Brian Lawler

Brian Christopher Lawler (January 10, 1972 – July 29, 2018) was an American professional wrestler. He was the son of color commentator and professional wrestler Jerry "The King" Lawler and brother of wrestling referee Kevin Christian. He was well known for his career in World Wrestling Entertainment, where he performed as Grand Master Sexay as one-half of the tag team Too Cool with Scotty 2 Hotty.
==Professional wrestling career==
===United States Wrestling Association (1988–1997)===
Lawler began his career as one half of the masked tag team "The Twilight Zone" with Tony Williams under the individual ring names of Nebula (Lawler) and Quasar (Williams). They both soon unmasked, Brian continued to wrestle in the United States Wrestling Association under the name "Too Sexy" Brian Christopher. He was used as a top fan favorite as well as making his mark as one of the promotion's top villains. There, he feuded with wrestlers such as Jeff Jarrett, Bill Dundee, Tom Prichard, and the Moondogs, and even his father Jerry Lawler (though he was never revealed to be Lawler's son while in the USWA, in 1999, fellow Power Pro Wrestling wrestler Doug Gilbert broke kayfabe and admitted it during a shoot interview). Among his partners were Tony Williams (as the New Kids), Doug Gilbert, Scotty Flamingo, and "Hot Stuff" Eddie Gilbert.
===World Wrestling Federation (1997–2001)===
Brian joined the World Wrestling Federation in 1997, still known as Brian Christopher, and began to compete in the fledgling light heavyweight division. Taka Michinoku defeated him in the finals of a tournament for the Light Heavyweight Championship. In mid-1998, he started teaming up with Scott "Too Hot" Taylor to form the tag team of Too Much. For a while, he and Scott Taylor played up a quasi-homosexual angle that involved them speeding around on scooters/mopeds and culminated with Too Much riding off on the back of the Disciples of Apocalypse's motorcycles.
For a while, when Brian was known as Brian Christopher, his father Jerry Lawler would talk him up as being superior to all the other Light Heavyweights but never publicly acknowledge that Brian was his son, although after Paul Heyman revealed that fact on RAW, Jim Ross (Jerry's broadcast partner) always hinted at it. A notable example of this was during the Light Heavyweight Championship match at Judgement Day 1998 between Taka Michinoku and Christian, when Jerry Lawler reveals that he wants to see more of Brian Christopher - to which Ross replies "Haven't you got some baby photos?".
In late 1999, Brian and Scott adopted the ring names Grandmaster Sexay and Scotty 2 Hotty, returning after a hiatus, and later becoming faces. Their tag team was renamed Too Cool, and were later joined by Rikishi, becoming three of the company's top fan favorites. They enjoyed an immensely popular run as Too Cool, as well as success in the tag team division, defeating Edge and Christian in May 2000 on Raw to become the Tag Team Champions. They were even occasionally involved with top-card feuds, notably being enemies to the McMahon-Helmsley Faction and their associates, such as The Radicalz, Edge and Christian, and T & A. The trio's run ended in late 2000 when Rikishi was revealed as the man behind the wheel of the car that hit Stone Cold Steve Austin at Survivor Series. Shortly after, Rikishi turned heel and turned on his teammates.
While Scotty was sidelined in 2001 with a broken ankle, Lawler formed a short-lived tag team with Steve Blackman and was later released from the company for illegally conveying drugs across the Canada–United States border.
===World Wrestling All-Stars (2002)===
On February 24, 2002, at the second WWA pay per view in Las Vegas, Lawler wrestled WWA Heavyweight Champion Jeff Jarrett for the title, but lost. In April 2002, Lawler wrestled in a fatal-four-way match for the WWA World Heavyweight Championship at a house show for World Wrestling All-Stars but lost to Nathan Jones, Scott Steiner and Jeff Jarrett.
===Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2002–2004)===
From June 2002 until April 2004, he worked for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling as Brian Lawler. He formed a group called Next Generation with fellow second generation stars David Flair and Erik Watts. They were involved in a rivalry with Dusty Rhodes and harassed him with a replica of the NWA World Title belt that he wore when he was champion.
===World Wrestling Entertainment (2004)===
In April 2004, Lawler was signed back to the WWE roster as Jim Ross's last act as WWE talent scout. He only appeared in 4 matches, one against Kane, one against Wavell Starr, one against Christian, and the last one against Garrison Cade. He was later released after only one month with the company. Prior to his release, Lawler was scheduled to take part in a Battle Royal for the number one contender for the World Heavyweight Championship, but he was replaced by Maven.
