Larry Winters

Larry Winters (April 14, 1956 – January 27, 2015) was an American professional wrestler and trainer who competed in the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and East Coast independent circuit during the 1980s and 90s.

He has wrestled in the American Wrestling Association, the National Wrestling Alliance, National Wrestling Federation, Pro Wrestling USA and the World Wrestling Council.

A native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Larry Winters made his professional debut in 1982.

That year, he traveled to the Midwestern United States to appear for Ohio Championship Wrestling's debut show in Maple Heights on November 6, 1982.

A three-day weekend supercard, others who appeared on the card included Luis Martinez, J.W. Hawk, J.R. Hogg, Zoltan the Great, Bobby Colt, The Beast, and Bobo Brazil, who was crowned its first champion.

While there, he faced one of his first major opponents, Malcolm Monroe and his manager "Mad Dog" Marcial Bovee, in Akron.

On October 28, 1984 Winters made an appearance for the World Wrestling Federation where he lost to Ron Shaw at a house show in Reading, Pennsylvania.

Around 1985, Winters began wrestling for the American Wrestling Association in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Feuding with "The Living Legend" Larry Zbyszko, he later earned the same sobriquet which he used for the majority of his career.

Other notable opponents included Nick Bockwinkel, Kendo Nagasaki and Jimmy Garvin.

His match with Garvin was later released as part of Wrestling's Greatest Matches series.

Winters also took part in tag team as well as singles matches.

During the summer of 1985, he teamed with various partners against The Long Riders (Bill & Scott Irwin), Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens, and The Fabulous Freebirds (Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy & Buddy Roberts).

He also made several appearances for short-lived Pro Wrestling USA, specifically shows co-promoted by the AWA and the National Wrestling Alliance, facing Buddy Roberts and Boris Zhukov.

On November 24, 1985, at an interpromotional show for AWA and Jim Crockett Promotions, Winters lost to Boris Zhukov at the Civic Center in Baltimore, Maryland.

During the next two years, Winters wrestled for the NWA as well as the World Wrestling Council, World Grand Prix Wrestling.

and the National Wrestling Federation.

On October 2, 1987, Winters wrestled NWF Heavyweight Champion D. C. "Mad Dog" Drake at the Al Lang Stadium in St. Petersburg, Florida.

A year later, he and D. C. Drake were featured in a special documentary on violence in professional wrestling, Scar Wars, which also included Jules Strongbow and Abdullah the Butcher.

During 1988 and 1989, Winters regularly did shows for promoter Jim Crockett in Baltimore.

It was during this period that Winters met Joel Goodhart, who was then involved with the Squared Circle Fan Club, which organized bus trips to NWA and independent shows in the Baltimore area.

When Goodhart opened the Ringmasters Wrestling School in Northeast Philadelphia, Larry Winters was hired as head trainer.

One of the earliest displays of modern "hardcore wrestling", Bill Apter wrote "professional wrestling would be forever changed due to this escalated level of violence" after watching their first match in 1990.

He was one of many former TWA wrestlers later brought into Eastern Championship Wrestling by Tod Gordon.

Teaming with one-time rival Tony Stetson, the two feuded with The Super Destroyers (Doug Stahl & A. J. Petrucci) and The Suicide Blondes (Chris Candido, Johnny Hotbody and Chris Michaels) over the ECW Tag Team Championship before turning on each other.

Winters is also credited for training several future ECW stars including Don E. Allen, Glen Osbourne and The Sandman.

In the summer of 1990, Winters toured Canada with IWA Championship Wrestling facing David Isley and Jim Folger.

He also faced his old rival Larry Zbyszko in the Montreal-based Lutte Internationale.

Joel Goodhart began promoting wrestling shows and Winters became one of the earliest stars of the Tri-State Wrestling Alliance following its formation in 1990.

Hoping to rekindle their NWF rivalry, Winters was paired against D. C. Drake in a series of wild matches.

In their first match together, the brawl reached the balcony level and Winters threw his opponent over the rail and onto the cement floor.

Bill Apter, editor of Pro Wrestling Illustrated, wrote the following month that "professional wrestling would be forever changed due to this escalated level of violence".

Indeed, similar TWA feuds between Cactus Jack and Eddie Gilbert, Abdullah the Butcher and The Sheik, and Tony Stetson and Johnny Hotbody were equally violent and, in part, inspired the modern style of "hardcore wrestling" later seen in Extreme Championship Wrestling.

On January 27, 1990, Larry Winters beat D. C. Drake in a "stretcher" match at the TWF's Winter Challenge supercard in Philadelphia.

On March 31 at Spring Spectacular, Winters lost to Drake in an "I Quit" match lasting 37 minutes.

This match was later named by DeathValleyDriver.com as one of the top matches of the decade.

It was reported on several wrestling websites that Winters died due to a heart attack January 27, 2015.

Winters was also one of the top stars of Joel Goodhart's Tri-State Wrestling Alliance.

He and his tag team partner Johnny Hotbody, as the Dog Pound, were the first TWA Tag Team Champions.

However, it was his feud with D. C. Drake that brought him national attention in the wrestling world.