Brian Pillman

**Brian William Pillman** (May 22, 1962 - October 5, 1997) was an American professional wrestler best known for his appearances in Stampede Wrestling in the 1980s and World Championship Wrestling, Extreme Championship Wrestling, and World Wrestling Federation in the 1990s.

## Professional wrestling career

Pillman began life with throat cancer, and underwent some 33 operations to remove it. As a result, his voice would be permanently raspy.

   Pillman would go on to survive this bout with illness and play football for Miami University and the Cincinnati Bengals in the 1980s. It was at this time that he began to take steroids and painkillers to perform. He would have problems with addiction the rest of his life.

Pillman broke into wrestling in 1986 for Stampede Wrestling, the Calgary-based promotion run by legendary wrestler/promoter Stu Hart. He was one half of the tag team **Bad Company** with Bruce Hart. He used his girlfriend at the time, Beulah McGillicutty, to get him over as a face . He put her at ringside and had the heels taunt her so he could rescue her. It worked as he was one of the top faces ever in Calgary.

After moving to WCW, he would be known as **Flyin' Brian Pillman** for his aerial style.

He held the WCW United States Tag Team Championship with Tom Zenk, and also held the short-lived WCW Light Heavyweight Championship (also known as the first incarnation of the WCW Cruiserweight Title), feuding with Brad Armstrong, Jushin Liger, Richard Morton and Scotty Flamingo.

He also did a gimmick where he was the masked **Yellow Dog** that Barry Windham knew was him but could not prove it. Pillman had lost a retirement match and then became the Yellow Dog to harass Windham.

      Pillman went on to become one half of the revolutionary tag team of the Hollywood Blondes, with "Stunning" Steve Austin. In March 1993, the duo won the (then-combined) NWA/WCW World tag team championship, which they would hold for six months.

The team quickly became popular for their brash attitudes, pithy catchphrases and critically acclaimed matches with Ricky Steamboat and Shane Douglas. They also feuded with Ric Flair and Arn Anderson, mocking their ages and parodying Flair's interview show, "A Flair For the Gold", with their own "A Flare For the Old".

After the demise of the Blondes, Pillman would flounder in WCW before joining the legendary Four Horsemen with Ric Flair, Arn Anderson and Chris Benoit in late 1995. During this time, Pillman began to transition into his "**Loose Cannon**" gimmick. He was, as the name would suggest, known for his unpredictability. He did one of the first "worked shoot" gimmicks, blurring the lines of reality and storyline, and he famously outed Kevin Sullivan as a backstage booker in their strap match at Superbrawl 1996. Pillman's erratic behavior also caused legendary manager/commentator Bobby Heenan to ask him "*what the fuck are you doing?*" on live broadcast television during a televised WCW event after Pillman grabbed him by the collar.

Pillman used his "Loose Cannon" gimmick to secure a release from his WCW contract (alledgedly under the guise of being "fired" for his conduct), and would briefly appear for ECW before heading to the WWF, to become the first wrestler to ever signed a guaranteed deal with the WWF.

Just before Pillman signed his WWF contract, a near fatal accident in his Humvee shattered his ankle, forcing doctors to fuse it together in a fixed position. This injury severely limited his mobility, and restarted his addiction to painkillers.

When he arrived in the WWF, he was unable to wrestle, and had to get himself over solely on his own personality. On the November 4, 1996 episode of Monday Night Raw, Pillman took part in the infamous "*Pillman's got a gun*" angle with Steve Austin. Austin and Pillman had been feuding for several weeks, and Austin had finally decided to take matters into his own hands and visit Pillman at home.

Meanwhile, 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 soon subdued them.

    He then proceeded to break into Pillman's home and advanced on his nemesis. Pillman responded by producing a 9mm Glock and pointing it at Austin, while Kelly and Pillman's wife Melanie screamed for help. The camera feed was then disrupted, with the scene fading to back.

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!*"

The entire incident was staged, but the resulting controversy, preceded the WWF's "Attitude" era, and their television deal with the USA Network was jeopardized, as USA had just moved Raw back one hour to better compete with WCW's Monday Nitro.

The WWF eventually apologised profusely for the entire angle.

Pillman wrestled sporadically throughout 1997, aligning himself with the Hart Foundation and feuding with Goldust.

## Death

Sometime during the night or early morning prior to the October 1997 In Your House: Badd Blood pay per view in St. Louis, Pillman died in a Minnesota hotel room.

While he was heavily into prescription drugs, an autopsy found a previously undetected heart condition had led to his death. Pillman's official cause of death was listed as a heart attack. He did not know he was about to become a father once again when he died. His son has gone on to become a professional wrestling star in his own right.