Pez Whatley
| Pez Whatley | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Birth name | Pezavan Whatley |
| Born |
January 10, 1951 Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States |
| Died | January 18, 2005 (aged 54) Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States |
| Cause of death | Heart attack |
| Alma mater | University of Tennessee at Chattanooga |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Pez Whatley Shaska Whatley Shaska Willie B. Hert |
| Billed height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) |
| Billed weight | 245 lb (111 kg) |
| Billed from | Chattanooga, Tennessee |
| Trained by | Saul Weingeroff |
| Debut | 1973 |
| Retired | 1998 |
Pezavan "Pez" Whatley (January 10, 1951 – January 18, 2005) was a professional wrestler in the 1980s up until the mid-1990s.
Whatley played football and wrestled for Notre Dame High School in Chattanooga, Tennessee and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC). He was UTC's first African-American wrestler. Whatley was also a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.
Whatley started wrestling in 1973 after a brief career as a power lifter. He wrestled with the (original) Sheik's Big Time Wrestling, after which he wrestled primarily in Alabama and Tennessee before going to Florida Championship Wrestling in 1984. He won the Southern Title twice while there. 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. The match stipulation also required him to keep wearing it until he won another match. This led to not only a lengthy feud with Garvin but also to a long losing streak for Whatley. Most of Whatley's losses were by disqualification 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, after Valiant called Whatley "the best black athlete in professional wrestling", Whatley turned on Valiant and cut some of Valiant's hair, thinking Valiant's comment was racist. Whatley joined Jones' Army and renamed himself "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.
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