Gary, I know you`ll be reading this later,
so
I just wanted to thank you for making
me a fan
of UWFi, you see, during 93-94 all I
cared
was the WWF,WCW, when I saw you and
Takada in
UWFi I loved it as well and now because
of it,
I never miss an update for the japanese
wrestling scene and try to see as much videos
as I can, because I just love wrestling,
and
thanks to you I can enjoy everything
in wrestling, from shoots to worked.
I followed your career from when you
started in
UWFi as it was aired in Israel and later
followed you from All-Japan, early in
99 I
found this message board and was honored
to
get answers on several questions by
you, thank
you for that.
Gary know that you`ve reached hearts
all over
the world and I`m a good example as
I followed
you even from Israel where nobody sees/cares
about wrestling anymore.
I still can`t believe it, I was looking
to read
about you in Zach Arnold`s puroresu
power column
and how you`d do in the Excite series.
I just can`t believe it, you answered
me once
how you where happy being part of the
Samoans
and where happy being with the most
beautiful
samoan girl-your wife, and it filled
my heart
with joy hearing that and now you won`t
be able
to share love again.
There`re so many things I`d`ve said to
you,
but it`s only 5 minutes ago I read the
tragic
news and still can`t believe it.
Gary, you are a great wrestler, you set
new
standards for many young wrestlers,
some I
know off and I while I wish your wife
and
family my deepest condolences, I wish
you
to meet all the great wrestlers in Heaven
and
have a run as Heaven`s World Heavyweight
champ.
Goodbye Gary, Arigato, hope someday I`ll
see ya.
Thanks for the memories, I will keep
them near
my heart.
Gery Roif
Albright was working a WXW show in Hazelton PA promoted by Afa "The Wild
Samoan" when he reportedly collapsed in the ring. Albright was married
to one of
Afa's daughters.
Albright was involved in the show as part of the "Millenium Tournament"
and was
working a match with Lucifer Grimm (William Owens).
According to Adam Randis, who attended the event, here is what happened.
"He
wrestled at about the 5th match into the card, and it was roughly 9:30.
Albright
was wrestling Lucifer Grimm, in the tournament. The match progressed as
usual,
but then Albright attempted a German Suplex, Grimm elbowed out and delivered
an Ace Crusher, Albright slumped and did not move. Let us stress
that the move
was not performed incorrectly. Grimm saw something was wrong when
he tried to
communicate with the downed Albright, and rolled him on top of himself
to give
Albright the pin. At this point, from what I could see, Gary was still
breathing.
Grimm got up and called for some help, and many wrestlers and ring crew
jumped
in, Albright stopped breathing, and one wrestler, the Mad Russian (trained
in CPR)
began resuscitation as an ambulance was called."
CPR was continued until the ambulance arrived, and medical personnel took
over
the resuscitation effort.
Randis describes what happened next, "As the Russian continued the CPR,
a
medical person of some kind (EMT, I assume) came in and hooked Albright
up to
a defibulator and heart monitor in the ring. I had a clear view of the
monitor, and
Albright had flatlined. They loaded him onto the gurney and took him away
as I
overheard the EMT say to the Mad Russian that he was going to be hooked
up to
a heart machine to try to jump start him, but it looked very bad."
The remainder of the show was cancelled and the crowd sat praying as Albright
was taken from the building.
Albright was said to have been diabetic. There is no cause of death known
right
now.
The entire staff of 1Wrestling.com sends condolences to the family and
friends of
Gary Albright.
Understandably, WXW has cancelled their scheduled show tonight in Allentown,
PA.
6'4", 360 pound All Japan wrestler Gary Albright died on Friday night at a Pennsylvania independent show promoted by Afa "The Wild" Samoan. Albright was only 36 years old.
Born in Lincoln, Nebraska on May 18, 1963, Albright was a former amateur wrestling state champion while he was at Nebraska from 1981-1986. A 3-time All American, Albright was fortunate enough to be trained by greats such as UWF Japan Snake Pit owner Billy Robinson, Danny Hodge, & Lou Thesz.
Albright made his pro-wrestling debut in December of 1987 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Albright was a former All Japan World Tag Team champion with partner Steve "Dr. Death" Williams. There had been talk of a possible reconstruction of "T.O.P" with Albright & Williams.
On a personal note, I had a chance to talk to Gary Albright on a few occasions and found him to be a very nice, respectful person who was willing to talk with me on just about any subject. While I always tried to keep any of my conversations with him wrestling-oriented, Gary was nice enough to talk about almost any issue to me.
There were several times where I could remember some key points that we had talked about. One of those points was about the Japanese wrestling media. "It's a love/hate relationship with you guys" he would tell me after I read an article that he had written bashing Dave Meltzer for giving star ratings. Gary would tell me, however, that if it wasn't for people like Meltzer who brought Japanese coverage to American fans that there wouldn't be many American supporters of Japanese wrestling.
Gary had spoke very highly of his friend, Johnny Smith. Gary was excited about the proposition of perhaps he and Smith working together with the Samoans in Montana and other states this upcoming March. It's too bad that Gary didn't get the chance to do it.
I remember talking to Gary a few times when he was in Japan on his off days. He was a fantasy hockey nut, but most importantly, in our conversations, he didn't forget about the people who helped him out in the business. He spoke very highly of Billy Robinson and said that he felt sorry about Robinson suffering from arthritis and how much it had to hurt.
When I mentioned shoot-fighting, Gary was pretty interested in talking about it. He told me once that if UFC had offered the right kind of money that he would have done a real fight in the Octagon. I also remember some of the stories Gary would tell me about Kiyoshi Tamura, and how he remarked that Tamura had the smallest hands that he had ever seen in wrestling.
