Remembering the late great Eddie Gilbert
The Troublemaker
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“Hot Stuff� Eddie Gilbert was always one of those guys I thought would make a giant splash one day in the WWE. Equipped with outstanding mic skills, a repertoire of innovative moves and the ability to bump with the best of em,’ it was just a matter of time in this writer’s eyes before the Tennessee native brought his brand of mayhem to the big time.
Alas, that day never came and probably never would have notwithstanding Gilbert’s passing from a heart attack on Feb 18, 1995 at the age of 34. Looking back at a career that was filled with bloody feuds, hot woman and the discovery of some genuine top-shelf talent, it seems apparent that Gilbert, much like the irascible Roddy Piper, was a control freak that needed to script his own work if not run the entire promotion he was working for.
Starting his career as a non-descript jobber in the WWF, Gilbert got his first taste of victory during his stint in Memphis working and feuding with local icons Jerry Lawler and Tommy Rich. I first became of aware him when I became hooked on Mid-South wrestling a short time later. He became one of my favorite personalities though when began managing Sting and had to do virtually every interview as the Stinger resembled an early Jim Morrison to afraid to even look a cameraman in the lens. The two eventually would enjoy a pair of reigns as UWF (as Mid-South morphed into the UWF) tag champs before Gilbert moved on to the NWA following the take-over by Jim Crockett Promotions.
With the creation of “Hot Stuff Internationalâ€?, Gilbert added Rick Steiner to his stable and married the gorgeous, but ditzy Missy Hyatt. Feuds with Ric Flair and Kevin Sullivan among others followed before Gilbert got divorced and headed back to the independent circuit, and eventually Memphis where he and Lawler renewed hostilities. At this time Gilbert remarried to woman’s champ Madusa. Moving on to Puerto Rico where he wrestled and booked for WWC, Gilbert’s last match featured him and a wrestling bear. I never could find the result, but rest assured the bear most likely had to dodge a “Hot Stuffâ€? fireball at some juncture.
As one of the new wave of wrestlers who first embraced the rock n’ wrestling connection, I still remember Eddie strutting to the ring to the opening lines of “Hot stuff baby this evening.� His innovative “Hot Shot� finisher where he caught his man and catapulted onto the opposite top rope was always a cringer. He also delivered a fine DDT, Piledriver and Figure-Four-Leg-Lock. Acknowledged like too many wrestlers as a user of both cocaine and steroids it’s widely believed that these factors may have in some way contributed to his early death.