YOU JUST MADE THE BIRTHDAY LIST!
BIRTHDAYS
It’s the 48th annual Birthday of Jericho. Drink it in, maaaaaaaaaaaaaan. Chris Jericho is a future WWE Hall of Famer, and who knows when and if he will ever stop. In WWF/E alone, in addition to being the first ever Undisputed WWF Champion, which, if you hadn’t heard, he won by beating The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin in the same night, he has the following list of championships:
5x WWF/World Tag Team Champion
9x Intercontinental Champion
3x World Heavyweight Champion
2x WCW/World Champion
Hardcore Champion
European Champion
2x United States Champion
2x WWE Tag Team Champion
Triple Crown Champion
Grand Slam Champion
He’s the current IWGP Intercontinental Champion. Happy birthday Y2J.
Current WWE United Kingdom Champion Pete Dunne turns 25 today. Dunne began training for a career in professional wrestling at the age of 12 in 2005 and made his professional debut in 2007. Since then, he has worked extensively across the United Kingdom for promotions such as Progress Wrestling, Revolution Pro Wrestling, Insane Championship Wrestling, Fight Club: Pro, and Attack! Pro Wrestling, a promotion he co-founded. In addition to the United Kingdom, Dunne has worked internationally in Germany with Westside Xtreme Wrestling, the United States with Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, and Japan with Michinoku Pro Wrestling.
He is the longest reigning champion in NXT history at 537 days and counting. Happy birthday Pete.
DEATHS
A native of Omaha, Joe Scarpello wrestled in high school for coach Allie Morrison, 1928 Olympic champion. After high school, Joe joined the Air Force and flew 18 missions over Germany during World War II.
When the war ended, Scarpello enrolled at the University of Iowa. The former Hawkeye won two NCAA championships and was a four-time All-American as a wrestler. He was also the first Iowan to win four Big Ten Conference titles.
Scarpello was an alternate on the 1948 Olympic team. Soon after, he turned professional and embarked upon a 25-year career. Wrestling mainly for the AWA, Joe was a top attraction all across the Midwest , the South and in Japan. He and Verne Gagne were one of the world’s top tag teams for several years.
Scarpello died on November 9, 1999 at age 76.
Woody Lee wrestled just one match in WWF, his first professional match, a loss to Brutus Beefcake on April 21, 1988. He died on November 9, 2014 at age 63.
Rube Wright wrestled from 1932-65, both under his real name, Reuben “Rube” Wright and as Lu Kim. He stepped into the ring with the likes of Lou Thesz, Sandor Szabo, and Bob Orton Sr. Wright died on November 9, 1983, 3 days after his 76th birthday.
Venus LaRue was the wife of wrestler Chief Little Eagle and a fine wrestler in her own right. She got her start in wrestling in the late 1950’s, and the raven-haired young beauty turned heads wherever she appeared. In fact, included among her fans was comedian and movie star Bob Hope. Hop-scotching around the U.S., she worked with top female performers such as Ann Casey, Barbara Galento, Mary Jane Mull and many others, and was unfailingly the face in her many battles.
Along the wrestling trail, Vinnie met a young man named Richard Bryant — or, when he entered the ring each night, Chief Little Eagle. The pair married and hit the road together, often wrestling as a mixed tag team. They spent a lot of time in the southern states, and never failed to be the people’s choice when it came to in-ring action. They were together until Bryant was tragically murdered in 1990.
LaRue wrestled until the mid-1970’s, and retired at that point to devote her full attention to her family, which included two sons. She kept her ties to wrestling as a member of the Gulf Coast Wrestlers’ Reunion, held in March each year in Mobile, Alabama. She succumbed to lung cancer on November 9, 2011 at the age of 76.
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