Weight: 248 lbs.
Finishing move: Neck Breaker
Titles held: 2x WCW Light Heavyweight Champ (defunct), 1x WCW Tag Champ.
Nicknames: Flyin', California, The Loose Cannon, The Ticking Time Bomb.
Usually, I don't give credit for WCW accomplishments, but I'm making an exception for Brian. I don't know a whole lot about his WCW career, but I do remember him in The Hollywood Blonds with Steve Austin. After he broke up with him, he became one of the Four Horsemen, with Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, and Chris Benoit. He got into a strange strap match with Kevin Sullivan where Pillman walked out shortly into the contest. He was briefly in ECW, but signed a contract with the WWF in June 1996.
He came out as the "Loose Cannon" at the King of the Ring, in an interview with Jim Ross. That interview can be found here. He showed up as a commentator over the months, and was excited when Bret Hart announced he was returning. He interviewed Bret's rival, Steve Austin, and Austin got mad that he was being used to promote Bret's return, and attacked Brian's ankle. When they announced they were doing an interview from Pillman's house, Austin threatened to got to Brian's house and break in. Pillman posted some of his friends as guards, and said he'd see what happened "when Austin 3:16 meets Pillman 9mm!" and waved a gun in front of the camera. Austin broke in, and it was cut off as Pillman was waving the gun.
After WrestleMania XIII, Brian returned to action, and joined the Hart Foundation with Bret, Owen Hart, Davey Boy Smith, and Jim Neidhart. He teamed with them and beat Austin, Goldust, Ken Shamrock, and the Legion of Doom at IYH: Canadian Stampede. He wrestled a match with Goldust at SummerSlam, lost, and was forced to wrestle in a dress until he could score a victory on Raw. He lost to Bob Holly by count out when Goldust and Marlena waved an over sized bra in his face. The next week, he was pinned by Flash Funk when Goldust played footage of him trying to get into the dress earlier, and lost to Jesse James when Goldust dropped an elbow on James, DQing Pillman. Pillman won a rematch at IYH: Ground Zero, and got Marlena as his servant for 30 days. He showed footage of them in bed, which he called Brian Pillman's XXX Files. He was slated to wrestle Dude Love at IYH: Badd Blood, but tragedy struck. The night before, he overdosed on painkillers and when they mixed with alcohol, it triggered a heart condition which led to Brian's death.
In a show of respect the next night on Raw, the Superstars came out and stood on the ramp, while the ring bell was rung ten times. Brian will forever live in our memories as a man who gave his life to wrestling, and was truly one of the greatest performers ever.
