Pez Whatley
Pez Whatley (born
Peter Whatley January 10,
1951 -
January 18,
2005) was a
professional wrestler in the
1980s.
Whatley started wrestling in
1975 after a brief career as a power lifter. He wrestled primarily in
Alabama and
Tennessee before going to
Florida Championship Wrestling in
1984, where he won the Southern Title twice. He was one-third of
The Convertible Blondes with
Rip Rogers and
Gary Royal in the
Angelo Poffo-promoted ICW, even though he didn't dye his hair blonde. One of Whatley's best-known moments in ICW was the "Mop Head" angle where Whatley had to wear a mop wig after losing a match to
Ron Garvin, and the stipulation was if Whatley lost, he had to wear the mop wig and keep wearing it until he wins another match. This led to not only a lengthy feud with Garvin but also to a long losing streak for Whatley, with most of Whatley's losses being disqualification losses due to outside interference when Garvin would attack Whatley's opponent. The angle lasted for several months until Whatley finally won a match.
He went to the
NWA's Jim Crockett Promotions in
1985 and often
teamed with
Jimmy Valiant against
members of
Paul Jones' Army. In
1986, he
turned on Valiant, cut some of his hair and joined Jones' Army as
Shaska Whatley. He frequently teamed with
The Barbarian and
Baron Von Raschke in their war against Valiant. He eventually lost a hair vs. hair match to Valiant and was shaved bald.
In late
1987, Whatley had left Jones and started teaming with Tiger Conway Jr. as
The Jive Tones. They did not have much success, and Whatley left for
Florida in
1988. He was part of
Kevin Sullivan's goon squad in Florida and departed for Alabama shortly after his arrival.
In Alabama's
Southeast Championship Wrestling, Whatley became
Willie B. Hert and was one of the top
faces for the company.
In the early 90's Pez Whatley had a short stint in Japan's
UWFi. He also worked for the WWF as an enhancement talent during this time. Whatley retired from in-ring competition in
1995 and became a backstage worker for
WCW and an assistant trainer at the
WCW Power Plant.
On
January 15,
2005, Pez suffered a heart attack and died on
January 18 while awaiting a heart transplant.
*Height: 5'10"
*Weight: 244 lbs.
*Birthday:
January 10,
1951*Hometown:
Chattanooga, Tennessee*Trainer: Saul Weingeroff
*Debut: 1975
*
Managers:
Paul Jones, Ripley Von Slam,
Kevin Sullivan,
Oliver Humperdink*Other
Gimmicks: Pez Whatley, Shaska Whatley, Shaska, Willie B. Hert
*2-Time
NWA Florida Southern Heavyweight Champion*1-Time
ICW United States Heavyweight Champion*1-Time
ICW United States Tag Team Champion (with
Rip Rogers)
*1-Time Mid-American Tag Team Champion (with Ray Candy)
*1-Time NCW Tag Team Champion (with
Sam McGraw)
*
Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) ranked him #
345 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the "PWI Years" in 2003.
