ECW original passed away

Brian Knighton, known to wrestling fans as Axl Rotten, was found dead last Thursday in Baltimore and as of this writing, the cause of death isn't confirmed. At 44, Knighton passed far too young and it's a sad ending to perhaps an even sadder series of events during the past few years for the competitor with the trademark "KISS" tattoo to accompany the road map of scars on his arm. He suffered a spinal injury that required surgery and he spent recent years confined to a wheel chair trying to regain the ability to walk at a rehab center in Maryland. Axl shared his story on the "Talk is Jericho" podcast last year, which prompted a donation from Chris Jericho, as well as many fans to help pay for his medical expenses.

Long before he was battling with barbed wire, Brain Knighton began wrestling at the age of just 17 and a few years later, he was working for the short lived Global Wrestling Federation on ESPN in 1991. Around that same time, Axl began a brief stint in WCW as well, gaining notoriety for the effort he brought to the ring. As Axl was making a name for himself, he trained his "brother" Ian Rotten and the duo formed the "Bad Breed" tag team in Global.

After Global folded, the ESPN and WCW exposure served Axl well as it gave Bad Breed the opportunity to start with Eastern Championship Wrestling in 1993. The team appear regularly for the now Extreme promotion until  a stroyline was booked to set up matches between them in 1994. The start of 1995 was a pivotal year for both the career of Axl Rotten and the ECW company. If you look back at the history of the south Philadelphia organization, the "era of extreme" was ushered in during the bloody Axl vs. Ian feud, which won an award from PWI that year and the series of matches is one of the main elements that garnered ECW exposure, and in the process brought a spotlight to many of the other revolutionary characters featured at events. The wild matches between the Rotten brothers often used barbed wire bats, chairs, etc. in an attempt to push the envelope, and in many respects, created a blue print for some of the "ultraviolent" wrestling seen today. Granted, the gory bouts were one dimensional, but the feud helped bring more viewers to the product that would notice the depth of the characters such as Raven after witnessing the crimson display a  few matches earlier in the show. The culmination of the angle was a Taipei deathmatch, which consisted of both grapplers gluing glass to their fists and the graphic contest is still talked about among fans.

In many ways, the Taipei match was the peak of Axl's career, as he continued working in ECW for another four years, but wasn't pushed further up than the mid card, despite some charisma and under rated mic skills. Rotten often cited Dusty Rhodes as an influence in his career and he would take some of the American Dream inspired fire and put an extreme spin on it for ECW promos. When I was reading news of Axl's passing, PWinsider's Mike Johnson, who does a great job reporting on the business and talked with Axl for several years, summarized it accurately when he said that Axl Rotten was his own worst enemy during most of his career.

While wrestling in ECW, Axl had a very serious drug problem and it would cost him chances throughout his career. After glass was glued to his fists to pumbel his storyline brother, Knighton became some what type cast in the hardcore role and was mainly booked for more bloody brawls during the remainder of his time in the promotion. Axl said in the Jericho interview that he would've rather wrestled tradition matches, but all things considered, he didn't exactly have the well rounded skills to become a main star in WCW or the WWE so hardcore wrestling was probably his best chance to build a career. After a six year run in ECW, Axl was basically "released" in 1999 when his drug use was considered to effect his in ring work. ECW was known for its party atmosphere so for Axl to be fired for substances, its an indication as to how serious his substances problems were at the time. Rotten traveled the independent scene for a period of time, including some appearances for XPW in 2000 and some of the ECW reunion shows, but he didn't garner the buzz he had previously. In 2006, Axl Rotten was actually offered a WWE deal, but he admitted during the podcast appearance that the drug problem prevented him from signing the deal. Axl claimed he could work a traditional style and he had the chance to prove it, but he wasted the opportunity.

In the Talk is Jericho interview, Axl detailed the extent of his serious drug use and a pill addiction. Obviously, Axl did himself no favors and he has nobody to blame but himself for his addiction problems. While many terrible people have a drug problem, that doesn't mean that every person with a drug problem is a terrible person. Sadly, Axl seems to be in the category of someone that was actually a polite person that struggled with a problem. Perhaps, that's what makes this story such a tragic event, Rotten was a polite performer that had a passion for pro wrestling and sustained many injuries to garner a spot in the sport.

I talked to Pittsburgh independent wrestling manager, BC Steele and he described Axl saying, "I'd met Axl a handful of times and he was always personable. He talked to everyone and cared not only about his stuff, but was willing to give input to others as well. I didn't know him personally, but being able to work with him, I could tell he had a passion for the wrestling business that not everyone has."

Several others, national stars and local hopefuls that worked with Axl during various stages of his career, posted on social media as to his passion for the business as well as the advice he offered them. At this point, an accidental drug overdose is suspected as the possible cause of death and if that's the case, it's a tragic conclusion. It's possible that Axl's personal demons were a battle that he couldn't win, but hopefully, he can be remembered as the wild brawler in the ring and the polite competitor with a passion for the industry outside of it.

Sincere condolences to Axl's family at this difficult time.