Former star Mike Graham passes away

On a somber note, the wrestling world received some very sad news this past week. Former wrestler and Florida mainstay Mike Graham, died on October 19th after a self-inflicted gun shot wound to the head. He was 61 years old.

Graham was an active competitor across three different decades, starting in the 1970s and working all the way through the 1990s before he decided to step away from the ring. During that time, Graham worked for his father’s (Eddie Graham) Championship Wrestling From Florida, which was an NWA (National Wrestling Alliance) affiliate at the time. Trained by his father, Boris Malenko (father of Dean Malenko) and Hiro Matsuda, Graham plied his trade in the area throughout the decade, capturing several tag team titles with the likes of Steve Keirn (aka “Skinner”) and Barry Windham.

During the 80s, Graham got promoted to more major companies, working for the AWA (American Wrestling Association) and Jim Crockett Promotions, later known as WCW. While in the AWA, he won a pair of Light Heavyweight Championships, and during a brief return to Florida, won tag team gold with Dustin Rhodes, better known to today’s fans as former WWE star Goldust.

In the early 90s, Graham began easing back on his wrestling career, focusing more on the behind-the-scenes aspect of the sport. He became a road agent in WCW, and later a trainer at the Power Plant, WCW’s official wrestling school. Throughout his career, Graham netted nearly 3 dozen regional or national championships, certainly no small feat.

Although he never worked for WWE during his time as an active competitor, in 2006 he began to work for the company, appearing on a DVD documentary about “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes. He later began working for their 24/7 Classics On-Demand network, hosting old episodes of Championship Wrestling From Florida (the pre-cursor to the current NXT promotion). In 2008, Eddie Graham was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, and Mike accepted the honor on behalf of him.

While it’s certainly sad when a wrestler dies, especially when they are still healthy and seemingly have a lot of time left, Mike Graham’s case is especially sad when you look at his family history. His father died in a similar manner in 1985, after a near life-long battle with alcoholism. Mike’s son also committed suicide several years later, with a self-inflicted gunshot wound being the cause of death there as well.

To make matters worse, this struck many as a surprise due to Mike’s candid opinions of Chris Benoit. Mike Graham, on several occasions, stated how disgusting Benoit’s actions were, and condemned him for not only murdering his family, but taking the coward’s way out and committing suicide.

Mike is survived by his wife.