I Miss Brian Pillman

Anybody who knows me knows that I'm a fan of pro wrestling. I have been since around 1993 or so. And in those fourteen years, I've seen probably hundreds of different gimmicks come and go from different promotions. But one of my favorite characters of all-time has to be Brian Pillman's "loose cannon" gimmick.

I bring this up because I just finished watching the first disc of the WWE-produced DVD set about Pillman, which I got in the mail today from Netflix. Why I don't own it yet, I have no idea. Of course, there's at least a dozen WWE DVDs that I really need to add to my collection, but haven't gotten around to them for one reason or another. But thanks for offering the Pillman DVD, Netflix. You rock. And roll. All night long. And most of the day too.

But back to my original point. Pillman's "loose cannon" gimmick is one of my favorite wrestling characters ever; his ECW debut and the gun angle are two moments that I remember with great fondness. The gimmick was way ahead of its time, absolute brilliance if you ask me. And while I love, love, love the "loose cannon" character, I'm also very happy to see them give the Hollywood Blondes the credit that they should have gotten back then. I didn't get to see a whole lot of the Hollywood Blondes since I didn't really get into WCW until right around the time they broke up, but I do remember them being great in the ring and deserving of a lot more than what WCW gave them. That "Flare For The Old" segment alone, which I had never seen prior to seeing this DVD, is proof enough of that.

While I'm relatively familiar with most of Pillman's story, the feature documentary is still a very awesome watch. I think Pillman was to pro wrestling what Andy Kaufman was to comedy; with both of them, you never knew what was real and what was an act. The gimmick was solid gold, which only makes me wonder how things would have gone had Pillman not mangled his leg in that car accident before WWE hired him. The official statement was that he died of arteriosclerotic heart disease, but part of me wonders just how much of a toll all the painkillers he was hooked on took on him.

Of course, I'm giving the DVD a thumbs-up, and I haven't even seen the second disc yet. (It's currently #1 on my Netflix queue, so I'll be watching it soon.) It's a definite recommendation to every wrestling fan, especially fans that are new to the game. So why are you still reading this? Go buy it already.