Crash Holly

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"Mike Lockwood" redirects here. For other people, see Michael Lockwood.
Crash Holly
drugs[3]
Spouse(s)
Christeena Wheeler
​
(m. 1999)​
Children1
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)[2]
Crash Holly[2]
Erin O'Grady[2]
The Green Ghost[4]
Johnny Pearson[2]
Mad Mikey[2]
Billed height5 ft 10 in (178 cm)[5]
Billed weight198 lb[6]
"Allegedly well over 400 lb" (181 kg)[2][5]
Billed fromMobile, Alabama[5]
Trained byJerry Monti[2]
Michael Modest[2]
Ric Thompson[2]
Debut1989[2]

Michael John Lockwood (August 25, 1971 – November 6, 2003) was an American professional wrestler. He was best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) / World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) from 1999 to 2003 under the ring names Crash Holly or simply Crash.[2][5]

Lockwood debuted in 1989 and spent a decade wrestling on the

NWA Total Nonstop Action
as Mad Mikey, where he remained until his death later that year.

Holly was also a

WWF Light Heavyweight Champion.[8] In total, Holly had over 25 championship reigns in the WWF.[9]

Early life

Lockwood was born on August 25, 1971, in

Safeway.[10]

Professional wrestling career

Early career (1989–1998)

Lockwood debuted in 1989, as "Johnny Pearson" in Bay Area Wrestling for Woody Farmer, where he wrestled until 1994.[2] He dislocated his shoulder about five times and took 18 months off to recover.[4] He then wrestled on the independent circuit as "'Irish' Erin O'Grady". In 1995, he appeared in Mexico with Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre as "Super Diablo". In 1996, he joined All Pro Wrestling (APW), where he became known as "'The Leprechaun' Erin O'Grady"[4] and had several matches with Vic Grimes.

Lockwood joined the

dark match at November to Remember.[12]
Following his stint in ECW, Lockwood returned to APW where he performed until October 1998.

World Wrestling Federation / World Wrestling Entertainment (1998–2003)

Developmental territories (1998–1999)

O'Grady wrestled Vic Grimes in a try-out match for the

WWF Super Astros.[10] He wrestled in Monterrey for three months, under a mask, as "The Green Ghost" (a play on the word "gringo").[4]

Holly Cousins (1999–2000)

See also: Holly Cousins
Holly carrying his weighing scale to the ring in 1999.
Smackdown
taping in 1999.

Lockwood debuted on WWF television as "Crash Holly", the storyline cousin of Bob "Hardcore" Holly, on the August 16, 1999, episode of Raw is War[4] They became known as the Holly Cousins. Their relationship was a strained one, and Hardcore frequently threatened Crash.[2] When they took the gimmick of claiming to be "super heavyweights", over 400 lb each, Crash would carry a scale to ringside to "weigh in" before matches.[2]

Crash made his

Edge and Christian in a triangle match, which Edge and Christian won. On October 17, at No Mercy, the Holly Cousins defeated The New Age Outlaws by disqualification.[18] The next night on Raw is War, they defeated the Rock 'n' Sock Connection for the WWF Tag Team Championship.[19] They held the title until the November 4 SmackDown!, when they lost it to Mankind and his new partner, Al Snow.[20]

At Survivor Series on November 14, the Holly Cousins teamed with Too Cool to defeat Edge & Christian and the Hardy Boyz in a survivor series match. Later that month, the Holly Cousins began a short feud with Too Cool and Rikishi Phatu. At Armageddon on December 12, 1999, they defeated Phatu and Viscera. The feud continued into February 2000. At the Royal Rumble on January 23, 2000, both Hollys took part in the titular Royal Rumble match, with Crash Holly being eliminated by The Rock.

Championship reigns (2000–2001)

Holly making his entrance at King of the Ring in June 2000.
Pat Patterson
in the ring at King of the Ring in June 2000.

In February 2000, Crash Holly joined the

Rodney and Joey Abs) over the title.[21] He even lost, and quickly regained, the title against one of the Godfather
's hos.

At Rebellion, Crash defeated William Regal to win the European Championship.[7] He lost the title to Regal two days later.[7] In late 2000, another of Crash's storyline cousins, Molly Holly, was introduced. In 2001, The Holly Cousins feuded with The Dudley Boyz.[23] In the course of this feud, Molly began a romantic relationship with Spike Dudley, leading to internal disputes within each family, as well as a Romeo and Juliet-style angle between the six of them.[23] On the March 18, 2001, episode of Heat, Crash defeated Dean Malenko to win the Light Heavyweight Championship. He defended it on two episodes of Heat, against Funaki and Grandmaster Sexay, before dropping it to the debuting Jerry Lynn on the April 29 episode.[8] In April 2001, Holly and Hardcore briefly reunited as a lower card team until December of that year.[17]

In July 2001, Holly appeared with the

Sunday Night Heat. At Survivor Series on November 18, 2001, Holly took part in a battle royal that would guarantee the winner immunity from being fired that was won by Test
. Throughout the remainder of 2001 and early 2002, Holly continued to wrestle primarily on house shows and the WWF's secondary television shows.

