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 Whatley (upper) facing Mr Excellent | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Pezavan Whatley (1951-01-10)January 10, 1951[2] |
| Died | January 18, 2005(2005-01-18) (aged 54)[2] Chattanooga, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Heart attack |
| Alma mater | University of Tennessee at Chattanooga |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Pez Whatley Shaska Whatley Shaska Willie B. Hert Pistol Pez Whatley |
| Billed height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)[1] |
| Billed weight | 245 lb (111 kg)[1] |
| Billed from | Chattanooga, Tennessee[1] |
| Trained by | Saul Weingeroff[2] |
| Debut | 1973 |
| Retired | 1998 |
Pezavan Whatley[3] (January 10, 1951 – January 18, 2005) was an Americanprofessional wrestler best known for his time withNWA Mid-America.[2]
Whatley played football and wrestled forNotre Dame High School in Chattanooga, Tennessee and theUniversity of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC). He was UTC's first African-American wrestler.[3][4]
Whatley started wrestling in 1973 after a brief career as a power lifter. He wrestled with the (original) Sheik's Big Time Wrestling, after which he wrestled primarily in Georgia,Alabama andTennessee. While in Georgia Championship Wrestling, he had a memorable angle on television, where he was confronted by the Junkyard Dog, before a match against Buzz Sawyer. JYD slapped Whatley in the face, enraging him enough to pin Sawyer twice in a single episode of World Championship Wrestling. While in Ga, Whatley had a feud with Paul Ellering's Legion Of Doom that included matches against Jake "The Snake" Roberts. He also had a match in the Omni for the United States Heavyweight championship against Greg Valentine. Whatley was one of the most popular wrestlers in Ga, before going toFlorida Championship Wrestling in 1984. He won the Southern Title twice while there.[2] He was one-third of the "Convertible Blondes" withRip Rogers andGary Royal in theAngelo Poffo-promotedICW, even though he didn't dye his hair blonde.[2] One of Whatley's best-known moments in ICW was the "Mop Head" angle where Whatley had to wear a mop wig after losing a match toRon Garvin. The match stipulation also required him to keep wearing it until he won another match. This led to not only a lengthy feud with Garvin but also to a long losing streak for Whatley. Most of Whatley's losses were by disqualification due to outside interference when Garvin would attack Whatley's opponent. The angle lasted for several months until Whatley finally won a match.
He went to theNWA'sJim Crockett Promotions in 1985 and oftenteamed withJimmy Valiant againstmembers ofPaul Jones' Army.[3] He turned on Valiant, and frequently teamed withThe Barbarian andBaron von Raschke in their war against Valiant, and would frequently spit on his opponents during matches. He eventually lost a hair vs. hair match to Valiant and was shaved bald.[5] In 1986, during a short stint whenDusty Rhodes was NWA Champion, Whatley appeared to freelance during a TV interview and made the announcers visibly uncomfortable when he said that he wanted to become the firstblack NWA Champion.[3]
In late 1987, Whatley had left Jones and started teaming withTiger Conway Jr. as "The Jive Tones".[3] They did not have much success, and Whatley left forFlorida in 1988.[4] He was part ofKevin Sullivan's goon squad in Florida and departed for Alabama shortly after his arrival.[3]
In Alabama'sSoutheast Championship Wrestling, Whatley became "Willie B. Hert" and was one of the topfaces for the company.[4]
In the early 1990s Pez Whatley had a short stint in Japan'sUWFi. He also worked for theWorld Wrestling Federation as anenhancement talent on their weekly television programs from January 1990 until April 1991, puttingover many of the WWF's top stars.[4] He also picked up a few victories onhouse shows, most notably overBuddy Rose,Paul Diamond andThe Genius. Whatley then made sporadic appearances inWorld Championship Wrestling throughout the 90s as an enhancement talent as well as appearances at the1995 and1996 World War 3 events until his in-ring retirement in 1998, becoming a backstage worker for WCW and an assistant trainer at theWCW Power Plant.[3][4][1]
Whatley was inducted into theWWE Hall of Fame class of 2021 as a legacy member.[6][4]
While working for WCW in the late 1990s, Whatley was hospitalized for bronchitis, where doctors discovered he was suffering from heart failure; he was pronounced dead on two occasions while awaiting a heart transplant.[3] He suffered a heart attack in 2003.[4] On January 15, 2005, he had a heart attack and died in the hospital in Chattanooga on January 18.[3] He left behind four children.[4]
,Internet Wrestling Database