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Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Jan 19, 2016 12:36:33 GMT -6
www.wrestleview.com/wwe-news/57486-former-wwe-star-iron-mike-sharpe-passes-away-last-weekendFORMER WWE STAR "IRON" MIKE SHARPE PASSES AWAY AT AGE 64 Monday, 18 January 2016 15:51 by Jason Namako Former WWE star "Iron" Mike Sharpe passed away this past weekend at the age of 64 at his apartment in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, according to Mike Johnson. Sharpe is most known for his time in WWE in the 1980s, working in the opening matches on TV and house shows, being billed as "Canada's Greatest Athlete". Sharpe's biggest fame in WWE came in 1983, when he unsuccessfully challenged then-champion Bob Backlund for the WWE Title while being managed by WWE Hall of Famer Captain Lou Albano. Sharpe, who was trained by the late Dewey "Missing Link" Robertson, also had a very successful stint in Japan teaming with his uncle, Ben Sharpe. Sharpe would remain working with WWE as a prelim guy all the way up to 1995, before retiring from the ring. Prior to his passing, Sharpe had opened a wrestling school in New Jersey in the mid-to-late 1990s that helped break such future stars as Crowbar, Simon Dean, The Wall and Ace Darling. In the last couple of years, Sharpe had been dealing with a number of health issues, but it is unknown at this time what led to his passing. On behalf of the staff at Wrestleview.com, we send out our condolences to the family and friends of Sharpe during this tough time. Source: PWInsider.com
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Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Jan 19, 2016 12:40:46 GMT -6
www.wrestleview.com/wwe-news/57491-wwe-pays-tribute-to-the-late-iron-mike-sharpeWWE.com issued the following on Monday evening. "Iron" Mike Sharpe passes away WWE is saddened to learn that Michael Sharpe, known to WWE fans as “Iron” Mike Sharpe, has passed away at age 64. Long before “Iron” Mike Tyson entered a boxing ring, self-proclaimed "Canada’s Greatest Athlete" "Iron” Mike Sharpe was battering opponents in a wrestling ring. A second-generation Superstar whose father and uncle both competed in sports-entertainment, Hamilton, Ontario’s Sharpe was a champion in his native country as well as several regional American territories in the United States. Arriving in WWE in January 1983 and managed by WWE Hall of Famer Captain Lou Albano, Sharpe used the mysterious (and often loaded) black brace on his right forearm to defeat opponent after opponent while simultaneously berating them. Sharpe’s winning ways were enough to earn him a WWE Championship Match against Champion Bob Backlund in Philadelphia in April 1983, a mere four months after his WWE debut. Like so many others, Sharpe was unsuccessful in defeating Backlund. Sharpe then regularly competed on and off for both WWE and New Japan Pro Wrestling. Sharpe’s final WWE match occurred in 1995 against Billy & Bart, The Smoking Gunns. Following his retirement, Sharpe had a school in Brick, N.J., where he trained many aspiring competitors. His students included former WWE Superstars Charlie Haas and Simon Dean (also known as ECW’s Nova), as well as WCW Superstar Crowbar. WWE extends its condolences to Sharpe’s family, friends and fans.
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Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Jan 19, 2016 12:50:07 GMT -6
www.f4wonline.com/news/iron-mike-sharpe-dead-age-64-205821"IRON" MIKE SHARPE DEAD AT AGE 64 BY DAVE MELTZER | @davemeltzerwon | JAN 18, 2016 12:22 PM Michael "Mike" Sharpe (born October 28, 1951 - January 17, 2016) better known as "Iron" Mike Sharpe, passed away over the weekend at his apartment in Hamilton, ONT, at the age of 64. Billed as "Canada's greatest athlete," Sharpe was a perrenial job guy in the 80's and 90's for WWF. He had his last televised match on June 6, 1995 losing in a tag team match to The Smoking Guns. After retiring from the ring, Sharpe made his living as a professional wrestling trainer, at his own school, Mike Sharpe's School of Pro-Wrestling. PW Insider first reported the death of Sharpe, a second generation wrestler, whose father and uncle were one of the greatest tag teams in pro wrestling history in the 50s, and are best known for legendary matches in Japan with Rikidozan & Masahiko Kimura. Sharpe was raised in a wrestling family. His father and uncle tagged together in the 1950's. At age 25, Mike decided to follow his father's footsteps and was trained by Dewey Robertson, and began working for Gene Kiniski's NWA All-Star Wrestling in the 70's. Like his father, Sharpe Jr., took the ring name Iron Mike Sharpe. He started wrestling in 1976 in Canada, and worked smaller territories for several years, including runs in Stampede Wrestling. At close to 6-foot-4 and 275 pounds, Sharpe was a big powerhouse who was known as a tough guy because of his amateur boxing background. But he was missing the element that would make one a big star, when it came to the charisma. He did decently well in territories like Mid South and Georgia in the early 80s, but was beat known for is run in the WWF from 1982 to 1989 as a lower card regular. He started out getting a push, with Lou Albano as his manager, and having a loaded forearm brace, built for matches with champion Bob Backlund. But he never got a shot in Madison Square Garden (he did work with Backlund in some other cities) and his push ended, but he had a long tenure with the company as a reliable enhancement wrestler. He was treated as a job guy with some credibility, nicknamed "Canada's Greatest Athlete," which was the nickname that Gene Kiniski used in the 50s, 60s and 70s. Within wrestling Sharpe was known for being obsessively clean, and for always perfectly folding his clothes. He would be constantly washing his hands while at shows and taking showers, and was known as Mr. Clean. He was also compulsive when it came to training, and was known as a very well conditioned big man. But in a cruel fate, with all that training, his health started to want over the past decade. For years he was largely confined to a wheelchair and had lost one of his legs, and had been suffering from constant health problems.
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