Mattitude Follower (2002–2003)

When the WWF was renamed

Cruiserweight Champion Jamie Noble. On the October 3 SmackDown!, Noble defeated Holly to retain the title.[27]

On the December 19 SmackDown!, Holly teamed with

Nunzio.[28] After the match, DeMott turned on Holly and attacked him.[28] This led to a match on the next SmackDown!, which DeMott won.[29] After being sidelined for three months, Holly returned on the April 24, 2003, episode of SmackDown!.[30] He soon joined Matt Hardy and Shannon Moore in the Mattitude Followers (abbreviated "MF'er") stable. As Crash was Moore's alleged apprentice, Hardy also referred to him as a "Moore-on".[30] His last several matches with the company were tag matches with Moore, as well as house show matches against newcomer Orlando Jordan.[31] On June 30, 2003, Lockwood was released from WWE.[2]

NWA Total Nonstop Action; independent circuit (2003)

Lockwood signed a contract with

NWA Total Nonstop Action in July 2003 and debuted as "Mad Mikey" on July 23,[32] accepting an open challenge from Elix Skipper and losing the match.[32] Mad Mikey was angry at many things, on which he elaborated in promos. He wrestled on nine NWA-TNA weekly PPVs, lastly on October 1.[33] He briefly wrestled for Pro Wrestling Iron in Hayward, California. On November 1, 2003, Mad Mikey and Rory Fox defeated Quiten Lee and The Human Time Bomb with Ricky Steamboat as the special guest referee for the Heartland Wrestling Association
in what turned out to be Lockwood's final match.

Personal life

Lockwood met his wife, Christeena Wheeler, when she escorted Mark Henry to the ring at Unforgiven 1999, in Charlotte, North Carolina.[34] They married on New Year's Eve, 1999.[34] The couple had one child together, a daughter.[1] In 2002, he opened "Crash Holly's School of Professional Wrestling" in Salisbury, North Carolina, where Wheeler grew up.[2][34]

Death

Lockwood's grave

Lockwood died on November 6, 2003, at his friend and fellow wrestler Stevie Richards' house in Florida.[2] He was 32 years old. He was found partially clothed with a pool of vomit around his face.[35] Empty bottles of the prescription drug carisoprodol and a partially consumed bottle of alcohol were found nearby.[35] He had recently received divorce papers from his wife.[36] His death, caused by choking on his own vomit, was officially ruled a suicide.[3] He was buried in China Grove in Rowan County, North Carolina.

In August 2005, Nora Greenwald, who performed alongside Lockwood as Molly Holly, released an autobiographical DVD titled "Nora Greenwald: Shootin' the Shi Crap", and a portion of the profits from the sale of the DVD went to Lockwood's daughter's education fund. In March 2005, the New Breed Wrestling Association held the "Mike Lockwood Memorial Tournament", which was won by Michael Modest.[37] At ECW One Night Stand in 2005, Lockwood was one of the deceased former ECW wrestlers honored in a video package.[38]

Championships and accomplishments

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Gerweck, Steve (November 5, 2013). "Michael J. Lockwood Obituary". Gerweck.net. Retrieved May 3, 2022.
  2. ^
    Québecor Média
    . Retrieved April 26, 2022.
  3. ^ a b Featherstone, Chris (April 23, 2012). "In Memory: Professional Wrestlers Who Died Under 40". Bleacher Report. Archived from the original on April 26, 2012. Retrieved March 2, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)NOTE: The original publication date of this article is given in an archived version of it at the Internet Archive:
  4. ^ a b c d e f g "Statistics for Professional wrestlers". PWI Presents: 2002 Wrestling Almanac and Book of Facts (2000 ed.). Kappa Publications. pp. 62–74.
  5. ^ a b c d "Crash Holly". WWE.com. WWE. Retrieved September 25, 2014.
  6. ^ Kreikenbohm, Philip. "Crash Holly". Cagematch.net. Retrieved May 3, 2022.
  7. ^
    World Wrestling Entertainment. December 2, 2000. Archived from the original
    on June 16, 2012. Retrieved March 6, 2008.
  8. ^
    World Wrestling Entertainment. March 15, 2001. Archived from the original
    on June 16, 2012. Retrieved March 6, 2008.
  9. ^ "The 16 most decorated champions in WWE history". WWE. Retrieved 2020-10-15.
  10. ^ a b c Kimble, David (February 2002). "A Crash course in believing yourself: Crash Holly may be small, but he has a gigantic drive to prove he can excel in the WWF – Cover Story – Interview". Wrestling Digest. Retrieved September 26, 2008. [dead link]
  11. ^ https://youtube.com/watch?v=0AXp7Oyx9jo?t=13m51s | Wrestling Observer Live interview with Taz. 13:51 specifically clears up how Lockwood got into ECW through Taz
  12. ^ Lockwood's ECW matches, from WrestlingData.com
  13. ^ "Lockwood's 1998 WWF matches". WrestlingData.com.
  14. ^ a b Westcott, Brian (March 20, 1999). "MPPW Tag Team Title History". Solie's Title Histories. Retrieved May 24, 2008.
  15. ^ a b Westcott, Brian (March 7, 1998). "PPW Young Guns Title History". Solie's Title Histories. Retrieved May 24, 2008.
  16. Canadian Online Explorer. Archived from the original on June 29, 2012. Retrieved September 26, 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link
    )
  17. ^ a b "Holly Cousins Profile". Online World of Wrestling. Archived from the original on September 17, 2009. Retrieved May 23, 2008.
  18. Canadian Online Explorer. Archived from the original on July 14, 2012. Retrieved September 26, 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link
    )
  19. ^
    World Wrestling Entertainment. October 18, 1999. Archived from the original
    on June 22, 2012. Retrieved March 6, 2008.
  20. ^ "WWE SmackDown! Results". Online World of Wrestling. November 4, 1999. Archived from the original on October 12, 2008. Retrieved September 26, 2008.
  21. ^
    World Wrestling Entertainment
    . Retrieved March 6, 2008.
  22. ^ "Michael Lockwood". IMDB. Retrieved November 15, 2008.
  23. ^
    Canadian Online Explorer. Archived from the original on June 30, 2012. Retrieved September 26, 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link
    )
  24. ^ "WWE Raw Results". Online World of Wrestling. March 25, 2002. Retrieved September 27, 2008.
  25. ^ "RAW results". Online World of Wrestling. September 2, 2002. Retrieved May 24, 2008.
  26. ^ "WWE SmackDown! Results". Online World of Wrestling. September 5, 2002. Retrieved September 27, 2008.
  27. ^ "SmackDown!". Online World of Wrestling. October 3, 2002. Retrieved May 24, 2008.
  28. ^ a b "SmackDown! results". Online World of Wrestling. December 19, 2002. Retrieved May 24, 2008.
  29. ^ "SmackDown! results". Online World of Wrestling. December 26, 2002. Retrieved May 24, 2008.
  30. ^ a b "SmackDown! results". Online World of Wrestling. April 24, 2003. Retrieved May 24, 2008.
  31. ^ title=2003 WWE results
  32. ^ a b "NWA:TNA PPV results". Online World of Wrestling. July 23, 2003. Retrieved May 24, 2008.
  33. ^ Lockwood's 2003 NWA-TNA matches, from WrestlingData.com
  34. ^ a b c Morris, Joanne (January 23, 2002). "Big man with big dreams". Salisbury Post. Archived from the original on February 22, 2005. Retrieved September 26, 2008.
  35. ^ a b "Wrestling Deaths – Crash Holly". WrestleView. Retrieved September 26, 2008.
  36. ^ Mooneyham, Mike (February 22, 2004). "WrestleMania XX Taking Shape". The Wrestling Gospel. Retrieved May 11, 2017.
  37. ^ "Mike Modest Profile". Online World of Wrestling. Archived from the original on October 12, 2008. Retrieved October 3, 2008.
  38. Canadian Online Explorer. Archived from the original on July 23, 2012. Retrieved September 26, 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link
    )
  39. ^ Oliver, Earl (March 22, 1997). "APW – Junior Heavyweight Title History". Solie's Title Histories. Retrieved May 24, 2008.
  40. ^ González, Manuel O.; Palma, Richard (July 21, 2001). "IWA Junior Heavyweight/World Cruiserweight Title History". Solie's Title Histories. Retrieved May 24, 2008.
  41. ^ Westcott, Brian (July 13, 2003). "MEWF Cruiserweight Title History". Solie's Title Histories. Retrieved May 24, 2008.
  42. ^ "PWI 500 2000". The Turnbuckle Post. Archived from the original on July 26, 2012. Retrieved August 22, 2012.

External links

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