Mike Sharpe: Difference between revisions

| image = Mike Sharpe 1985.png

| names = “Iron” Mike Sharpe<br/>Mike Sharpe<br/>Mike Sharpe Jr.

| debut = 19751973

'''Michael Sharpe''' (October 28, 1951 – January 17, 2016) was a Canadian [[Professional wrestling|professional wrestler]] better known as "'''"Iron'''" '''Mike Sharpe'''. A second-generation wrestler whose father and uncle ([[The Sharpe Brothers|Mike and Ben Sharpe]]) also competed in the profession, Sharpe was a mainstay for various territories throughout the United States and became a regular for both the [[World Wrestling Federation]] and [[New Japan Pro-Wrestling]]. After his retirement from in-ring competition he opened a wrestling school in [[Brick, New Jersey]], where he trained wrestlers such as [[Charlie Haas]] and [[Mike Bucci|Nova]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wwe.com/inside/iron-mike-sharpe-passes-away|title="Iron" Mike Sharpe passes away|website=WWE|language=en|access-date=2018-12-24}}</ref>

Sharpe came from a family legacy of wrestling, as his [[The Sharpe Brothers|father and uncle]] were a successful tag team in the 1950s, recognized as champions from San Francisco to Japan.<ref>{{Cite book|last=III|first=Harris M. Lentz|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QjGSCgAAQBAJ&q=the+sharpe+brothers+ben+and+mike&pg=PA315#v=snippet&q=the%20sharpe%20brothers%20ben%20and%20mike&f=false|title=Biographical Dictionary of Professional Wrestling, 2d ed.|date=2015-09-15|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-1-4766-0505-0|language=en}}</ref> He grew up in California, but moved with his mother back to Canada as a teenager. In high school, he dabbled in boxing and weightlifting before choosing to follow in his father's footsteps.<ref name="Position">{{Cite web|last=Position|first=The Gorilla|date=2019-01-17|title=IN MEMORIAM: IRON MIKE SHARPE|url=https://thegorillaposition.com/memoriam-mike-sharpe-0117/|access-date=2021-06-20|website=The Gorilla Position|language=en-US}}</ref>

[[The Missing Link (wrestler)|Dewey Robertson]] trained him for the ring at age 25 and shortly thereafter Sharpe made his mark wrestling for promotions around Canada such as [[Gene Kiniski]]'s [[NWA All Star Wrestling]]. He became a two-time NWA Canadian tag team champion, partnering first with [[Moose Morowski]] and later with [[Salvatore Bellomo]], and also won the Pacific Coast Heavyweight Title. His career picked up steam after moving to Louisiana, where he became a fan favorite and won two different [[Mid-South Wrestling]] belts - Louisiana champion (two times) and the Mississippi title (also two times) along with a Brass Knucks title in 1979.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Mike Sharpe - OWW|url=http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/bios/m/mike-sharpe/|access-date=2021-06-20|website=Online World of Wrestling|language=en-US}}</ref> He worked for [[Stampede Wrestling]] in Calgary from 1980 to 1981,<ref>{{Cite web|last=Greer|first=Jamie|date=2016-01-18|title=Iron Mike Sharpe: Remembering Canada's Greatest Athlete|url=https://lastwordonsports.com/2016/01/18/the-death-of-the-jobber-remembering-canadas-greatest-athlete/|access-date=2021-06-20|website=Last Word on Sports|language=en-US}}</ref> where he held the Stampede International Tag Team Championship.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Grattan|first=Jenni|title=Stampede Wrestling|url=https://www.kayfabememories.com/Regions/stampede/stampede10.htm|url-status=live|website=Kayfabe Memories}}</ref>

