Dennis Stamp Passes Away at Sixty-Eight

– Dennis Stamp, who worked extensively throughout the territory era of the 1970s and 1980s for the AWA and NWA, has reportedly passed away. The Wrestling Observer reports that Stamp passed away following his lengthy struggle with cancer, which had gone into remission but returned late last year. He was sixty-eight at the time of his passing.

Stamp grew up in Brainerd, Minnesota and was a wrestler in high school, having won the 1965 Minnesota State High School Wrestling Championship in the 175 pound weight class. He went into professional wrestling, signing with the AWA in 1971 and being named the company’s rookie of the year. He would eventually move over to the NWA territories and held the NWA Tri-State Tag Team Championship on two occasions, as well as the Television Champion for NWA’s Los Angeles territory. He worked as a heel in the mid-1970s for Dory Funk’s territory and was a four-time Western States Tag Team Champion as well winning the Brass Knuckles Championship several times.

He jumped back to the AWA in the 1980s and primarily worked to put major stars over. Among younger fans he is most remembered for his appearance in Beyond the Mat, where he was refereeing one of Funk’s retirement matches. His repeated use of the phrase “I’m not booked” made him the subject of several memes and wrestling in-jokes.

You can see some posts from the wrestling industry reacting to the passing below. On behalf of 411, our condolences to the family, friends and fans of Mr. Stamp.

RIP Dennis Stamp. I had the pleasure of tagging with him in his 1st match since 91. He borrowed my ring gear that night.Will never forget u! pic.twitter.com/Nwya2SzUbr

— GRADO (@gradowrestling) March 13, 2017

News of Dennis Stamp passing.
Sad.
This was a poem he read for me after we podcasted.
Enjoy pic.twitter.com/iDC4JuqCRC

— Colt Cabana🦦 (@ColtCabana) March 13, 2017

He is forever booked in heaven
RIP Dennis Stamp
He shared some great Terry Funk stories w/me the few times we met.
Beyond the Mat pic.twitter.com/edvvDWf0iK

— Tommy Dreamer (@THETOMMYDREAMER) March 13, 2017