Eddie Gilbert (wrestler)

Gilbert wanted to become a professional wrestler by the second grade,[3] and wrote articles and took photographs for newsstand and ringside magazines as a way to become involved in the business.[3][4] He was once rumored to have missed his own high school graduation so he could make it to Memphis to lose in the first match on the undercard at the Mid-South Coliseum.[5] After graduating from high school,[4] he made his debut in 1977 in the Memphis, Tennessee-based Continental Wrestling Association as "Tommy Gilbert Jr." in honor of his father, Tommy Gilbert.[3][2] On February 10, 1979, he and Ricky Reed defeated Jake Dalton and Haiti Charlie.[4] In 1980, he and his father won the AWA Southern Tag Team Championship.[1][5]

He spent time in the World Wrestling Federation as an enhancement talent in 1982, before being promoted to mid-card status.[1][4] During this time period, he was touted as the protege of then WWF Champion Bob Backlund.[6] He continued to work his way up the card when he was seriously injured in a car accident in 1983, suffering severe injuries to his neck, arms and back.[3][4] Some doctors told him he would never be able to wrestle again.[5] Despite this, he spent several months recovering before returning to the ring, and his injuries were so severe that he needed plastic surgery, which Gilbert disguised by growing a beard.[4] Upon his return, he stated on television that Backlund had been a tremendous inspiration to him. At a September 1983 TV taping, Gilbert's neck was (in storyline) reinjured by the Masked Superstar who executed two neckbreakers to Gilbert in the ring to win a match and a third on the floor ringside afterwards, resulting in Gilbert being stretchered from the ring and taken away in an ambulance.[5] Gilbert continued wrestling for the WWF until 1984.[1]

Later, he began making a name for himself as Eddie Gilbert for the CWA in Memphis, Tennessee.[3][1] He teamed with his father and Ricky Morton over the following years.[1] In addition, he formed a team with Tommy Rich as "Fargo's Fabulous Ones", an attempt by CWA (Memphis) to bury and still cash in on the fame attained by the previous incarnation of the Fabulous Ones, Steve Keirn and Stan Lane, who walked out of the territory after a dispute.[1][3] They held the AWA Southern Tag Team titles in 1984 until dropping them to Phil Hickerson and the Spoiler (Frank Morrell).[1] The duo would break up soon after, with Gilbert turning heel in the process.[3] The two had a brief but intense feud, which memorably began on television when the two were presented with a "Tag Team of the Year" award by announcer Lance Russell and two guests. Gilbert, unaware his former partner was at the taping, badmouthed Rich, then the International Heavyweight Champion, until Rich came out to confront him. Rich immediately got the upper hand, running Gibert into the steel ringpost several times, bloodying him in the process before the cameras went to a commercial. After the commercial break, Gilbert told Russell he wanted Rich to come back out so he could apologize to him in person, stating he was wrong for still being bitter about the break-up of the team, and was fueled by jealousy of Rich's championship title reign and newfound star status. When Rich accepted Gilbert's apology, Gilbert suddenly turned on him and, in front of a stunned audience and a speechless Russell, rammed Rich's head into the ringpost, just as Rich had done to him moments earlier.[5]

In 1985, Gilbert went to work for Bill Watts at the Universal Wrestling Federation (then known as Mid-South Wrestling), and adopted the nickname "Hot Stuff".[1][5] He started a heel stable of wrestlers called "Hot Stuff International, Inc.", consisting of Sting (Blade Runner Sting), Ultimate Warrior (Blade Runner Rock) and Rick Steiner.[2] He stole Missy Hyatt from John Tatum in 1986, with his stable being renamed "H & H International, Inc."[5] Iceman Parsons and Dick Murdoch would also join his stable later on at different times as well.[1] Sting would eventually leave the stable upon turning face and feud with them. Eddie also worked as a booker, who came up with the famous Battle of New Orleans angle in late-1987 involving Chris Adams, Terry Taylor, Sting, and himself.[4] Following a match in which Taylor defeated Shane Douglas due to interference by both Gilbert and Rick Steiner, Adams told referee Randy Anderson of the interference. As Adams pleaded his case with Anderson, Gilbert and Taylor attacked him, and Sting eventually evened the sides. The angle eventually spilled outside the ring into the stands, and near the concession area, featuring a huge brawl involving beer kegs, chairs, trash cans, tables, popcorn machines and other objects.[5] Gilbert was awarded Best Booker of 1988 by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. He would stay with the UWF until its purchase by Jim Crockett Promotions in April 1987.[2]

From there, Gilbert worked in Alabama's Continental Wrestling Federation (CWF), where he reformed Hot Stuff Inc.[5] Gilbert also served as booker, with Paul Heyman as his assistant.[3][2] The CWF was broadcast nationally on the Financial News Network, and Gilbert's creative work was widely praised by wrestling journalists.[4] However, Gilbert left due to conflicts with management.[4][2]

Gilbert went to the NWA's Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP) -- which had purchased the UWF—and brought Hyatt, Heyman and his brother Doug Gilbert with him.[2] Eddie teamed with Rick Steiner to feud with Kevin Sullivan and his Varsity Club. He also became involved in a feud with Ric Flair and Barry Windham in which he teamed with Ricky Steamboat and Lex Luger. Gilbert was told at one point that he would be a member of the Four Horsemen, which he considered the pinnacle of his career, but this did not happen.[5] Near the end of his stint there, JCP was renamed World Championship Wrestling.[1]

Eddie left WCW in April 1990 and also divorced Hyatt. He went back to the independents where he could book again.[2] He worked for the United States Wrestling Association (USWA) in Memphis (where he feuded with Jerry Lawler)[6] and the Global Wrestling Federation (GWF), as well as Philadelphia's Tri-State Wrestling Alliance promotion.[1][2] Gilbert's most famous feud in the Memphis territory involved an angle between himself and Lawler in September 1990.[6] Eddie and his brother Doug were "fired" from the promotion, and in retaliation hit Lawler with their car and fled the scene. Numerous home viewers, fearing for Lawler, immediately called the police to report what they had just seen as a legitimate vehicular assault. Lawler had to inform the police what was going on and Lawler was forced to appear on television (while selling his "injuries") sooner than intended out of concern that Gilbert would have been legitimately arrested if he didn't show on TV that he was all right.[1][3][5]

Gilbert quit the USWA in January 1991.[1] The on air story was that he had chosen to leave the promotion rather than be injured by Jim Cornette and The Fabulous Ones.[5][7] Due to a pay dispute, Gilbert, along with his brother Doug (who wrestled under a mask as the Dark Patriot) left the GWF in 1992.[8][5] Eddie Gilbert took with him the GWF North American Heavyweight Championship belt. He made a few defenses of the title in the USWA as the GWF World Heavyweight champion, despite being stripped of the belt and not being recognized as such by the GWF.[1] Gilbert returned to the USWA until early 1995 when he worked one night for Smoky Mountain Wrestling before traveling to World Wrestling Council in Puerto Rico to wrestle and book.[1] His last wrestling match was against a bear.[5][8]

In 1993, Gilbert wrestled for NWA Eastern Championship Wrestling, where he again teamed with Doug. He also served as head booker for nearly six months, but gave up his position in September 1993 to Paul Heyman.[3][8] At one point, Gilbert owned 49% of the company.[8] Heyman would take the company in an even more extreme direction, and under the name Extreme Championship Wrestling just 11 months later which saw the company depart the NWA in controversial fashion. Due to ECW's notoriety under Heyman, the company quickly became the third biggest wrestling company in North America behind the WWF and WCW.[5]