1980s WWE Alumnus Rusty Brooks Passes Away

Rusty Brooks, who had a long history of working as an enhancement talent in the WWE in the 1980s, has passed away. PWInsider reports that Brooks passed away just a few days after his 63rd birthday. He had been dealing with some healthy issues and underwent surgery a few weeks back, but there’s no word on his cause of death at this time.

Brooks’ wrestling career ran 20 years, starting in the early 1980s. Trained by Boris Malenko and Jim Isler, he worked his debut match for the World Wrestling Association in a match against Steve Brody on Halloween in 1982. He had signed with the WWF a couple of years later and worked as a heel enhancement talent, with matches against the likes of Tony Parisi, Andre the Giant, Ricky Steamboat, Jake Roberts and The Junkyard Dog, and had a televised match in 1985 against Hulk Hogan. Often teaming with Steve Lombardi and Barry O, he would face teams like the British Bulldogs.

After leaving the WWF in 1985, he worked a host of independent promotions. Among them was IWCCW, where he had the gimmick of Super Duper Mario. He found success in Global Championship Wrestling where he and Jumbo Barretta won the Tag Team Championships, and worked for Future Of Wrestling in the 1990s through the early ’00s. He won the FOW Hardcore Championship and FOW Heavyweight Championship, and eventually retired in 2002.

Brooks also trained wrestlers out of his Rusty Brooks Pro-Wrestling Academy, training the likes of Gangrel, Norman Smiley, Luna Vachon, Konnor, and MVP.

On behalf of 411, our condolences to the family, friends, and fans of Mr. Brooks. He will be missed.