WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.439 Welcome to the deep dive. OK, let's just unpack 00:00:03.439 --> 00:00:05.799 this right away, because what we are looking 00:00:05.799 --> 00:00:09.060 at today isn't just a sports story, and it certainly 00:00:09.060 --> 00:00:11.740 isn't just a wrestling story. It's a profound, 00:00:12.480 --> 00:00:15.320 really layered human interest story. We're looking 00:00:15.320 --> 00:00:18.129 at a man who spent you know, the vast majority 00:00:18.129 --> 00:00:20.449 of his adult life on national television. Performing 00:00:20.449 --> 00:00:22.710 in front of millions of people. Exactly. Millions 00:00:22.710 --> 00:00:25.929 of screaming people. Yet somehow he managed to 00:00:25.929 --> 00:00:29.329 remain almost entirely hidden. Today we are diving 00:00:29.329 --> 00:00:33.170 into the life, the career, and the really intense 00:00:33.170 --> 00:00:35.670 private struggles of a man known to the world 00:00:35.670 --> 00:00:38.380 as Iron Mike Sharp. And what's truly fascinating 00:00:38.380 --> 00:00:41.700 here, at least to me, is the absolute dichotomy 00:00:41.700 --> 00:00:44.240 between the character you saw in the ring and 00:00:44.240 --> 00:00:45.740 the man who existed back in the locker room. 00:00:46.079 --> 00:00:47.820 Oh, absolutely. It's night and day. It really 00:00:47.820 --> 00:00:49.920 is. When you go through the massive stack of 00:00:49.920 --> 00:00:51.880 sources we've gathered for this deep dive, the 00:00:51.880 --> 00:00:54.560 encyclopedia entries, the historical championing 00:00:54.560 --> 00:00:57.539 lineages from the old regional territories, and 00:00:57.539 --> 00:01:00.240 especially the biographical anecdotes. Memoirs. 00:01:00.399 --> 00:01:02.520 Right. The memoirs pulled directly from wrestling 00:01:02.520 --> 00:01:05.379 legends. Guys of the Dynamite Kid, Hulk Hogan, 00:01:05.700 --> 00:01:08.120 announcer Gary Michael Capetta and Gorilla Monsoon. 00:01:09.180 --> 00:01:11.659 A very complex picture starts to emerge from 00:01:11.659 --> 00:01:14.480 all of that. We are looking at a performer whose 00:01:14.480 --> 00:01:19.219 public persona was just entirely defined by loud, 00:01:19.579 --> 00:01:22.060 aggressive, chaotic energy. I mean, he was a 00:01:22.060 --> 00:01:25.579 screaming brute. But his private life was governed 00:01:25.579 --> 00:01:28.959 by a vulnerable, almost paralyzing need for order 00:01:28.959 --> 00:01:31.540 and cleanliness. And that contrast is exactly 00:01:31.540 --> 00:01:33.260 what we're going to explore with you today. Because 00:01:33.260 --> 00:01:36.260 if you happen to be a casual fan who, say, watched 00:01:36.260 --> 00:01:38.560 wrestling on Saturday mornings in the 1980s or 00:01:38.560 --> 00:01:41.219 90s, you probably have a very specific memory 00:01:41.219 --> 00:01:43.579 of Mike Sharp. You remember him as a background 00:01:43.579 --> 00:01:45.719 player. Exactly. The industry term for it is 00:01:45.719 --> 00:01:47.799 a jobber. He was the giant screaming guy in the 00:01:47.799 --> 00:01:50.120 ring whose entire job was to lose. He lost to 00:01:50.120 --> 00:01:51.760 the rising stars to make them look good. Right. 00:01:51.980 --> 00:01:53.560 But looking through these documents we have, 00:01:53.739 --> 00:01:55.439 the narrative that he was just a career loser 00:01:55.439 --> 00:01:58.200 is completely shattered. He carried a massive 00:01:58.200 --> 00:02:01.239 historic family legacy. He held multiple regional 00:02:01.239 --> 00:02:04.500 championships. He was widely respected as an 00:02:04.500 --> 00:02:06.900 absolute master mechanic in the ring. Yes, he 00:02:06.900 --> 00:02:09.500 was. And he did all of this while fighting a 00:02:09.500 --> 00:02:12.900 severe daily battle with obsessive compulsive 00:02:12.900 --> 00:02:15.939 disorder. And he did it in what had to be one 00:02:15.939 --> 00:02:18.860 of the most chaotic, unhygienic work environments 00:02:18.860 --> 00:02:22.699 imaginable. It really forces a complete reevaluation 00:02:22.699 --> 00:02:25.879 of how we view the supporting cast in any form 00:02:25.879 --> 00:02:29.620 of entertainment. Yeah. I think to truly understand 00:02:29.620 --> 00:02:32.229 the psychology of Mike Sharp, And to understand 00:02:32.229 --> 00:02:34.789 why he embraced the specific role he played for 00:02:34.789 --> 00:02:36.990 so long, we really have to go all the way back 00:02:36.990 --> 00:02:39.050 to the beginning. Let's do it. Because his path 00:02:39.050 --> 00:02:41.270 into the squared circle was anything but typical, 00:02:41.349 --> 00:02:43.090 especially when you look at the family tree he 00:02:43.090 --> 00:02:45.349 was born into. So walk me through that early 00:02:45.349 --> 00:02:47.349 landscape. The Knights here mention he was born 00:02:47.349 --> 00:02:50.689 Michael Sharp on October 28, 1951 in Hamilton, 00:02:50.990 --> 00:02:53.409 Ontario, but he actually grew up in California. 00:02:53.469 --> 00:02:55.330 He did. And then he eventually moved back to 00:02:55.330 --> 00:02:58.830 Canada as a teenager. That is a lot of geographical 00:02:58.830 --> 00:03:01.449 bouncing around for a kid. But the most critical 00:03:01.449 --> 00:03:03.710 piece of the puzzle seems to be his lineage. 00:03:04.310 --> 00:03:06.530 His father and his uncle were already in the 00:03:06.530 --> 00:03:08.430 business, right? They weren't just in the business. 00:03:08.469 --> 00:03:11.490 They were royalty. Oh, yeah. His father, Mike 00:03:11.490 --> 00:03:14.289 Sharp Sr., and his uncle, Ben Sharp, were a massively 00:03:14.289 --> 00:03:17.129 successful tag team in the 1950s. To give you 00:03:17.129 --> 00:03:19.310 some context on what that actually means, the 00:03:19.310 --> 00:03:21.870 1950s was the golden age of television wrestling. 00:03:22.189 --> 00:03:25.069 Because of the post -war boom? Exactly. The post 00:03:25.069 --> 00:03:27.830 -war economic boom meant families were buying 00:03:27.830 --> 00:03:30.430 televisions for the very first time. And professional 00:03:30.430 --> 00:03:32.090 wrestling was one of the very first programs 00:03:32.090 --> 00:03:35.490 broadcast just to test the networks. The Sharp 00:03:35.490 --> 00:03:38.210 brothers were pioneers of that specific era. 00:03:38.370 --> 00:03:41.689 Wow. They were huge athletic men. And they were 00:03:41.689 --> 00:03:44.129 recognized as champions everywhere, from the 00:03:44.129 --> 00:03:46.250 bustling territory of San Francisco all the way 00:03:46.250 --> 00:03:48.509 over to Japan. I saw that in the notes, the Japan 00:03:48.509 --> 00:03:51.009 tours. Their tours of Japan are legendary. They 00:03:51.009 --> 00:03:53.810 wrestled with Godozan, who is essentially the 00:03:53.810 --> 00:03:55.789 godfather of Japanese professional wrestling. 00:03:55.930 --> 00:03:57.729 And they did it in front of crowds that brought 00:03:57.729 --> 00:04:00.379 the entire country to. I'm just trying to put 00:04:00.379 --> 00:04:02.099 myself in the shoes of a kid growing up with 00:04:02.099 --> 00:04:04.740 that shadow over him. Your father and your uncle 00:04:04.740 --> 00:04:07.259 are quite literally international superstars. 