Birth name | Brian Leslie Blair |
---|---|
Born |
Gary, Indiana, United States |
January 12, 1957
Residence | Tampa, Florida, United States |
Spouse(s) |
Mike McGuirk (divorced) Toni Lloyd |
Children | 2 |
Professional wrestling career | |
Ring name(s) | Brian Blair B. Brian Blair The Killer Bee |
Billed height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) |
Billed weight | 235 lb (107 kg) |
Trained by |
Hiro Matsuda Eddie Graham Jack Brisco Buddy Colt |
Debut | 1977 |
Brian Leslie Blair (born January 12, 1957) is an American politician and professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) under the ring name B. Brian Blair as one half of the tag team The Killer Bees in the 1980s.
As a child, Blair wanted to be Superman and even prayed that he might somehow become a superhero. By the time he was in high school, he also worked out to help out his parents. Blair moved out of his house at age 16 and held several jobs to pay his share of the rent. Brian started competing in sports in junior high school and won city championships as a heavy weight against Reddick Ronald. In high school, he lettered 9 times in various sports such as football, baseball, track and field. To this day he holds the record for most letters in Hillsborough County High School in Tampa Bay, Florida. Blair loved professional wrestling and wrestled and played football in high school so he could be tough enough to do it when he graduated. Blair attended the University of Louisville on a football scholarship, although he never earned a varsity letter; he majored in both business and political science.
In 1977, he started training to be a wrestler with the legendary Hiro Matsuda in Florida. Blair debuted in mid-1977 with Eddie Graham's Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF) where he usually worked as a "face" (good guy). Blair made his professional debut on a singles match against Dutch Mantel in a losing effort. Blair also wrestled in a tag-team match facing Pat Patterson and Ivan Koloff in a losing effort. One of Blair's early opponents was another Matsuda student who had just begun working as "The Super Destroyer" (Hulk Hogan).