 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Mark Ashford-Smith (1962-12-26)26 December 1962 Staffordshire, England |
| Died | 7 June 2013(2013-06-07) (aged 50) Brandon, Florida, U.S. |
| Relative | Chris Champion (brother) |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Doink the Clown Mark Ashford-Smith Mark Starr |
| Billed height | 180 cm (5 ft 11 in) |
| Billed weight | 107 kg (236 lb) |
| Debut | 1986 |
| Retired | 1998 |
Mark Ashford-Smith (26 December 1962 – 7 June 2013), best known by hisring nameMark Starr, was an Englishprofessional wrestler.
Mark Ashford-Smith was born inStaffordshire on 26 December 1962.[1] His older brother Chris was also a professional wrestler under the nameChris Champion, and the two often teamed together.[2]
Starr debuted in 1986 and competed in theMemphis-basedContinental Wrestling Association (CWA).[1] His first championship came in 1987 when he teamed with veteran wrestlerSteve Keirn to win theCWA International Tag Team Championship on April 27, 1987. They held the title belts for twelve days beforedropping them to the team ofPaul Diamond andPat Tanaka.[3] The CWA had an agreement with theAmerican Wrestling Association (AWA) that allowed AWA titles to be defended in the CWA. This arrangement enabled Starr to compete for theAWA Southern Tag Team Championship by teaming withBilly Travis in a tournament for the vacant title. On June 8, 1987, Starr and Travis defeated Phil Hickerson andMr. Shima to win the belts, which they held for almost a month.[4]
Starr competed alongside his real-life brother,Christopher Ashford-Smith, who competed as Chris Champion, for several years and in multiplepromotions.[2] Despite their relationship, they used different last names during their time in the same promotion.[5] In Memphis, the brothers formed a tag team known as Wild Side.[2][6] They competed as a team in the 1988Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup tag team tournament. They defeated the Mexican Twin Devils in the first round before being eliminated byThe Powers of Pain (The Barbarian andThe Warlord).[7] The brothers faced Action Jackson and Starr's former partner Billy Travis on July 3, 1989 for theCWA Tag Team Championship. The match ended in ano contest, and the title was held up pending a rematch.[8] One week later, Starr and Champion defeated the former champions to win the title. They held the belts until September, when they dropped them toThe Rock 'n' Roll Express.[9]
Starr later competed in the Florida-based Professional Wrestling Federation (PWF), where he held thePWF Tag Team Championship on two occasions. He teamed withLou Perez to defeatJumbo Baretta andDennis Knight on November 12, 1989 for the first win. Their reign lasted for four days, but Starr regained the championship the following year after the title was declared vacant. He joined up with Sgt. Rock to defeatJoe Gomez and Hurricane Walker to win the belts.[10][11] Starr's first championship as a singles wrestler, and the final title of his career, came the following year. He defeatedRicky Fuji to winFrontier Martial-Arts Wrestling'sAWA World Light Heavyweight Championship, a title formerly recognized by the AWA.[12] Then in 1992 he left Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling (FMW) and went toPro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi (PWFG). In 1995 he left PWFG and returned to FMW. Also worked forFighting Network Rings andTokyo Pro Wrestling. He wrestled his last match in Japan in 1996.
After Japan, Starr worked in various promotions in Puerto Rico, and the United States. On October 29, 1994 he dressed up asDoink the Clown at a NWC event in Las Vegas losing toGreg Valentine.
He worked forWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF) in late 1994 and early 1995 losing toRazor Ramon,Lex Luger,British Bulldog andAdam Bomb.
He remained with the company for several months before joiningWorld Championship Wrestling (WCW).[13][14] In WCW, he competed in thebattle royal main events at the company's1995 and1996 World War 3 pay-per-views but was not victorious in either.[15] Although these were his only televised appearances at WCW pay-per-views, he also competed indark matches atUncensored 1995,Slamboree 1995, andBash at the Beach 1995, losing toAlex Wright,Sgt. Craig Pittman, andRoad Warrior Hawk, respectively.[16][17][18]
In his later career, Starr formed a tag team known as Men at Work withChris Kanyon in WCW. The team faced many of WCW's top tag teams, but lost the majority of their matches. One notable victory came on the January 10, 1996 episode ofWCW Saturday Night, when they defeated formerWCW World Tag Team ChampionsBunkhouse Buck andDick Slater.[14]
Starr also competed as a singles wrestler, once again playing the role of a jobber. In one match, he teamed withCobra,Prince Iaukea, andRex King to faceThe Giant in ahandicap match, which The Giant won in 38 seconds.[19][unreliable source] He was also one of the many opponents defeated byBill Goldberg during Goldberg's 173-match winning streak.[20][21]
He would go on to challengeDean Malenko andUltimo Dragon for theWCW Cruiserweight Championship in 1997. One of Mark's most important final matches onWCW Monday Nitro was the infamous loss in the Superdome in New Orleans, toDiamond Dallas Page in 54 seconds. Starr's final match of his career took place againstSick Boy atNitro on February 16, 1998.
He retired in 1998, due to a back injury.
On 7 June 2013, at the age of 50, Starr died from a heart attack at his home inBrandon, Florida.[22]