00:04:07.539 --> 00:04:10.919 Pioneers of a global industry. Right. Your last 00:04:10.919 --> 00:04:12.900 name is practically synonymous with the sport 00:04:12.900 --> 00:04:15.620 on two different continents. The expectation 00:04:15.620 --> 00:04:17.560 for you to follow in their footsteps must have 00:04:17.560 --> 00:04:19.339 been suffocating. And especially considering 00:04:19.339 --> 00:04:22.000 his physical size. Oh yeah. He eventually grew 00:04:22.000 --> 00:04:24.839 to be six feet four inches tall, weighing around 00:04:24.839 --> 00:04:29.220 283 pounds. He was built like a tank. With that 00:04:29.220 --> 00:04:31.220 bloodline and that physique you would just assume 00:04:31.220 --> 00:04:34.100 he was practically born in a wrestling ring That's 00:04:34.100 --> 00:04:36.660 the logical assumption and I think it's what 00:04:36.660 --> 00:04:39.959 makes his actual timeline. So intriguing despite 00:04:39.959 --> 00:04:42.860 the pedigree Despite the massive physical frame, 00:04:43.120 --> 00:04:45.899 he didn't rush into the family business. In high 00:04:45.899 --> 00:04:48.740 school, he focused his energy entirely elsewhere. 00:04:49.019 --> 00:04:52.040 On doxxing and weightlifting? Yes. He dabbled 00:04:52.040 --> 00:04:54.519 heavily in combat sports and lifting. He was 00:04:54.519 --> 00:04:57.420 clearly drawn to physical exertion, but he actively 00:04:57.420 --> 00:04:59.600 avoided the specific theater of professional 00:04:59.600 --> 00:05:02.620 wrestling for a very long time. He didn't actually 00:05:02.620 --> 00:05:04.980 start training for the ring until he was 25 years 00:05:04.980 --> 00:05:08.490 old. 25. That is a fascinating detail. Think 00:05:08.490 --> 00:05:10.689 about that for a second. I want you to think 00:05:10.689 --> 00:05:13.290 about a time in your own life when you pivoted 00:05:13.290 --> 00:05:16.790 your path to follow a family expectation or to 00:05:16.790 --> 00:05:20.009 take up a legacy. But you did it much later than 00:05:20.009 --> 00:05:23.610 anyone expected. It's rare. Very rare. In the 00:05:23.610 --> 00:05:26.990 sports world, starting a highly physical specialized 00:05:26.990 --> 00:05:30.910 career at 25 is incredibly late. Today, you see 00:05:30.910 --> 00:05:32.970 athletes entering development centers in their 00:05:32.970 --> 00:05:36.370 early teens. Why the delay? Was it fear of the 00:05:36.370 --> 00:05:39.069 legacy or something else entirely? It's a matter 00:05:39.069 --> 00:05:41.649 of intense psychological speculation. Waiting 00:05:41.649 --> 00:05:44.870 until 25 suggests a significant period of hesitation. 00:05:45.230 --> 00:05:47.269 Perhaps he needed to establish his own physical 00:05:47.269 --> 00:05:49.110 identity first. That makes sense. By getting 00:05:49.110 --> 00:05:51.310 into boxing and competitive weightlifting, he 00:05:51.310 --> 00:05:52.870 was proving to himself that he was a legitimate 00:05:52.870 --> 00:05:55.829 athlete on his own terms. Outside the predetermined 00:05:55.829 --> 00:05:58.170 world his father and uncle dominated, there's 00:05:58.170 --> 00:06:00.370 also the reality of his underlying mental health, 00:06:00.610 --> 00:06:02.949 which we will explore deeply later. The OCD. 00:06:03.449 --> 00:06:05.829 Right. Wrestling is a lifestyle of utter chaos. 00:06:06.870 --> 00:06:09.069 Even as a young man, you might have recognized 00:06:09.069 --> 00:06:11.170 on some level that the sheer unpredictability 00:06:11.170 --> 00:06:13.430 of the wrestling circuit clashed with his innate 00:06:13.430 --> 00:06:16.430 need for structure. Weightlifting, by contrast, 00:06:16.529 --> 00:06:18.949 is entirely structured. It's rigid. Exactly. 00:06:19.089 --> 00:06:20.649 You control the weight. You control the reps. 00:06:20.769 --> 00:06:22.430 You control the environment. You lift the bar. 00:06:22.509 --> 00:06:25.529 You put it down. It is predictable. But eventually, 00:06:25.870 --> 00:06:27.550 the gravitational pull of the family business 00:06:27.550 --> 00:06:31.209 was just too strong. The notes say he was trained 00:06:31.209 --> 00:06:33.810 by a guy named Dewey Robertson and made his official 00:06:33.810 --> 00:06:37.269 debut in 1973. And we should touch on those early 00:06:37.269 --> 00:06:40.230 geographic shifts too. Yeah, bouncing from the 00:06:40.230 --> 00:06:43.230 industrial grit of Hamilton, Ontario out to the 00:06:43.230 --> 00:06:46.769 sun -soaked culture of 1960s California and then 00:06:46.769 --> 00:06:49.629 back again. I have to imagine that navigating 00:06:49.629 --> 00:06:51.709 those wildly different environments as a kid 00:06:51.709 --> 00:06:54.870 helped shape his ability to adapt because adaptability 00:06:54.870 --> 00:06:56.810 ends up being the defining characteristic of 00:06:56.810 --> 00:07:00.069 his entire professional life. Completely. The 00:07:00.069 --> 00:07:02.629 hallmark of a great traveling professional wrestler 00:07:02.629 --> 00:07:05.959 in that era was the ability to read a room. You 00:07:05.959 --> 00:07:08.459 had to understand the specific cultural psychology 00:07:08.459 --> 00:07:11.019 of the audience you were performing for on any 00:07:11.019 --> 00:07:14.019 given night. A crowd in Vancouver reacts very 00:07:14.019 --> 00:07:16.180 differently to violence than a crowd in New Orleans. 00:07:16.759 --> 00:07:19.019 Precisely. Experiencing that kind of cultural 00:07:19.019 --> 00:07:21.660 whiplash as a youth essentially trained him to 00:07:21.660 --> 00:07:24.300 be a chameleon. And when he finally did enter 00:07:24.300 --> 00:07:27.339 the business, he utilized that adaptability immediately. 00:07:27.879 --> 00:07:30.519 Because the man the world remembers as a career 00:07:30.519 --> 00:07:33.579 loser on WWF television did not start at the 00:07:33.579 --> 00:07:35.860 bottom. This is where the story gets really incredible. 00:07:36.199 --> 00:07:38.120 Before he ever put on the black arm brace, before 00:07:38.120 --> 00:07:41.019 he ever stepped foot in a WWF ring, Mike Sharp 00:07:41.019 --> 00:07:43.480 was a heavily decorated regional powerhouse. 00:07:43.519 --> 00:07:46.360 He was a star. For a solid decade, from 1973 00:07:46.360 --> 00:07:49.459 to 1983, he was collecting championships. I'm 00:07:49.459 --> 00:07:52.079 looking at the data from Gene Kaniski's NWA All 00:07:52.079 --> 00:07:54.120 -Star Wrestling territory up in Vancouver. He 00:07:54.120 --> 00:07:56.259 absolutely cleaned up there. He really did. He 00:07:56.259 --> 00:07:59.480 was a two -time NWA Canadian tag team champion, 00:07:59.819 --> 00:08:02.300 and he won the Pacific Coast heavyweight title. 00:08:02.920 --> 00:08:05.699 Can you explain how the territory system worked 00:08:05.699 --> 00:08:07.480 back then? Because I don't think modern fans 00:08:07.480 --> 00:08:10.180 understand what a big deal it was to be a champion 00:08:10.180 --> 00:08:13.720 in Vancouver. That is vital context. For you 00:08:13.720 --> 00:08:15.899 listening who only knows the modern globalized 00:08:15.899 --> 00:08:18.360 version of sports entertainment, you have to 00:08:18.360 --> 00:08:21.680 understand that in the 1970s, the wrestling landscape 00:08:21.680 --> 00:08:24.379 was fractured. Right. It was structured almost 00:08:24.379 --> 00:08:27.579 like a series of distinct mafia families ruling 00:08:27.579 --> 00:08:30.500 over different geographic regions. The National 00:08:30.500 --> 00:08:33.379 Wrestling Alliance, the NWA, was the governing 00:08:33.379 --> 00:08:36.240 body that theoretically kept the peace between 00:08:36.240 --> 00:08:39.000 all these regional promoters. So you had a territory 00:08:39.000 --> 00:08:41.080 in Florida, a territory in Texas, a territory 00:08:41.080 --> 00:08:43.320 in the Pacific Northwest, and so on. Exactly. 