Brian Pillman Brian William Pillman ( May 22 , 1962 – October 5 , 1997 ) was an American football player and professional wrestler best known for his appearances in World Championship Wrestling , Extreme Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation in the 1990s . Pillman had a legacy as " The Loose Cannon " , a wrestling gimmick that would see him do a series of worked shoots that would gain him a degree of infamy for his unpredictable character . He was also known for being extremely agile in the ring , although a car accident in April 1996 from which he received extensive ankle injuries limited his in - ring ability . Football career . Brian graduated from Norwood High School in Norwood , Ohio , a suburb of Cincinnati . While attending Miami University in Oxford , Ohio , Pillman played football for the then - Redskins ( now RedHawks ) as a Defensive Tackle where he set records in the " tackles for loss " category . A two - time Second Team All - American , he went undrafted by the National Football League , joining the hometown Cincinnati Bengals as a free agent in 1984 ( where he won the Ed Block Courage Award for his team ) and later the Canadian Football League for the Calgary Stampeders in 1986 . He also played for the Buffalo Bills in preseason action in 1985 but was the last player cut before the start of that season . His attempts to make the roster of the Bengals were covered in a series of articles in " The Cincinnati Enquirer " . Pillman and John Harbaugh , current head coach of the Baltimore Ravens , were roommates and defensive teammates while at Miami . Professional wrestling career . Stampede Wrestling ( 1986 – 1989 ) . Following the end of his football career , Pillman remained in Canada and began training as a wrestler under Stu Hart and his sons . He debuted in November 1986 in Hart ' s Calgary - based Stampede Wrestling promotion . Pillman quickly formed a tag team with Hart ' s son Bruce known as Bad Company ( not to be confused with Badd Company ) . In April 1987 , Bad Company won the Stampede Wrestling International Tag Team Championship , defeating Ron Starr and the Cuban Assassin in the finals of a tournament . Their reign lasted until October 1987 , when the titles were held up following a controversial ending to a match between Bad Company and their opponents , Jerry Morrow and Makhan Singh . Bad Company defeated Morrow and Singh in a rematch in November 1987 to regain the titles , eventually losing them to Morrow and the Cuban Assassin in July 1988 . While in Stampede Wrestling , Pillman had his girlfriend at the time , Trisa Hayes , portray his sister in order to get him over as a face by seating her at ringside and having heel wrestlers taunt her so that he could rescue her . Jim Crockett Promotions / World Championship Wrestling ( 1989 – 1994 ) . In 1989 , Pillman returned to America and began wrestling for Jim Crockett Promotions , which evolved into World Championship Wrestling , where he was known as Flyin ' Brian due to his athletic ability and variety of aerial maneuvers . Along with The Rockers ( Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty of the WWF ) , he was one of the first American wrestlers to incorporate a variety of Mexican lucha libre moves into his arsenal . He held the NWA United States Tag Team Championship with " The Z - Man " Tom Zenk between February 1990 and May 1990 . Pillman later feuded with Barry Windham , who he harassed while dressed as the masked Yellow Dog after losing a Loser Leaves WCW ( Pillman was eventually reinstated ) . He also held the short - lived WCW World Light Heavyweight Championship twice between October 1991 and February 1992 , feuding with Brad Armstrong , Jushin Liger , Richard Morton , and Scotty Flamingo . Pillman turned heel in September 1992 , frustrated by Brad Armstrong ' s knee injury and vacating the WCW World Light Heavyweight title , when he was scheduled to wrestle Armstrong for the title at the Clash of the Champions . In November 1992 , he formed a team with Barry Windham , gunning for the NWA and WCW World Tag Team Championship s held by Ricky Steamboat and Shane Douglas . Windham and Pillman lost to Steamboat and Douglas at Starrcade on December 28 . Their team lasted until January 1993 , as Windham had his sights on the NWA World Heavyweight Championship . Pillman continued the tag team title hunt by forming a tag team with " Stunning " Steve Austin known as the Hollywood Blonds . On the March 27 , 1993 edition of " WCW Power Hour " , the duo won the championships from Steamboat and Douglas . The team quickly became popular for their brash attitudes , and critically acclaimed matches with Steamboat and Douglas through the spring of 1993 . After the feud with Steamboat and Douglas ended , they went on to feud with The Four Horsemen , mainly Ric Flair and Arn Anderson , mocking their ages and parodying Flair ' s interview show , " " A Flair for the Gold " " , with their own called " " A Flair for the Old " " . They would lose the NWA and WCW World Tag Team Titles to Anderson and Paul Roma at Clash of the Champions XXIV ( Lord Steven Regal substituted for Pillman , who suffered a leg injury in a tag team match on an episode of WCW Main Event prior to the Clash of