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“The next time someone asks you why you watch wrestling cause that stuff isn’t real — those guys don’t get hurt, do me a favor: Tell them those guys do get hurt — and sometimes they die out there” – Bret Hart on Brian Pillman
As often times it is seen in professional wrestling, a character transcends an individual. The larger than life characters make the scripted world of professional wrestling interesting. But at times, the characters become immortalized, either because the performer plays the character to perfection, or the character is an extension to the performer’s real life. The beauty of professional wrestling lies in the truth entangled with the storylines. We’ve seen guys like Bret Hart playing their character to perfection, and their character often was a mere exaggeration of their true self. One such person revolutionized the way we look at gimmicks, and when we talk about characters or gimmicks being outlandish yet believable, his name pops into every old school fan’s mind. He is none other than ‘The Loose Cannon’, Brian Pillman.
Brian Pillman’s gimmick was over the top, yet the fans believed in it because of how good Pillman was. Pillman was never known for his in – ring skills and his athletic ability. Instead, he was seen as a guy who could create magic on the mic, and could work well inside the ring. Brian Pillman is remembered fondly for the kind of person he was, and also for being one of the most entertaining professionals in the history of the industry. It is also famously said that the character of ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin was inspired from Brian Pillman! Also, it is a known fact that Brian Pillman would have flourished during the Attitude Era had he been alive till then. It’s a shame that today’s fans wouldn’t know who Brian Pillman was.
Pillman started his career in Stu Hart’s Stampede Wrestling, eventually winning the tag team gold. From there, he went to WCW, where he primarily competed in tag team matches. He later gained singles’ gold when he won the WCW World Light Heavyweight championship, but his biggest break came when he went back to the tag team division and teamed up with another young, brash superstar, who went by the name of ‘Stunning’ Steve Austin. Together, they formed one of the best tag teams in the company’s history, naming themselves the ‘Hollywood Blondes’. Pillman was one of the first performers to have incorporated Lucha Libre moves in his matches in the United States.
Pillman was later groomed to be a brash, arrogant performer who wouldn’t care about the rules of the business, thus starting the ‘Loose Cannon’ gimmick. He started his new character by joining the Four Horsemen, but slowly broke away to compete individually. He was sent to ECW to develop his character, but that backfired as Pillman didn’t care about soothing Hogan’s ego. Pillman gained infamy in both WCW and ECW by blurring the line between fact and fiction, and was part of some of the most edgiest and controversial angles in the respective companies. Pillman later signed with the biggest entertainment company in the world, the World Wrestling Federation, and his first major angle with the company is probably the most controversial in the company’s history.
Knowing the history between Pillman and Austin, WWF booked him in a feud with the Rattlesnake. As Pillman legitimately suffered a serious car crash, Austin attacked a hurt Pillman when Pillman started favoring Bret Hart over Austin. During one segment where Austin broke into Pillman’s house, the infamous ‘Pillman’s got a gun’ angle took place, during which it was made to look like Pillman had shot Austin, and he even blurted out expletives on a live show, which meant that it couldn’t be edited out. After this, Pillman became a member of the Hart Foundation, along with Bret, Owen, British Bulldog and Jim Neidhart.
Pillman had undergone nearly 40 surgeries on his throat since being a kid to cure his throat cancer, and he has since become one of the greatest characters in the history of the industry. Pillman tragically passed away in his hotel room on the day of Badd Blood PPV in ’97, and he was scheduled to face Dude Love on the card. Vince McMahon let the fans know about the death during the broadcast. Pillman will be known as one of the most entertaining performers in the history of the industry, and is still remembered fondly by the fans and the wrestling fraternity alike.