00:08:43.340 --> 00:08:45.299 They didn't compete on national television. They 00:08:45.299 --> 00:08:47.379 just dominated their local markets. So being 00:08:47.379 --> 00:08:49.139 the champion of Vancouver meant you were the 00:08:49.139 --> 00:08:52.360 absolute king of that specific fiefdom. Precisely. 00:08:52.820 --> 00:08:55.320 The promoter of that territory, Gene Koniski 00:08:55.320 --> 00:08:58.220 in this case, relied on his champion to draw 00:08:58.220 --> 00:09:01.789 money. If the champion wasn't compelling, The 00:09:01.789 --> 00:09:04.750 local fans didn't buy tickets to the arena, and 00:09:04.750 --> 00:09:06.769 the promoter went out of business. It's a high 00:09:06.769 --> 00:09:09.909 stakes game. Very high stakes. They did not put 00:09:09.909 --> 00:09:12.149 championship belts on guys who couldn't perform. 00:09:12.769 --> 00:09:15.529 So for Mike Sharp to hold the Pacific Coast Heavyweight 00:09:15.529 --> 00:09:18.710 title meant he was the financial anchor of that 00:09:18.710 --> 00:09:21.009 entire region. And we shouldn't gloss over the 00:09:21.009 --> 00:09:23.409 tag team titles he won there either. He won them 00:09:23.409 --> 00:09:25.610 with two completely different partners, Moose 00:09:25.610 --> 00:09:28.289 Moravsky and Salvatore Bellomo. Which is huge. 00:09:28.509 --> 00:09:30.509 Right. In the mechanics of the wrestling business, 00:09:30.730 --> 00:09:32.529 winning tag titles with different partners proves 00:09:32.529 --> 00:09:35.009 immense versatility. It shows you aren't being 00:09:35.009 --> 00:09:37.750 hidden or carried by a single established tag 00:09:37.750 --> 00:09:40.230 team dynamic. It means Mike Sharp was the common 00:09:40.230 --> 00:09:42.950 denominator of success. He was the glue holding 00:09:42.950 --> 00:09:45.370 those matches together. But his success wasn't 00:09:45.370 --> 00:09:48.889 just limited to the Pacific Northwest. He eventually 00:09:48.889 --> 00:09:51.289 moved down to the American South, working for 00:09:51.289 --> 00:09:54.269 Mid -South Wrestling in Louisiana. And according 00:09:54.269 --> 00:09:56.720 to the historical records here, He wasn't just 00:09:56.720 --> 00:09:59.879 a champion down there. He was a massive fan favorite. 00:09:59.960 --> 00:10:02.179 A baby face, as the industry calls it. Right. 00:10:02.360 --> 00:10:04.779 He won the Mid -South Louisiana championship 00:10:04.779 --> 00:10:07.759 twice, the Mississippi title twice. And then 00:10:07.759 --> 00:10:09.919 there is this one specific detail that really 00:10:09.919 --> 00:10:13.779 jumped out at me. In 1979, he won a Brass Nux 00:10:13.779 --> 00:10:17.500 title. What exactly is a Brass Nux championship? 00:10:17.740 --> 00:10:20.019 The Brass Knuckles Championship is one of the 00:10:20.019 --> 00:10:22.620 most fascinating artifacts of the territory days. 00:10:23.440 --> 00:10:25.580 Before the term hardcore wrestling even existed, 00:10:26.080 --> 00:10:28.399 before the era of chairs and tables and barbed 00:10:28.399 --> 00:10:30.519 wire, there was the Brass Knucks title. Sounds 00:10:30.519 --> 00:10:33.159 violent. It was a championship specifically designed 00:10:33.159 --> 00:10:36.159 to be defended in wild, bloody brawls. The matches 00:10:36.159 --> 00:10:38.620 were billed as unsanctioned street fights. So 00:10:38.620 --> 00:10:41.039 it's not about technical holds or pinning someone's 00:10:41.039 --> 00:10:43.240 shoulders to the mat, it's about surviving a 00:10:43.240 --> 00:10:46.139 fist fight. Exactly. And the psychology behind 00:10:46.139 --> 00:10:49.240 it is crucial. A promoter only gives a brass 00:10:49.240 --> 00:10:51.720 knucks belt to someone the audience genuinely 00:10:51.720 --> 00:10:54.320 believes is one of the toughest, most rugged, 00:10:54.679 --> 00:10:57.159 most dangerous men on the entire roster. So you 00:10:57.159 --> 00:10:59.840 have to be believable. Highly believable. It 00:10:59.840 --> 00:11:02.039 requires an entirely different style of performance 00:11:02.039 --> 00:11:04.700 than a traditional wrestling match. It requires 00:11:04.700 --> 00:11:07.639 throwing incredibly realistic punches, taking 00:11:07.639 --> 00:11:10.460 immense physical punishment, and usually bleeding 00:11:10.460 --> 00:11:12.379 heavily to sell the violence of the fight to 00:11:12.379 --> 00:11:14.799 the crowd. So now look at the portfolio he's 00:11:14.799 --> 00:11:17.419 built. We have evidence that Mike Sharp was a 00:11:17.419 --> 00:11:20.580 smooth technical champion in Vancouver, a highly 00:11:20.580 --> 00:11:23.740 adaptable tag team specialist, and a certified 00:11:23.740 --> 00:11:26.240 blood and guts brawler in the Deep South. The 00:11:26.240 --> 00:11:28.080 resume is practically flawless at this point. 00:11:28.240 --> 00:11:30.340 And the regional success tour continues into 00:11:30.340 --> 00:11:34.539 the 1980s. From 1980 to 1981, he heads up to 00:11:34.539 --> 00:11:37.159 Calgary, Alberta to work for Stampede Wrestling. 00:11:37.480 --> 00:11:39.879 Now even casual fans have usually heard of Stampede. 00:11:39.980 --> 00:11:42.179 The Hart family. Exactly. That is the promotion 00:11:42.179 --> 00:11:44.659 run by the legendary Hart family. Stu Hart, Bret 00:11:44.659 --> 00:11:47.159 Hart, Owen Hart. It was notorious for being one 00:11:47.159 --> 00:11:49.179 of the most physically grueling, technically 00:11:49.179 --> 00:11:51.679 demanding territories in the world. Without a 00:11:51.679 --> 00:11:53.740 doubt. While he was there, he teamed up with 00:11:53.740 --> 00:11:56.259 Duke Myers and won the Stampede International 00:11:56.259 --> 00:11:59.039 Tag Team Championship. And if you look at the 00:11:59.039 --> 00:12:01.559 historical lineages provided in our source material, 00:12:02.039 --> 00:12:04.580 the names he shares that specific title history 00:12:04.580 --> 00:12:07.559 with are just staggering. It is a veritable who's 00:12:07.559 --> 00:12:10.419 who of wrestling royalty. Stampede wrestling 00:12:10.419 --> 00:12:12.779 was famous for the Denjun. The basement were 00:12:12.779 --> 00:12:16.059 stewheart trained wrestlers using painful, legitimate 00:12:16.059 --> 00:12:19.320 submission holds. To survive in Stampede, you 00:12:19.320 --> 00:12:22.080 had to be incredibly tough and incredibly precise. 00:12:22.240 --> 00:12:24.360 You couldn't fake it there. Not at all. If you 00:12:24.360 --> 00:12:26.620 look at the men who held those Stampede tag titles 00:12:26.620 --> 00:12:29.639 in that era, you see names like the Von Steigers, 00:12:30.120 --> 00:12:32.659 the Wild Samoans, Mr. Hito and the legendary 00:12:32.659 --> 00:12:35.639 Dynoid Kid. The Dynamite Kid is widely considered 00:12:35.639 --> 00:12:38.080 one of the most innovative, intense, in -ring 00:12:38.080 --> 00:12:40.340 performers of the 20th century. To be booked 00:12:40.340 --> 00:12:42.419 to hold the exact same championship as those 00:12:42.419 --> 00:12:45.240 individuals means the promoters, the notoriously 00:12:45.240 --> 00:12:48.620 strict Hart family, viewed Mike Sharp as an elite 00:12:48.620 --> 00:12:51.679 top -tier talent. He was a peer to legends. He 00:12:51.679 --> 00:12:54.500 was a draw. He was a hero to the fans in Mid 00:12:54.500 --> 00:12:57.340 -South, a champion in Canada, a respected brawler 00:12:57.340 --> 00:12:59.860 in the mud shows. He had the pedigree, the size 00:12:59.860 --> 00:13:02.840 and the proven track record. But then we hit 00:13:02.840 --> 00:13:06.120 February of 1983 and this is the pivot point. 