OT: Wrestler King Kong Bundy passes
- Thread starter sclawman77
- Start date
It is so sad seeing all of the great wrestlers of the 80's die so young.
I wasn't a big Bundy guy, but I do have great memories of old time wrestling. Much better than what is out there the last 30 years. Damn, I'm old......
As someone said in a thread the other day, the longer one lives the more people die. I find that to be true, sadly to say. I was just informed yesterday that an old friend of mine was in a coma and probably only has weeks if not days to live.
Steroids do play a role in wrestler-deaths (but I don't see any signs that King Kong Bundy was a user.) But, from everything I've read, it seems pain killers and recreational drug abuse is more damaging to that profession.
The human body just isn’t design to reach that size and be healthy.
Still recall the debut of King Kong Bundy on WWF in the mid 1980s during its golden era. My high school classmate used to do imitations of him and other wrestlers. His passing just reminds me how freaking old I have become.
But I wonder too about the size of some of those guys - I wonder if that plays a role in their early passing? I mean my gosh Bundy weighted 450 lbs.
Yep, people that weigh 300+ pounds don't usually live into their 60s or very far into them. Heart's been working tremendously hard for a long time. This guy was over 400 at one point. I'm trying to lose a few myself (not in 300 range) so I'm not going to judge.
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I'm certainly not judging. I need to lose a few pounds too and it's hard at my age.
Back in the 90's I flew the WCW wrestlers around to their various matches. They were big athletic guys, quite a few had played football. I can say that they had a pretty hard life, they did take some abuse even with the fake wrestling, they partied a lot and consumed a lot of alcohol on the flights home. The funny part was that we would have the good guys and the bad guys on the same plane, when we landed they would take different limos to the show then proceed to battle. Many of the fans actually believed the story lines that they were playing out, that these guys were real enemies. They would be drinking beer and playing cards again in a few hours...
Opioids, steroids, alcohol, recreational drugs, wild women and getting thrown around in the ring 4-5 nights a week take a toll. King Kong Bundy wasn't near as good of an interview as The American Dream, Ole Anderson and others, but he wrestled 30 minutes and talked 5 when they wrestle 5 and talk 30 today. Bobby the Weasel Hennon passed on lately, also. As a kid, our church group would go to the Charlotte Park Center a lot of Saturday mornings in the 60's to watch 'em wrestle at 10:00 a.m. There were about 10 rows of seats in there with the ringside seats filled by old ladies who would talk smack to the rasslers. Hilarious stuff. Then we'd come home and watch ourselves when they had it on at 4:00 on Channel 3 Charlotte with Big Bill Ward hosting.
If you really were watching you'd notice they always go back to the same locker room.
Even though I knew wrestling was fake, back in the 80s I would occasionally watch a little of it for entertainment. There was one guy named Rodney Piper or something like that and he was one of the bad guys. I always thought he was funny in that role. It showed him at his house one Halloween being mean to some kids (not really) but that's what they were trying to portray and it was funny and entertaining.
Well no, as I said I was the pilot. I was at the FBO waiting for them in places like Birmingham, AL. I was not watching it. I only liked Georgia Championship Wrestling from the Bell Auditorium in Disgusta, Ga. Mr. Wresteling II and Dusty Rhodes in a grudge match. Or Tony Atlas!
Roddy Piper. He was funny & entertaining. I enjoyed his movie "They Live" when I saw it around age 19.
Cool. Statement I made was meant to be a general one-not directed at you. I like your Disgusta reference. I live in Aiken and we still call it that.
Finally watched the Andre the Giant documentary on HBO . Very well done . It was really sad . He actually lived on a farm in NC for a while . One guy had a great point , if you’re Muhammad Ali or Michael Jordan you can put a hoodie or sunglasses to go out in public and lead a semi normal life but that was impossible for Andre. Anywhere he went he was hounded because there’s no way he could hide or be incognito. If you have not seen it , it’s worth watching .
Yep. I don't remember a lot about it, but it had to do with him finding a special pair of sunglasses that revealed aliens living among us as everyday people.
