Oliver Humperdink John Jay Sutton ( January 16 , 1949 - March 20 , 2011 ) , better known by his ring name Oliver Humperdink , was a professional wrestling manager who worked for Jim Crockett Promotions , Florida Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation . Career . In the early and mid 1960s , John Sutton began to get to know several wrestlers while working as an usher in Minneapolis , Minnesota . He eventually landed a job as a security guard for the American Wrestling Association ( AWA ) In 1973 , he met Paul Vachon when he went to work at Grand Prix Wrestling ( GPW ) in Montreal . At GPW , Sutton worked as a manager and an occasional wrestler . He also refereed for a time . Sutton began managing the Hollywood Blonds after they split with their manager , Johnny Rougeau . Both Don Jardine and Dale Hey are credited with coming up with the name " Sir Oliver Humperdink " . Jardine claims to have come up with the name , believing it would draw heat from francophone fans in Quebec who hated anything English . In 1974 , Humperdink went to Florida Championship Wrestling and was put into an angle with Mike Graham and Kevin Sullivan . Two years later , he began working with the Hollywood Blondes once again . In 1980 Humperdink became Dusty Rhodes ' servant for thirty days after his protege Ivan Koloff lost a match to Rhodes with that stipulation . During the thirty days , Lord Alfred Hayes began managing Humperdink ' s proteges such as Bobby Jaggers and Nikolai Volkoff . When " Rooster " Humperdink ( as Rhodes had nicknamed him ) , who had become a figure of sympathy during his thirty days servitude , returned to management and attempted to claim back Jaggers , Hayes and Volkoff brutally beat on him , thus starting a feud with Hayes . He worked for the National Wrestling Alliance ( NWA ) ' s Jim Crockett Promotions in the 1980s where he managed Greg Valentine , Paul Jones and The One Man Gang . He left the company in 1983 but returned five years later before the company folded . While still in the NWA , he formed a stable known as the " House of Humperdink " . As a singles wrestler , he held the NWA Florida Heavyweight Championship and NWA Central States Television Championship . In 1987 , the World Wrestling Federation ( WWF ) approached Humperdink and offered him a job . As a part of the WWF , he managed Bam Bam Bigelow . That same year , he also began managing Paul Orndorff during his feud with Rick Rude . His gimmick was that of a face , but Sutton did not like the gimmick off - screen . He managed the duo during the first ever Survivor Series in a match that they lost when Bigelow was pinned by André the Giant . Humperdink also managed Bigelow during WrestleMania IV when he lost in the first round of a WWF Championship tournament . When he returned to the NWA in 1988 , he managed The New Wild Samoans ( Fatu , Samu , and The Samoan Savage ) . He also returned to the side of Bigelow in his feud with Barry Windham in a match at Starrcade . He worked for World Championship Wrestling ( WCW ) in the early 1990s as " Big Daddy Dink " , a biker - type gimmick . In WCW , he managed The Fabulous Freebirds ( Michael Hayes and Jimmy Garvin ) . Off - screen , Sutton hated his new gimmick and WCW ' s office politics . He retired in 1993 . In 1995 he returned to manage Bob Orton Jr and The Hangmen in the American Wrestling Federation . Personal life . In the 1960s , Sutton was in a car crash and nearly died when he hit a snow bank . After recovering from the incident , his health deteriorated . In 2001 , he went through surgery to replace his aortic valve in Key West . He was equipped with a pace maker and made a full recovery . The Cauliflower Alley Club helped pay for some of his medical expenses . Sutton returned to the hospital in 2008 after heart troubles complicated a case of pneumonia . In early 2011 , it was announced that Sutton was diagnosed with cancer of the bladder . He entered a hospice having refused chemotherapy and radiotherapy . He went to the annual Cauliflower Alley Club conventions every year . Sutton never married or had children . Sutton died early on the morning of March 20 , 2011 , of complications from pneumonia and cancer at the age of 62 .