00:13:06.299 --> 00:13:08.279 This is where everything changes. Mike Sharp 00:13:08.279 --> 00:13:11.240 enters the World Wrestling Federation, the WWF, 00:13:11.360 --> 00:13:13.559 a company owned by Vince McMahon, which is just 00:13:13.559 --> 00:13:15.779 on the cusp of launching its massive national 00:13:15.779 --> 00:13:19.259 expansion. Sharp enters the WWF and he ends up 00:13:19.259 --> 00:13:22.500 staying there for over a decade. until 1995. 00:13:23.279 --> 00:13:25.440 This is where the character that the world remembers 00:13:25.440 --> 00:13:28.360 is born. This is the critical juncture of his 00:13:28.360 --> 00:13:30.740 entire career trajectory. When he arrives in 00:13:30.740 --> 00:13:33.539 the WWF, he adopts a new moniker. He starts calling 00:13:33.539 --> 00:13:35.899 himself Canada's greatest athlete. Such a great, 00:13:35.980 --> 00:13:38.240 arrogant villain name. Now, as a fun piece of 00:13:38.240 --> 00:13:40.519 trivia, he actually borrowed that nickname from 00:13:40.519 --> 00:13:43.840 his former boss in Vancouver, Gene Koniski. But 00:13:43.840 --> 00:13:45.600 it's not the nickname that makes him famous. 00:13:45.799 --> 00:13:48.519 It is the physical affectations, the deliberate 00:13:48.519 --> 00:13:50.820 theatrical choices he makes to build this new 00:13:50.820 --> 00:13:53.779 character. Oh, the gimmick is masterful. First 00:13:53.779 --> 00:13:56.279 of all, there is the auditory element. He is 00:13:56.279 --> 00:13:58.899 characterized by this near constant yelling and 00:13:58.899 --> 00:14:00.740 grunting throughout its matches. His endless. 00:14:01.019 --> 00:14:04.019 Endless aggressive guttural noise echoing through 00:14:04.019 --> 00:14:06.259 the arena from the exact moment the bell rings. 00:14:06.799 --> 00:14:09.200 And then there's the visual element, the accessory. 00:14:09.500 --> 00:14:12.440 He wears a thick black leather forearm brace 00:14:12.440 --> 00:14:15.379 on his right arm. Right. The storyline explanation 00:14:15.379 --> 00:14:17.700 was that he was supposedly protecting a lingering 00:14:17.700 --> 00:14:20.700 injury, but it was widely believed by the audience 00:14:20.700 --> 00:14:22.960 and heavily, heavily implied by the television 00:14:22.960 --> 00:14:25.820 commentators that the brace actually concealed 00:14:25.820 --> 00:14:28.899 a heavy loaded foreign object, like a piece of 00:14:28.899 --> 00:14:31.889 metal or a roll of cord. The brilliance of that 00:14:31.889 --> 00:14:35.389 gimmick simply cannot be overstated. From a theatrical 00:14:35.389 --> 00:14:37.990 standpoint, the constant screaming and that mysterious 00:14:37.990 --> 00:14:41.149 black brace are masterful, simple tools to draw 00:14:41.149 --> 00:14:43.669 the ire of the crowd. It's instant. In wrestling 00:14:43.669 --> 00:14:46.269 terminology, that negative crowd reaction is 00:14:46.269 --> 00:14:48.950 called heat. The psychology of the foreign object 00:14:48.950 --> 00:14:51.509 trope is deeply ingrained in the history of the 00:14:51.509 --> 00:14:54.750 sport. It is brilliant because it requires absolutely 00:14:54.750 --> 00:14:57.049 zero exposition. You don't need a commentator 00:14:57.049 --> 00:15:00.330 to explain a complex backstory. Precisely. The 00:15:00.330 --> 00:15:02.250 moment Mike Sharp steps through the curtain, 00:15:02.529 --> 00:15:04.830 wearing a scowl and rubbing that thick black 00:15:04.830 --> 00:15:07.289 leather brace, even the person sitting in the 00:15:07.289 --> 00:15:10.269 very last row of the arena instantly understands 00:15:10.269 --> 00:15:13.490 the narrative. This man is a villain. He is a 00:15:13.490 --> 00:15:17.250 cheater, he has a weapon, and he is a direct 00:15:17.250 --> 00:15:20.500 threat to the hero of the match. It bypasses 00:15:20.500 --> 00:15:22.539 logic and hits the audience right in their sense 00:15:22.539 --> 00:15:24.779 of primal fairness. It's visual storytelling 00:15:24.779 --> 00:15:28.200 at its absolute finest. And initially, the WWF 00:15:28.200 --> 00:15:30.600 really pushed him as a legitimate threat to their 00:15:30.600 --> 00:15:32.940 top stars. He wasn't brought in to be a loser. 00:15:33.139 --> 00:15:35.620 No, not at first. He was managed by the infamous 00:15:35.620 --> 00:15:38.299 Captain Lou Albano, who was the premier villainous 00:15:38.299 --> 00:15:40.879 manager of the era. He was regularly featured 00:15:40.879 --> 00:15:43.299 on television, destroying lesser opponents by 00:15:43.299 --> 00:15:45.360 smashing them in the face with that loaded forearm. 00:15:45.679 --> 00:15:48.840 And this initial monster push culminated on April 00:15:48.840 --> 00:15:52.539 30th, 1983. A huge date. Mike Sharpe was booked 00:15:52.539 --> 00:15:54.820 to challenge the world heavyweight champion Bob 00:15:54.820 --> 00:15:57.759 Backlund at the Philadelphia Spectrum. We really 00:15:57.759 --> 00:16:00.259 need to pause and recognize the magnitude of 00:16:00.259 --> 00:16:04.299 that date. April 30th, 1983, represents the absolute 00:16:04.299 --> 00:16:07.799 apex of his national career. Main eventing the 00:16:07.799 --> 00:16:09.799 Philadelphia Spectrum against the World Heavyweight 00:16:09.799 --> 00:16:12.600 Champion is as high as the mountain goes in this 00:16:12.600 --> 00:16:14.759 industry. It doesn't get bigger. The Spectrum 00:16:14.759 --> 00:16:17.460 was one of the most important, raucous buildings 00:16:17.460 --> 00:16:20.059 in the entire wrestling world. The Philadelphia 00:16:20.059 --> 00:16:22.960 crowds were notoriously tough. Bob Backlund was 00:16:22.960 --> 00:16:25.639 the ultimate clean -cut, collegiate amateur wrestling 00:16:25.639 --> 00:16:28.740 hero. Sharp was the screaming foreign invader 00:16:28.740 --> 00:16:31.600 with a weapon on his arm. It was a perfect clash 00:16:31.600 --> 00:16:35.080 of styles. But as history shows, Mike Sharp lost 00:16:35.080 --> 00:16:37.379 that match. And losing that match dictates the 00:16:37.379 --> 00:16:39.759 rest of his career, doesn't it? Let me ask you 00:16:39.759 --> 00:16:41.519 this, because this is where the psychology of 00:16:41.519 --> 00:16:44.159 the business is so strange to outsiders. If he's 00:16:44.159 --> 00:16:46.480 this incredibly talented guy, a former champion 00:16:46.480 --> 00:16:49.000 everywhere else, why does losing one match to 00:16:49.000 --> 00:16:50.840 the world champion suddenly demote him? Why didn't 00:16:50.840 --> 00:16:53.240 he just climb back up the ranks? Because of the 00:16:53.240 --> 00:16:55.960 strict, almost formulaic reality of the wrestling 00:16:55.960 --> 00:16:58.750 business during a national expansion. When you 00:16:58.750 --> 00:17:01.669 are brought into a territory specifically to 00:17:01.669 --> 00:17:04.549 challenge the champion, your entire purpose is 00:17:04.549 --> 00:17:07.509 to be a credible monster for the hero to vanquish. 00:17:07.549 --> 00:17:10.690 Oh, I see. Once the hero slays the dragon, the 00:17:10.690 --> 00:17:13.970 dragon loses its aura of invincibility. Unless 00:17:13.970 --> 00:17:16.890 you are the absolute top star of the era, your 00:17:16.890 --> 00:17:20.210 role fundamentally shifts. Shart had served his 00:17:20.210 --> 00:17:22.690 narrative purpose. He proved that Backland could 00:17:22.690 --> 00:17:25.190 overcome a massive cheating brute. And after 00:17:25.190 --> 00:17:27.130 that, he was shuffled down the court. Exactly. 