Champions ) . After the Hollywood Blonds separated in October 1993 , Pillman became a face , feuding with his old partner Austin . He would also pursue the WCW World Television Championship , held by Lord Steven Regal , with whom he wrestled to a 15 - minute time limit draw at Spring Stampede . Extreme Championship Wrestling and return to WCW ( 1994 – 1996 ) . Pillman would venture into Extreme Championship Wrestling in 1994 , as part of a talent exchange between ECW and WCW . His most notable match there was teaming with Shane Douglas to replace an injured Steve Austin , with Sherri Martel as their manager , in a losing effort to Ron Simmons and 2 Cold Scorpio . Pillman made his return in late 1994 as a face , but slowly progressed into a tweener , feuding with wrestlers such as Brad Armstrong , Eddie Guerrero , Alex Wright , and Marcus Bagwell . In September 1995 Pillman formed a team with Arn Anderson , and began feuding with Ric Flair . On September 4 , 1995 , Pillman wrestled the first match on the inaugural episode of " WCW Monday Nitro " , defeating Jushin Liger in a SuperBrawl II rematch . After costing Flair a match to Arn Anderson at Fall Brawl , Flair recruited the help of Sting to team up against Pillman and Anderson at Halloween Havoc . Pillman and Anderson attacked Flair before the match , forcing Sting to come out alone . When Sting needed a tag the most , Flair came out at the last minute with a bandage on his head , tagged Sting , and immediately turned and attacked him removing the fake bandage from his head to show it was all plan between Pillman , Anderson and Flair from the start . These actions signaled the reuniting of the Four Horsemen . This incarnation was Flair , Anderson , Pillman , and Chris Benoit . At the end of 1995 , Pillman developed his " Loose Cannon " gimmick , cultivating a reputation for unpredictable behavior . During this period of time , Pillman changed his once Hollywood Blond and Flyin ' Brian clean athletic look for an edgy , out of control image . Even his allies in the Horsemen , especially Anderson , were wary of his behavior and tried in vain to keep him in check . Almost all of the time Pillman could be seen wearing leather vests , sunglasses , jewelry and graphic T - shirts with skulls , monsters and sayings on them . Pillman frequently blurred fact and fiction with his worked shoots . In a match with Eddie Guerrero on the January 23 , 1996 edition of Clash of the Champions , Pillman grabbed commentator Bobby Heenan by the collar , causing Heenan ( who had a history of neck problems ) to blurt out " What the fuck are you doing ? " live on the air ( Heenan has since stated that he didn ' t know it was Pillman grabbing him and he blurted out the remark because he thought he was a fan grabbing him ) . Pillman outed Kevin Sullivan as booker during the February 1996 SuperBrawl VI pay - per - view in an I Respect You Strap match where the loser announces that they respect the other wrestler , much like an " I Quit " match . Pillman grabbed the microphone , saying , sarcastically , " I respect you , booker man " . The words " booker man " were cut from the commercial tape . Pillman was fired by WCW President Eric Bischoff in February 1996 after SuperBrawl VI . In Bischoff ' s autobiography he said that Pillman was fired so that he could go and develop the " loose cannon " gimmick in ECW then return to World Championship Wrestling with more legitimate heat . Bischoff claims it was a plan he and Pillman came up with together . It would later backfire on Bischoff as Pillman did not return . Return to ECW ( 1996 ) . Immediately following his departure from WCW , Pillman returned to Extreme Championship Wrestling and appeared at the promotion ' s annual Internet convention , ECW CyberSlam , on February 17 , 1996 . During an interview conducted in the ring by Joey Styles , Pillman insulted Bischoff , calling him a commentator , a " gofer " , and a " piece of shit " . He turned his attention to the ECW audience , derisively calling them " smart marks " . After Styles attempted to end the interview , Pillman threatened to " yank out [ his ] Johnson " and urinate in the ring . Pillman was confronted by ECW owner Tod Gordon , booker Paul Heyman , and wrestler Shane Douglas , who had him removed from the ring by security guards . While being dragged from the arena , Pillman attacked a plant sitting in the audience with a fork he produced from his boot . Although he did not wrestle for ECW , Pillman made several further appearances with the promotion , engaging in a war of words with Douglas , setting up a proposed feud . He gained the backstage ire of New Jack when he referred to the Jack ' s tag team with Mustafa Saed as " Niggas with Attitudes " when crashing one of their interviews . However , Pillman ' s comment was not racially influenced , but actually a reference to the rap group N . W . A . With his " Loose Cannon " persona , Pillman became the talk for all three major promotions , as he was on his way to the WWF after he was scheduled to wrestle Shane Douglas in ECW . On April 15 , 1996 , Pillman was badly injured after falling asleep while driving his Hummer H1 in Kentucky and driving into a tree trunk , flipping the vehicle . He was in a coma