BostonBob
4 Ever The Greatest
from pwinsider.com:
Brian Knighton, professionally known as Axl Rotten, was found deceased today in Baltimore, Maryland. According to sources we have spoken with, he was found by authorities in a motel. He had tweeted earlier today, so the belief is he passed away sometime in the last ten hours. Knighton was only 44 years old.
Knighton was best known for his run in the original Extreme Championship Wrestling, where a feud with his storyline brother and former tag team partner Ian Rotten resulted in ECW getting a ton of magazine press and online buzz for the usage of barbed wire baseball bats and a level of blood and violence that wasn't the norm in 1995 anywhere but some of the Japanese death match promotions. The feud was named the 1995 "Feud of the Year" by Pro Wrestling Illustrated Magazine and at the time, the throwback to the old days of wide-eyed, bloody photos in the magazines, mixed with the storyline of two "brothers" trying to maim each other with barbed wire, led to ECW far more coverage than it would have likely
Knighton, as Rotten, was trained by late WCW enhancement talent Joey Maggs and Maryland independent wrestler Ricky Lawless. Although he grew up in Baltimore, Rotten was billed as from the UK and for a time carried a cockney accent. His ring name was a tribute to heavy metal and punk rockers Axl Rose and Johnny Rotten. Metal music was a huge influence for Knighton, who was specifically a massive Kiss fan.
Full story here: http://www.pwinsider.com/ViewArticle.php?id=99542
