The Last Match: Wrestlers that Died in 2019 Part 2

The Last Match post has returned and we are looking at more The Last Match of wrestlers that passed away in 2019.

Salvatore Bellomo 67, June 18, 1951 - February 9, 2019

Last Match: October 19, 2018 Power of Wrestling Hanover, Germany
Team Vespermann: Chris Raaber, Demolition Davies, Franz Schuhmann, & James Mason defeated Team Backhaus: Brody Steele, Fabio Ferrari, Nik Hellstrom, & Salvatore Bellomo

Born in Belgium he began wrestling in 1974.  In 1983 he joined the WWF where I remember him as enhancement talent to stars.  In 1993 he reinvented himself as an unpredictable Wildman losing to Jimmy Snuka in a match to declare the first ever ECW Champion.  He returned to Belgium in early 2000's where he opened a wrestling school and continued wrestling with his last match being in October 2018.

John Quinn 78, October 15, 1941 - April 22, 2019

Last Match: September 16, 1989 Pacific Coast Championship Wrestling Surrey, British Columbia, Canada

John Quinn wrestling Igor Volkoff to a double disqualification

Born in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada Quinn debuted in the ring in 1961 debuting in the WWWF in 1965.  Through out his career he wrestled in World Class, Georgia Championship Wrestling, and various NWA territories.  In 1977 he toured Japan and later the United Kingdom winning the Joint Promotions Heavyweight Championship 4 times.

Silver King 51, January 9, 1968 - May 11, 2019

Last Match: May 11, 2019 Lucha Libra World London, England
Juventud Guerrera defeated Silver King

Earlier in the night he competed in a tag team battle royal that was won by Laredo Kid & El Hijo Del Fantasma

Cesar Cuauhtemoc Gonzales Barron, better known as Silver King died in the ring at a Lucha Libre World show in London, England during a match with Juventud Guerrera.  It was his second match of the day.  In the US he is best known from his time in WCW as part of the many luchadores that WCW signed in the mid 1990's.  He also starred as Ramses in the Jack Black picture Nacho Libre.

Atsushi Aoki 41, September 25, 1977 - June 3, 2019

Last Match: June 2, 2019 All Japan Pro Wrestling, Kobe, Japan
Jake Lee, Koji Iwamoto, & Nobe Bryant defeated Hiraku Sato, Yusuke Okada, & Atsushi Aoki

Aoki was trained by Jun Akiyama debuting for Pro Wrestling NOAH on Christmas Eve 2005 and was with the promotion for 7 years with his final match being on Christmas Eve 2012.  While in NOAH he captured the Junior Heavyweight Championship twice.  He debuted in January 2013 for All Japan Pro Wrestling becoming a 4 time World Junior Heavyweight Champion.  He captured other championships in NOAH, AJPW, and AAA in Mexico.  He died in a motorcycle crash.

Adrian McCallum 36, December 17, 1982 - June 19, 2019

Last Match: June 16, 2019 Insane Championship Wrestling Glasgow, Scotland 
ICW World Heavyweight Champion: Lionheart defeated European Champion: Alexander Dean to unify the championships

McCallum wrestled as Lionheart in the UK debuting in 2002 wrestling his last match three days before his death on June 16, 2019 defeating Alexander Dean in Glasgow, Scotland winning the European Championship while retaining his ICW World Heavyweight Championship.  During his career he captured eighteen championships from twelve different promotions.

Thanks for reading, please leave a comment, read my other posts, and like my blogs Facebook page, check out my weekly podcast The Wrestling Insomniac on the Nerdy Legion Podcast Network and while your at it pick up my book over at Amazon in Kindle or Paperback.

Until next time!!

The Last Match: Wrestlers that Died in 2019 Part 1

For the first time in almost a year The Last Match post has returned and we are looking The Last Match of wrestlers that passed away in 2019.

Les Thornton 84, April 9, 1934 - February 1, 2019

Last Match Canadian National Wrestling Alliance Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Les Thornton & Bob Brown defeated Makhan Singh & Ron Ritchie

Born in Manchester, England he began his wrestling career in 1957.  He is a former five time NWA World Junior Heavyweight Champion.  He wrestled and held numerous championships across Great Britain, Canada, and the United States.  Thornton was wrestling for Georgia Championship Wrestling when the WWF bought GCW out.  As a result he joined the WWF, where he was treated as enhancement talent for the last couple years of his career.  He was the tag team partner of Mick Foley, wrestling as Jack Foley in his WWF debut against The British Bulldogs.

Pedro Morales 76, October 22, 1942 - February 12, 2019

Last Match
November 16, 1987 WWF East Rutherford, New Jersey
Lou Thesz won a Legends Battle Royal

July 17, 1987 WWF Long Island, New York
"Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff defeated Pedro Morales

From Culebra, Puerto Rico Morales debuted in 1959 at the age of 17.  He would wrestle in several territories before joining the then WWWF in 1970.  On February 8, 1971 he defeated Ivan Koloff to win the WWWF World Championships enjoying a near 3 year run holding it for 1,027 days.  He traveled to NWA San Francisco, the AWA, Championship Wrestling from Florida, & New Japan before returning to the now WWF in 1980.  He and then WWF Champion Bob Backlund defeated the Wild Samoans for the WWF Tag Team Championships on August 9, 1980 but were forced to relinquish the championships as Backlund was World Champion.

