Friday, June 7, 2013

Mark Starr obit

Former WCW Talent Mark Starr Passes Away

 

He was not on the list.


Former World Championship Wrestling talent Mark Starr, real name Mark Ashford-Smith, has reportedly passed away at the age of 50.

Longtime fans might remember him as part of the tag team Men At Work along with the late Chris Kanyon. They were mostly used as an enhancement tag team during their time in WCW.

Starr also spent some time in the American Wrestling Association in the 1980's.

Starr competed in the Memphis, Tennessee-based Continental Wrestling Association (CWA). His first championship came in 1987 when he teamed with veteran wrestler Steve Keirn to win the CWA International Tag Team Championship on April 27, 1987. They held the title belts for twelve days before dropping them to the team of Paul Diamond and Pat Tanaka. The CWA had an agreement with the American Wrestling Association (AWA) that allowed AWA titles to be defended in the CWA. This arrangement enabled Starr to compete for the AWA Southern Tag Team Championship by teaming with Billy Travis in a tournament for the vacant title. On June 8, 1987, Starr and Travis defeated Phil Hickerson and Mr. Shima to win the belts, which they held for almost a month.

Starr competed alongside his real-life brother, Christopher Ashford-Smith, who competed as Chris Champion, for several years and in multiple promotions. Despite their relationship, they used different last names during their time in the same promotion. In Memphis, the brothers formed a tag team known as Wild Side. They competed as a team in the 1988 Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup tag team tournament. They defeated the Mexican Twin Devils in the first round before being eliminated by The Powers of Pain (The Barbarian and The Warlord). The brothers faced Action Jackson and Starr's former partner Billy Travis on July 3, 1989 for the CWA Tag Team Championship. The match ended in a no contest, and the title was held up pending a rematch. One week later, Starr and Champion defeated the former champions to win the title. They held the belts until September, when they dropped them to The Rock 'n' Roll Express.

Starr later competed in the Florida-based Professional Wrestling Federation (PWF), where he held the PWF Tag Team Championship on two occasions. He teamed with Lou Perez to defeat Jumbo Baretta and Dennis Knight on November 12, 1989 for the first win. Their reign lasted for four days, but Starr regained the championship the following year after the title was declared vacant. He joined up with Sgt. Rock to defeat Joe Gomez and Hurricane Walker to win the belts.[ Starr's first championship as a singles wrestler, and the final title of his career, came the following year. He defeated Ricky Fuji to win Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling's AWA World Light Heavyweight Championship, a title formerly recognized by the AWA. Then in 1992 he left Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling (FMW) and went to Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi (PWFG). In 1995 he left PWFG and returned to FMW. Also worked for Fighting Network Rings and Tokyo Pro Wrestling. He wrestled his last match in Japan in 1996.

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