===Independent circuit (2004–present)===
Since his departure from WWE, Lawler currently wrestles for several independent promotions, including Memphis Wrestling and UWF Live. While in UWF Live, Lawler reunited with Scott Garland and they reformed Too Cool as Grandmaster Sexay and Scotty 2 Hotty respectively. On November 21, 2009, Lawler reunited with Rikishi, and the duo defeated Orlando Jordan and Umaga in a tag team match on the Hulkamania Tour of Australia in Melbourne. He also has appeared for Nashville-based promotion SAW in 2010.
Lawler was at an event called Slamfest 2013 in Cookeville, Tennessee on May 4, 2013. He was involved the tag team main event match with Fatu under their ring names Rikishi and Grand Master Sexay, Too Cool. They faced Tommy Dreamer and 2 Tuff Tony and won after Dreamer was accidentally hit by Tony in the face with a flaming vodka rag. Afterwards Fatu gave Tony a stinkface. Lawler attended an event called Summer Heat in Sparta, Tennessee were he was in a tag team match with Hammer Jack against team IOU. He was in his Grandmaster Sexay attire and character. Lawler and Jack won the match and danced afterward.
Lawler appeared at Memphis Power Wrestling's Revenge at Resorts II Cool event in Tunica Resorts, Mississippi. He reunited with Scotty 2 Hotty to face Chase Stevens and Crimson. They won the match, but were then beat down by Cerebus, Doug Gilbert, and Bill Dundee.
===WWE cameo and returns (2011, 2014)===
On the March 14, 2011 episode of Raw, Lawler returned to the WWE as a heel in a segment between Michael Cole and his father, Jerry Lawler, where Brian would side with Cole, saying that he felt that Jerry never cared for him and that he was ashamed to be his son. Lawler indirectly agreed, telling Brian that he was a bigger screw-up than Charlie Sheen. Lawler returned to the WWE on January 5, 2014, appearing on the "Old School" edition of Raw and reuniting with Rikishi and Scotty 2 Hotty to take on 3MB in six man tag team match. His team was successful in winning, turning Lawler back to a face in the process. He made an appearance on NXT Arrival in February 2014 as part of Too Cool in a losing effort as mystery opponents to The Ascension, who defended their NXT Tag Team Championship.
==Personal life and death==
Lawler was arrested in February 2009 for disorderly conduct. On June 26, 2009, Lawler was arrested for public intoxication just before 3 am. According to the police report, Lawler "became very belligerent" once in custody, and threatened the police officer who arrested him. On July 13, 2009, Lawler was jailed for 30 days after failing to attend an in-patient treatment center as part of his plea agreement. Brian has been drug/alcohol free since October 2013. He concentrated on running his own independent wrestling shows as well as inspirational speaking at schools. 
In early July 2018, Lawler was again arrested and jailed for a DUI and for evading police. While in a jail cell, Lawler hanged himself and was pronounced brain dead on the morning of July 29, 2018.
==In wrestling==
*Finishing moves
**Full nelson facebuster
**Hip Hop Drop / Tennessee Jam
*Signature moves
**Dropkick, sometimes from the top rope
**Sunset flip powerbomb
**Superkick
*With Scotty 2 Hotty
**Double team finishing moves
***Aided sitout powerbomb
**Double team signature moves
***Double elbow drop
*Entrance themes
**"Hangin' Tough" by New Kids On The Block (as half of "The New Kids")
**"You Look Fly Today" by Jim Johnston (1999-2001)
**"Turn It Up" (2001, 2004, 2011, 2014) by Jim Johnston
==Championships and accomplishments==
*Hoosier Pro Wrestling
**HPW Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Doug Gilbert
*Memphis Superstars of Wrestling
**MSW Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
*Memphis Wrestling
**Memphis Wrestling Southern Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
**Memphis Wrestling Television Championship (1 time)
*NWA New South
**New South Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
*Powerhouse Championship Wrestling
**PCW Light Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
*Lethal Attitude Wrestling
**Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
*Power Pro Wrestling
**PPW Television Championship (1 time)
*Pro Wrestling Illustrated
**PWI ranked him #367 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the "PWI Years" in 2003
*Ultimate Christian Wrestling
**UCW Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Billy Jack
*United States Wrestling Association
**USWA Heavyweight Championship (17 times)
**USWA Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
**USWA Southern Heavyweight Championship (8 times)
**USWA Texas Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
**USWA World Tag Team Championship (6 times) - with Big Black Dog (1), Scotty Anthony (1), Jeff Jarrett (2), Eddie Gilbert (1) and Wolfie D (1)
*World Wrestling Federation
**WWF Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Scotty 2 Hotty
==External links==
* Brian Lawler profile at CAGEMATCH.net
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