RIP Iron Mike Sharpe

[BostonBob]

from today's pwinsider.com:

We are sad to report that former WWF star "Iron" Mike Sharpe passed away over the weekend in Hamilton, Ontario. Sharpe, 64, was said to have been found in his apartment. We are told that he had been dealing with a number of health issues in recent years.

Sharpe, a second generation talent, was best known for his long run with the World Wrestling Federation in the 1980s, where he was billed as "Canada's Greatest Athlete" and was a recurring performer for the company, losing TV and undercard matches on live events. Working heel, Sharpe consistently wore a leather band around his forearm, which he used to batter opponents and occasionally, load and use as a foreign object to secure victories.

While he was most seen by the most eyeballs in this lower level role, Sharpe had a long career after following his father Mike and Uncle Ben into the business (where they were huge stars, especially in Japan) and was trained by the late Dewey "Missing Link" Robertson.

After breaking in wrestling in his native Hamilton, Ontario, Sharpe began making the rounds in the territory system of the day including Stampede, San Francisco and several years in Mid-South Wrestling, where he held a number of championships and a long run.

In 1983, Sharpe migrated to the WWF as the latest in a series of villains to challenge then-champion Bob Backlund. Sharpe, managed by Lou Albano, was built up the card beating babyfaces like Larry Sharpe, S.D. Jones, Johnny Rodz and Tony Garea as a way to give him credibility. "The Canada's Greatest Athlete" nickname was derived from Gene Kiniski often being described that way.

Sharpe was moved into the main event picture as a headliner for secondary shows where he had a series of bouts against Backlund. Once that series had run it's course, Sharpe settled into a mid-card role where he would win against undercard talents to maintain credibility but would lose to up and coming babyfaces to help build them up. Sharpe would batter them with forearms and lock in his trademark bearhug before they would mount the comeback and score the win.



Full Story here: http://pwinsider.com/article/99097/former-wwf-star-iron-mike-sharpe-passes-away.html?p=1

Click to read more...

 

[Loosie]

RIP Iron Mike! A staple of the early RAWs when he was reduced to a jobber.

 

[Guardian17]

Sad news for Canada's Greatest Athlete.

 

[TNT87]

I'm sad to hear of his passing. Iron Mike Sharpe was in the very first wrestling match I ever saw on TV in the early 80s. I was immediately hooked after that.

 

[iamjs]

0:50 Iron Mike doing the "it doesn't matter" catchphrase years before Rock said it.

RIP

 

[Pinkfloyd]

His gimmick could get over in any era of wrestling.

 

[Mightygoose]

Sad news. Another one gone too soon.

He was in the jobber status when I started to follow.

RIP Canada's Greatest Athlete

 

[HajdukSplit]

RIP

He had a wrestling school here in New Jersey in the early-mid 90s, no huge stars came out of it but guys who went on the wrestle for the big three North American companies (Nova/Simon Dean, Crowbar, Charlie Haas, The Wall...)

 

[GarbageGoal]

0:50 Iron Mike doing the "it doesn't matter" catchphrase years before Rock said it.

RIP

Holy **** this is the greatest promo ever.

Iron Mike was always a jobber, I liked whenever he teamed with Silent Brian Mackney.

 

[Ozz]

Good memories of him and that era from when I was a kid. I used to think he was crazy

 

[CaptainCrunch67]

I remember watching him at a house show where the jobbers tended to get longer matches, he was actually a pretty good worker, and his fan interaction was hilarious.

He was challenging Grandma's to get in the ring.

By all accounts that I've read today, he was a good guy, but the last few years of his life weren't pleasant.

That promo was awesome and insane in one breath.

 

[Frank the Tank]

Always loved his use of a foreign object during his matches.

 

[AtlantaWhaler]

Iron Mike is certainly an all-time favorite.

I loved his loud voice in the ring. "Heeeeyyyyy!!!" and "Ohhhhhh" (in his jobber years).

 

[UnrealMachine]

Damn. Grew up seeing him as the ultimate jobber, but one who did it with dignity and character. At one of our classic wrestling nights a couple years ago we watched a Sharpe & SD Jones broadway match as one of the dark matches on the card. RIP

 

[GarbageGoal]

My favorite Iron Mike moment was when he yelled at this old WWF ring announcer from Canada named Norm Kimber for not announcing him as Canada's Greatest Athlete. He didn't start shoving him like he did Billy Red Lyons in that video, but I thought he'd give him a heart attack none the less.

 

[iamjs]

My favorite Iron Mike moment was when he yelled at this old WWF ring announcer from Canada named Norm Kimber for not announcing him as Canada's Greatest Athlete. He didn't start shoving him like he did Billy Red Lyons in that video, but I thought he'd give him a heart attack none the less.

Is this it?

 

[BackToTheBrierePatch]

Good memories of him and that era from when I was a kid. I used to think he was crazy

yeah him and the Duke Of Dorchester. Of course i always thought he was drunk

RIP Iron Mike.