They fall faster and faster
I am updating this blog that I wrote 7 years ago. Updating the list of people who were part of Wrestlemania 1 and who have now passed away
Muhammad Ali was the special guest referee for the main event of the first Wrestlemania. He died in 2016. The other referee of that main event was Pat Patterson. He died in 2020.
Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka passed in 2017
Nikolai Volkoff, Johnny Valiant and Bruno Sammartino passed away in 2018
We lost "Mean" Gene Okuerlund and "King Kong Bundy" in 2019
Last year, 2021, saw the loss of Paul Orndorff.
That's the update. Original blog follows.
When I first heard the news that "Rowdy" Roddy Piper had passed away, I was shocked. Only 61 years of age. Someone who seemed to have taken good care of himself over the years. He died on July 31, 2015, 30 years and three months to the day of the very first Wrestlemania event. Hot Rod was in the main event that night, teaming up with "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff in a tag-team event facing Hulk Hogan and Mr. T. It was a classic for the ages:
So how many of those involved with the original Wrestlemania are still around some 30 years later? Let's first pay respects to those no longer with us.
Play by play announcer Robert James Marella, better known as Gorilla Monsoon died in 1999.
Celebrity timekeeper for the main event, Liberace, passed in 1987.
Celebrity ring announcer for the main event, NY Yankees manager Billy Martin died in 1989.
Interviewer "Lord" Alfred Hayes died in 2005.
Referee Joey Marella (son of Gorilla Monsoon) died in 1994
"Classy" Freddie Blassie, manager of a tag-team that competed that night died in 2003.
"Playboy" Buddy Rose competed that night. He passed in 2009.
Conrad "Special Delivery Jones" Efraim competed that night. He died in 2008.
Matt Osborne competed that night. He was found dead of an apparent drug overdose in 2013.
Sylvester "Junkyard Dog" Ritter competed that night. Killed in a one-car accident in 1998.
John "Big John Studd" Minton competed that night. Liver cancer and Hodgkin's Disease killed him in 1995.
Andre the Giant competed that night. He died of congestive heart failure in a hotel room in Paris in 1993. Ironically, he was there to attend his father's funeral.
The deaths of these people seem to be coming ever faster, and are a reminder of how old I am. In fact, hearing that Roddy Piper was dead at the age of 61 is truly disquieting. The icons of the 70s and 80s that brought so much joy to my life are vanishing and I haven't expressed my thanks.
1980 brought us three ground-breaking comedy films. Airplane, The Blues Brothers and Caddyshack. I won't bore you with a recitation of all the losses from those great films. But several names spring immediately to mind. John Belushi. Leslie Nielsen. Rodney Dangerfield. Ted Knight.
It isn't just the famous folk we watched and enjoyed. It's the ordinary people around us. Let us celebrate them while they are still here. Tributes are wonderful, but knowing how people feel about us while they are alive to smile about it seems to me to be far superior to tributes to them after they've passed.
Muhammad Ali was the special guest referee for the main event of the first Wrestlemania. He died in 2016. The other referee of that main event was Pat Patterson. He died in 2020.
Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka passed in 2017
Nikolai Volkoff, Johnny Valiant and Bruno Sammartino passed away in 2018
We lost "Mean" Gene Okuerlund and "King Kong Bundy" in 2019
Last year, 2021, saw the loss of Paul Orndorff.
That's the update. Original blog follows.
When I first heard the news that "Rowdy" Roddy Piper had passed away, I was shocked. Only 61 years of age. Someone who seemed to have taken good care of himself over the years. He died on July 31, 2015, 30 years and three months to the day of the very first Wrestlemania event. Hot Rod was in the main event that night, teaming up with "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff in a tag-team event facing Hulk Hogan and Mr. T. It was a classic for the ages:
So how many of those involved with the original Wrestlemania are still around some 30 years later? Let's first pay respects to those no longer with us.
Play by play announcer Robert James Marella, better known as Gorilla Monsoon died in 1999.
Celebrity timekeeper for the main event, Liberace, passed in 1987.
Celebrity ring announcer for the main event, NY Yankees manager Billy Martin died in 1989.
Interviewer "Lord" Alfred Hayes died in 2005.
Referee Joey Marella (son of Gorilla Monsoon) died in 1994
"Classy" Freddie Blassie, manager of a tag-team that competed that night died in 2003.
"Playboy" Buddy Rose competed that night. He passed in 2009.
Conrad "Special Delivery Jones" Efraim competed that night. He died in 2008.
Matt Osborne competed that night. He was found dead of an apparent drug overdose in 2013.
Sylvester "Junkyard Dog" Ritter competed that night. Killed in a one-car accident in 1998.
John "Big John Studd" Minton competed that night. Liver cancer and Hodgkin's Disease killed him in 1995.
Andre the Giant competed that night. He died of congestive heart failure in a hotel room in Paris in 1993. Ironically, he was there to attend his father's funeral.
The deaths of these people seem to be coming ever faster, and are a reminder of how old I am. In fact, hearing that Roddy Piper was dead at the age of 61 is truly disquieting. The icons of the 70s and 80s that brought so much joy to my life are vanishing and I haven't expressed my thanks.
1980 brought us three ground-breaking comedy films. Airplane, The Blues Brothers and Caddyshack. I won't bore you with a recitation of all the losses from those great films. But several names spring immediately to mind. John Belushi. Leslie Nielsen. Rodney Dangerfield. Ted Knight.
It isn't just the famous folk we watched and enjoyed. It's the ordinary people around us. Let us celebrate them while they are still here. Tributes are wonderful, but knowing how people feel about us while they are alive to smile about it seems to me to be far superior to tributes to them after they've passed.
posted by me at 6:35 AM
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