Pez Whatley

Pez Whatley
Whatley (upper) facing Mr Excellent
Birth name	Pezavan Whatley
Born	(1951-01-10)January 10, 1951 Chattanooga, Tennessee,U.S.
Died	January 18, 2005(2005-01-18)(aged 54) Chattanooga, Tennessee, U.S.
Cause of death	Heart attack
Alma mater	University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	Pez Whatley Shaska Whatley Shaska Willie B. Hert Pistol Pez Whatley
Billed height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Billed weight	245 lb (111 kg)
Billed from	Chattanooga, Tennessee
Trained by	Saul Weingeroff
Debut	1973
Retired	1998

Pezavan Whatley(January 10, 1951 – January 18, 2005) was an Americanprofessional wrestlerbest known for his time withNWA Mid-America.

Professional wrestling career

Whatley played football and wrestled forNotre Dame High Schoolin Chattanooga, Tennessee and theUniversity of Tennessee at Chattanooga(UTC). He was UTC's first African-American wrestler.

Whatley started wrestling in 1973 after a brief career as a power lifter. He wrestled with the (original) Sheik's Big Time Wrestling, after which he wrestled primarily in Georgia,AlabamaandTennessee.While in Georgia Championship Wrestling, he had a memorable angle on television, where he was confronted by the Junkyard Dog, before a match against Buzz Sawyer. JYD slapped Whatley in the face, enraging him enough to pin Sawyer twice in a single episode of World Championship Wrestling. While in Ga, Whatley had a feud with Paul Ellering's Legion Of Doom that included matches against Jake "The Snake" Roberts. He also had a match in the Omni for the United States Heavyweight championship against Greg Valentine. Whatley was one of the most popular wrestlers in Ga, before going toFlorida Championship Wrestlingin 1984. He won the Southern Title twice while there.He was one-third of the "Convertible Blondes" withRip RogersandGary Royalin theAngelo Poffo-promotedICW,even though he didn't dye his hair blonde.One of Whatley's best-known moments in ICW was the "Mop Head" angle where Whatley had to wear a mop wig after losing a match toRon Garvin.The match stipulation also required him to keep wearing it until he won another match. This led to not only a lengthy feud with Garvin but also to a long losing streak for Whatley. Most of Whatley's losses were by disqualification due to outside interference when Garvin would attack Whatley's opponent. The angle lasted for several months until Whatley finally won a match.

Whatley, circa 1983

He went to theNWA'sJim Crockett Promotionsin 1985 and oftenteamedwithJimmy ValiantagainstmembersofPaul Jones' Army.He turned on Valiant, and frequently teamed withThe BarbarianandBaron von Raschkein their war against Valiant, and would frequently spit on his opponents during matches. He eventually lost a hair vs. hair match to Valiant and was shaved bald.In 1986, during a short stint whenDusty Rhodeswas NWA Champion, Whatley appeared to freelance during a TV interview and made the announcers visibly uncomfortable when he said that he wanted to become the firstblackNWA Champion.

In late 1987, Whatley had left Jones and started teaming withTiger Conway Jr.as "The Jive Tones".They did not have much success, and Whatley left forFloridain 1988.He was part ofKevin Sullivan's goon squad in Florida and departed for Alabama shortly after his arrival.

In Alabama'sSoutheast Championship Wrestling,Whatley became "Willie B. Hert" and was one of the topfacesfor the company.

In the early 1990s Pez Whatley had a short stint in Japan'sUWFi.He also worked for theWorld Wrestling Federationas anenhancement talenton their weekly television programs from January 1990 until April 1991, puttingovermany of the WWF's top stars.He also picked up a few victories onhouse shows,most notably overBuddy Rose,Paul DiamondandThe Genius.Whatley then made sporadic appearances inWorld Championship Wrestlingthroughout the 90s as an enhancement talent as well as appearances at the1995and1996 World War 3events until his in-ring retirement in 1998, becoming a backstage worker for WCW and an assistant trainer at theWCW Power Plant.

Whatley was inducted into theWWE Hall of Fameclass of 2021 as a legacy member.

Death

While working for WCW in the late 1990s, Whatley was hospitalized for bronchitis, where doctors discovered he was suffering from heart failure; he was pronounced dead on two occasions while awaiting a heart transplant.He suffered a heart attack in 2003.On January 15, 2005, he had a heart attack and died in the hospital in Chattanooga on January 18.He left behind four children.

Championships and accomplishments

• All-American Wrestling
  • AAW Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
• Championship Wrestling from Florida
  • NWA Southern Heavyweight Championship(Florida version)(2 times)
• Georgia Championship Wrestling
  • Omni Thanksgiving Tag Team Tournament (1983) – withButch Reed
• International Championship Wrestling
  • ICW United States Heavyweight Championship(1 time)
  • ICW United States Tag Team Championship(1 time) – withRip Rogers
  • ICW United States Tag Team Championship Tournament (1980) – with Rip Rogers
• NWA Mid-America
  • NWA Mid-America Tag Team Championship(2 times) – withRay Candy
• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • PWI ranked him #345of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the "PWI Years" in 2003.
• Universal Wrestling Association
  • UWA Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
• Western States Sports
  • NWA Western States Tag Team Championship(2 times) – withAbe Jacobs
• WWE
  • WWE Hall of Fame(Class of 2021)
• Other titles
  • NCW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – withSam McGraw

External links

• Pez WhatleyatIMDb
• Pez Whatley's profile atCagematch.net,Internet Wrestling Database