Gary, like a lot of other workers, made sure that he took nothing for granted in the Japanese wrestling business. However, he had been recently assured that his job security in the All Japan promotion had been safe. I understand that he had a lot of critics and that some of the criticisms were justified, but I enjoyed watching the guy work in wrestling matches. The last time that I recall talking to Gary, I had mentioned to him about a tag match that he did in July of 1999. He had been teaming with Vader against Jun Akiyama & Kenta Kobashi, who was coming back from a bad nose injury and had a protective mask on. I told Gary that I thought the match was entertaining and he agreed with me that it came off pretty well.
I know that the Internet is criticized a lot for a false sense of glorification of their feelings towards wrestlers who have died that they had no personal connection with. I'm not saying that I was a close, personal friend of Albright, but from the conversations that I, along with a lot of people had with him, were very unique and interesting to me.
My most intriguing conversation with Gary, however, dealt with the struggles of being on the road. He constantly talked to me about how the guys were tired already a few days into the Tag League tournament. He also remarked that "Izzy" (Jun Izumida) had really picked up his game in October and that he was pretty happy about it. The one thing Gary told me a lot about was the aspect of humor and how the guys really needed a sense of humor, due to the business being so stressful and serious. Gary was a straight-shooter to everyone and unlike many wrestlers in the business who are always constantly saying negative things or total lies, he didn't resort to that at all. I appreciated it a lot.
Strangely enough, when I was talking to Gary in October
of 1999, we had then at the time agreed that in the future we would do
a "formal" interview and would put it on the Internet. Unfortunately, I
never had the chance to do that "formal" interview. However, that doesn't
matter to me in the end. Maybe that's trivial at best, maybe not. However,
I truly will miss Gary Albright as a wrestler and as someone who respected
other people. I think that's probably the highest compliment that I could
say about someone who I don't know on a personal level.
Zach Arnold
The Stampede Wrestling promotion and the Hart family has lost another graduate far too early.
Following the deaths of former Stampede stars like Brian Pillman and Owen Hart comes the passing of Gary Albright, known for part of his time in Stampede as Volkan Singh, half-brother of Makhan Singh (Mike Shaw) and a part of the dreaded Karachi Vice.
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| Gary Albright. Photo courtesy the wonderful Puroresu Hall of Fame. |
Albright went through a feeling out process on pro wrestling with legends like Billy Robinson, Danny Hodge, Lou Thesz and Bruce Swayze before hooking up with Stampede.
"He was pretty green when we had him here," recalled Ross Hart. "We knew that he had the raw talent. We encouraged him to exploit his mat wrestling. He could do some just beautiful front belly-to-belly, and back suplexes."
Bruce Hart said it was Brian Pillman who was instrumental in Albright arriving in Calgary. A friend from Albright's days at the University of Nebraska (1981-1986) knew Pillman from their days together at the Cincinnati Bengals. That friend contacted Pillman on Albright's behalf.
Albright kept in touch with Bruce over the years.
"It's funny, I spoke to Gary, ironically, about a day or two before Owen died, touching base, shooting the s***, you know," said Bruce.
In Stampede Wrestling, Albright started out as a babyface, before joining Karachi Vice. Eventually, he won the tag titles with Makhan Singh, beating the British Bulldogs December 30, 1988 and losing the titles to Chris Benoit and Biff Wellington on April 8, 1989.
| ALBRIGHT QUICK FACTS |
|---|
|
University of Nebraska (1981-1986) Record: 112-19-4 (70 by pin) 3 time All-American Big 8 Champion Big 8 All-Academic team Freestyle and Greco-Roman U.S. team member from 1981-1984 1982 National Open Freestyle champion 1981 World Greco-Roman Elite champion Member of Sunkist Kids national championship team Held numerous FS and GR titles - courtesy www.GaryAlbright.com |
Albright left Stampede in April 1989 for South Africa, then to the southern States. Bruce Hart hooked him up with the go-between in the United States for the UWFI in Japan, and Albright was off to compete in the new, ultimate fighting style of wrestling.
He was an "excellent freestyle wrestler," said Ross Hart. "I remember his greco-roman wrestling, his on-the-mat wrestling, which was quite phenomenal. We knew that if wrestling kind of went in that direction, which it certainly did with the Ultimate Fighting ... that was an area in which he would excel in. He had the credentials, he had the size and he had the discipline still to be a good showman in the ring and not carry it too far and actually hurt other performers."
From 1992 to 1995, Albright, Vader and Nobuhiko Takada were the three stars of UWFI (Union Of Wrestling Force International), trading wins amongst each other. In 1995, UWFI was the hottest promotion in Japan, with the largest average house show attendance in the world. The UWFI -- a strong style/work promotion, had the appearance of being legit with only a little of the showmanship normally associated with pro wrestling. Albright, along with Vader, played the invading foreign heel against the top star Takada, seen as spoiling the purity of Japanese strong style wrestling.
"I think he was quite content to wrestle in Japan. They let him wrestle his style," said Ross Hart. "He was always exceptionally noted for that, that ultimate-type fighter. He never wrestled out of character, which I always admired about him. That's why you never did see him go to the WWF or WCW. I think he would have been a great acquisition there, but I think he thought it would infringe on his style too much. That they would have had him set all his technique aside, and he would have had to give up that art, which he wasn't prepared to do."
When the UWFI folded, Albright went to All Japan was immediately put into matches with the top Japanese stars like Toshiaka Kawada, Kenta Kobashi, Akira Taue and Mitsuhara. For Albright to have been put into programs with the top stars, along with the top foreign stars like Stan Hansen and Steve Williams was a major accomplishment and sign that All Japan promoter Giant Baba respected his work with UWFI. The last couple of years has seen Albright work mainly in Japan, but occasionally on independent shows in the United States. He was married to Monica Anoai, the daughter of Afa the Wild Samoan #1.