KingofOldSchool
03-17-2008, 09:24 AM
Source: Pwinsider
ALL-TIME GREAT WRESTLING MANAGER GARY HART PASSES AWAY
by Mike Johnson @ 2008-03-17 09:18:45
"Playboy" Gary Hart (real name Gary Williams), best known for his work managing and booking for World Class Championship Wrestling passed away yesterday afternoon. I don't have much in the way of details regarding his death at this time.
Hart was 66 or 67 at the time of his death. Hart had just appeared at a fan signing and recorded a shoot interview in Pennsylvania before returning home to Texas. He was found at home by one of his sons.
Although he originally broke in wrestling as "Playboy" Gary Hart in the mid-west territories, Hart's legacy in the business will be his role in booking one of the all-time greatest wrestling promotions, Fritz Von Erich's World Class Championship Wrestling, while managing names like Abdullah the Butcher, King Kong Bundy, Gino Hernandez, Chris Adams and The Great Kabuki, among others with a straight forward, devious, gravely voice.
During its strength, WCCW was one of the most emotional, popular promotions of all time. There is not one performer, one company today that comes close to the emotional investment the Texas fans had in their performers during that era in the 1980s. None.
When Fritz Von Erich brought Johnny Mantel in to help with the booking and become a partner with the company, an offended Hart departed. He moved to Jim Crockett Promotions in 1987, managing "The Latin Heartthrob" Al Perez and Larry Zbyszko.
Hart became a central figure during the 1989 feud between then-NWA champion Ric Flair and Terry Funk, showing up unannounced as Funk's manager at the Great American Bash '89 PPV in Baltimore and also managing a young Keiji Mutoh, who was on fire as The Great Muta during a feud against Sting at the time. The storyline was that Muta was the son of Kabuki, who Hart had originally brought to the United States. Hart would become the manager of the J-Tex Corporation, adding Dick Slater and the Dragon Master (Kendo Nagasaki), while Brian Pillman and later Ole and Arn Anderson would join Flair and Sting.
Hart's run continued until the end of 1989, where Flair defeated Funk in an amazing I Quit Match in Troy, NY at Clash of the Champions IX: New York Knockout.
After leaving the NWA, Hart worked on the Global Wrestling Federation, an upstart promotion that had a daily timeslot on ESPN in the early 1990s. Global was bad beyond words, partially because ESPN didn't want violence on the air, to the point Hart had taken to wearing a terrible toupee on the air. After Global went down, Hart, like other stars of the World Class area, worked numerous independent promotions in the Texas area, but never regained the glory of the Von Erich era.
Hart's last work on a national level took place in 1999 during the latter days of Court Bauer's MLW, where he did an angle attacking Terry Funk, still upset over Funk having submitted to Ric Flair during that classic 1989 feud. The plan at the time was to link Hart with Low Ki and Homicide. Hart's son Chad wrestled briefly as well.
Hart was one of the central figures in the two documentaries released on the legacy of World Class, Brain Harrison's Heroes of World Class and WWE's Triumph and Tragedy of World Class, where he received raves for his insight into the company, the implosion of the Von Erich family, and became very emotional when it came to the death of Gino Hernandez during the height of World Class' run.
In recent years, Hart had been a regular appearing at fan conventions in Charlotte, North Carolina for Greg Price. At the time of his death, Hart was working on the finishing touches of a planned book about his experiences in the business. I know one person who had read an early draft that raved about the book.
Our deepest condolences to the family, friends and fans of Gary Hart.
Damn. :(
ALL-TIME GREAT WRESTLING MANAGER GARY HART PASSES AWAY
by Mike Johnson @ 2008-03-17 09:18:45
"Playboy" Gary Hart (real name Gary Williams), best known for his work managing and booking for World Class Championship Wrestling passed away yesterday afternoon. I don't have much in the way of details regarding his death at this time.
Hart was 66 or 67 at the time of his death. Hart had just appeared at a fan signing and recorded a shoot interview in Pennsylvania before returning home to Texas. He was found at home by one of his sons.
Although he originally broke in wrestling as "Playboy" Gary Hart in the mid-west territories, Hart's legacy in the business will be his role in booking one of the all-time greatest wrestling promotions, Fritz Von Erich's World Class Championship Wrestling, while managing names like Abdullah the Butcher, King Kong Bundy, Gino Hernandez, Chris Adams and The Great Kabuki, among others with a straight forward, devious, gravely voice.
During its strength, WCCW was one of the most emotional, popular promotions of all time. There is not one performer, one company today that comes close to the emotional investment the Texas fans had in their performers during that era in the 1980s. None.
When Fritz Von Erich brought Johnny Mantel in to help with the booking and become a partner with the company, an offended Hart departed. He moved to Jim Crockett Promotions in 1987, managing "The Latin Heartthrob" Al Perez and Larry Zbyszko.
Hart became a central figure during the 1989 feud between then-NWA champion Ric Flair and Terry Funk, showing up unannounced as Funk's manager at the Great American Bash '89 PPV in Baltimore and also managing a young Keiji Mutoh, who was on fire as The Great Muta during a feud against Sting at the time. The storyline was that Muta was the son of Kabuki, who Hart had originally brought to the United States. Hart would become the manager of the J-Tex Corporation, adding Dick Slater and the Dragon Master (Kendo Nagasaki), while Brian Pillman and later Ole and Arn Anderson would join Flair and Sting.
Hart's run continued until the end of 1989, where Flair defeated Funk in an amazing I Quit Match in Troy, NY at Clash of the Champions IX: New York Knockout.
After leaving the NWA, Hart worked on the Global Wrestling Federation, an upstart promotion that had a daily timeslot on ESPN in the early 1990s. Global was bad beyond words, partially because ESPN didn't want violence on the air, to the point Hart had taken to wearing a terrible toupee on the air. After Global went down, Hart, like other stars of the World Class area, worked numerous independent promotions in the Texas area, but never regained the glory of the Von Erich era.
Hart's last work on a national level took place in 1999 during the latter days of Court Bauer's MLW, where he did an angle attacking Terry Funk, still upset over Funk having submitted to Ric Flair during that classic 1989 feud. The plan at the time was to link Hart with Low Ki and Homicide. Hart's son Chad wrestled briefly as well.
Hart was one of the central figures in the two documentaries released on the legacy of World Class, Brain Harrison's Heroes of World Class and WWE's Triumph and Tragedy of World Class, where he received raves for his insight into the company, the implosion of the Von Erich family, and became very emotional when it came to the death of Gino Hernandez during the height of World Class' run.
In recent years, Hart had been a regular appearing at fan conventions in Charlotte, North Carolina for Greg Price. At the time of his death, Hart was working on the finishing touches of a planned book about his experiences in the business. I know one person who had read an early draft that raved about the book.
Our deepest condolences to the family, friends and fans of Gary Hart.
Damn. :(