Wrestlers/actors

[Spade_Cooley 9,515]

There is (perhaps) a centenarian pro-wrestler we've been overlooking all this time! Apparently the luchador Dick Medrano was born November 10, 1921, and according to any source I can find online, is still alive. Interesting character as well: was friends with Fidel Castro during his time in Mexico, and allegedly taught Che Guevara a few wrestling holds.

[arghton 6,695]

Tried to search facebook. Couldn't really find anything, nothing to confirm he's dead but no images from recent decades.

 

If he's dead, who's the oldest Middle/South American pro wrestler? Here's some possibilities:

Elías Revoredo Aguilar (1925) Peruvian. Multiple sources say he died in 2014, but I haven't looked into him much

José Luis López (1934) Spanish-born, but wrestled in Argentina. Appeared on lucha libre program Titanes en el ring. Not sure if alive.

Tinieblas (1939) Legendary Mexican luchador, definitely still alive and I doubt he'll die anytime soon.

 

Edit: article on facebook from 2016. Or parts of an article.

[CaptainChorizo 1,977]

26 minutes ago, arghton said:

Tried to search facebook. Couldn't really find anything, nothing to confirm he's dead but no images from recent decades.

 

If he's dead, who's the oldest Middle/South American pro wrestler? Here's some possibilities:

Elías Revoredo Aguilar (1925) Peruvian. Multiple sources say he died in 2014, but I haven't looked into him much

José Luis López (1934) Spanish-born, but wrestled in Argentina. Appeared on lucha libre program Titanes en el ring. Not sure if alive.

Tinieblas (1939) Legendary Mexican luchador, definitely still alive and I doubt he'll die anytime soon.

 

Edit: article on facebook from 2016. Or parts of an article.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irma_González_(wrestler)

She is still alive and born in 1936.  2nd oldest living female wrestler,and was the 2nd women ever to win Mexican National Women's Championship

[Spade_Cooley 9,515]

Twitter reporting the death of 2015 Tough Enough winner Sara Lee at the age of 30. Only had a few matches in NXT before she was let go from her contract a few months later.

[CaptainChorizo 1,977]

 

And in somewhat related news  Mandy Rose annouces on Instagram stories her brother has passed away

 

Mandy Rose was the runnerup to Sara Lee on the 2015 Season of Tough Enough.She currently works in WWE as the NXT Champ

[alt obits guy 3,371]

Katsuya Kitamura, a former winner of the NJPW Young Lions tournament, who made a short-lived splash on the Japanese wrestling scene, has died.  He was 36. Kitamura lost most of his bouts and was only active between 2016 and 2018. No cause of death was given, but it was reported he'd gone to hospital after feeling an abnormality in his physical condition.

 

https://www.wrestlinginc.com/1054165/former-njpw-young-lion-katsuya-kitamura-passes-away-at-36/

[Gallows_Humorist 22]

He'd retired thanks to a nasty concussion, and yet had an MMA bout later anyway. Add to that the trademark heart issues from steroids (a lot of them) and it's almost a question of what he didn't die of.

[drol 11,921]

On 11/06/2020 at 14:18, Spade_Cooley said:

Didn't realise that Humberto Garza, father of the late Hector Garza and grandfather of current WWE main roster workers Humberto Carrillo and Angel Garza was still alive. He's 83 and probably would get a QO if he went.

Check it right now as Humberto Garza has died at 85.

[alt obits guy 3,371]

Jose Rivera, who was key in establishing the island of Puerto Rico as a successful territory back in the 70’s and seen by some as the island’s #2 star, just behind WWE Hall Of Famer Carlos Colón, has died.  He is not to be confused with 1980s WWE low-card talent / job guy Jose Luis Rivera, as the URL appears to have done. 

 

https://lastwordonsports.com/prowrestling/2022/10/17/jose-luis-rivera-passes-away/

[Spade_Cooley 9,515]

Couple of minor tangential wrestling deaths to announce:

 

Tristan Nash, son of Kevin, dead at 26. Perhaps most famous for being the source of Kevin's mugshot, which was taken after the pair were arrested for a domestic dispute over Christmas a few years back. They'd since made up and Tristan was an assistant producer on Kevin's podcast.

Brian Muster, AEW's chief video engineer, also died "unexpectedly" earlier this week.

[arghton 6,695]

Antonio Inoki's funeral was held a week ago. As far as I know atleast fellow professional wrestlers Seiji Sakaguchi, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Tatsumi Fujinami and younger ones attended, 60s-70s sumo legend Kitanofuji Katsuaki was also there.

[Spade_Cooley 9,515]

On 16/10/2022 at 20:44, drol said:

Check it right now as Humberto Garza has died at 85.

Got The Sun QO in the end, I was right.

[drol 11,921]

What were the last news on General Adnan? At 83/86 he is very old by wrestling standards.

[arghton 6,695]

15 minutes ago, drol said:

What were the last news on General Adnan? At 83/86 he is very old by wrestling standards.

Looks great in this image from a year ago, Oct 2021, posted on twitter:

[arghton 6,695]

Some stuff I've found...

 

Greek show wrestler Alex Iakovidis or Iakovides died in 2020 at 91. Never mentioned before here but he's marked living on Wikipedia twice on this page and mentioned as the "third-oldest professional wrestler currently living"

 

Cowboy Bob Ellis is (possibly) still alive in Oklahoma.

 

When was the last time professional wrestler/bodybuilder/actor Samson Burke was seen? I can't find anything from the last decade. Here's a picture of him with Robert Culp in 2005:

 

Not sure if Big Bill Verna is alive either. For those who want to try searching, he's also been called "Big Bill Verne".

