Pillman autopsy offers no answers, more tests to be done
BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (AP) -- An autopsy on the body of professional wrestler Brian Pillman was inconclusive Monday, and it could be days before further tests determine what caused his death.
The 35-year-old wrestler and former linebacker with the Cincinnati Bengals was found dead Sunday afternoon in his motel room. It was the day after a pay-per-view wrestling match at the St. Paul Civic Center.
Authorities would not say if they suspected foul play.
Dave Meltzer, editor of the the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, said Pillman, of Walton, Ky. wrestled Saturday in St. Paul and was to have taken part in a pay-for-view event Sunday in St. Louis.
"The WWF (World Wrestling Federation) had a chartered plane that was scheduled to leave from Minneapolis at 1:30 p.m.," Meltzer said. "When Brian didn't show up for the bus ride, police were asked to check the room."
Known as "The Loose Cannon," "The Rogue Horseman" and "Flyin' Brian," he was a college football star at Miami University of Ohio and played in 1984 for the Bengals. He was playing linebacker with the Calgary Stampede when he started his wrestling career 11 years ago.
Some people at Saturday night's match said the wrestler was acting strangely.
"I was at the matches with him," referee Eddie Sharkey told the Saint Paul Pioneer Press. "He came to the matches real early, and he seemed fine, but the last time I saw him, he was just staring into space."
Sharkey said that Pillman had been sleeping on the floor of th dressing room during the broadcast, "which was kind of unusual." Professional wrestlers often have a hectic travel schedule, Sharkey said, but they don't typically nap during matches.
"We were supposed to go out and have a few drinks and eat," Sharkey said. "He was supposed to come with me, but he just walked off, a real strange look to him."
Pillman had drug problems in the past. He was arrested for drunken driving and illegal possession of prescription drugs by Cincinnati police in 1993. The drug charges were later dropped as part of a plea agreement.
Pillman had also been plagued by an ankle injury he suffered when a vehicle he was driving overturned in Kentucky last year, leaving him in a coma for a week, according to Bruce Hart, who trained Pillman to wrestle in Canada.
Hart said that he thinks Pillman took painkillers after his car accident, but added: "I never knew him to take drugs recreationally, like heroin or cocaine. I never knew him to take those."
Pillman didn't show up for a scheduled bout recently, said Canadian promoter Bob "Doc" Holliday. Pillman had previously run afoul of the federation, which warned him after he waved a gun at another wrestler on live TV.