00:17:27.420 --> 00:17:29.460 He never reached those main event heights in 00:17:29.460 --> 00:17:32.279 the WWF again. In fact, the sources point out 00:17:32.279 --> 00:17:34.680 an incredible statistic. Despite his immense 00:17:34.680 --> 00:17:37.720 talent and his 12 -year tenure, Mike Sharp never 00:17:37.720 --> 00:17:40.299 held a single championship during his entire 00:17:40.299 --> 00:17:43.640 run in the WWF. And so post -1983, we watched 00:17:43.640 --> 00:17:45.859 the anatomy of a professional jobber begin to 00:17:45.859 --> 00:17:48.440 take shape. Sharp transitioned into the guy on 00:17:48.440 --> 00:17:50.519 the television tapings whose primary job was 00:17:50.519 --> 00:17:53.420 to lose. Whenever a new muscular hero was signed 00:17:53.420 --> 00:17:55.519 to the company, Mike Sharp was the first guy 00:17:55.519 --> 00:17:57.470 they put him in the ring with. He became the 00:17:57.470 --> 00:18:00.490 ultimate stepping stone. If you analyze the structure 00:18:00.490 --> 00:18:03.210 of any epic narrative, whether it's professional 00:18:03.210 --> 00:18:06.390 wrestling, a comic book, or a Greek myth, every 00:18:06.390 --> 00:18:10.170 production needs a reliable antagonist. The hero 00:18:10.170 --> 00:18:12.809 cannot look heroic if the obstacle they are facing 00:18:12.809 --> 00:18:15.950 is incredible. If Superman only fights bank robbers, 00:18:16.289 --> 00:18:19.019 Superman doesn't look very impressive. Mike Sharp 00:18:19.019 --> 00:18:21.819 with his massive size, his legitimate family 00:18:21.819 --> 00:18:24.680 pedigree, his technical skill, and that instantly 00:18:24.680 --> 00:18:28.279 recognizable black brace became the perfect reliable 00:18:28.279 --> 00:18:30.579 obstacle. It takes an unbelievable amount of 00:18:30.579 --> 00:18:32.420 professional respect to be put in that position. 00:18:32.720 --> 00:18:34.619 I want you to relate this to your own life and 00:18:34.619 --> 00:18:36.680 your own career for a second. Think about your 00:18:36.680 --> 00:18:38.660 workplace. Think about the corporate hierarchy. 00:18:39.230 --> 00:18:41.230 Who are the people in your organization whose 00:18:41.230 --> 00:18:43.509 primary role is to set others up for success? 00:18:43.670 --> 00:18:46.210 The unsung heroes. The people who do the heavy 00:18:46.210 --> 00:18:48.690 lifting behind the scenes, ensuring the presentation 00:18:48.690 --> 00:18:51.930 goes smoothly, training the new hires, stabilizing 00:18:51.930 --> 00:18:54.630 the chaotic projects, often without getting the 00:18:54.630 --> 00:18:56.869 glory, the bonus, or the promotion themselves. 00:18:57.450 --> 00:19:01.109 That was Mike Sharp in the WWF. It takes immense 00:19:01.109 --> 00:19:03.269 physical skill to protect your opponent, dictate 00:19:03.269 --> 00:19:05.369 the pace of the match, ensure nobody gets injured, 00:19:05.690 --> 00:19:07.910 and make the audience truly believe that the 00:19:07.910 --> 00:19:10.609 rising star is a world beater. It also requires 00:19:10.609 --> 00:19:15.190 a profound, almost superhuman lack of ego. In 00:19:15.190 --> 00:19:18.250 a business driven entirely by narcissism, vanity, 00:19:18.490 --> 00:19:21.190 and the spotlight, to willingly go out to the 00:19:21.190 --> 00:19:23.309 ring night after night, take the physical punishment, 00:19:23.730 --> 00:19:25.309 stare at the lights, and ensure the other guy 00:19:25.309 --> 00:19:27.849 looks like a million dollars is an incredibly 00:19:27.849 --> 00:19:30.349 rare trait. It has to be. It's why he lasted 00:19:30.349 --> 00:19:33.950 in the WWF from 1983 all the way to 1995. You 00:19:33.950 --> 00:19:36.890 do not survive 12 years in the biggest most ruthlessly 00:19:36.890 --> 00:19:38.789 competitive wrestling company in the world just 00:19:38.789 --> 00:19:41.930 by being a warm body. You survive by being absolutely 00:19:41.930 --> 00:19:44.349 indispensable to the machinery of the show. And 00:19:44.349 --> 00:19:46.329 the crazy thing is, even though his television 00:19:46.329 --> 00:19:48.869 role was always to lose, the guys in the back 00:19:48.869 --> 00:19:51.849 knew exactly how good he was. The sources note 00:19:51.849 --> 00:19:54.230 that he actually chalked up quite a few untelevised 00:19:54.230 --> 00:19:58.190 victories between 1984 and 1988 at the live events, 00:19:58.349 --> 00:20:00.430 the non -televised shows, known as house shows. 00:20:01.009 --> 00:20:03.450 Plus, whenever management had a uniquely delicate 00:20:03.450 --> 00:20:05.849 or high -profile situation, they called Mike 00:20:05.849 --> 00:20:09.480 Sharp. In 1984, he appeared on Piper's Pit, hosted 00:20:09.480 --> 00:20:12.420 by Roddy Piper, which was the hottest, most unpredictable 00:20:12.420 --> 00:20:16.140 interview segment on television. In 1987, he 00:20:16.140 --> 00:20:18.380 was chosen to provide the opposition for Ivan 00:20:18.380 --> 00:20:20.819 Pritzky's major comeback match at Madison Square 00:20:20.819 --> 00:20:23.519 Garden. This is a huge deal. And in 1988, he 00:20:23.519 --> 00:20:25.759 actually reached the second round of the prestigious 00:20:25.759 --> 00:20:28.180 King of the Ring tournament by pinning Boris 00:20:28.180 --> 00:20:30.920 Zhukov. Being chosen for Ivan Pritzky's comeback 00:20:30.920 --> 00:20:33.180 match at Madison Square Garden is a massive vote 00:20:33.180 --> 00:20:36.180 of confidence from Vince McMahon and the manage... 00:20:35.690 --> 00:20:39.329 Putsky was an older, highly popular star returning 00:20:39.329 --> 00:20:42.130 after a long absence. He was likely dealing with 00:20:42.130 --> 00:20:45.329 ring rust. He needed to be protected. Precisely. 00:20:45.549 --> 00:20:47.250 Management needed someone in the ring with him 00:20:47.250 --> 00:20:49.250 who was completely safe, who could physically 00:20:49.250 --> 00:20:51.650 guide the match, take all of Putsky's signature 00:20:51.650 --> 00:20:54.490 offense perfectly, cover up any mistakes, and 00:20:54.490 --> 00:20:56.990 deliver a performance that would send the notoriously 00:20:56.990 --> 00:21:00.390 critical New York crowd home happy. You don't 00:21:00.390 --> 00:21:02.750 put a rookie in that spot. You put your ultimate 00:21:02.750 --> 00:21:05.650 trusted mechanic in that spot. Okay, I have to 00:21:05.650 --> 00:21:07.910 bring up my absolute favorite piece of trivia 00:21:07.910 --> 00:21:10.490 from this entire stack of research, because it 00:21:10.490 --> 00:21:12.589 perfectly illustrates how bizarre this industry 00:21:12.589 --> 00:21:16.369 is. In early 1984, while he is a jobber on American 00:21:16.369 --> 00:21:19.789 television, Mike Sharp does a tour of Japan for 00:21:19.789 --> 00:21:22.450 New Japan Pro Wrestling. And who is his tag team 00:21:22.450 --> 00:21:25.069 partner over there? Hulk Hogan. But not the Hulk 00:21:25.069 --> 00:21:27.490 Hogan we know. They are tagging together as heels. 00:21:27.819 --> 00:21:30.720 bad guys. The contradiction there is just staggering. 00:21:30.900 --> 00:21:32.819 It actually hurts the brain to think about. In 00:21:32.819 --> 00:21:35.920 early 1984, Hulk Hogan is the ultimate untouchable, 00:21:36.160 --> 00:21:38.359 vitamin eating American hero in the United States. 00:21:38.400 --> 00:21:41.480 He's a pop culture icon. He is the face of the 00:21:41.480 --> 00:21:44.940 WWF's massive national expansion. But the wrestling 00:21:44.940 --> 00:21:48.200 business is fluid and geography dictates reality. 00:21:48.799 --> 00:21:51.660 In Japan, the cultural psychology is entirely 00:21:51.660 --> 00:21:55.000 different. Hogan was portrayed there as a massive, 00:21:55.279 --> 00:21:58.410 villainous foreign invader, a gauging heel. Incredible. 