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It’s always with a heavy heart that we do this show every year. Today, we pay tribute to the wrestlers and personalities we lost in 2023. Several of whom we have on our list to do tribute shows to anyway.

2:30 – Lanny Poffo

One of the worst-kept secrets in wrestling was that he was Randy Savage’s younger brother. He is probably best remembered for his time in WWE where he wrestled as Leaping Lanny Poffo and later managed other wrestlers as The Genius. But he did have a solid in-ring career in his father Angelo Poffo’s Kentucky-based ICW promotion and later in Jerry Jarrett’s CWA.

7:20 – Joyce Grable

Joyce was best known for tagging with WWE Hall Of Famer Wendi Richter. Like many women trained by Fabulous Moolah, she knew the crucial things to do when playing babyface or heel.

8:30 – Jerry Jarrett

We can’t say much about Jerry that isn’t already known. He was a wrestler turned promoter and was the father of Jeff Jarrett. His Memphis-based promotion ran for decades after a famous split in the 1970s. He was also Vince McMahon’s hand-picked replacement had he gone to prison for the big steroid trial of the 1990s.

8:35 – Mike Halac

He didn’t have a very long career but was the infamously bad “Mantaur” gimmick in the early 90s.

17:45 – Droz

Darren Drozdov was best known as a temporary third member of The Legion of Doom during The Attitude Era. Unfortunately, a horrible in-ring accident crippled him and ended his career.

20:00 – Charlie Norris

Despite the name, Charlie has no relation to or play off of Chuck Norris. It was his real name and part of his Native American heritage.

22:30 – Brett Wayne Sawyer

The younger brother of the late great Buzz Sawyer, Brett wrestled mainly in the southern territories and rand a wrestling school. He was a former USWA Tag Team Champion with a young up-and-coming wrestler named Flex Kavana…

24:30 – Adrian Street

Adrian Street was born and raised in England. His gimmick that played off homosexual stereotypes probably wouldn’t fly today but he had a long and successful in-ring career.

31:00 – Adnan al-Kaissie

He was most seen as General Adnan during Sergeant Slaughter’s “Iraqi sympathizer” gimmick in 1991, but he had a long career as a wrestler and manager in the territory days.

35:15 – Butch Miller

A tag team wrestler with Luke Williams for most of his career, first as The Kiwis, then as the bloodthirsty villains The Sheepherders. But ironically their biggest money run was late in their careers as the comedy babyface duo called The Bushwackers.

40:40 – Killer Khan

Billed as a brutal heel from Mongolia, Khan had high-profile runs against the likes of Andre The Giant and Hulk Hogan. He is the inspiration for the character Kin Corn Karn in the classic NES game Pro Wrestling.

43:00 – Peggy Lee Leather

Peggy had runs in both the Rock ‘n Wrestling Era of WWE as well as the original incarnation of GLOW.

46:45 – Jay Briscoe

One of the top tag team wrestlers in the modern era, Jay spent most of his career tagging with his brother as The Briscoe Brothers in Ring of Honor. He passed away after a car accident.

52:40 – Bray Wyatt

Another one is gone in his prime and way too soon. Bray was Windham Rotundam, the real-life brother of Taylor Rotunda, aka Bo Dallas.

60:00 – The Iron Sheik

Again, there is not much we can say that wasn’t already known outside of his early days he wrestled as a babyface with a full head of hair. But after relations between the USA and The Middle East became a hot-button issue, he shaved his head, grew a mustache, and wore pointy boots.

64:00 – Superstar Billy Graham

Most territories had babyface challengers chasing heel champions. WWE did the opposite and depicted their champion as a babyface dragon slayer. Yet somehow Superstar managed to have a record-setting reign as a heel champion. Roman Reigns has since broken that record, but it still shows how special Superstar was in wrestling history.

74:20 – Terry Funk

Terry debuted in the mid-1960s and spent a lot of time in Texas, Florida, The Carolinas, AND Japan. He and his brother Dory Funk, Jr. are the only brothers to win the NWA World Championship. He also had an acting career outside of wrestling in feature films such as Road House and Paradise Alley.

The post Vol. 48: In Memoriam 2023 appeared first on Classic Wrestling Memories.