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| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Michael Moran Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Grey Skull Killer Mean Mike Mighty Kodiak Mike Madigan Mike Moran Mike Richards Texas Hangman #1 Texas Hangman Killer Texas Outlaw #1 |
| Billed height | 6 ft 2 in (188 cm)[1] |
| Billed weight | 275 lb (125 kg)[1] |
| Trained by | Jake Milliman Rocky Stone/Herman Schafer |
| Debut | 1982 |
| Retired | 2012 |
Mike Moran is an American retiredprofessional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances withWorld Championship Wrestling (WCW) under thering nameMean Mike,teaming with "Tough Tom" as "Disorderly Conduct".[2] He is also known for his appearances asKiller, one-half ofthe Texas Hangmen alongsidePsycho.
Mike started his career as Mike Madigan in 1982 and wrestled for several local independent companies. Eventually he garnered enough experience, and was booked as an enhancement talent as Mike Richards working for theWorld Wrestling Federation andAmerican Wrestling Association on their TV shows AWA TV,WWF Wrestling Challenge andWWF Superstars. His first territory opportunity was in 1984 working forBob Geigel inCentral States Wrestling as Mike Madigan.[3] After several years of working as an enhancement talent, Mike and fellow enhancement talent Rick Gantner akaBull Pain took on the personas ofThe Texas Hangmen Killer & Psycho under masks and wrestled forVerne Gagne in theAmerican Wrestling Association.[4][5][6]
In the WWC they were managed by El Profe and won theWWC Caribbean Tag Team Championship from The Super Medicos[7][8][9] as well as being a part of an infamous hanging ofInvader I angle which made them one of the most memorable teams in WWC history.[10][11] The next year they lost the WWC Tag Teams Titles and left for Tennessee to work for Jerry Jarrett in theUnited States Wrestling Association. There they were managed byJ. C. Ice and won theUSWA World Tag Team Championship fromJerry Lawler andJeff Jarrett in Memphis.[12] Later that year after losing the belts to Jarrett andRobert Fuller in May 1991,[13][14] the team split up as Psycho no longer wanted to wear the mask and developed his new persona asBull Pain. Bull sold his portion of the gear to Mike to continue the Texas Hangmen.
In 1996, Moran spent time inBig Japan Pro Wrestling as "Grey Skull", with Tom Beninghaus who was Tornado Juice working a lot of Barbed wire matches with most of Big Japan's top talent.[15][16]
Moran took on two of his students he trained locally for the next two years as new versions of The Texas Hangmen, Midwest Indy wrestlers Rambo Robinson and Spymaster - before choosing his permanent Tag Team partner Tough Tom who was also wrestling locally in Wisconsin at the time. Moran and Beninghaus went back to Puerto Rico and won theWWC Caribbean Tag Team Championship again, this time managed byRico Suave.[8][9] They would also go on to see considerable success inWindy City Wrestling, winning their Tag Team Championships on 3 occasions.[17][18]
Moran then decided to take off the mask and wrestled under the new persona as "The Mighty Kodiak" wearing a large Bear head into the ring. He primarily wrestled forWindy City Wrestling in the Midwest, working several matches againstBob Backlund,Ken Patera andCowboy Bob Orton. Moran then returned to Puerto Rico as The Mighty Kodiak[19] and won theWWC Television Championship from El Pulgarcito at Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan.[20] After losing the TV title to Sweet Brown Sugar akaSkip Young, he then went back to the US, donning the hoods again with Beninghaus asThe Texas Hangmen.[21][22]
In 1997 Moran would team with Beninghaus as his partner and began working forWorld Championship Wrestling (WCW),[23] in WCW he was renamed "Mean Mike" while his partner became "Tough Tom", collectively known as "Disorderly Conduct".[24][25] On occasion, Moran and Beninghaus would continue to take on the guises of The Texas Hangmen, and later on known as The Texas Outlaws. The duo mainly worked to help other teams look good, especially younger talent, with the highlight of their time in WCW being an unsuccessful challenge for theWCW World Tag Team Championship, losing to championsThe Steiner Brothers (Rick Steiner andScott Steiner) on an episode ofMonday Nitro, as well asCurt Hennig andBarry Windham for the WCW World Tag Team Championship on an episode ofWCW Saturday Night in 1999. They also worked withScott Armstrong andSteve Armstrong, The Armstrong Brothers extensively on WCW Saturday Night, and proved to be very solid hands for the company and the WCW Tag Team Division.[26][27]
After WCW folded, Mean Mike would work in Jimmy HartsXcitement Wrestling Federation in 2001[26] before working withBubba The Love Sponge at aWorld Wrestling Federation House Show in Tampa, Florida in 2002.[26] Mean Mike's final match would come in the form of asix man tag team match reuniting with Tough Tom andBull Pain with all three ofThe Texas Hangmen for the first time ever, for Great Lakes Championship Wrestling in Waukesha, Wisconsin where they picked up the win.The Texas Hangmen would eventually be inducted into the Puerto Rican Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2018.[28]
Today Mike lives in Clearwater, Florida, where he has lived for over 20 years and runs a successful Real Estate Appraisal Company.[21]