Dan Spivey

Daniel Eugene Spivey (born October 14, 1952) is an American retired professional wrestler best known under the ring names "Dangerous" Dan Spivey, Dangerous Dan The Left Hand Man, Danny Spivey, Mr. America, and Waylon Mercy, initially working under the name Starship Eagle.

Throughout his career, he has worked extensively for World Championship Wrestling, the World Wrestling Federation, and All Japan Pro Wrestling.

Spivey was trained as a wrestler by Dusty Rhodes, the then-booker for Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF) and made his debut in 1983.

Spivey and Scott Hall formed a tag team in CWF called "American Starship".

Spivey adopted the ring name "Eagle" and Hall the ring name "Coyote".

The men wore furry boots, bright masks and silver pants.

In 1984, Rhodes moved from Championship Wrestling from Florida to the Charlotte, North Carolina-based Jim Crockett Promotions, bringing Spivey and Hall with him.

Initially, American Starship worked only sporadically.

At first, they were booked so sparingly that the two were given a job for the Charlotte Orioles (which Jim Crockett owned at the time) as part of the ground crew.

When the two men did get into the ring it was with little success.

The highlight of their stay in Jim Crockett Promotions was being defeated by Arn and Ole Anderson when the rookies challenged for the NWA National Tag Team Championship.

After working in MACW the duo joined Bob Geigel's NWA Central States territory based in Kansas City in 1985.

The duo had a shot at the NWA Central States Tag Team Champions Marty Jannetty and "Bulldog" Bob Brown but did not manage to win the titles.

Spivey's stay in the Central States territory was short-lived, according to Scott Hall Spivey did not like Kansas City.

Spivey returned to the Carolinas where he worked as "American Starship" Eagle.

In the fall of 1985, Spivey signed with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and started wrestling without a mask and under his real name.

Spivey was brought into team with Mike Rotunda as The U.S. Express after Barry Windham left the federation.

The team had their first match together on November 1, 1985 less than a month after Spivey joined the WWF.

The team was sometimes billed as "The American Express", but most people referred to them as the U.S. Express II since the patriotic gimmick of the original U.S. Express was recycled with Spivey taking Barry Windham's place.

The team continued the U.S. Express' feud with the Dream Team, but once they were proven unsuccessful, the two did not team from January to May as Rotundo briefly left the WWF.

During this time Spivey took part in the WrestleMania 2 "Wrestlers and Football players" Battle Royal.

Spivey was eliminated by The Iron Sheik without much fanfare.

Spivey took part in the 1986 King of the Ring tournament, losing to Nikolai Volkoff in the first round.

He also tried a new tag team partner.

Once the American Express reunited, they feuded with The Moondogs, The Hart Foundation, and The Islanders, whom the team faced in their last match together on February 9, 1987.

Not long before Rotundo left the WWF, Spivey began to be billed as "Golden Boy" Danny Spivey which continued for his singles run after Rotundo left.

His in-ring appearance at the time led to many fans labelling him a Hulk Hogan clone.

As the "Golden Boy", Spivey wrestled in yellow trunks and boots, this colour choice combined with his height, build and blond hair saw him resemble the then WWF Champion.

In March 1987 Spivey teamed with Tito Santana to unsuccessfully challenge the Hart Foundation for the tag team titles.

Spivey was also part of the 1987 King of the Ring.

His last wrestling persona, Waylon Mercy, was inspired by Robert De Niro's portrayal of Max Cady in the 1991 remake of Cape Fear.

While he only worked a few matches under that name, he later inspired the creation of the Bray Wyatt character as Spivey worked with Windham Rotunda to initially develop it.

Spivey was born in Tampa, Florida.

He attended the University of Georgia, where he played football for the Georgia Bulldogs for three seasons as a defensive end and was named an All-American football player in his sophomore year.

Spivey aimed to play football professionally and was drafted by the New York Jets, but was forced to change his plans after suffering a severe knee injury in his junior year.

Spivey spent several years working in a number of jobs in Tampa before meeting professional wrestler Dusty Rhodes, who offered to train him to wrestle.

He retired from wrestling in 1995 due to injuries and now works in alcoholism counselling in his native Florida.

Spivey spent a lot of his career as part of various tag teams and is especially known in the U.S. for teaming with Sid Vicious and then with "Mean" Mark Callous as "The Skyscrapers" in WCW and teaming with Mike Rotunda to form The American Express in WWF.

He started his career teaming with Starship Coyote, collectively known as "American Starship".

In Japan he teamed with various wrestlers over the years winning the World Tag Team Championship with Stan Hansen and teaming with Johnny Ace for long periods of time.