In February 1983, Sharpe entered the [[World Wrestling Entertainment|World Wrestling Federation]] where he would stay until his retirement in 1995. He was a regular of WWF programming throughout the mid-1980s and early 1990s. He was announced and self-proclaimed as "Canada's greatest athlete" (a nickname taken from Kiniski).<ref>{{Cite web|last=Press|firstagency=The Canadian Press|date=Jan 19, 2016|title=Iron Mike Sharpe, 'Canada's Greatest Athlete,' has died|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/headlines/iron-mike-sharpe-canada-s-greatest-athlete-has-died-1.3409830|url-status=live|website=CBC}}</ref> In 1984, [[MacLeanMaclean's]] verified Sharpe's claim to the title of being Canada's Greatest Athlete, which he held until 1990) and was further distinguished by his near-constant yelling and grunting throughout his matches, as well as a black brace on his right forearm, supposedly protecting an injury but more widely believed to contain a foreign object. Initially in his WWF career he was managed by [[Lou Albano|Captain Lou Albano]] and received a sizeable [[push (professional wrestling)|push]], regularly defeating [[Job (professional wrestling)|jobbers]] after smashing them with his forearm. This culminated on April 30, 1983, with a match against world heavyweight champion [[Bob Backlund]] at the [[Wachovia Spectrum|Philadelphia Spectrum]], where Sharpe was defeated and would never reach such main event heights again.<ref>{{Cite web|title=WWE Statement On "Iron" Mike Sharpe Passing Away|url=https://www.wrestlinginc.com/news/2016/01/wwe-statement-on-iron-mike-sharpe-passing-away-606795/|access-date=2021-06-20|website=Wrestling Inc.|date=18 January 2016 |language=en-US}}</ref> In fact, Sharpe would never hold a title for the promotion, and was primarily used as a jobber to rising WWF stars in television tapings.

While Sharpe's television appearances were always as the role of a jobber, and victories even at house shows were rare, he chalked up quite a few untelevised victories between 1984 and 1988. Sharpe had a few more memorable moments over his WWF career. He appeared on ''[[Piper's Pit]]'' in 1984, provided the opposition in [[Ivan Putski]]'s 1987 comeback match at [[Madison Square Garden]], and pinned [[Boris Zhukov]] to reach the second round of the 1988 [[King Of The Ring]] tournament. And though he wrestled as a [[heel (professional wrestling)|heel]] in the WWF, Sharpe was also the tag team partner of [[Hulk Hogan]] during a tour of Japan against stars of [[New Japan Pro-Wrestling]] in early 1984 (Hogan was a heel in Japan). Sharpe also competed briefly as a fan favorite in late 1988, with televised victories over [[Steve Lombardi]] and [[Barry Horowitz]]. Sharpe also wrestled in the [[New Japan Pro Wrestling]] and [[Continental Wrestling Association]] (CWA) in Memphis during late 1984 and early 1985, holding their [[NWA Mid-America Heavyweight Championship]]. In 1991, Sharpe did not wrestle for the WWF instead worked in New Jersey and Germany. His last televised match was on June 6, 1995, in a losing tag-team effort with [[Gillberg (wrestler)|Duane Gill]] against [[the Smoking Gunns]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.profightdb.com/wrestlers/iron-mike-sharpe-1168.html |title=Iron Mike Sharpe: Profile & Match Listing|publisher=Internet Wrestling Database |access-date=2018-09-06}}</ref>

After leaving the WWF, Sharpe continued to wrestle in the independent circuit. On May 11, 1996, he competed in a match for the [[Mid-Eastern Wrestling Federation]] where he was defeated by [[Nikolai Volkoff]], and lost to [[Virgil (wrestler)|Virgil]] on June 22. He faced against [[Bam Bam Bigelow]] on June 2, 1996, for New Jack City Wrestling where Bigelow was the winner. On December 7, 1996, Sharpe was defeated by [[Bill Eadie|Ax]] at USA Pro. He lost to [[King Kong Bundy]] on April 20, 1997 at New Jack City Wrestling in New Jersey. Sharpe's last match was on November 15, 1997, Mid-Eastern Wrestling Federation where he was defeated by [[George Steele]].<ref>{{cite web|title=George Steele defeats Iron Mike Sharpe (7:10)|url=https://www.cagematch.net/?id=2&nr=1261&page=4&year=1997&search=11.1997|website=cagematch.net}}</ref>

For some time after his retirement Sharpe had made his living teaching aspiring wrestlers at Mike Sharpe's School of Pro-Wrestling located in Brick, New Jersey and later Asbury Park, New Jersey<ref name=Encyclopedia>{{cite book|title=WWE Encyclopedia|last1=Shields|first1=Brian|last2=Sullivan|first2=Kevin|page=[https://archive.org/details/wweencyclopediad0000shie/page/140 140]|publisher=[[Dorling Kindersley|DK]]|year=2009|isbn=978-0-7566-4190-0|url=https://archive.org/details/wweencyclopediad0000shie/page/140}}</ref> (the school has since closed). Among the better known of his protégés are [[Mike Bucci]], [[Crowbar (wrestler)|Chris FordCrowbar]] and [[the Haas Brothers]], [[Charlie Haas|Charlie]] and [[Russ Haas|Russ]].

