Brad Armstrong Bradley " Brad " James ( June 15 , 1961 - November 1 , 2012 ) was an American professional wrestler , better known by his ring name , Brad Armstrong . He was the son of Bob Armstrong and has three brothers that also wrestle , Steve , Scott and Brian . Career . Brad started out in Southeast Championship Wrestling in July 1980 . He was a face , or good guy , due to his good looks and superb wrestling ability . He feuded with Jerry Stubbs and Tom Prichard during his stay there and won the National Wrestling Alliance ( NWA ) United States Junior Heavyweight title there . National Wrestling Alliance . Later he moved to the Georgia part of the NWA and feuded with Ted DiBiase and with father Bob , The Fabulous Freebirds of Michael Hayes , Terry Gordy and Buddy Roberts . He also became friends with Tim Horner . He and Horner formed a team called the Lightning Express , due to Horner ' s nickname of " White Lightning " and Armstrong ' s quickness . Brad wrestled in Mid - South Wrestling ( later known as the Universal Wrestling Federation ) with Horner and they feuded with the " Sheepherders " , later known as The Bushwhackers , Butch Miller and Luke Williams . They also had some matches with future superstars Sting and Rick Steiner . The Lightning Express then went to World Championship Wrestling . World Championship Wrestling . In May 1991 , Brad was put in a mask as " Badstreet " , the masked member of The Fabulous Freebirds along with Michael Hayes and Jimmy Garvin . They won the WCW World Six - Man Tag Team Championship , while Hayes and Garvin also held the WCW United States Tag Team Championship . Brad never revealed his Badstreet identity on television . Later that year he was given another masked gimmick , Arachnaman , who looked so much like Spider - Man that Marvel Comics sued WCW , who soon dropped the gimmick . On July 5 , 1992 , Brad won the WCW Light Heavyweight Championship ( also known as the first incarnation of the WCW Cruiserweight Title ) , defeating Scotty Flamingo . He soon injured his knee during a tour of Japan and he was stripped of the title two months later at the Clash of the Champions . He returned in November 1992 and remained with the company until early 1995 . United States Wrestling Association and Smokey Mountain Wrestling . Armstrong worked for Smoky Mountain Wrestling for the rest of 1995 , capturing their title in the process , but eventually returned to WCW in 1996 . Return to World Championship Wrestling . Between 1997 and 1998 , Brad had developed a heel turn , where his string of losses was blamed by the " Armstrong Curse " . In 1999 , he was repackaged as " B . A . " , a member of the No Limit Soldiers stable . After the group disbanded , he embarked on a feud against Berlyn , who attacked Armstrong ' s brother Scott . The feud ran through Halloween Havoc , where Armstrong defeated Berlyn . He was later given the gimmick of " Buzzkill " , a takeoff of his brother Brian ' s gimmick Road Dogg , which was a Vince Russo creation . In fact , the theme song he used for the character was very similar to the New Age Outlaws theme song in the World Wrestling Federation ( WWF ) . The gimmick was less successful due to fans feeling it an imitation of the Road Dogg persona , as well as a lack of awareness that the two were brothers . He injured his knee early in 2000 in an accident backstage at a " WCW Saturday Night " taping , where Armstrong got run over , severely injuring his knee . After going through knee surgery , his WCW contract expired in 2001 , and he left the business for a few years , until returning to the independent circuit in 2004 . World Wrestling Entertainment . On September 12 , 2006 , Armstrong signed a contract with World Wrestling Entertainment and began wrestling at ECW brand house shows and acting as a trainer to the younger members of the roster . In December , around the time rumors of ECW color commentator Tazz leaving the company began to circulate , Armstrong began to make sporadic appearances as a " guest commentator " on the brand . The three - man booth , originally for a single match on the December 19 episode before expanding to a full show on January 9 , did not last and Armstrong resumed his role as a producer . Death . On November 1 , 2012 , Armstrong was found dead in his home in Marietta , Georgia , after seeing his physician the previous week for an undisclosed medical issue . The news of his death was broken via WWE . com .