Pedro would go onto capture the Intercontinental Championship two times, December 8, 1980 - June 20, 1981 & November 23, 1981 - January 22, 1983.  Making him one of the greatest WWE Champions of all time.  After leaving the ring he did Spanish Language commentary for the WWE and later WCW.  He was inducted into the WWF Hall of Fame in 1995.

King Kong Bundy 61, November 7, 1957 - March 4, 2019

Last Match
May 12, 2007 Big Time Wrestling Springfield, Massachusetts
King Kong Bundy defeated Richard Byrne  
Christopher Pallies debuted in 1981 after training with Larry Sharpe at the Monster Factory.  He is perhaps best known for headlining WrestleMania 2 wrestling Hulk Hogan in a Steel Cage for the WWE Championship.  He wrestled in various territories through-out his career capturing many regional championships.  He returned to the WWE for a year in 1994 - 95 joining the Million Dollar Corporation.  He was very successful in the independent scene from 1995 - 2007.  He appeared on the television shows Married With Children and Boy Meets World.

I saw Bundy wrestle live six times from 1998 to 2007 on the independents.  My interactions with him were all positive, he was a really nice guy and was very approachable.  I was even at his second to last match in April 2007 for BTW in Framingham, Massachusetts

The Destroyer 88, July 11, 1930 - March 7, 2019

Last Match
July 29, 1993 All Japan Pro Wrestling Tokyo, Japan
The Destroyer, Kurt Beyer, & Giant Baba defeated Haruka Eigen, Masanobu Fuchi, & Masao Inoue

Dick Beyer debuted December 29, 1954.  He began his career in WWA in California winning their World Championship three times.  While wrestling in WWA as The Destroyer he wrestled in the AWA as Dr. X where he also held their World Championship.  As popular as The Destroyer was it can be said that his arrival in Japan in 1973 is when it career exploded.  He spent six straight years in Japan even hosting his own late night television show.

He wrestled is final match in 1993 in Japan teaming with is son Kurt and Giant Baba.  After his retirement Beyer open The Destroyer Golf Park and ran several charitable events.  In 2017 he was in Japan he was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun.

Roger Kirby 79, December 14, 1939 - March 18, 2019

Last Match
July 16, 1988 World Wrestling Alliance Kansas City, Kansas
Solomon Grundy defeated The Red Destroyer
Debuting in 1960 after being a Golden Gloves boxer Kirby traveled the territories doing well in Georgia, Florida, Oregon, Minnesota, and Kansas City.  On May 20, 1971 he defeated Danny Hodge to capture the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship.  In Central States Wrestling Kirby cleaned winning all of their championships including their heavyweight title five times.

Kriby wound his career down in the WWE wrestling his last match in 1986.  He stated that he wanted to be remembered as a top wrestler and not climb back down the ladder in the WWF.

Thanks for reading, please leave a comment, read my other posts, and like my blogs Facebook page, check out my weekly podcast The Wrestling Insomniac on the Nerdy Legion Podcast Network and while your at it pick up my book over at Amazon in Kindle or Paperback.

Until next time!!

Signed Trading Cards: The Great Kabuki, Russ Francis, & Rockin' Robin

I'm with some more through the mail additions and my first foray into a custom card.

The Great Kabuki

I mailed these cards to Kabuki at his restaurant in Japan.  I mailed them on May 11, 2020 and got them back on June 19, 2020.  I think that, that is pretty damn good turn around.

The card in the middle is from the 1997 BBM Sparking Fighters set and the cards on the outside are from the 1986 Monty Wrestling Stars set.  Now I just need to find Sunshine and ask her to sign the card as well.

I mailed Kabuki the three cards and he signed them plus sent me the two 4 x 6 photos and the sticker pack.  That was unexpected and very cool!  I also sent him $5 for return postage not knowing how much it would be.

Russ Francis

The card on the left is from the 1975 Topps NFL set and the card on the right is from the 1985 WWF O-Pee-Chee Series 2 set.  I had only mailed Mr. Francis the NFL card, he sent me the WWF card.

Russ is a second generation wrestling star.  His father Ed Francis was the promoter for 50th State Big Time Wrestling Hawaii from the 1960's thru 1979 when he sold the territory to High Chief Peter Miavia.  Russ played football in the NFL for the New England Patriots (1975 - 80 & 87 - 88) and the San Francisco 49ers (1982 - 87).  He wrestled full time in the AWA for a spell and is a former NWA Hawaii Tag Team Champion with his brother Bill Francis.  He competed in the WrestleMania 2 NFL vs. WWF battle royal.  He was one of the final 4 men in the match with Andre the Giant & The Hart Foundation.

Rockin' Robin

This is a custom card of my design that I had made by D'Elana's Cards, you can find them on instagram.  I mimicked the NWA Wonderama design and I wrote the biography that appears on the back of the card.  I sent Robin three cards asking her to sign one and to keep the others for herself.  She sent me back two signed.

Custom cards is not something that I thought I would do but Rockin' Robin is an autograph that I wanted to add to my collection and she's never had a trading card released before.  I've had a few others made up and I've mailed them off, If I get them back you know I'll share them here.

Thanks for reading, please leave a comment, read my other posts, and like my blogs Facebook page, check out my weekly podcast The Wrestling Insomniac on the Nerdy Legion Podcast Network and while your at it pick up my book over at Amazon in Kindle or Paperback.

Until next time!!