Eddie Gilbert

**Thomas Edward (Eddie) Gilbert, Jr.** (August 14, 1961 – February 18, 1995) was an American professional wrestler and booker, better known as **"Hot Stuff" Eddie Gilbert**.

## Professional wrestling career

**"Hot Stuff" Eddie Gilbert** started wrestling in 1979 as **Tommy Gilbert Jr.** in honor of his father, Tommy Gilbert.

Eddie absolutely loved pro wrestling and his idol was Jerry Lawler because he wrestled and booked at the same time. His mother said he used to make up matches and booking sheets while he was still in school.

He spent a little bit of time wrestling in the WWF as a jobber in 1982, before making a name for himself as **Eddie Gilbert** in Mid-South Wrestling in Memphis, Tennessee.

He teamed with his father and Ricky Morton in those years. In addition, he formed a team with Tommy Rich as "Fargo's Fabulous Ones", an attempt by Mid-South to bury and still cash in on the fame attained by the previous incarnation of the Fabulous Ones, Steve Keirn and Stan Lane, who walked out of the territory after a dispute.

They held the AWA Southern Tag Team titles in 1984 until dropping them to Phil Hickerson and the Spoiler (Frank Morrell).

The duo would break up soon after, with Gilbert turning heel. The two had a brief but intense feud, which memorably began on television when the two were presented with a "Tag Team of the Year" award by announcer Lance Russell and two guests.

Gilbert, unaware his former partner was at the taping, badmouthed Rich, then the International Heavyweight Champion, until Rich came out to confront him.

Rich immediately got the upper hand, running Gibert into the steel ringpost several times, bloodying him in the process before the cameras went to a commercial.

After the commercial break, Gilbert told Russell he wanted Rich to come back out so he could apologize to him in person, stating he was wrong for still being bitter about the break-up of the team, and was fueled by jealousy of Rich's championship title reign and new found star status.

When Rich accepted Gilbert's apology, Gilbert suddenly turned on him and, in front of a stunned audience and a speechless Russell, rammed Rich's head into the ringpost, just as Rich had done to him moments earlier.

In 1986, when Mid-South Wrestling became the Universal Wrestling Federation, Eddie added the "Hot Stuff" to his name. He started a heel stable of wrestlers called "Hot Stuff International, Inc." and he managed it and wrestled.

His stable included Sting and Rick Steiner before they were stars. He was always a ladies' man and he stole Missy Hyatt from John Tatum in 1987, with his stable being re-named "H & H International, Inc." He married her in 1988.

Eddie also worked as a booker, who came up with the famous *Battle of New Orleans* angle in late-1987 involving Chris Adams, Terry Taylor, Sting, and himself. Following a match in which Taylor defeated Shane Douglas due to interference by both Gilbert and Rick Steiner, Adams told referee Randy Anderson of the interference.

As Adams pleaded his case with Anderson, Gilbert and Taylor attacked him, and Sting eventually even the sides. The angle eventually spilled outside of the ring into the stands, and near the concession area, featuring a huge brawl involving beer kegs, chairs, trash cans, tables, popcorn machines and other objects.

Gilbert went to the NWA's Jim Crockett Promotions when the UWF was purchased by Crockett and Eddie teamed with Rick Steiner to feud with Kevin Sullivan and his Varsity Club. He also became involved in a feud with Ric Flair anhd Barry Windham in which he teamed with Ricky Steamboat and Lex Luger.

Gilbert's most famous feud in the Memphis territory involved an angle between himself and Jerry Lawler in 1990 where Eddie and Doug Gilbert are fired from the promotion, but in retaliation hit Lawler with their car, and then fleeing the scene, prompting some fans in Memphis to call the police and report what they had just seen as a vehicular assault.

    Lawler had to inform the police what was going on and Lawler was forced to appear on telelvision (while selling his "injuries") sooner than intended out of concern that Gilbert would have been arrested if he didn't show on TV that he was all right.

Eddie left the NWA in late 1989 and also divorced Hyatt. He went back to the independents where he could book again. He worked for the United States Wrestling Association where he feuded with Jerry Lawler and the Global Wrestling Federation and was also briefly married to Madusa at this time. He then went to ECW in 1993 where he teamed with his brother Doug Gilbert who was wrestling as the "Dark Patriot".

Gilbert left ECW at the end of 1993 and wrestled in the USWA until early 1995 when he worked one night for Smoky Mountain Wrestling before travelling to Puerto Rico's WWC to wrestle & book. On his last night, he wrestled a bear.

## Death

On February 18, 1995, Gilbert was discovered dead from a heart attack at the young age of 33.
He had used steroids and cocaine in his life, so either of these things could have contributed to the weakened state of his heart. His father, Tommy Gilbert, stated that injuries to his chest and heart muscle that occurred in a serious auto accident in 1983 could have been a factor. Eddie's alleged use of painkillers since the accident also could have contributed to his heart condition.