Brian Pillman | |
|---|---|
 Pillman, circa 1996 | |
| Born | Brian William Pillman (1962-05-22)May 22, 1962 Cincinnati,Ohio, U.S. |
| Died | October 5, 1997(1997-10-05) (aged 35) Bloomington, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 6, includingBrian Pillman Jr. |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring names | |
| Billed height | 6 ft 0 in (183 cm)[1][2] |
| Billed weight | 227 lb (103 kg)[1][2] |
| Billed from | Cincinnati, Ohio[1][2] "The kennel club" (as The Yellow Dog) Hollywood (as California Brian) |
| Trained by | Stu Hart[3][1][2] |
| Debut | 1986 |
| Football career | |
| No. 41, 58 | |
| Position | Linebacker |
| Personal information | |
| Height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) |
| Weight | 228 lb (103 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school | Norwood (Norwood, Ohio) |
| College | Miami (OH)[1] |
| NFL draft | 1984: undrafted |
| Career history | |
* Offseason and/or practice squad member only | |
| Awards and highlights | |
| |
| Stats atPro Football Reference | |
Brian William Pillman (May 22, 1962 – October 5, 1997) was an Americanprofessional wrestler and professionalfootball player best known for his appearances inStampede Wrestling in the 1980s andWorld Championship Wrestling (WCW),Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), andWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF) in the 1990s.
Pillman created a legacy as "The Loose Cannon", a wrestlinggimmick that would see him do a series ofworked shoots that would gain him a degree of infamy for his unpredictable character. He was also known for being extremely agile in the ring, although a car accident on April 15, 1996, from which he received extensive ankle injuries, limited his in-ring ability. By the end of his career, he worked with his long-time friend and former tag-team partnerStone Cold Steve Austin in a storyline involving a firearm and withThe Hart Foundation during the first instances of the developingAttitude Era. In October 1997, he died unexpectedly due to an undetected heart disease.
Brian William Pillman was born on May 22, 1962, at theJewish Hospital inCincinnati, Ohio, to a Welsh mother named Mary; he had three sisters named Angie, Linda, and Susan, as well as a brother Phil.[4] His father died of aheart attack when Pillman was three months old.[5] Pillman developed multiple throatpolyps as a child beginning at age two, undergoing between 31 and 40 operations to tend to them and receiving anelectrolarynx.[4][6][7] As a result, Pillman spent a large part of his early childhood in a hospital, only going home for Christmas.[8] His mother chose to send him to a public school so that he could spend more time with his friends, leaving him as the only Presbyterian in his Catholic family.[8] As a child Pillman played many sports, including basketball and hockey, but was rather fragile and often made fun of by other children due to his raspy voice, which had been damaged by the operations, prompting him to learn how to box.[4][8]
Pillman graduated fromNorwood High School inNorwood, Ohio, a suburb of Cincinnati.[4] While attendingMiami University inOxford, Ohio, Pillman playedfootball for theRedskins (now Miami RedHawks) as a linebacker.[5] A Division I Second-teamAll-American in his junior year and a Division I All-American in his senior year, he went undrafted in the1984 NFL draft. He joined his hometownCincinnati Bengals as a free agent and later theCanadian Football League for theCalgary Stampeders in 1986.[1][4] Pillman also played for theBuffalo Bills in preseason action in 1985, but he was the last player cut before the start of that season due to an assistant coach finding steroids in his room.[9] His attempts to make the roster of the Bengals were covered in a series of articles inThe Cincinnati Enquirer written byPeter King.[4] Pillman andBaltimore Ravens head coachJohn Harbaugh were roommates and defensive teammates while at Miami.[10]
Following the end of his football career, Pillman remained in Canada and began training as a wrestler underStu Hart and his sons.[1] He made his in-ring debut in November 1986 for Hart'sCalgary-basedStampede Wrestlingpromotion.[11][7] Pillman quickly formed atag team with Hart's sonBruce known as Bad Company, winning theStampede Wrestling International Tag Team Championship by defeatingRon Starr and theCuban Assassin in the finals of a tournament on April 5, 1987.[12] Their reign lasted until October, when the titles were held up following a controversial ending to a match between Bad Company and their opponents, Jerry Morrow andMakhan Singh.[12] Bad Company defeated Morrow and Singh in a rematch in November to regain the titles, eventually losing them to Morrow and the Cuban Assassin in July 1988.[12] While in Stampede Wrestling, Pillman had his girlfriend at the time,Trisa Hayes, portray his sister in order to get himover as aface by seating her at ringside and havingheel wrestlers taunt her so that he could rescue her.[9]