Sharpe was described in at least three books by former wrestling personalities; [[Dynamite Kid]], Hulk Hogan and [[Gary Michael Cappetta]], and by longtime WWF wrestler-commentator [[Gorilla Monsoon]], as having shown characteristics of [[obsessive-compulsive disorder]], as evidenced by a preoccupation with cleanliness that caused him to spend hours washing his hands or showering at arenas and meticulously folding and re-folding his clothing. According to Cappetta, Sharpe's behavior earned him the nickname "Mr. Clean" among his co-workers.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Cappetta|first=Gary Michael|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U2L_ud6cFNQC&newbks=0&printsec=frontcover&pg=PA61&dqq=iron+mike+sharpe+clean&hlpg=enPA61|title=Bodyslams!: Memoirs of a Wrestling Pitchman|date=2006-01-10|publisher=ECW Press|isbn=978-1-55022-709-3|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2001-09-18|title=The clean story on Iron Mike Sharpe|url=https://slamwrestling.net/index.php/2001/09/17/slam-wrestling-canadian-hall-of-fame-iron-mike-sharpe/|access-date=2021-06-20|website=Slam Wrestling|language=en-US}}</ref> At a televised house show in the [[Boston Garden]] in March 1986, Monsoon even joked to fellow commentator [[Lord Alfred Hayes]] that Sharpe had the first match of the night at a previous Boston show, and was still in the showers when they locked up later that night forcing him to spend the night in the arena.<ref>{{Cite web|lastname="Position|first=The Gorilla|date=2019-01-17|title=IN MEMORIAM: IRON MIKE SHARPE|url=https:"//thegorillaposition.com/memoriam-mike-sharpe-0117/|access-date=2021-06-20|website=The Gorilla Position|language=en-US}}</ref> During his WWF career, many commentators also noted that other than his obsessive cleaning, Sharpe was also obsessed with physical fitness and that if he was not in the ring or in the showers, he would be working out.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Andrew Soucek|date=2017-09-23|title=WRITTEN PODCAST RECAP: Something to Wrestle on Randy Savage, Relationship with Andre, the Mega Powers, “Iron”"Iron" Mike Sharpe's OCD, Pomp and Circumstance, what Randy thought of Jay Lethal's impression, and much more. Part 1 of 2. (Ep. 64)|url=https://www.pwpodcasts.com/2017/09/23/written-podcast-recap-something-wrestle-randy-savage-relationship-andre-mega-powers-iron-mike-sharpes-ocd-pomp-circumstance-randy-thought-jay-lethal/|access-date=2021-06-20|website=PWPodcasts|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|title=Lanny Poffo on Iron Mike Sharpe's OCD| date=12 November 2018 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAlE-z5hg6M |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/PAlE-z5hg6M |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|language=en|access-date=2021-06-20}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

In 2007 he returned to Hamilton to live with his aging mother. That summer while doing a landscaping job he suffered a deep cut to his leg which became infected.<ref>{{Cite news|date=2016-01-19|title=Wrestling star, Iron Mike Sharp, died in his Hamilton apartment at 64|language=en|work=The Hamilton Spectator|url=https://www.thespec.com/sports/hamilton-region/2016/01/19/wrestling-star-iron-mike-sharp-died-in-his-hamilton-apartment-at-64.html|access-date=2021-06-20|issn=1189-9417}}</ref> He becamebegan confined tousing a wheelchair and ended up living in a basement apartment where he became a recluse. Other health problems developed along the way.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Legendary wrestler Iron Mike Sharpe dead at 67|url=https://torontosun.com/2016/01/18/legendary-wrestler-iron-mike-sharpe-dead-at-67|access-date=2021-06-20|website=torontosun|language=en-CA}}</ref> Only in 2015 did he allow a videocamera to record him as part of a tribute to [[Angelo Mosca Sr.]] Sharpe died on January 17, 2016, in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada at the age of 64.<ref>[https://slamwrestling.net/index.php/2016/01/18/iron-mike-sharpe-dead-at-67/ "Iron Mike Sharpe dead at 67", by Greg Oliver, ''Slam! Wrestling'']</ref>

{{Stampede Wrestling International Tag Team Championship|state=collapsed}}