mother in law) was gone. I'd see him years later pop up in ads for NWA-TNA where he was doing some lame second-generation stable with Erik Watts & David Flair and thought it was such a betrayal for everything he stood for as a performer. I wouldn't see him again until the aforementioned 2004 return and the only memory I have is the fine folks on GameFAQs going mental over his return. I think half of it was tongue in cheek, but the other half was genuinely happy to see an old face back. Unfortunately his demons got the better of him on every occasion and he just couldn't beat them in the end.

I know you all don't care for Impact but over the weekend, Impact star Trevor Lee lost his dad. His dad was an indy wrestling promoter in the south. I think his name was Tracey Caddell.

Heart goes out to Jerry Lawler, no parent should outlive their child.

Jul 31, 2018 0:01:49 GMT Call said:

Heart goes out to Jerry Lawler, no parent should outlive their child.

Yeah, this is the 1b thought that keeps running through my head along with the 1a thought of feeling sorry and sad for Brian.

Great write-ups, Baker-man.

Following the tragic death of former WWE star Brian Christopher on Sunday, Dave Meltzer provided more details on the past troubles Christopher faced in his life, as well as Christopher’s relationship with his father Jerry Lawler, and below is a recap of Meltzer’s comments on Wrestling Observer Radio.


-Meltzer noted Christopher had been in prison for the past three weeks, stemming from the most recent arrest on DUI charges in which police found an open container in his car. Christopher was not in jail stemming from the arrest on theft charges following his failure to pay a hotel bill, which was the arrest prior to the most recent DUI arrest.

-Christopher had been battling drug problems for years, and Meltzer related him to an “old school” heavy drug using professional wrestler from the territory days, which despite his talent, he could not overcome his drug problems.

-Meltzer shared a story about Christopher going across the Canadian border years ago during which he was arrested for possession of meth and steroids. Following the arrest, Christopher told Meltzer that people have no idea what it’s like to be Jerry Lawler’s son, as Jerry Lawler never drank or did drugs, and lived a completely sober lifestyle despite being in the business at a time when drugs and alcohol were abundant amongst talents.

-On why Jerry Lawler did not publicly acknowledge Christopher as his son during Lawler’s wrestling heyday, Meltzer noted that Lawler first did not want fans to know that he was old enough to have a son of Christopher’s age, but also, Lawler was afraid that due to Christopher’s behavior Christopher would tarnish the Lawler name, so he kept it a secret until it became public knowledge. Lawler’s relationship with Christopher was later used in a storyline on WWE TV during which Lawler was feuding with Michael Cole.

-Melter explained that Lawler was constantly trying to bail Christopher out of trouble, and after Christopher’s most recent jailing, Lawler had apparently “had enough” and decided he was not going to bail Christopher out of this one, in an attempt to get Christopher on the right path. Unfortunately, Christopher was unable to handle jail and took his own life.

-Meltzer revealed that “three or four years ago” Christopher unsuccessfully attempted suicide, which is something not too many people were aware of and Meltzer just learned himself on Sunday.

King must feel terrible...

Jul 29, 2018 21:19:02 GMT @ness said:

Holy crap. Every time I google the next one... another dies.

STOP GOOGLING THEN

Man, Too Cool was such a big deal to me and my sister as a kid. That’s who we were. We would do their dance, the worm and the hairstyle. They were the perfect team for kids to root for and they were awesome at it.

I didn’t even know all this was happening with Grandmaster. I knew Scotty was doing good with his life, as a firefighter I believe. It’s a sad, tragic story to one of my childhood memories.

RIP Brian “Grandmaster Sexay” Christopher.