 

And here's Billy Two Rivers early this month:

[Ulitzer95 12,576]

Can't find any solid confirmation yet, but tweet here saying that Karl Von Steiger (wiki) has died of congestive heart failure.
 

 

[arghton 6,695]

On 28/10/2022 at 14:48, arghton said:

When was the last time professional wrestler/bodybuilder/actor Samson Burke was seen? I can't find anything from the last decade. Here's a picture of him with Robert Culp in 2005:

As I forgot this, here's that latest picture of Samson Burke I could find:

This is from 2009, with Quinn Redeker. His website hasn't been updated since this and as far as I know he has not made an appearance anywhere since. Impressive he's still alive.

[alt obits guy 3,371]

Ursula Hayden, who was the iconic Babe the Farmer's Daughter in GLOW back in the early 1990s, has died. She was 56.

 

https://wrestlingheadlines.com/glow-trademark-owner-ursula-hayden-babe-the-farmers-daughter-passes-away-at-56/?utm_source=twitter 

[Spade_Cooley 9,515]

Barry Windham looking for a spot in your 2023 DDP team's upper midcard with a good ol' fashioned heart attack. How many months will Bray Wyatt take off for his death?

[msc 18,436]

3 minutes ago, Spade_Cooley said:

Barry Windham looking for a spot in your 2023 DDP team's upper midcard with a good ol' fashioned heart attack. How many months will Bray Wyatt take off for his death?

 

Not his first heart attack related ICU trip either. Had one about a decade ago, and his life was saved by his brother-in-law (IRS of course) who found him and got him to the hospital. 

[MadMac 98]

13 hours ago, Spade_Cooley said:

Barry Windham looking for a spot in your 2023 DDP team's upper midcard with a good ol' fashioned heart attack. How many months will Bray Wyatt take off for his death?

Latest is that “The future is uncertain”.

[Gallows_Humorist 22]

MLW's Richard Holliday was diagnosed wtih Hodgkins lymphoma earlier this year.

 

Speaking of wrestlers with cancer diagnoses, Joe Doering has completed multiple surgeries.

[Sir Creep 7,070]

On 05/12/2022 at 23:23, MadMac said:

Latest is that “The future is uncertain”.

That can be said for all of us.

[arghton 6,695]

Going through Wikipedia's "40 Oldest living professional wrestlers" list up to 1939...(There are lots of names and it's missing many of the more notable ones.)

 

Alive + seemingly doing well: Hank Garrett (Uses a walking frame in an image from August, but otherwise seems to be doing fine for 91), Sam Betts (aka. Dwight J Ingleburgh, UK wrestler guy, posts from a week ago say he's still doing fine at 89), Hisashi Shinma (Appeared somewhere in June, looked pretty great), Earl Maynard (looks a bit thin but great in an image from a few weeks ago), Beverly Shade (Has a facebook account, looks great for 86), Kenny "Sodbuster" Jay (Smoker with a beerbelly and walks with a stick, but doing very good for 85), Omar Atlas (Born in Venezuela, still in great health according to family), Brian Goldbelt Maxine (Looked much younger than 82 in 2020)

 

Alive, no idea about health condition: Bill Mercer, Abe Jacobs (there's an image of him on facebook posted in April, but I have no idea if it's new. Looks slightly frail), Nick Kozak (looks fine in an image from 2019), Tony Kontellis (Made an appearance in 2020, looked fine, but again that's over two years ago), Eddie Sharkey (Walks with a walking stick, looks quite thin and frail), Irma González

 

Alive, but not seen anywhere in years: Samson Burke (not seen since 2009 - likely very ill now), Steve Novak (Was alive but looked pretty frail around 2019), Caswell Martin (People here say he's alive, I assume that's true), Max Crabtree (I assume he's still alive and would get some media attention when he dies, but looked pretty decrepit around 2014), Dory Dixon (Can't find anything since around 2018), Horst Hoffman (could he die off radar? Facebook wrestling accounts seem to mention him quite often), Emile Duprée (Most recent pictures I could find from the early 2010s, however his famous son mentioned him in December 2021), Mark Lewin (Not made appearances in years as far as I know, but was healthy around a decade ago), Lumberjack Pierre (I assume he's still alive but not seen in years)

 

Alive but ill: Billy Two Rivers (In a motorized wheelchair, looks horrible), Paul Butcher Vachon (Already looked decrepit ten years ago, struggles to breathe, very ill)

 

Alive?/Can't find much anything: Cowboy Bob Ellis (People say he's alive but apparently nobody knows for sure), Allan Pinfold (Mentioned that he's been wrestling from atleast ca. 1938, so could be a bit older than 93. There seems to be only one picture of him on the internet from the last decades), Octavio Gaona Jr. (someone who claims to be his grandson is on facebook), Keita Meretana (Alive? Has had a wikipedia page since 2008), Guillotine Gordon, Paul Diamond (didn't look so bad in the 1990s, however, it's been a while), Yukiko Tomoe, Larry Pitchford/Beauregarde, Black Gordman, Edouard Etifier, Erich Froelich, Raúl Reyes, Big Bill Verna/Verne, Kathy Starr

[FinalChapter 75]

Watching Tales of the Territories on Vice, specifically the Portland episode. Bushwhacker Luke is part of the main roundtable discussion and looks very good for his age of 75, but Bushwhacker Butch is notably absent. I did find this Zoom interview with both of them from several months ago, where Butch both looks and sounds like he's 20 years older than his former tag-team partner.