DAILY STAR
Professional wrestling – and WWE in particular – hasn’t had it easy of late. With scandals, rumours of sales and everything in between, it hasn’t quite ever re-captured the magic of the 90s and 00s.
But since the turn of the century, fans have had to bid farewell to some of the biggest names from the sport’s heyday at ridiculously young ages.
While the likes of Hulk Hogan and The Undertaker are very much alive and kicking, and in the public eye, many other stars of WWF and WWE have passed away.
Their deaths span everything from heart attacks to steroid and cocaine misuse and even a death inside a prison cell.
Here, we look at a handful of wrestlers who died too soon…
Big Boss Man
Big Boss Man, or Ray Traylor Jr, was best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), as well as with World Championship Wrestling (WCW).
During his appearances with the WWF, Big Boss Man held the WWF World Tag Team Championship once and the WWF Hardcore Championship four times.
Traylor died of a heart attack on September 22, 2004, aged 41, in Dallas, Georgia. Two years earlier, he had suffered a serious motorbike accident.
Posthumously Big Boss Man was inducted in the WWE Hall of Fame in 2016, with the award accepted by his wife and two daughters.
Viscera
Nelson Frazer Jr, fighting under the ring names Mabel, King Mabel, Viscera, Vis, and Big Daddy V, was best known for his appearances with the WWF/WWE in the 1990s and 2000s.
He won the 1995 King of the Ring tournament and consequently challenged for the WWF Championship in the main event of that year’s SummerSlam.
Billed at 6’9″ and 487 pounds, Frazier was a mammoth, imposing force in the ring, towering over his opponents.
On February 18, 2014, Viscera died of a heart attack, just four days after his 43rd birthday.
He was cremated, and his widow divided the ashes into 500 pendants as gifts for his loved ones.
Brian Christopher (Grandmaster Sexay)
Brian Christopher Lawler, also know as Grand Master Sexay and Brian Christopher, is best remembered for his career in the World Wrestling Federation (now WWE).
The son of legendary wrestler and commentator Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler, Brian was a one-time WWF Tag Team Champion as part of Too Cool with Scotty 2 Hotty, and won 44 titles within the United States Wrestling Association, the promotion formerly co-owned by his dad.
Following his arrest for driving under the influence and evading police officers in Tennessee, on July 29, 2018, Lawler was found hanged in his prison cell and was rushed to a nearby hospital, but was pronounced dead shortly after he arrived.
Test
Andrew “Test” Martin was best known for his nine-year tenure with the World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment (WWF/WWE).
During that time he found his greatest success as a singles performer, winning the Intercontinental and European Championships once each, and the Hardcore Championship twice.
He enjoyed a high profile run with WWE at the turn of the century, feuding with Triple H at one point.
Martin was found dead in his Tampa, Florida, apartment on March 13, 2009, four days prior to what would have been his 34th birthday.
Toxicology reports revealed that Martin’s death was caused by an accidental overdose of the prescription pain medication oxycodone.
