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Part 2 of Our Tribute to Brian Pillman: An In-Depth Look at His Impact on the Business
Posted By: Caylon Knox on Oct 05, 2017
For Part 1 of our tribute to Brian Pillman on the 20th anniversary of his passing, please click here to read that article from WNS's own Jeffrey Crosby.
A lot of wrestling fans nowadays probably aren't familiar with Brian Pillman. Many of the younger fans have probably never heard of him, and some of the older fans may have forgotten about him. But anybody who remembers the life and career of Brian Pillman will tell you that he was one of the most fascinating characters in wrestling history, both in front of the camera and in real life.
When Pillman was a young child he was diagnosed with throat polyps and had to have countless surgeries to remove them, as they kept growing back. But his health issues never stopped him from playing multiple sports, including football. In his teens and early 20's, Pillman was an outstanding football player, despite his rather small stature compared to most of the other players. Pillman played for the Miami Redskins, the Cincinnati Bengals, the Buffalo Bills (during the 1985 preseason) and the Canadian Football League's Calgary Stampeders.
His time in the CFL led to him being introduced to legendary Canadian wrestler and wrestling trainer, Stu Hart. After completing his training with the Hart Family, Pillman would go on to wrestle for Stu's Stampede Wrestling promotion based out of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He also spent time in the CWA in Memphis, Tennessee, as well as New Japan Pro Wrestling.
Pillman debuted in World Championship Wrestling in 1989 and quickly established himself as one of the best Light Heavyweight wrestlers not only in the United States, but in the world. Known as "Flyin' Brian" during his early days in WCW, Pillman was one of the first wrestlers in the United States to incorporate a more fast-paced, high-flying style into his arsenal. Pillman was a two-time WCW Light Heavyweight Champion, the precursor to the more well-known Cruiserweight Championship.
In many ways, Pillman sort of pioneered the style of wrestling that has become popular today in the United States. Throughout the years, top WWE Superstars such as Rob Van Dam, The Hardy Boyz, Rey Mysterio, and Seth Rollins have all achieved great success in their careers with their high-flying acrobatics and fast-paced, competitive matches. Before Brian Pillman came along, you didn't see very many American wrestlers using that particular style of wrestling. But Pillman and the WCW Light Heavyweight Division, followed by the Cruiserweight Division later on, helped bring that style of wrestling to the mainstream American wrestling fanbase.
In 1993, Pillman moved away from singles competition and formed a legendary tag team with "Stunning" Steve Austin known as The Hollywood Blonds. With their entertaining antics and undeniable in-ring talent, The Hollywood Blonds were simply ahead of their time. Too far ahead of their time. It's been well-documented that their tag team was put together just to give them something to do. They were never supposed to get over with the fans the way that they did. But Pillman and Austin meshed well together because of their passion for the wrestling business.
They teamed together for about a year, capturing the WCW Tag Team Championships from Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat and Shane Douglas in March of 1993 before losing the titles to Paul Roma and "The Enforcer" Arn Anderson in August of that same year, although Pillman was injured and did not compete in that match, having been replaced by Lord Steven Regal (William Regal).
Austin and Pillman finally split up in October of 1993, which was a move orchestrated by WCW creative at the time. Pillman and Austin did not want to split up as a team but they had no say over the matter. They feuded for a little while on television, with Pillman playing the babyface (good guy) and Austin playing the heel (bad guy).
The Hollywood Blonds were a memorable tag team, though their break-up was not so memorable. But although Pillman and Austin did not want to be split up as a team at that point, it ultimately worked out for the best for both of them in the long-term. After a brief stint in ECW in 1994, Pillman returned to WCW in 1995 and would eventually become a member of the legendary Four Horsemen faction.
From an in-ring ability standpoint, Brian Pillman certainly lived up to the standard that the Horsemen were known for. But from a personality standpoint, Pillman never quite seemed to fit the mold of what fans had come to expect from the Horsemen. As Triple H once said when describing the Four Horsemen, they were the "violent, athletic version of corporate greed." Always well-dressed, very articulate, and cerebral with their assaults, the Horsemen had built their legacy on being, and expecting, nothing less than the very best of the best. They enjoyed the finer things in life; fancy cars, limousines, private jets, beautiful women, Rolex watches, expensive clothes, etc.
Brian Pillman often seemed to stick out like a sore thumb as a member of the Horsemen, but not necessarily in a bad way. It made for an interesting dynamic within the group, which resulted in an intriguing situation for viewers to watch.
Heading into 1996, Pillman had left the Horsemen and really started to develop his legendary and infamous "Loose Cannon" persona. And this was the character that would ultimately secure Pillman's legacy as both one of the most creative and one of the most misunderstood minds in the history of professional wrestling.
Pillman began to act very strangely on WCW programming and would often say and do things that seemed to blur the line between entertainment and reality. One memorable example of this was at SuperBrawl VI in February of 1996. Pillman was booked in a match against "The Taskmaster" Kevin Sullivan. The match was basically a traditional "I Quit" Match, with the only difference being that somebody would have to tell their opponent "I Respect You" instead of "I Quit." Instead of putting on any semblance of a usual professional wrestling performance, Pillman and Sullivan appeared to be legitimately fighting with each other in the ring until Pillman grabbed a microphone and said "I respect you, booker man." This broke one of the conventional rules of professional wrestling, as Kevin Sullivan was in fact the booker (matchmaker/storyline writer) for WCW in real life behind the scenes.