After finishing with Stampede in late 1988, Pillman worked briefly in 1989 forNew Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) as part of its "Battle Line Tokyo Dome" tour, where he wrestled in singles matches againstMasa Saito,Tatsumi Fujinami,Black Cat andNaoki Sano and in tag team matches withBig Van Vader againstRiki Choshu and Fujinami.[13]
Pillman returned to the United States in May 1989 and began appearing invignettes hyping his in-ring debut forWorld Championship Wrestling (WCW) the following month,[14] where he became known as Flyin' Brian due to his athletic ability and variety of aerial maneuvers.[1][15] He unsuccessfully challengedLex Luger for theNWA United States Heavyweight Championship at theHalloween Havocpay-per-view on October 28 and atClash of the Champions IX on November 15.[16][17]
During this time, Pillman began teaming with"Z-Man" Tom Zenk andfeuded with theFabulous Freebirds (Jimmy Garvin andMichael Hayes), who they defeated on February 12, 1990, to capture theNWA United States Tag Team Championship.[14][18] They successfully defended the titles against the Freebirds on February 25 atWrestleWar, but lost them atCapital Combat on May 19 toThe Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton andStan Lane).[19][20] He defeatedBuddy Landel on July 7 atThe Great American Bash and atClash of the Champions XIII on November 20.[21][22] AtWrestleWar on February 24, 1991, Pillman participated in aWarGames match, teaming withSting andThe Steiner Brothers (Rick andScott) in a loss toThe Four Horsemen (Ric Flair,Barry Windham andSid Vicious) andLarry Zbyszko.[23] On March 21, Pillman wrestled at theWCW/New Japan Supershow I in theTokyo Dome, where he, Zenk andTim Horner lost toKuniaki Kobayashi,Shiro Koshinaka andTakayuki Iizuka.[24]
On June 12, atClash of the Champions XV, Pillman teamed withEl Gigante against Windham andArn Anderson in aLoser Leaves WCW match, which they lost. Per the stipulation, he was forced to leave WCW.[25] However, Pillman instead re-emerged as the masked Yellow Dog (one of Windham's pastgimmicks), competing in a series of bounty matches with his mask on the line.[26] AtThe Great American Bash on July 14, he defeatedJohnny B. Badd by disqualification after Badd's managerTeddy Long tried to remove his mask.[27] The Yellow Dog gimmick was short lived as Pillman was reinstated in August.[26] Also that month, Pillman wrestled for New Japan Pro-Wrestling as part of its "Summer Night Fever inNagoya" and "Violent Storm inKokugikan" tours, facing opponents includingJushin Thunder Liger andKensuke Sasaki.[13]
AtHalloween Havoc on October 27, Pillman defeatedRichard Morton in a tournament final to win the inauguralWCW Light Heavyweight Championship.[28] He successfully defended the title against Badd on November 19 atClash of the Champions XVII before losing it to Liger at ahouse show on December 25.[29][30] Pillman regained the championship from Liger on February 29, 1992, atSuperBrawl II.[31] AtWrestleWar on May 17, he defeated his partner Tom Zenk to retain the title.[32] He and Liger participated in a tournament for theNWA World Tag Team Championship, defeatingBiff Wellington andChris Benoit in the first round on June 16 atClash of the Champions XIX.[33] AtBeach Blast on June 20, Pillman lost the Light Heavyweight Championship toScotty Flamingo.[34] Pillman and Liger then lost in the quarter-final of the tournament toNikita Koloff andRicky Steamboat atThe Great American Bash on July 12.[35]
In September, Pillmanturned heel by slappingBrad Armstrong out of frustration for his knee injury and vacating the title when he was scheduled to defend it against Pillman atClash of the Champions XX.[36] He lost to Steamboat atHalloween Havoc on October 25 and defeated Armstrong atClash of the Champions XXI on November 18.[37][38] Pillman also started teaming with his former rival Windham, challenging for theNWA andWCW World Tag Team Championships against Steamboat andShane Douglas atStarrcade on December 28 in a losing effort.[39] Their team lasted until January 1993, as Windham had his sights on theNWA World Heavyweight Championship.[40]
Pillman subsequently began teaming with"Stunning" Steve Austin as theHollywood Blonds, defeatingErik Watts andMarcus Alexander Bagwell on February 21 atSuperBrawl III.[40][41] On the March 27 episode ofPower Hour, they won the championships from Steamboat and Douglas.[40] AtSlamboree on May 23, they successfully defended the titles against Dos Hombres (Steamboat and Zenk) in asteel cage match.[42] Pillman and Austin then feuded with Ric Flair and Arn Anderson of The Four Horsemen, mocking their ages and parodying Flair's interview show, "A Flair for the Gold", with their own called "A Flair for the Old".[9] They successfully defended the titles against Anderson andPaul Roma atBeach Blast on July 18 before losing them in a rematch atClash of the Champions XXIV on August 18.[43][44] Prior to the event, Pillman suffered a leg injury during a tag team match on an episode ofMain Event, so he was replaced in the match byLord Steven Regal.[40]
