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Remembering Kevin Sullivan

Posted: Aug 16th 2024 By: Mick Foley

The wrestling world lost one of its greatest and most creative minds with the passing of Kevin Sullivan at age 74. My time as Kevin’s tag team partner in 1990 was like a blip on the radar of his long and storied career — but it’s that time together 34 years ago that I keep thinking about since his passing.

I had a tryout match for WCW in November, 1989 against the Steiners — among the biggest, baddest, tag teams of their generation. But even as Rick and Scott did a number on Cactus Jack in this tryout match, it was Sullivan‘s voice I kept hearing in my head — a voice that had given me hope that WCW might just have plans for me. After being told about the Cactus elbow off the apron by Jim Cornette, Sullivan turned to me, completely serious, and said, “Brotha, I don’t care how badly Ricky or Scotty hurt you out there. When this match is over, I want to see you drop that elbow on your partner.”

I did drop that elbow on partner Rick Fargo after the match, and in doing so, gained a most unusual and very creative entry onto the main roster at WCW. Although the company initially did not have major plans for me, there were no guidelines about booking the losers of the matches, so Sullivan and Cornette had free reign to create this unusual push. Sure enough, as I began attacking tag-team partners after each loss, the crowd started getting with it, and Kevin himself donned the trunks once again, taking me under his wing as his tag team partner. I was 24 years old and had access to one of the greatest minds in the business — and I soaked up that knowledge like a sponge every single day.

As time goes by, I am more and more thankful for those people who saw something in me along the way, and often wonder how my career would have turned out without a handful of those key individuals playing important roles. Kevin Sullivan was one of those key individuals for me – just as he had been for many others previously, and would continue to be many others afterward.
I never had a chance to see Kevin do his thing during his legendary run in the territories, especially FL, where he wreaked havoc and pushed the envelope like no other for so many years. Kevin knew how to cut promos, create characters and envision storylines that resonated and infuriated the diehard fans of the territory days. Fans were legitimately terrified of Kevin during his runs, and the heat he garnered was so legit that there were many occasions where his life was in danger.

After all he had been through, it seemed like nothing could stop Kevin Sullivan, although I had noticed him looking noticeably older in the last few times I had seen him. When I received word that he had been injured in an accident, I thought he would shrug it off like so many attempted fan attacks he had thwarted during his career. When it was clear that the accident had been devastating in nature, I made plans to visit him on September 1st in Massachusetts, but unfortunately time ran out.
Thank you, Kevin, for seeing something in me — which was the difference between being employed and having a future in wrestling, and being a young man with very few choices in the business. Like so many others who benefited from your tutelage, my life and career were so much better for having known you.