After this match, Pillman was released from his WCW contract in real life, although it was revealed years later that this was actually a plan between Pillman and WCW President Eric Bischoff to further establish the Loose Cannon character and blur the lines between entertainment and reality. Their plan was to continue to fool the fans and even people within the wrestling industry by allowing Pillman to go to ECW as a "free agent" and then eventually return to WCW at some point with even more momentum.
When Pillman made his ECW return in 1996, he was even crazier and more uncensored. During his time in both WCW and ECW in the mid-90's, Pillman made sure to stay in character at all times, which rubbed some of his peers the wrong way. In short, he had basically convinced most people in the wrestling business that he had legitimately lost his mind. Although some people within the business did suspect that it was all a work (an act, a performance in wrestling terms), Pillman played his character so well that nobody quite knew for sure. And for that, Brian Pillman was one of the best pure workers that the wrestling business has ever seen.
There are old expressions like "you can't kid a kidder" or "you can't fool a fool" or "you can't con a con artist." In professional wrestling, some people often say "you can't work a worker." Professional wrestlers and people within the business are often able to tell when something is an act or scripted, especially from another person in the wrestling business. But very few people really knew for sure what was going through the mind of Brian Pillman. At the time, most people didn't know how brilliant Pillman really was.
Pillman was in negotiations with WWE (known as WWF back then) during his time in ECW. But in April of 1996, Pillman was involved in a nearly fatal car accident. He suffered numerous injuries from the accident, most notably an ankle injury that left his foot turned almost completely the opposite way. Although he had successful surgeries, Pillman never quite fully recovered physically from the accident.
But despite his car accident, Pillman did end up signing with WWE in the summer of 1996. Due to the fact that he was still recovering from his injuries, Pillman was physically limited in what he could do for his first several months in WWE. But he still managed to get himself over as a wild and unpredictable character. You never knew what he was going to say or do.
Perhaps his most memorable moment in WWE was during the November 4th, 1996 edition of WWE Raw. Pillman and his former tag team partner Steve Austin, now known as "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, had found themselves in a heated feud on television. In what was one of the most outlandish and controversial angles that WWE had ever done at the time, they filmed several segments at Pillman's house which showed Pillman with a handgun, waiting on Steve Austin to invade his home. Austin proceeded to break in through a back door and came face-to-face with Pillman, who was waiting with a gun. Just as it appeared that something tragic was about happen, the television feed was "lost" due to "technical difficulties."
In his final days, Brian Pillman aligned himself with The New Hart Foundation, essentially going back to his wrestling roots. The New Hart Foundation was led by WWE Champion Bret "The Hitman" Hart and also included Owen Hart, Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart and "The British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith. The Foundation found themselves in an interesting spot in WWE, as they were heavily booed by the American wrestling fans but loudly cheered across Canada, Great Britain, and other international markets.
Just before his passing, Brian Pillman was involved in a feud with Goldust and Marlena. As had come to be expected from Pillman, this storyline continued to push the envelope on WWE programming.
Brian Pillman passed away from a heart attack in his hotel room in Bloomington, Minnesota on Sunday, October 5th, 1997 at the young age of 35. Pillman was scheduled to perform in a match that night at WWE's Badd Blood pay-per-view.
Although Brian Pillman died far too young, he created an amazing legacy for himself that often seems to be overlooked or even forgotten about. He had to deal with horrific health problems in his childhood, but went on to become a star athlete in football and professional wrestling, in spite of his small stature for both sports. He was truly a revolutionary in the wrestling business who doesn't get the credit or the recognition he deserves. An American wrestler in the early 1990's who helped usher in a new style of wrestling. A creative mind, perhaps even what you might call an "evil genius" in terms of character development and psychology. Somebody who battled and overcame addiction after surviving a devastating car accident, and would then go on to make a return to in-ring action, although he wasn't able to perform at the level that he once did. A performer who wasn't afraid to push boundaries and go places where other wrestlers and entire wrestling promotions hadn't gone before.
If you go back and watch WWE footage from 1996/1997, it's hard to argue that Brian Pillman played a pivotal role in the early days of what would come to be known as WWE's "Attitude Era." Much like the Attitude Era itself, Pillman brought a feeling of chaos, unpredictability, controversy, and sheer entertainment to what had been a rather stagnant WWE product for several years.
Brian Pillman might not have been a World Heavyweight Champion, but he was without question one of the greatest workers and of the greatest performers of all time. And not enough people seem to realize or remember it.
Although WWE has yet to induct Brian Pillman into their Hall of Fame, they did release a DVD set for him way back in 2006, simply titled Brian Pillman: Loose Cannon. For our readers who might not be familiar with Brian Pillman, or for those of you who do remember Brian, the DVD is available here at Amazon and is also available on the WWE Network through their search engine. It's worth a look.
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