WCCW and USWA Alumnus Jeff Gaylord Passes Away

Jeff Gaylord, who worked for WCCW, the USWA, the GWF and more, has passed away. Slam Wrestling reports that Gaylord passed following a short illness, as announced by his brother Joel. He was 64 years old.

Gaylord began wrestling in 1985 following a short-lived football career and debuted in the UWF. He was there as an undercard talent until 1989 and also worked some WWF shows as an enhancement talent, including a match on the April 16th, 1989 episode of WWF Wrestling Challenge where he teamed with Tim Horner against The Fabulous Rougeaus. He eventually moved onto WCCW where he had a run as “The Hood.” He found his most success in the USWA, where he had two runs with the USWA World Tag Team Championship alongside Jeff Jarrett.

Gaylord appeared on WWF Survivor Series 1993 as the Black Knight on Shawn Michaels’ team, and moved to the AWF after the USWA eventually shut down. He had a Tag Team Title run with Sunny Beach and was involved in a backstage fight with Eddie Gilbert, which Gilbert later said was done at owner Gordon Scozzari’s behest as revenge for now-showing the company’s debut TV tapings. Scozzari denied that.

Gaylord continued to work in the indies in the mid-1990s and was convicted of bank robbery in 2001, being sentenced to 78 months in prising. He would be arrested for a second time in relation to an attempted bank robbery in Monument, Colorado in 2009 and served time until 2015.

On behalf of 411, our condolences to the family, friends, and fans of Mr. Gaylord.