Brian Pillman
Professional wrestler found dead at motel
Published Sunday, October 5, 1997
Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Brian Pillman, 35, a professional wrestler and former Cincinnati Bengals football player, was found dead Sunday in a suburban motel, authorities said.
The Hennepin County medical examiners office said Pillman, of Walton, Ky., was
found dead at 1:09 p.m. at the Budgetal Inn in Bloomington. The manner and cause
of death were not immediately known, and an autopsy was to be conducted Monday.
The office said Pillman last was seen at the motel at 10:45 p.m.Saturday. No
other details were released.
Pillman was a football star at Miami University. He was signed as a free agent
by the Bengals and played one year in 1984. As a professional wrestler, he was
known as ''Flyin' Brian.''
Professional wrestler found dead in motel room
Published Monday, October 6, 1997
Associated Press
BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (AP) -- Friends suspected something was wrong with Brian Pillman the night before the 35-year-old professional wrestler and former linebacker with the Cincinnati Bengals was found dead in his motel room.
Pillman, of Walton, Ky., was found dead shortly after 1 p.m. Sunday, the day
after a pay-per-view wrestling match at the St. Paul Civic Center.
Brian Meltzer, editor of the Wrestling Newsletter, said Pillman wrestled
Saturday in St. Paul and was to have taken part in a pay-for-view event Sunday
in St. Louis.
''The WWF (World Wrestling Federation) had a chartered plane that was scheduled
to leave from Minneapolis at 1:30p.m.,'' Meltzer said. ''When Brian didn't show
up for the bus ride, police were asked to check the room.''
Known as ''The Loose Cannon,'' ''The Rogue Horseman'' and ''Flyin' Brian,'' he
was a college football star at Miami University of Ohio and played in 1984 for
the Bengals. He was playing linebacker with the Calgary Stampede when he started
his wrestling career 11 years ago.
An autopsy was scheduled for today. A release from the Hennepin County medical
examiner's office mentions ''injury'', but authorities would not say if they
suspected foul play.
Some people at Saturday night's match said the World Wrestling Federation
wrestler was acting strangely.
''I was at the matches with him,'' referee Eddie Sharkey told the Saint Paul
Pioneer Press. ''He came to the matches real early, and he seemed fine, but the
last time I saw him, he was just staring into space.''
Sharkey said that Pillman had been sleeping on the floor of the dressing room
during the broadcast, ''which was kind of unusual.'' Professional wrestlers
often have a hectic travel schedule, Sharkey said, but they don't typically nap
during matches.
''We were supposed to go out and have a few drinks and eat,'' Sharkey said. ''He
was supposed to come with me, but he just walked off, a real strange look to
him.''
Pillman had drug problems in the past. He was arrested for drunken driving and
illegal possession of prescription drugs by Cincinnati police in 1993. The drug
charges were later dropped as part of a plea agreement.
Pillman had also been plagued by an ankle injury he suffered when a Humvee he
was driving overturned in Kentucky last year, leaving him in a coma for a week,
according to Bruce Hart, who trained Pillman to wrestle in Canada.
Hart said that he thinks Pillman took painkillers after his car accident, but
added: ''I never knew him to take drugs recreationally, like heroin or cocaine.
I never knew him to take those.''
Pillman didn't show up for a scheduled bout recently, said Canadian promoter Bob
''Doc'' Holliday. Pillman had previously run afoul of the federation, which
warned him after he waved a gun at another wrestler on live TV.