00:21:58.589 --> 00:22:00.670 So you have Hogan, the biggest star in the world, 00:22:01.130 --> 00:22:03.670 and Sharpie, the guy losing on Saturday morning 00:22:03.670 --> 00:22:06.670 television in America, teaming up as equals to 00:22:06.670 --> 00:22:09.470 terrorize the Japanese fan favorites. It really 00:22:09.470 --> 00:22:11.470 highlights the illusionary nature of the business. 00:22:11.809 --> 00:22:13.650 You can be the biggest hero in the world in New 00:22:13.650 --> 00:22:16.569 York and a hated, rule -breaking villain in Tokyo. 00:22:17.430 --> 00:22:19.430 And Mike Sharp was skilled enough and versatile 00:22:19.430 --> 00:22:21.890 enough to bridge that gap and stand shoulder 00:22:21.890 --> 00:22:23.839 to shoulder with Hogan. And his crossover didn't 00:22:23.839 --> 00:22:26.480 even stop in Japan. During late 1984 and early 00:22:26.480 --> 00:22:28.839 1985, he's also taking bookings down in Memphis 00:22:28.839 --> 00:22:31.039 for the Continental Wrestling Association. And 00:22:31.039 --> 00:22:33.940 what happens? He wins the NWA Mid -America Heavyweight 00:22:33.940 --> 00:22:36.039 Championship. Let's look at the source data on 00:22:36.039 --> 00:22:38.720 that title lineage. Yes, this is a championship 00:22:38.720 --> 00:22:41.140 previously held by Harley Race, Jerry the King 00:22:41.140 --> 00:22:43.799 Lawler, Buddy Rogers, Tommy Rich, and Randy Savage. 00:22:44.019 --> 00:22:46.579 Let that sink in. Mike Sharp, the screaming guy 00:22:46.579 --> 00:22:49.099 in the black arm brace who always lost on WWF 00:22:49.099 --> 00:22:51.519 programming, held the exact same piece of gold 00:22:51.519 --> 00:22:54.640 as macho man Randy Savage. completely reinforces 00:22:54.640 --> 00:22:57.819 the point that his jobber status in the WWF was 00:22:57.819 --> 00:23:00.859 a specific casting choice by a specific director, 00:23:01.220 --> 00:23:03.240 not a reflection of his actual talent level. 00:23:03.779 --> 00:23:06.299 Vince McMahon cast him as the antagonist. But 00:23:06.299 --> 00:23:08.660 in other territories where work rate, toughness, 00:23:08.759 --> 00:23:11.000 and pure wrestling ability were prioritized differently 00:23:11.000 --> 00:23:13.420 by the promoters, he was easily slotted right 00:23:13.420 --> 00:23:15.099 back into the championship picture. He could 00:23:15.099 --> 00:23:18.259 do it all. Even the WWF recognized his versatility. 00:23:18.880 --> 00:23:20.579 The sources mentioned he actually had a brief 00:23:20.579 --> 00:23:22.859 run as a fan favorite, a baby face, and late 00:23:22.859 --> 00:23:25.779 1988, getting televised wins over other notorious 00:23:25.779 --> 00:23:27.920 jobbers like Steve Lombardi and Barry Horowitz. 00:23:28.579 --> 00:23:30.680 The crowd loved it because they recognized his 00:23:30.680 --> 00:23:33.480 underlying talent. He truly was the king of the 00:23:33.480 --> 00:23:36.500 jobbers. But now we have to pull back the curtain 00:23:36.500 --> 00:23:39.359 on the man himself, because everything we've 00:23:39.359 --> 00:23:41.740 talked about so far, the shouting, the brawling, 00:23:41.859 --> 00:23:44.039 the brutal travel schedule, the championships, 00:23:44.519 --> 00:23:47.160 the black arm brace that was the public facing 00:23:47.160 --> 00:23:50.539 Iron Mike. The private reality of Michael Sharp 00:23:50.539 --> 00:23:53.900 was vastly, tragically different. This brings 00:23:53.900 --> 00:23:56.380 us to the emotional and psychological core of 00:23:56.380 --> 00:23:59.279 our deep dive. According to multiple memoirs 00:23:59.279 --> 00:24:01.240 written by his peers, including the dynamite 00:24:01.240 --> 00:24:03.779 kid, Hulk Hogan, announcer Gary Michael Capetta, 00:24:04.420 --> 00:24:06.759 and the legendary commentator, gorilla monsoon, 00:24:06.920 --> 00:24:09.920 Mike Sharp, exhibited severe debilitating characteristics 00:24:09.920 --> 00:24:13.240 of obsessive compulsive disorder, OCD. In the 00:24:13.240 --> 00:24:15.140 locker room behind closed doors, he earned a 00:24:15.140 --> 00:24:18.059 nickname. They called him Mr. Clean. And the 00:24:18.059 --> 00:24:19.839 details provided in these books are heartbreaking 00:24:19.839 --> 00:24:21.960 when you really sit down and process them. He 00:24:21.960 --> 00:24:24.579 wasn't just neat. He was preoccupied with cleanliness 00:24:24.579 --> 00:24:27.059 to the point where he would spend hours, literally 00:24:27.059 --> 00:24:29.440 hours, washing his hands or standing in the showers 00:24:29.440 --> 00:24:31.500 at the arenas. It's an overwhelming compulsion. 00:24:31.799 --> 00:24:35.440 He would meticulously fold, unfold, and refold 00:24:35.440 --> 00:24:37.980 his clothing over and over again, trapped in 00:24:37.980 --> 00:24:40.380 a loop, unable to stop until it felt perfectly 00:24:40.380 --> 00:24:43.900 right. This raises a vital point about how neurodivergence 00:24:43.900 --> 00:24:45.700 and severe mental health struggles were viewed 00:24:45.700 --> 00:24:49.000 in the 1980s, particularly in the hyper -masculine 00:24:49.000 --> 00:24:51.700 world of professional sports. The vocabulary 00:24:51.700 --> 00:24:53.819 simply didn't exist in that locker room. No, 00:24:53.859 --> 00:24:56.940 not at all. In that incredibly demanding, testosterone 00:24:56.940 --> 00:25:00.140 -fueled environment, these debilitating compulsions 00:25:00.140 --> 00:25:03.579 were often brushed off as mere quirks. He wasn't 00:25:03.579 --> 00:25:05.980 recognized as a man suffering from a recognized, 00:25:06.160 --> 00:25:08.440 treatable mental health condition. He was just 00:25:08.440 --> 00:25:11.539 given a nickname, Mr. Clean. and treated as an 00:25:11.539 --> 00:25:14.059 eccentric oddity by his peers. I want to really 00:25:14.059 --> 00:25:15.839 paint a picture of what that means. Imagine the 00:25:15.839 --> 00:25:18.400 pure agony of that existence. Professional wrestling 00:25:18.400 --> 00:25:21.059 in the 1980s meant an absolutely grueling travel 00:25:21.059 --> 00:25:23.839 schedule. You were working 300 days a year. On 00:25:23.839 --> 00:25:26.079 the road, constantly. You were in a different 00:25:26.079 --> 00:25:28.980 city every single night. You were crammed into 00:25:28.980 --> 00:25:32.119 tiny rental cars with three other massive, sweating, 00:25:32.180 --> 00:25:36.220 bleeding guys. You were wrestling in grimy, un 00:25:36.220 --> 00:25:38.559 -air -conditioned arenas built in the 1920s. 00:25:38.799 --> 00:25:41.460 You were rolling around on canvas ring mats covered 00:25:41.460 --> 00:25:44.180 in the sweat, blood and saliva of 30 other men. 00:25:44.279 --> 00:25:46.720 Medical standards and hygiene were an afterthought. 00:25:47.019 --> 00:25:49.140 For a man suffering from a severe compulsive 00:25:49.140 --> 00:25:51.539 need for cleanliness and order, that environment 00:25:51.539 --> 00:25:54.099 must have felt like a waking, inescapable nightmare. 