The Hollywood Blonds separated in October after Austin turned on Pillman to joinCol. Robert Parker'sStud Stable, turning Pillman face and starting a feud between the two.[40] AtClash of the Champions XXV on November 10, he lost to Austin after interference from Parker.[45] On January 27, 1994, atClash of the Champions XXVI, he defeated Parker in a match where the loser had to wear a chicken suit.[46] AtSuperBrawl IV on February 20, Pillman,Dustin Rhodes and Sting defeated Austin,Paul Orndorff andRick Rude in aThundercage match.[47] He challenged Regal for theWCW World Television Championship on April 17 atSpring Stampede, but the match ended in a 15-minute time limit draw.[48]
After several months of inactivity, Pillman made his return to WCW programming in January 1995, originally to be renamed California Brian (which was quickly scrapped) as a face who had moved toCalifornia to pursue acting work onBaywatch, with Pillman slowly progressing into atweener.[5][49] He lost toAlex Wright atThe Great American Bash on June 18.[50] On September 4, Pillman wrestled the first match on the inaugural episode ofMonday Nitro, defeating Jushin Thunder Liger.[49] After costing Flair a match to Arn Anderson atFall Brawl on September 17,[51] Flair recruited the help ofSting to team up against Pillman and Anderson atHalloween Havoc on October 29. Pillman and Anderson attacked Flair before the match, forcing Sting to come out alone. When Sting needed a tag the most, Flair came out at the last minute with a bandage on his head, tagged Sting and immediately turned and attacked him, removing the fake bandage from his head to show it was all a plan between Pillman, Anderson and Flair.[52] These actions signaled the reunion of The Four Horsemen; this incarnation consisted of Flair, Anderson, Pillman and Chris Benoit.[11]
In the middle of 1995, Pillman again returned to New Japan Pro-Wrestling to compete in theBest of the Super Juniors. He wrestled against the likes ofDean Malenko,Tatsuhito Takaiwa, Black Cat,Koji Kanemoto,Shinjiro Otani,Gran Hamada,Black Tiger, Wild Pegasus, Wright andEl Samurai in singles matches and in tag team matches together with Wright,Norio Honaga, Hamada or Malenko againstAkira Nogami, Koji Kanemoto,Takayuki Iizuka, El Samurai, Malenko and Honaga.[13]
At the end of 1995, Pillman developed his "Loose Cannon" gimmick, cultivating a reputation for unpredictable behavior and blurring fact and fiction with hisworkedshoots. He changed his once Hollywood Blond and Flyin' Brian clean athletic look for an edgy, out of control image. Even his allies in the Horsemen, especially Anderson, were wary of his behavior and tried in vain to keep him in check.[1][11][53] In a match withEddie Guerrero on January 23, 1996, atClash of the Champions XXXII, which Pillman won, he grabbed commentatorBobby Heenan by the collar, causing Heenan, who had a history of neck problems, to blurt out "What the fuck are you doing?" live on the air.[54] On February 11, Pillman outedKevin Sullivan asbooker atSuperBrawl VI in anI Respect You Strap match, where the loser announces that they respect the other wrestler, much like an"I Quit" match. Pillman lost to Sullivan in under a minute after grabbing the microphone and telling Sullivan "I respect you, booker man."[55] The words "booker man" were cut from the commercial tape.[56]
The day after SuperBrawl VI, Pillman was fired by WCW PresidentEric Bischoff.[53] In Bischoff's autobiography, he said that Pillman was fired so that he could go and develop the "loose cannon" gimmick in ECW then return to WCW with morelegitimateheat. Bischoff claims it was a plan he and Pillman came up with together, but Pillman wound up not returning.[57] Pillman's final televised WCW match was actually on the February 19 episode ofWCW Prime, taped long before SuperBrawl VI, where he teamed with fellow Four Horsemen member Chris Benoit to defeat The Barrio Brothers (Fidel Sierra andRicky Santana).[56]
In late 1994, Pillman appeared withExtreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) as part of a talent exchange between ECW and WCW. His only match there was teaming withShane Douglas to replace an injured Steve Austin, withSherri Martel as their manager, in a losing effort toRon Simmons and2 Cold Scorpio.[58]
