Stars that died in 2023: Oliver Humperdink, American professional wrestling manager, died from pneumonia and cancer he was , 62.

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Oliver Humperdink, American professional wrestling manager, died from pneumonia and cancer he was , 62.

John Sutton, better known by his ring name Oliver Humperdink, was a professional wrestling manager who worked for Jim Crockett Promotions, Florida Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation died from pneumonia and cancer he was , 62.

(January 16, 1949 – March 20, 2011)

Career

In the early and mid 1960s, John Sutton began to get to know several wrestlers while working as an usher in Minneapolis, Minnesota.^[3] He eventually landed a job as a sort of security guard for the American Wrestling Association (AWA).^[3] In 1973, he met Paul Vachon when he went to work at Grand Prix Wrestling (GPW) in Montreal.^[3] At GPW, Sutton worked as a manager and an occasional wrestler.^[3] He also refereed for a time.^[3]

Sutton began managing the Hollywood Blonds after they split with their manager, Johnny Rougeau.^[3]Don Jardine came up with the "Sir Oliver Humperdink" name,^[3] which he thought would draw heat from francophone fans in Quebec who hated anything English.^[3] Both Don Jardine and Dale Hey are credited with coming up with his new moniker.^[3]
In 1974, Humperdink went to Florida Championship Wrestling and was put into an angle with Mike Graham and Kevin Sullivan.^[3] Two years later, he began working with the Hollywood Blondes once again.^[3]
He worked for the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA)'s Jim Crockett Promotions in the 1980s where he managed Greg Valentine, Paul Jones and The One Man Gang.^[3] He left the company in 1983 but returned five years later before the company folded.^[3] While still in the NWA, he formed a stable known as the "House of Humperdink".^[1]^[3] As a singles wrestler, he held the NWA Florida Heavyweight Championship and NWA Central States Television Championship.
In 1987, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) approached Humperdink and offered him a job.^[3] As a part of the WWF, he managed Bam Bam Bigelow.^[3] That same year, he also began managing Paul Orndorff during his feud with Rick Rude.^[3] His gimmick was that of a face, but Sutton did not like the gimmick off-screen.^[3] He managed the duo during the first ever Survivor Series in a match that they lost when Bigelow was pinned by André the Giant.^[3] Humperdink also managed Bigelow during WrestleMania IV when he lost in the first round of a WWF Championship tournament.^[3]
When he returned to the NWA in 1988, he managed The New Wild Samoans (Solofa Fatu, Samu, and the Tonga Kid).^[3] He also returned to the side of Bigelow in his feud with Barry Windham in a match at Starrcade.^[3]
He worked for World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in the early 1990s as "Big Daddy Dink", a biker-type gimmick.^[3] In WCW, he managed the Fabulous Freebirds (Michael Hayes and Jimmy Garvin).^[3] Off-screen, Sutton hated his new gimmick and WCW's office politics.^[3] He retired in 1993.^[3]

Personal life

In the 1960s, Sutton was in a car crash and nearly died when he hit a snow bank.^[3] After recovering from the incident, his health deteriorated.^[3] In 2001, he went through surgery to replace his aortic valve in Key West.^[3] He was equipped with a pace maker and made a full recovery.^[3] The Cauliflower Alley Club helped pay for some of his medical expenses.^[3] Sutton returned to the hospital in 2008 after heart troubles complicated a case of pneumonia.^[3] In early 2011, it was announced that Sutton was diagnosed with cancer of the bladder.^[4] He entered a hospice having refused chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
He went to the annual Cauliflower Alley Club conventions every year.^[3]
Sutton never married or had children.^[3] Sutton died early on the morning of March 20, 2011,^[2] of complications from pneumonia at the age of 62.^[5]