Each year, Pro Wrestling Illustrated puts out a wrestling almanac that chronicles all of the events of the previous year. Ironically, since the book comes out in May of the following year, by the time that the almanac is released, the new year is almost half over, but I digress. The almanac lists some statistics of certain wrestlers, title histories, PPV results and other things. The part of the almanac that I look forward to reading each year is the listing of top ten stories of the previous year.
In May of 2008, PWI will release the almanac for 2007, and once again, there will be a listing of the top ten stories of 2007, but I am not sure if the top ten will feature one story or several stories discussing the same topic. When 2007 is reviewed in the world of professional wrestling, death will be the main topic. Sure there have been many other years where there were multiple deaths, but there is something strange about 2007 and the deaths that have occurred so far this year. There have also been many years where there have been several deaths of performers before their 50th birthdays, but as I said 2007 has been a strange year.
Of all of the deaths that have occurred in 2007, the deaths of the five performers who were all stars in WWE during the Vincent K years have all been odd. Typically, when wrestlers die young, they die of accidental overdoses, heart attacks related to longtime drug use, or as the result of an accident, but this year none of this has occurred. All of the bigger-named stars who died before the age of 50 in the first half of 2007 have died under some very odd circumstances, and that is what has made 2007 a very strange year.
2007 started out with the announcement that Bam Bam Bigelow, the Beast from the East, was found dead in his home by his girlfriend Janis Remiesiewicz. This is the same girlfriend who two years earlier suffered some severe injuries and was listed in critical condition after a motorcycle crash in which Bigelow was the pilot. Bigelow was facing vehicular homicide charges if Remiesiewicz had died, but she recovered and stayed with Bigelow until his death.
Bigelow’s death was ironic because a few days before he was found dead, Pro Wrestling Insider (dot) com (pwinsider.com) received a question from a wrestling fan who was asking what Bam Bam Bigelow had been up to since he was last seen inside a wrestling ring. The answer was that no one, not even his good friend Shane Douglas knew where Bigelow was or what he was doing. The stories of his restaurant opening and closing and his various run-ins with the law were all the information that was available on Bigelow. Shortly after that post on PW Insider, a story was released that Scott “Bam Bam” Bigelow was found dead in his Florida home.
Bigelow died of a drug overdose, with lethal combinations of cocaine and a drug that Bigelow was taking for anxiety. It was also noted that Bigelow was suffering from heart problems, probably, like many other modern-day professional wrestlers, due to the drug use during his career. Death from a drug overdose in professional wrestling is fairly common these days, but having the reports of a person’s death on the day that he dies be the first information that anyone has on him in nearly two years is a very strange occurrence indeed.
The next to go was Mike Alfonso, known as Mike Awesome. Awesome’s death, among all of the deaths in 2007, oddly was the most common. Mike Awesome was released from prison after serving time for domestic violence and shortly after, went home and hung himself. Awesome was jailed because he assaulted his wife during an argument. She had him arrested and informed him that she was leaving him. After Awesome was released from jail, he went home and hung himself.
Kerry Von Erich shot himself because he was facing jail time connected with a drug related violation of his probation. Mike and Chris Von Erich committed suicide because of the struggles that they were facing simply living up to the Von Erich name in the world of professional wrestling. Wrestlers committing suicide is nothing new, so Mike Awesome is just one more member of a growing group.
Sherri Martel’s death is allegedly related to drug abuse. The police have said that there were no signs of foul play in connection with her death. Toxicology reports have not yet been completed as of the writing of this, and there will be no concrete evidence if drug use played a part in Martel’s death for several months, but this is not what makes her death so strange. The oddity in her story is the fact that for several days after she was reported dead, no one could actually confirm what Sherri was doing when she was found dead. It was known that she was at her mother’s home where Sherri had been living recently, but there was a debate over whether she was sitting on the porch drinking coffee with her mother or if she was lying in bed when she passed away. No even having this information makes finding the actual cause of her death even more difficult.
Enough has been said and written about Chris and Nancy Benoit. We all know the story, but no one knows the cause. Sure, we know how Nancy and Chris died, but we do not now, nor will we ever actually know why. Nancy is not the first professional wrestler to be murdered. Dino Bravo was shot to death, allegedly by underworld figures because of an illegal cigarette smuggling ring in Canada and Bruiser Brody was stabbed to death in the shower of an arena in Puerto Rico, allegedly by Jose Gonzales, who wrestled as Invader #1. Though Gonzales was arrested for the murder, there have not been any convictions in either case and both murders remain unsolved. The strange thing about Nancy’s murder is that she was allegedly murdered by a loved one, her husband Chris Benoit.
Chris, as we know from the beginning of this piece, was not the first to commit suicide and not the commit suicide as a result of issues relating with a spouse or loved one. Benoit is just the first that is known of to have (allegedly) murdered members of his family before killing himself. Benoit’s death is by far the strangest, not because of how it happened, but because of the circumstances involved in it.
When Pro Wrestling Illustrated releases the 2008 Almanac, chronicling the events of 2007, once again, death will be a central theme throughout the book (and that is probably including the “Who Killed Vince?” angle that was summarily dropped in light of the deaths of Sherri Martel and the Benoit Family). It will be very difficult to address all of these deaths as a single entry in the top ten events of 2007, but if we already have five of the top ten in the first half of 2007, what do we have to look forward to in the second half? We can only hope that the other five events are of a more pleasant nature.
Send comments, complaints or questions to me @ ericej@netzero.net
Eric E. Jenkins is an author who has written a semi-biographical book covering the last 30 years in professional wrestling through the eyes of a fan entitled “Reflections of a Professional Wrestling Fan: My 30 Years ‘In’ the Business”. He is currently writing “Dead Too Soon”, a book chronicling the careers of and paying tribute to many of the wrestling stars who passed away very young.
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