Samwell Thompson

A wrestling fan's pain: First death I remember reading about was Bruiser Brody. All my info back then was from magazines so the story of his murder left me frightened and confused, but ultimately maybe a little too young to fully process that absolute insanity. The Von Erich suicides spooked me a bit as I found them difficult to understand. I also remember the shock of Eddie Gilbert's death, but overall wrestling deaths pre-1997 felt rare. Enter Brian Pillman, who dies in the middle of an angle the night before a PPV match. Learning about his death on the Badd Blood Free For All was a surreal and very new experience for me, now age 20. I bought the in memoriam T-shirt and tape traded for the Pillman tribute shows. That one rocked me. THEN there's Owen. Doesn't get much more unbelievable than that. I'll spare you the twenty paragraphs I could write. Nothing can get more heartbreaking and shocking than that, right? Sike. BENOIT. Next year is the 20th anniversary and I'm STILL not done processing that shit. Wrestling can move on from those two deaths all it wants, I can't. They will forever haunt me. Of course there's your gone too soons like Renegade, Crash Holly, Umaga, Elizabeth, Lance Cade, Test, Misawa, Spicolli, Duncum Jr, Bam Bam Bigelow/Gordy, Buzz Sawyer, Adrian Adonis, Gino Hernandez, Chyna, Viscera, Brian Christopher, Luna Vachon, Pitt Bull 2, Kronus, Bad News, Balls, Mike Awesome, New Jack, etc... Then you've got full CHUNKS of your childhood gone. HOGAN, Savage, Piper, Andre, Dusty, Bobby Heenan, Fuji, JYD, Earthquake, Bossman, Bundy, Big John Studd, Iron Sheik, Kamala, Curt Hennig, Rick Rude, Crush, Yoko, Road Warriors, the Funks, Dynamite Kid, Davey Boy, Vader, Razor, Sid, Warrior, like COME ON. Don't forget the COUNTLESS old legends. Too many to list from Bruno to Lou Thesz and everyone in between, but at least we have some wrestlers living into old age and dying of regular people shit. Then there's your rip your fucking guts out with a spoon deaths like Eddie, Jay Briscoe, Kanyon, Hana Kimura, Woman, Ashley Massaro, Shad Gaspard, Chris Candido, Brodie Lee, Sara Lee, Daffney, Matt Capotelli, Don West, Bray Wyatt, Andy Williams....... And here's the craziest part. All those names up there? That's NOTHING. Jotting down names off the top of my head doesn't even scratch the surface of how many more names we could add to each one of those categories. The never-ending train of heartbreak doesn't even give you a chance to breath before it fucking blasts your world to shit again. Next year will be the 30th anniversary of Pillman's death which means it's been THREE decades of watching wrestlers we love die young routinely. His death really opened the flood gates. And now. PAC. Sweet, lovely bastard, PAC. No amount of previous heartbreak softens the blow of your loss. My guts are out and on the floor. You were a gem. A talent like no other. And now, because universe is gonna universe, the wrestling world has lost you too. Unfair, like always. Heart goes out to everyone mourning him today. We love you PAC, we love you Neville, WE LOVE YOU BENJAMIN SATTERLEY.🖤