Hardcore Tributes

 The following is a list of wrestlers and personalities that appeared in ECW between 1992-2001 and have since passed away. 

"Hot Stuff" Eddie Gilbert: The original booker for Eastern Championship Wrestling before leaving in September of 1993. He is a former one-time ECW World Tag Team Champion - with The Dark Patriot and he won the ECW World Tag Team Championship Tournament in 1993 along with The Dark Patriot, as well.

Cause of Death: Heart Attack

Age: 33

"The Loose Cannon" Brian Pillman: While Pillman only had a very short stint in ECW in 1996, it is remembered as the place where he began his "Loose Cannon" persona that he developed after leaving WCW. He used his time in ECW to get some people talking about him and when he signed with WWF later on in the year, he would end up getting himself a better, more higher paying deal. He was smart. A car accident left his career practically over which is a shame because he was primed to have a main event level feud with ex-partner "Stone Cold" Steve Austin in the WWF had he not had the wreck and died shortly afterward.

Cause of Death: Heart Attack

Age: 35

Louie Spicolli: Louie is another person who had a short lived run in ECW before departing. He would wind up in WCW in late-1997 and became the lackey of Scott Hall of the nWo. He had his well known issues with drug addiction throughout his career and especially loved to take the prescription pills Soma, which, along with Wine, was the way he died. 

Cause of Death: Drug Overdose / Choking on Vomit 

Age: 27

Junkyard Dog: While he didn't have a run in ECW, his final public appearance came at ECW's WrestlePalooza 1998. A month later he passed away after a car accident when he fell asleep at the wheel. 

Cause of Death: Car Accident

Age: 45

"Ravishing" Rick Rude: The "Ravishing" One had appeared in ECW in mid-to-late 1997 as an on-air talent and color commentator for some time next to Joey Styles. Rude was signed to the WWF at the time. In November 1997, after the Montreal Screwjob, Rick Rude left the WWF and went to WCW in protest to Bret Hart's treatment. Rude has the distinction to have appeared on ECW TV, WWF TV and WCW TV all in the same week, with his WWF and WCW appearances happening on the same exact day! He appeared on a taped RAW sporting a mustache and then appeared clean cut and shaven on WCW Nitro, which was LIVE that night. He was training for a return to the ring when he died.

Cause of Death: Heart Failure

Age: 40

Big Dick Dudley: A member of the Dudley Boys. He would leave ECW in 1999 after having a dispute with Paul Heyman over his character and the fact he felt he deserved a bigger push. He would  hook up with Rob Black and help form the ECW-knock off promotion Xtreme Pro Wrestling or XPW later in 1999, even winning the XPW World Heavyweight Championship at one point in time.

Cause of Death: Kidney Failure

Age: 34 (1968 - 2002)

Bobby Duncum, Jr.: Duncum, Jr. made his ECW debut on February 14th, 1997. He would wrestle sporaticlly splitting his time between ECW and All Japan Pro Wrestling throughout the rest of '97 into '98. His final ECW match would be on July 18th, 1998. He would later go on to WCW to be part of the West Texas Rednecks with Curt Hennig. 

Cause of Death: Drug Overdose

Age: 34 (1965 - 2000)

Chris Benoit: Sadly, we all know what happened with Benoit and that is a real crying shame because he was gonna go down in history as one of the best technical wrestlers of all time. Now, the way he ended his and his family's lives will always overshadow the great wrestling work he put on in the business. 

Cause of Death: Murder/Suicide (He killed his wife Nancy 'Woman' Benoit, his 7 year old son Daniel and then hung himself. 

Age: 40 (1967 - 2007)

Nancy 'Woman' Benoit: One of the first females in ECW history, she would manage the likes of The Sandman and Kevin Sullivan. She would leave ECW after three-years with the promotion and move on to WCW where she would end up in a relationship with the man who would go on to kill her and their child before killing himself, Chris Benoit (see: above). 

