Axl Rotten Brian Knighton ( April 21 , 1971 - February 4 , 2016 ) was an American professional wrestler better known by his ring name Axl Rotten . Professional wrestling career . Early years . After watching a professional wrestling match on television , Knighton decided to become a wrestler . He trained under retired professional wrestler Jim Leon in a boxing gym in his hometown of Baltimore , receiving supplementary training from former World Championship Wrestling ( WCW ) jobber Joey Maggs . Knighton debuted in 1986 , shortly after Leon was murdered , and adopted the ring name " Axl Rotten " . In the early 1990s , Rotten trained Ian Rotten , who formed a tag team with Axl , masquerading as his brother . The duo , known as the Bad Breed , wrestled primarily in the Mid - Eastern Wrestling Federation . Rotten later opened his own professional wrestling promotion in Maryland called " Universal Independent Wrestling " . The promotion featured wrestlers such as the Bad Breed , Bam Bam Bigelow and Scotty The Body , and had a television series that aired on Saturday nights on the local ABC channel . The promotion closed in the mid 1990s . In 1991 , Rotten had a short stint with World Championship Wrestling , where he feuded with wrestler / rapper PN News . After leaving WCW , Axl and his trainee Ian Rotten had a run with the Global Wrestling Federation in Texas , being featured on their daily ESPN show . While in GWF , Axl succeeded in winning both the GWF Commonwealth title and the GWF Tag Team Championship , with Ian Rotten . Extreme Championship Wrestling ( 1993 - 1999 ) . In 1993 , the Bad Breed were hired by Paul Heyman , the then - booker of the Philadelphia , Pennsylvania - based Extreme Championship Wrestling ( ECW ) promotion . They competed in the ECW tag team division until November to Remember in 1994 , when they lost a tag team match to The Pit Bulls with the stipulation that the losing team would be forced to separate . Both Rotten brothers blamed one another for the loss , leading to a rivalry between the two . The former partners wrestled their first match against one another in ECW at Double Tables on February 4 , 1995 , with Ian pinning Axl . They faced one another in a variety of hardcore matches over the subsequent seventeen months , fighting in " hair versus hair " matches and " barbed wire baseball bat , barbed wire chair " matches . Their feud finally ended at Hardcore Heaven 1995 on July 1 , 1995 when Axl defeated Ian in a " Taipei Death match " ( a match that saw each man coat their taped fists with shards of broken glass ) which turned out to be one of ECW ' s bloodier matches . The Bad Breed eventually reconciled and teamed together once again in early 1996 . Rotten competed in the ECW heavyweight division as a singles wrestler throughout the remainder of 1996 . In 1997 , he formed a tag team with Balls Mahoney known as The Hardcore Chair Swingin ' Freaks and teamed up with Spike Dudley and New Jack to take on their main rivals , the Dudley Boyz . Mahoney and Rotten teamed together until 1999 , occasionally wrestling one another . Rotten eventually left ECW in 1999 , and appeared with Xtreme Pro Wrestling and the Japanese Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling promotion . Rotten then wrestled on the independent circuit throughout the early 2000s . Return to the independent circuit ( 1999 – 2016 ) . Rotten eventually left ECW in 1999 and appeared with Xtreme Pro Wrestling and the Japan ese Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling promotion . Rotten then wrestled on the independent circuit throughout the early 2000s . Rotten performed at the ECW reunion event Hardcore Homecoming on June 10 , 2005 , reuniting with Ian Rotten in a loss to The Gangstanators . At the follow - up event , November Reign , on November 6 , 2005 , Rotten defeated Ian Rotten in a Taipei Death match . Rotten also wrestled at the Extreme Reunion event on April 28 , 2012 , facing Balls Mahoney . World Wrestling Entertainment ( 2005 ) . On the June 6 , 2005 episode of Raw , Rotten debuted in World Wrestling Entertainment ( WWE ) , storming the ring with several other ECW alumni . Rotten went on to appear at the two ECW reunion shows taking place that month . At Hardcore Homecoming on June 10 , 2005 , the Bad Breed reunited , participating in a wild brawl with The Gangstanators although this was not announced as an official match due to Bad Breed sticking to a stipulation never to team again after losing a feud to the Pit Bulls . At ECW One Night Stand on June 12 , 2005 , Rotten , Mahoney and Kid Kash attacked the Blue World Order after they interfered in the main event tag team match . Following the events , Rotten and Mahoney wrestled several dark matches for WWE , but were not signed to contracts . At the second Hardcore Homecoming event on November 4 , 2005 , Axl defeated Ian Rotten in another " Taipei Death match " . Axl Rotten was listed as an ECW wrestler on the official ECW . com website , however events put his future with in the new ECW Brand in jeopardy . Rotten failed to show for the June 5 edition of Raw in an angle involving several other ECW wrestlers . WWE management was not happy with Rotten no showing at Raw . Furthermore , it was confirmed that Rotten was not backstage at the WWE vs . ECW Head to Head special that aired on USA Network on June 7 . Rotten also did not appear at the ECW One Night Stand pay - per - view event that was held on June 11 , 2006 . He was then removed from the roster on the ECW . com website . Rotten was released before he could even compete in the new ECW . After the release , he made a few appearances in Independent Wrestling Association Mid - South in tag team matches Total Nonstop Action Wrestling ( 2010 ) . Rotten made a one - night appearance with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling on August 8 , 2010 at the ECW tribute show Hardcore Justice . Rotten teamed with Kahoneys ( Balls Mahoney ) , losing to Team 3D in a " South Philadelphia Street Fight " . Other media . Rotten appeared in an uncredited , non - speaking role on the first episode of the show " Homicide : Life on the Street " , entitled " Gone for Goode " , seen being questioned in " The Box " while Lieutenant Al Giardello gives Det . Tim Bayliss his introductory tour of the Homicide Unit . Personal life . Knighton was born in the Fell ' s Point neighborhood of Baltimore , Maryland . He attended Southern High School , leaving in eleventh grade to pursue his ambition of becoming a professional wrestler . Knighton suffered from a spine injury in his final years that forced him out of the ring and caused the use of a wheelchair . He was living in Anchorage Rehab Center in Salisbury , Maryland . Death . Knighton was found dead by police in a Baltimore , Maryland , motel room on February 4 , 2016 . Ten hours earlier , he had sent his final tweet , which read : " The way I do things may not be the way you do things but you will find out there is only 1 way . My away ! ( " sic " ) # AxIsTruth . "