00:25:54.420 --> 00:25:56.759 Every single day of his career was a psychological 00:25:56.759 --> 00:26:00.180 battle just to exist in that space. The immense 00:26:00.180 --> 00:26:02.160 mental strength that must have taken to endure 00:26:02.160 --> 00:26:04.500 that environment while also performing highly 00:26:04.500 --> 00:26:07.119 dangerous, physically demanding matches is almost 00:26:07.119 --> 00:26:10.299 unimaginable. His compulsions were so severe 00:26:10.299 --> 00:26:12.660 that they directly negatively interfered with 00:26:12.660 --> 00:26:15.470 his life. The source material highlights a very 00:26:15.470 --> 00:26:17.410 famous anecdote from a televised house show at 00:26:17.410 --> 00:26:20.109 the Boston Garden in March of 1986. The Boston 00:26:20.109 --> 00:26:22.210 Garden story, this is the one that really encapsulates 00:26:22.210 --> 00:26:25.450 the tragedy. During the broadcast, Gorilla Monsoon 00:26:25.450 --> 00:26:28.309 is on commentary and he jokes to his fellow commentator 00:26:28.309 --> 00:26:30.569 Lord Alfred Hayes about an incident that happened 00:26:30.569 --> 00:26:34.390 at a previous Boston event. Monsoon casually 00:26:34.390 --> 00:26:37.230 says on the air that Sharp had wrestled the very 00:26:37.230 --> 00:26:39.990 first match of the night. The opener. But hours 00:26:39.990 --> 00:26:42.529 later, when the entire event was completely over, 00:26:42.690 --> 00:26:45.069 the fans had gone home, the ring crew had packed 00:26:45.069 --> 00:26:47.630 up, and the building staff locked up the arena 00:26:47.630 --> 00:26:50.309 for the night. Sharp was still in the showers. 00:26:50.970 --> 00:26:52.890 He ended up being locked in and forced to sleep 00:26:52.890 --> 00:26:55.519 on the floor of the empty Boston garden. And 00:26:55.519 --> 00:26:58.180 we have to look at the context of that. On television, 00:26:58.579 --> 00:27:00.319 Monsoon played it for laughs. He delivered it 00:27:00.319 --> 00:27:02.380 like a sitcom punchline. It was just a funny 00:27:02.380 --> 00:27:05.579 story about wacky Iron Mike taking a long shower. 00:27:06.119 --> 00:27:08.319 But if we analyze what is actually happening 00:27:08.319 --> 00:27:11.440 in that building, it underscores the paralyzing 00:27:11.440 --> 00:27:14.059 severity of his condition. The Boston Garden 00:27:14.059 --> 00:27:17.660 was a massive, old, drafty, uncomfortable building. 00:27:18.019 --> 00:27:19.900 He was trapped in the shower by his own mind 00:27:19.900 --> 00:27:22.920 for hours, unable to leave, unable to break the 00:27:22.920 --> 00:27:25.299 cycle of washing, to the point where he was completely 00:27:25.299 --> 00:27:27.519 abandoned by his colleagues and locked in an 00:27:27.519 --> 00:27:30.500 empty, dark building overnight. That is not a 00:27:30.500 --> 00:27:33.319 humorous quirk. That is a man being held hostage 00:27:33.319 --> 00:27:36.019 by his own brain chemistry. It's devastating. 00:27:36.460 --> 00:27:38.400 And there is a theory that I've seen wrestling 00:27:38.400 --> 00:27:41.339 historians float, which connects his OCD directly 00:27:41.339 --> 00:27:44.079 to his on -screen character. Think about the 00:27:44.079 --> 00:27:47.519 black leather forearm brace. Yes, it was a great 00:27:47.519 --> 00:27:50.140 prop for a bad guy to use as a weapon, but from 00:27:50.140 --> 00:27:53.039 a psychological standpoint, it was a thick physical 00:27:53.039 --> 00:27:55.640 barrier between his skin and the sweat and grime 00:27:55.640 --> 00:27:57.829 of his opponents. It was armor. It was armor 00:27:57.829 --> 00:28:00.670 and his constant screaming, a release valve for 00:28:00.670 --> 00:28:02.670 the immense internal pressure he was under. And 00:28:02.670 --> 00:28:04.609 it wasn't just cleanliness either. The sources 00:28:04.609 --> 00:28:06.390 note that commentators frequently pointed out 00:28:06.390 --> 00:28:08.589 his absolute obsession with physical fitness. 00:28:09.349 --> 00:28:11.930 The running joke backstage was that if Mike Sharp 00:28:11.930 --> 00:28:14.109 wasn't in the ring or in the shower, he was lifting 00:28:14.109 --> 00:28:16.599 weights. Always working out. His entire life 00:28:16.599 --> 00:28:19.359 was a rigid compulsive routine of maintaining 00:28:19.359 --> 00:28:22.420 his body and cleaning his body. That was his 00:28:22.420 --> 00:28:24.859 armor against the chaos of the wrestling world. 00:28:25.500 --> 00:28:27.319 You've hit on the psychological core of the issue. 00:28:27.680 --> 00:28:30.319 His body was the one thing he could exert total 00:28:30.319 --> 00:28:33.440 absolute control over. In a business where promoters 00:28:33.440 --> 00:28:35.980 dictate your wins, your losses, your travel schedule, 00:28:36.000 --> 00:28:39.460 your pay and your public perception, his physical 00:28:39.460 --> 00:28:42.119 fitness and his cleanliness were the domains 00:28:42.119 --> 00:28:44.819 where his OCD could manifest as absolute control. 00:28:44.910 --> 00:28:47.130 Because he couldn't control the booking. Exactly. 00:28:47.410 --> 00:28:49.269 He couldn't control if he won or lost to Bob 00:28:49.269 --> 00:28:51.630 Backlund, but he could control exactly how many 00:28:51.630 --> 00:28:54.049 times he folded his shirt and exactly how many 00:28:54.049 --> 00:28:56.390 weights he lifted. So let's look at the final 00:28:56.390 --> 00:28:58.390 chapter of his career in his life, because that 00:28:58.390 --> 00:29:00.369 desperate need for physical control makes what 00:29:00.369 --> 00:29:03.559 happens next feel incredibly cruel. His last 00:29:03.559 --> 00:29:07.240 televised match for the WWF was on June 6, 1995. 00:29:07.740 --> 00:29:09.759 He teamed up with Dwayne Gill, who was another 00:29:09.759 --> 00:29:12.119 famous dropper of that era, and they lost a tag 00:29:12.119 --> 00:29:14.480 team match to the Smoking Guns. That was the 00:29:14.480 --> 00:29:16.539 end of his national television run. But after 00:29:16.539 --> 00:29:19.160 leaving the WWF, he didn't just walk away from 00:29:19.160 --> 00:29:21.720 the business. Wrestling was all he knew. He spent 00:29:21.720 --> 00:29:25.839 from 1995 to 1997 working the independent circuit. 00:29:26.190 --> 00:29:28.089 These are smaller shows, often in high school 00:29:28.089 --> 00:29:30.609 gyms or armories. With indies. And even there, 00:29:30.869 --> 00:29:32.990 he was still wrestling notable names who were 00:29:32.990 --> 00:29:35.809 also on the downside of their careers. The record 00:29:35.809 --> 00:29:38.589 show matches against Nikolai Volkov, Virgil, 00:29:38.970 --> 00:29:42.890 Bam Bam Bigelow, King Kong Bundy. His very last 00:29:42.890 --> 00:29:46.289 recorded match took place on November 15th, 1997, 00:29:46.730 --> 00:29:48.910 against the legendary George the Animal Steal. 00:29:49.130 --> 00:29:51.509 After the final bell rang on his in -ring career, 00:29:51.829 --> 00:29:54.319 he transitioned into teaching. He opened Mike 00:29:54.319 --> 00:29:56.380 Sharp's School of Pro Wrestling down in New Jersey, 00:29:56.460 --> 00:29:59.019 and by all accounts, he was an incredibly effective 00:29:59.019 --> 00:30:01.279 teacher. He trained some very notable talent 00:30:01.279 --> 00:30:03.240 who went on to have great careers themselves. 00:30:03.740 --> 00:30:06.440 Guys like Mike Bucci, who became Nova in ECW, 00:30:06.660 --> 00:30:09.680 Crowbar in WCW, and specifically, the Haas brothers, 00:30:09.960 --> 00:30:12.480 Charlie and Russ Haas. The transition to teaching 00:30:12.480 --> 00:30:14.980 makes perfect psychological sense when you view 00:30:14.980 --> 00:30:17.240 it through the lens of his personality. He was 00:30:17.240 --> 00:30:18.819 passing on the fundamentals that made him such 00:30:18.819 --> 00:30:21.640 a safe, reliable and trusted worker for all those 00:30:21.640 --> 00:30:25.140 years in the WWF. If you look at the wrestlers 00:30:25.140 --> 00:30:28.160 he trained, particularly the Haas brothers, they 00:30:28.160 --> 00:30:30.299 are renowned in the industry for their crisp 00:30:30.299 --> 00:30:33.539 technical proficiency, their amateur style grappling, 00:30:34.000 --> 00:30:37.039 and above all, their safety in the ring. Mike 00:30:37.039 --> 00:30:39.539 Sharp instilled the strict mechanical rules of 00:30:39.539 --> 00:30:42.839 the craft into the next generation. A man who 00:30:42.839 --> 00:30:45.619 needed order in his own life thrived in an environment 00:30:45.619 --> 00:30:47.559 where he could dictate the order and structure 00:30:47.559 --> 00:30:49.690 for his students. But then we get to the health 00:30:49.690 --> 00:30:53.089 decline, and it is just devastating. In 2007, 00:30:53.190 --> 00:30:55.630 he moved back to his hometown of Hamilton, Ontario. 