Brian William Pillman

* Please watch Brian's video tributes *

Brian Pillman was a professional wrestler best
known for his appearances in the World Wrestling Federation, Extreme Championship Wrestling, and
World Championship Wrestling.

Born with cancerous polyps in his throat, Brian had endured over 30 operations by the age of 5.
Despite spending most of his youth in & out of hospital, and being told he was too small to play
sports, Brian never gave up.

Brian graduated from Norwood High School in Norwood Ohio, a suburb of Cincinnati.

While attending Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, Pillman played football for the Miami Redhawks as
a Defensive Tackle where he set records for "tackles for loss." A two-time Second Team All-American,
he went undrafted to the National Football League, joining the Cincinnati Bengals (his hometown
team) as a free agent in 1984 and later the Canadian Football League for the Calgary Stampeders in
1986.
Following the end of his football career, Pillman remained in Canada and began training as a
wrestler under Stu Hart and his sons. He debuted under his real name in 1986 in Hart's Calgary,
Alberta-based Stampede Wrestling promotion.
In 1989, Brian returned to America and began wrestling for World Championship Wrestling, where he
was known as Flyin' Brian due to his athletic ability and variety of aerial maneuvers. He was known
for his missile dropkick and diving crossbody. He was one of the first American wrestlers to
incorporate a variety of Mexican lucha libre moves into his arsenal.

On April 15, 1996, Pillman was badly injured after falling asleep while driving his Hummer H1 in
Kentucky and driving into a tree trunk, flipping the vehicle. He was in a coma for a week and
suffered a shattered ankle, forcing doctors to fuse it together in a fixed position. This injury
severely limited his mobility, forcing Brian to abandon his trademark high-flying ring style and
adopt a more conservative mat based style.
Pillman signed a contract with the World Wrestling Federation on June 10, 1996, with the signing
announced in a press conference. He was the first wrestler to sign a guaranteed contract with the
WWF. Brian acted as a commentator while recovering from his broken ankle, transitioning to a
wrestling role after attacking a fan during an episode of WWF Shotgun Saturday Night.
Despite being in constant pain with his fused ankle, Brian continued to wrestle.

Some time during the night or early morning prior to the October 5, 1997 In Your House: Badd Blood
pay per view in St. Louis, Brian PIllman died in a Bloomington, Minnesota, hotel room. He was 35
years old. An autopsy found that Pillman had a previously undetected heart condition -
arteriosclerotic heart disease - which had led to his death (Jim Ross said that in his mind Brian
Pillman died of a broken heart - he knew he could not wrestle he way he used to). On Raw the next
night, he received a ten-bell salute. Vince interviewed Brians wife, Melanie Pillman on the same
night. She stated she wanted him to be remembered as "A great father, and the best husband." Brian
did not know that he was about to become a father once again when he died.

Brian had 2 step-children, Alexis and Jesse. He also had two daughters, Danielle and Brittany and
Brian and Melanie had two children together, Brian Jr. & Skylar. Skylar was born exactly 7 months
after Pillman's death in October 1997.