Immediately following his departure from WCW, Pillman returned to ECW and appeared at the promotion's annualInternetconvention,ECW CyberSlam, on February 17, 1996. During an interview conducted in the ring byJoey Styles, Pillman insulted Bischoff, calling him a commentator, a "gofer", and a "piece of fucking shit". After Styles attempted to end the interview, Pillman prevented him from doing so and turned his attention to the ECW audience, derisively calling them "smartmarks". He then proceeded further by threatening to "yank out (his)Johnson" andurinate in the ring, before being confronted by ECW ownerTod Gordon, bookerPaul Heyman and wrestlerShane Douglas, who had him removed from the ring by security guards. While being dragged from the arena, Pillman attacked aplant sitting in the audience with afork he produced from his boot.[59][60] Although he did not wrestle for ECW, Pillman made several further appearances with the promotion, engaging in a war of words with Douglas, setting up a proposed feud.[53] He gained the backstage ire ofNew Jack when he referred to Jack'stag team withMustafa Saed as "Niggas with Attitudes" atFight the Power in June, a reference to the rap groupN.W.A.[61]
On April 15, 1996, Pillman was badly injured inKentucky when hisHummer H1 flipped after he fell asleep while driving and hit a tree trunk. He was thrown 40 feet into a field and found in a pool of his own blood.[9] Pillman was in acoma for a week and suffered numerous facial fractures and a shattered ankle, forcing doctors to fuse it together in a fixed walking position.[4][7][5] He was forced to abandon his previous high-flying wrestling style for a more grounded style.[15]
Pillman signed a contract with theWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF) on June 10, 1996, which was announced in apress conference.[1][62] He was the second wrestler to sign a guaranteed contract with the WWF afterMarc Mero (indicative of the period in whichVince McMahon began to protect the company from abruptly losing talent to WCW) which was worth $200,000.[7] Pillman acted as a commentator alongsideJim Ross while recovering from his broken ankle.[4]
On November 4, 1996, Pillman took part in the infamous "Pillman's got a gun" angle onRaw with hisformer teammateStone Cold Steve Austin. When Pillman initially arrived to the WWF, he aligned himself immediately with his long-time friend and former teammate Austin, serving as his lackey while he recovered. However, Pillman began noticeably favoring Austin's nemesis, Bret Hart, before Austin had enough and brutally attacked him in the ring during an interview on an episode ofSuperstars on October 27, 1996. Austin and Pillman had been feuding for several weeks, and Austin finally decided to take matters into his own hands and visit Pillman, whom he had already injured, at his home inWalton, Kentucky. WWF interviewer Kevin Kelly sat in Pillman's house with a camera crew and the Pillman family, while Pillman's friends surrounded the house to protect him. As the interview progressed, Pillman got infuriated and produced a handgun, angrily exclaiming, "when Austin 3:16 meets Pillman 9-millimeter glock, I'm gonna blast his sorry ass straight to hell." Austin was attacked by Pillman's friends as soon as he arrived, but he quickly subdued them. He then proceeded to break into Pillman's home and advance on his nemesis. However, Pillman responded by pulling out the pistol and pointing it at a hesitant Austin, while Kelly and Pillman's wife Melanie screamed for help. The camera feed was then disrupted, with the scene fading to black. The on-scene director contacted commentator Vince McMahon and reported that he had heard "a couple explosions". The transmission was restored shortly before the end ofRaw, and viewers witnessed Pillman's friends dragging Austin from the house while Pillman aimed the gun at Austin and announced his intention to "kill that son of a bitch!" Pillman also slipped up by saying "get out of the fucking way!" on live television, which prevented it from being edited out.[62] The WWF and Pillman eventually apologized for the entire angle.[4]
Pillman then aligned himself with his real life close friendsBret Hart,Owen Hart,The British Bulldog andJim Neidhart, turning heel as part of the anti-AmericanHart Foundation and feuding with his former partner Austin.[1][11] In the course of the feud, Austin was given on-screen credit for damaging Pillman's ankle in late October 1996 after placing it in between the seat and backrest of a folded chair and then jumping on the chair,[9] a move which has subsequently been dubbed "Pillmanizing".[63] Pillman began competing again full-time in May 1997, frequently teaming with Hart Foundation members in six-man tag team matches against Austin and theLegion of Doom (Hawk andAnimal).[64] On July 6, atIn Your House 16: Canadian Stampede, Pillman and The Hart Foundation defeated the American team of Austin,Goldust,Ken Shamrock and the Legion of Doom in the main event.[65]