00:30:56.089 --> 00:30:58.309 He moved back to live with and care for his aging 00:30:58.309 --> 00:31:00.670 mother. During that summer, he was doing some 00:31:00.670 --> 00:31:03.029 routine landscaping work outside the house and 00:31:03.029 --> 00:31:05.609 suffered a deep cut to his leg. Now, normally 00:31:05.609 --> 00:31:07.650 that's just a trip to the clinic for some stitches. 00:31:08.190 --> 00:31:10.710 But that cut became severely infected. And here's 00:31:10.710 --> 00:31:13.849 the tragic irony. For a man whose entire identity, 00:31:14.069 --> 00:31:17.029 whose entire livelihood, and whose primary psychological 00:31:17.029 --> 00:31:19.230 coping mechanism was tied to his physical fitness 00:31:19.230 --> 00:31:22.309 and bodily maintenance, a severe physical infection 00:31:22.309 --> 00:31:24.430 is a catastrophic blow. Everything he worked 00:31:24.430 --> 00:31:27.730 to protect. Exactly. The infection ravaged his 00:31:27.730 --> 00:31:30.809 leg and led to profound permanent mobility issues. 00:31:31.490 --> 00:31:34.750 This giant of a man, this 280 -pound powerhouse 00:31:34.750 --> 00:31:37.150 who spent his life lifting weights to maintain 00:31:37.150 --> 00:31:40.710 control, began using a wheelchair. He ended up 00:31:40.710 --> 00:31:42.970 living in a basement apartment in Hamilton, and 00:31:42.970 --> 00:31:45.190 according to the sources, he became a complete 00:31:45.190 --> 00:31:48.390 recluse. Other health problems likely exacerbated 00:31:48.390 --> 00:31:50.950 by his immobility and isolation compounded over 00:31:50.950 --> 00:31:53.569 the years. A man who spent his life performing 00:31:53.569 --> 00:31:56.029 for millions of screaming fans, traveling the 00:31:56.029 --> 00:31:58.430 globe, sharing the ring with icons like Hulk 00:31:58.430 --> 00:32:01.250 Hogan and Bob Backlund, was now physically trapped 00:32:01.250 --> 00:32:04.130 in a basement isolated from the world. It forces 00:32:04.130 --> 00:32:06.450 us to reflect on a very uncomfortable reality 00:32:06.450 --> 00:32:08.450 about the sports and entertainment industries. 00:32:09.009 --> 00:32:10.809 How does the industry take care of its veterans? 00:32:11.269 --> 00:32:13.869 Here is a man who spent decades sacrificing his 00:32:13.869 --> 00:32:16.099 body to make others look like superstars. He 00:32:16.099 --> 00:32:18.460 built a foundation. He took the bumps. He absorbed 00:32:18.460 --> 00:32:21.019 the impacts. He was the foundational machinery 00:32:21.019 --> 00:32:23.619 that allowed a billion -dollar industry to function 00:32:23.619 --> 00:32:27.019 and expand globally. Yet, in his twilight years, 00:32:27.319 --> 00:32:29.920 battling severe physical decline and lifelong 00:32:29.920 --> 00:32:32.799 mental health issues, he's entirely hidden away, 00:32:33.180 --> 00:32:35.259 largely forgotten by the machine he helped build. 00:32:35.450 --> 00:32:37.750 It wasn't until 2015 that he finally allowed 00:32:37.750 --> 00:32:40.130 a video camera to record him, and that was solely 00:32:40.130 --> 00:32:42.390 because he wanted to participate in a video tribute 00:32:42.390 --> 00:32:44.730 to another Hamilton wrestling legend, Angelo 00:32:44.730 --> 00:32:48.630 Mosca Sr. That brief, grainy video was his final 00:32:48.630 --> 00:32:51.430 public appearance. Iron Mike Sharp passed away 00:32:51.430 --> 00:32:54.569 on January 17th, 2016 in Hamilton at the age 00:32:54.569 --> 00:32:57.630 of 64. It's a deeply somber conclusion to a life 00:32:57.630 --> 00:32:59.970 that was lived so loudly, so aggressively in 00:32:59.970 --> 00:33:02.569 public, yet so quietly and painfully in reality. 00:33:02.890 --> 00:33:04.789 So what does this all mean for us? We have a 00:33:04.789 --> 00:33:07.170 man who was literally born into wrestling royalty, 00:33:07.549 --> 00:33:09.849 carrying the weight of a legendary 1950s tag 00:33:09.849 --> 00:33:12.069 team on his back. A man who won championships 00:33:12.069 --> 00:33:15.130 all over North America, surviving bloody brass 00:33:15.130 --> 00:33:17.710 knucks, brawls and the grueling stampede dungeon. 00:33:18.009 --> 00:33:20.509 An incredible resume. A man who created one of 00:33:20.509 --> 00:33:23.470 the most recognizable iconic villain personas 00:33:23.470 --> 00:33:26.269 of the 1980s just by grunting and wearing a black 00:33:26.269 --> 00:33:29.269 arm brace. He gave his body to entertain millions, 00:33:29.509 --> 00:33:31.670 he patiently trained the next generation of athletes, 00:33:32.150 --> 00:33:35.069 but he spent his entire career fighting a quiet, 00:33:35.490 --> 00:33:38.349 intense, debilitating battle with severe OCD 00:33:38.349 --> 00:33:41.609 and spent his final years completely hidden away 00:33:41.609 --> 00:33:44.369 from the world he helped build. His legacy is 00:33:44.369 --> 00:33:46.829 incredibly complex and deserves profound respect. 00:33:47.130 --> 00:33:49.410 Mike Sharp was not just a guy who lost on Saturday 00:33:49.410 --> 00:33:52.049 mornings. He was a master craftsman. He was a 00:33:52.049 --> 00:33:55.170 survivor in an unforgiving, chaotic era of sports 00:33:55.170 --> 00:33:57.869 entertainment. And his story demands that we 00:33:57.869 --> 00:34:00.309 reevaluate how we remember the supporting casts 00:34:00.309 --> 00:34:03.390 in any era of history, recognizing the invisible 00:34:03.390 --> 00:34:05.589 burdens they may have carried. And that leaves 00:34:05.589 --> 00:34:07.690 me with a final provocative thought for you to 00:34:07.690 --> 00:34:09.769 ponder today as you go about your week. The next 00:34:09.769 --> 00:34:11.550 time you watch a movie or a sporting event or 00:34:11.550 --> 00:34:13.329 even just look around at the hierarchy of your 00:34:13.329 --> 00:34:15.489 own company or community. Look past the main 00:34:15.489 --> 00:34:18.250 eventers. Look past the stars. Look past the 00:34:18.250 --> 00:34:20.789 stars whose names are on the marquee. Take a 00:34:20.789 --> 00:34:23.150 moment to look at the jobbers. The people doing 00:34:23.150 --> 00:34:25.889 the heavy unglamorous lifting day in and day 00:34:25.889 --> 00:34:27.889 out just to keep the machinery moving, to make 00:34:27.889 --> 00:34:30.789 the leaders look good. What hidden battles might 00:34:30.789 --> 00:34:33.550 they be fighting? What unseen legacies do they 00:34:33.550 --> 00:34:35.869 carry? Because as we've learned today with Iron 00:34:35.869 --> 00:34:38.650 Mike, sometimes the most fascinating, most heroic 00:34:38.650 --> 00:34:41.530 story in the room isn't the one holding the championship 00:34:41.530 --> 00:34:43.769 trophy. Thank you so much for joining us on this 00:34:43.769 --> 00:34:46.429 deep dive into the life of Mike Sharp. It's been 00:34:46.429 --> 00:34:48.909 a privilege to unpack this history and explore 00:34:48.909 --> 00:34:51.230 this remarkable life. Remember to always look 00:34:51.230 --> 00:34:53.449 a little closer at the background. Until next 00:34:53.449 --> 00:34:53.630 time.