By Bryan Burke, WWE Editor
Twitter: @IAmBPBurke
March 5, 2013
WWE.com submitted a news release late last night around 10 PM CST to their website stating the following:
“WWE is saddened to learn of the passing of William Moody, aka Paul Bearer. Moody made his WWE debut in 1991 as the manager of The Undertaker and went on to become a memorable part of WWE over the course of the next 20 years.
Our deepest condolences go out to Moody’s family, friends, and fans.”
Paul Bearer (aka Percy Pringle, III) was most renowned for being the manager of legendary professional wrestler, The Undertaker in World Wrestling Entertainment. As apart of the WWE, Bearer managed other WWE legends including storyline brother of The Undertaker, Kane, as well as Undertaker rival, Mankind. Bearer’s trademark voice accompanying The Undertaker sent chills down the spines of every member of the WWE Universe for nearly two decades.
Bearer was last seen on WWE television in April of 2012 during a feud Kane had with Randy Orton when he was trapped inside a freezer. Since then, Bearer had been doing many appearances at independent wrestling shows and doing “Livecast” interviews with Pro Wrestling Torch editor and founder, Wade Keller. These interviews with Keller really showed wrestling fans the kind and insightful person Bearer really was.
Burke’s Breakdown: I was simply having a beer, playing some guitar, when I was on my computer. I was multi-tasking between looking at tabs, lyrics, and Twitter. Went to Twitter and clicked “12 new tweets” and my latest stream of tweets rolled in. One saying this: “RIP, @wweURNiverse. It really sucks seeing someone you’ve watched for literally your entire life be gone.” I was in complete, utter shock. I went to my two wrestling sites that I check for news on an hourly basis and saw nothing posted there. Saw on the latest trends “Paul Bearer” and subsequently checked WWE’s website and saw the news I posted above. It really shook me more than I thought it would. Outside of Chris Benoit passing away, this was one of the first wrestling personalities I had ever seen on my television and one that I absolutely enjoyed. I like, many people have tried imitating his voice and I know also like many people, I am going to miss him. If you ever get a chance, please check out the interview links to the Pro Wrestling Torch Livecasts with William Moody that I have included. They are phenomenal.