Cause of Death: Murdered by husband Chris Benoit. Benoit would kill her, their 7 year old son Daniel and then himself in June 2007, leaving the whole wrestling world shaken up and to this day we still don't understand the motivations for why he would do that. 

Age: 43 (1963 - 2007)

John Kronus: Kronus was one-half of the former 3-time ECW World Tag Team Champions team The Eliminators, along with Perry Saturn. After Saturn left ECW, he would team up with New Jack to form The Gangstanators, and they would win the tag titles once. Kronus would participate in the Hardcore Homecoming events in 2005 before he passed away two years later. He moved on to ECW-copy cat promotion Xtreme Pro Wrestling (XPW) and would align himself with The Black Army. He left XPW in 2001. He helped to develop and promote the Philadelphia independent wrestling promotion Dangerously Intense Wrestling after his XPW run.

Cause of Death: Heart Failure

Age: 38 (1969 - 2007)

"No Gimmicks Needed" Chris Candido: Candido was a mainstay in ECW throughout its run and would return to the company after leaving to go to the WWF in 1995. He would remain in ECW from 1996-1999. Following his time in ECW, he would move on to WCW in it's dying days and then wrestled the independent wrestling circuit until 2005 when he began with TNA Wrestling, where he was when he died. 

Cause of Death: Acute Pneumonia brought on by surgery he had on his leg. 

Age: 33 (1972-2005)

Sid: Sid made his ECW debut in early-1999 and would stick around for a couple of months, facing John Kronus at ECW Guilty As Charged 1999, defeating the former 4-time ECW World Tag Team Champion in under 2 minutes. Sid would also do battle with The Dudley Boys (Buh Buh Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley) and Steve Corino during his short stint with the promotion. He would leave ECW around the time ECW Hardcore Heaven 1999 took place in May '99 after the company began to have monetary issues that would eventually lead to the company filing bankruptcy 2 years later. 

Cause of Death: Cancer

Age: 63 (1960-2024)

Salvatore Bellomo: "Wild Man" Salvatore Bellomo was ab enhancement talent during the earliest days of Eastern/Extreme Championship Wrestling. He isn't someone a lot of people remember was in ECW.

Cause of Death:

Age: 

King Kong Bundy: Another star who is widely forgotten in terms of ECW. 

Cause of Death: Diabetes complications 

Age:

Tracy Smothers: A member of the legendary ECW stable "The Full Blooded Italians", Smothers even had a reign as ECW World Tag Team Champion (along with fellow F.B.I. member Little Guido). The Nashville, Italy born legend lost his battle with lymphoma in 2020.

Cause of Death: Lymphoma 

Age:

Bobby Eaton: 

Cause of Death: Unknown

Age:

New Jack: ECW's Original Gangsta, New Jack was one of the most bittersweet wrestlers to compete in ECW. If you were an ECW faithful, it is likely you loved him but just about anyone else hated the man. He won the ECW World Tag Team Championship on several occasions (with his Gangsta's partner Mustafa and with his later partner, John Kronus (as The Gangstanators). 

Cause of Death: Heart Attack

Age:

Scott Hall: Not many people realize that in the year 2000, Scott Hall made an appearance for ECW, wrestling his real-life friend Justin Credible in a Non-Televised match that can be found in the ECW Fan Cams somewhere. After he cleaned up his life finalky thanks to DDP Yoga, Hall passed away following hip surgery when a blood clot caused him to have multiple heart attacks, leading to Hall being out on life support and a day later the decision was made to pull the plug. 

Cause of Death: Blood clot from hip surgery caused 3 heart attacks and Hall was placed on life support. The following day, the decision was made to pull the plug.

Age:

Darren Drozdov: Better known as Droz, the former NFL star began wrestling in the 1990s and was one of the WWF hires that was sent to ECW in 1998 to work on their in-ring work and character. He would sadly have a career ending injury at the hands of D'Lo Brown, who dropped him on his head on accident and put him in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. He would continue to work for WWE as an online writer for their website until his death. 

Cause of Death:

Age: