Cook’s Top 5: Wrestling Pyromaniacs

Keeping with the times, Steve Cook takes a look back at the top 5 fire-hungry characters in wrestling history with this Top 5 Wrestling Pyromaniacs!

WWE is big on burning people alive these days.

I don’t know why. Other than USA has noticed that we’re big on serial killers now, and wants WWE to go a bit darker. Seems a bit questionable in my opinion, but so does Alexa Bliss dousing herself in gasoline at the end of the most recent Raw, and nobody asked my opinion there.

That being said, there’s a long tradition of wrestlers setting each other on fire. Here’s five that excelled at it!

5. Kane

You have to remember that Kane barely survived a fire started by his brother that killed their parents. He was burned, and Paul Bearer convinced him that he had to wear a mask to hide the damage suffered, though we later learned there wasn’t any. Emotional scarring, which is often worse than actual scarring. That fire still burned, and Kane was always willing to unleash it on a poor soul. Or on an innocent announcer.

4. Eddie Gilbert

Hot Stuff was one of the true legendary minds of the business during his all too brief time with us. Passed away at 33 of a heart attack, but he did a lot while he could. Including Missy Hyatt & Madusa, hey nowwwwwwwwwww.

It’s kind of funny, though. When you look back at a lot of what Eddie Gilbert did during his career, it was very similar to what Jerry Lawler did when he was getting over in Memphis. Eddie grew up idolizing Lawler, and wanted to be the man that succeeded Lawler as the main eventer in the Mid-South Coliseum. Thing is, Lawler wasn’t stepping aside anytime soon when Gilbert came up. So Eddie had to find other places to be the man. And he used a lot of the King’s tricks when he had booking power over promotions. Including the fireball. He was a better athlete than Lawler, and had a great mind, which would have become even greater with age & wisdom. Life is not fair, as we’ve been reminded of repeatedly in 2020.

3. Jerry Lawler

The King learned the trick of the fire when he was being built up. Every top contender for the NWA World Championship was brought into Memphis to have matches with Lawler to make him seem like a top contender when the NWA World Champion came to town. One of those men was The Sheik. A man who had ruled wrestling in Detroit, Toronto and surrounding areas for a very long time. Lawler faced him, and in the process learned the secret of the fire.

He used it from time to time when necessary.

2. The Dudley Boyz

The thing about the Dudleyz: they took fire to another level. Everybody else on this list used the fireball. These two chuckleheads decided they needed to light tables on fire. It’s a miracle they didn’t burn a building down in the process. That being said, as a teenager when ECW was a big thing, flaming tables definitely got me excited.

1. The Sheik

I’m not really sure what kind of demographics we’re reaching these days. A lot of you might not have seen a Sheik match in full. Maybe you’ve seen clips. I’ve seen some matches, but the footage isn’t out there like it is for some guys. People of a certain age will tell you he was the best heel of the 1960s & 70s. Older folks in my region of the country will mention him when they talk about wrestling, since he’s the guy they grew up watching.

I don’t know with 100% certainty if the the Original Sheik was the first person to use fire in wrestling, but he made it popular and did it the best.