Pillman engaged in his final feud with Goldust overMarlena.[2] AtSummerSlam on August 3, he lost to Goldust, forcing him to wear a dress during his matches for a month.[66] Pillman then challenged Goldust again to a match with two stipulations; if Pillman won, he would take Marlena away from Goldust to be his personal assistant for 30 days, and if Goldust won, Pillman would leave the WWF for the rest of his life.[64] In his final WWF pay-per-view appearance, Pillman defeated Goldust atIn Your House 17: Ground Zero on September 7.[67] During the feud they would for several weeks later appear in segments called "Brian Pillman's XXX-Files", in which Marlena was made to wear sexually provocative clothing.[4] His final televised match came on the October 4 episode ofShotgun Saturday Night (taped on September 23), defeatingThe Patriot by disqualification due to interference from Goldust. After the match, Goldust chased him and Marlena out of the arena.[64]
Pillman was a close friend to theHart family. Both Pillman and the Harts have referred to themselves as being as close as siblings.[4] He was the only member of theHart Foundation to not be related to the family through either blood or marriage.[7][68]
In 1993, Pillman was arrested fordrunk driving and illegal possession of prescription drugs. As part of a plea agreement, the drug charges were eventually dropped.[5][9]
In 1990, Pillman datedTerri Runnels while they were in WCW together.[4] He later married Melanie Morgan (1965–2022), who he first saw in aPenthouse magazine,[9] on March 17, 1993.[4][69] Melanie had two children at the time, Alexis Michelle Reed and Jesse Morgan, from her previous relationships. At the time, he also had daughters, Danielle and Brittany, from two previous relationships.[4] Brian and Melanie had two children together,Brian Zachary and Skylar King, the latter born after Pillman's death. Melanie also adopted one of Brian's daughters, Brittany. Despite not being their biological parent, Pillman is often referred to as the father of Melanie's children, Jesse Morgan and Alexis Michelle Reed, who he adopted before his death.[70][71][72] At the time of his death, Brian and Melanie were involved in a heated divorce.[5] She said that the divorce was meant to be a wake-up call for Brian, and they were still living together at the time of Brian's death, but he was banished to the basement.[4][7]
In 2017, Pillman's daughter Brittany claimed that her half-sister Skylar King is not Pillman's biological daughter, but the child of another man whom Melanie married shortly after Pillman's death, and that all the money given by WWF and wrestlers to support Pillman's family was used by Melanie for drugs.[73]
On October 5, 1997, Pillman was scheduled to wrestleDude Love at the WWF pay-per-viewIn Your House 18: Badd Blood.[15]Steve Austin relayed thatJim Cornette was instructed to find the whereabouts of Pillman. Cornette contacted the Budgetel Motel inBloomington, Minnesota, where Pillman had stayed the previous night, and was told by the receptionist that Pillman was found dead in his hotel room by the maids earlier that day at 1:09 p.m. Central Time. He was 35 years old.[6] Bottles of painkillers and muscle relaxers were also found in his room.[5] An autopsy attributed Pillman's death to aheart attack caused by previously undetectedatheroscleroticheart disease, a condition which had also led to the death of his father.[4][7] Nonlethal traces of cocaine were also found in his system.[74]
The next night onRaw, the WWF paid tribute to Pillman, and later in the show, Vince McMahon interviewed Melanie Pillman.[6][64] The interview was seen as being in poor taste and was awardedWrestling Observer Newsletter's Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic award for that year.[75]
In January 2008, Pillman's adopted daughter Alexis Michelle Reed entered professional wrestling as a valet and ring girl under the name "Sexy" Lexi Pillman. She died at the age of 26 on November 26, 2009, from injuries sustained in an automobile accident.[76]
Like his father,Brian Zachary became a football player and played at thehigh-school level while attendingDixie Heights High School before graduating in 2011.[77] In February 2017, he announced his decision to follow in his father's footsteps to become a professional wrestler.[78] Trained byLance Storm, he made his debut in December of that year.[79] He wrestled forAll Elite Wrestling (AEW) beginning in the summer of 2020, where he,Griff Garrison, andJulia Hart formed a stable, the Varsity Blondes, paying tribute to the 1980s era and his father's tag team with Steve Austin. He left AEW in 2023 and soon after debuted in WWE's developmental brand,NXT, under the ring name Lexis King.
Pillman was the subject of a 2021 episode ofViceland'sDark Side of the Ring.[80] In 2024, Pillman's daughter Brittany Evans signed a Legends contract with WWE, allowing merchandise of the senior Pillman to be offered under her authority.[81]
Bowling Green sophomore quarterback Brian McClure was selected the league's offensive player of the year in voting by members of the MAC News Media Association while Miami nose tackle Brian Pillman was named the defensive player of the year and Western Michigan tight end Kelly Spielmaker the fresh-man of the year.
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