for a week and suffered a shattered ankle , forcing doctors to fuse it together in a fixed walking position and thus forcing Pillman to abandon his previous high - flying wrestling style for a more grounded style . World Wrestling Federation ( 1996 – 1997 ) . Pillman signed a contract with the World Wrestling Federation on June 10 , 1996 , with the signing announced in a press conference . He was the first wrestler to sign a guaranteed contract with the WWF , indicative of the period in which Vince McMahon began to protect the company from abruptly losing talent to WCW , with Lex Luger , Kevin Nash , and Scott Hall all previously doing so . Pillman acted as a commentator while recovering from his broken ankle , transitioning to a wrestling role after attacking a fan during an episode of " WWF Shotgun Saturday Night " . On the November 4 , 1996 episode of " Raw " , Pillman took part in the infamous " Pillman ' s got a gun " angle with Steve Austin . When Pillman initially arrived to the WWF , he aligned himself immediately with his longtime friend and former tag team partner Austin , serving as his lackey while he recovered . However , when Pillman began noticeably favoring Austin ' s nemesis , Bret Hart , Austin had enough and brutally attacked him in the ring during an interview on an episode of WWF Superstars in October 1996 . Austin and Pillman had been feuding for several weeks , and Austin had finally decided to take matters into his own hands and visit Pillman , whom he had already injured , at his home in Walton , Kentucky . WWF interviewer Kevin Kelly sat in Pillman ' s house with a camera crew and the Pillman family , while Pillman ' s friends surrounded the house to protect him . Austin was attacked by Pillman ' s friends as soon as he arrived but quickly subdued them . He then proceeded to break into Pillman ' s home and advance on his nemesis . Pillman responded by producing the same 9 mm pistol that he had displayed earlier and pointing it at a hesitant Austin , while Kelly and Pillman ' s wife Melanie screamed for help . The camera feed was then disrupted , with the scene fading to black . The on - scene director contacted commentator Vince McMahon and reported that he had heard " a couple explosions . " The transmission was restored shortly before the end of " Raw " , and viewers witnessed Pillman ' s friends dragging Austin from the house while Pillman aimed the gun at him and announced his intention to " kill that son of a bitch ! " Pillman also slipped up by making the mistake of saying fuck on live television , which meant that it could not be edited out . The WWF ( and Pillman personally ) eventually apologized profusely for the entire angle , with Pillman claiming that the profanity " just slipped out " . Following WrestleMania 13 , Pillman aligned himself with his close friends Bret Hart , Owen Hart , Davey Boy Smith , and Jim Neidhart as part of the anti - American Hart Foundation , all of whom he was familiar with from his Stampede Wrestling roots . He began feuding with his former partner , Steve Austin . In the course of the feud , Austin was given on - screen credit for damaging Pillman ' s ankle in October 1996 after placing it in between the seat and backrest of a folded chair and then jumping on the chair ( this particular style of attack has since been dubbed " The Pillmanizer , " in honor of this incident , despite Shane Douglas performing exactly the same maneuver to Raven in ECW nearly a full year earlier ) . After his feud with Austin , he feuded with Goldust over Marlena until his death . Death . On October 5 , 1997 , Pillman was scheduled to wrestle Dude Love at the WWF pay - per - view . As the show was getting close to bell time ( 7pm ) and Pillman hadn ' t arrived , Jim Cornette was instructed to find his whereabouts . Cornette rang the hotel in Bloomington , Minnesota where Pillman had stayed that previous night and was told by the receptionist that the maids had found Pillman dead earlier that day . Pillman was 35 years old . An autopsy found that a previously undetected heart condition , arteriosclerotic heart disease , had led to his death ; the condition had also led to the death of his father . Personal life . As a child , Pillman developed multiple throat polyps and underwent over 40 operations to tend to them before the age of three . Pillman dated Terri Runnels while they were in World Championship Wrestling together before her marriage to Dustin Rhodes . He later married Melanie on March 17 , 1993 . She already had two children at the time , Alexis and Jesse . At the time , he also had two children , his daughters , Danielle and Brittany . Brian and Melanie had two children together , Brian and Skylar . Pillman never learned that Melanie was pregnant with Skylar , who was born on May 5 , 1998 , seven months after Pillman ' s death in October 1997 . Like his father , Brian became a football player and played at the high school level while attending Dixie Heights High School before graduating in 2011 . In early 2008 , Pillman ' s stepdaughter , Alexis Reed , entered professional wrestling as a valet and ring girl under the name " Sexy " Lexi Pillman . On November 26 , 2009 , Reed died from injuries sustained in an automobile accident .