 The wrestling world lost another great man before his time this week as William Moody, better known to wrestling fans as "Percy Pringle" and "Paul Bearer" died at the age of 58 this Wednesday. For years Moody struggled with health issues due to being overweight. Moody weighed in at over 525 pounds until having gastric bypass surgery. He weighed less than 300 pounds after the surgery which gave rise to a much higher quality of life for the wrestling legend. Moody leaves behind two sons, Michael and Daniel. Daniel is a wrestler on the independent wrestling circuit; wrestling under the name "DJ Pringle," paying tribute to his father's original wrestling name "Percy Pringle." In 1979, William Moody began his managing career under the name "Percy Pringle." He went on to manage in many southern independent wrestling territories in the 1980's. When Moody's first son was born, he took a break from the business to pursue a degree in mortuary science and earned certification to become an embalmer and a funeral director, but returned to wrestling in 1984. Some of the talent he managed included; Lex Lugar, Stunning Steve Austin, and Mark Calloway who went on to great success in the WWE with Moody as "The Undertaker." William Moody would sign with Vince McMahon's WWE in December of 1990. Moody would use his real life experience in the funeral business to create the character "Paul Bearer". Paul Bearer would join forces with the recently debuted character The Undertaker and go on to have one of the greatest managing careers in the history of sports entertainment. Paul Bearer managed WWE television from 1991 to 2000. He and Undertaker would pair up until 1996 when Paul Bearer turned his back on the Undertaker. He briefly managed Mick Foley until the debut of the Undertaker's brother Kane in 1997. The story line between Undertaker, Kane and Paul Bearer would go onto become one of the most in-depth and compelling story lines in wrestling history. Bearer would manage actively for the WWE until 2000, and worked backstage for the WWE until 2002. Moody would continue his managing career in the independents until 2003. He was briefly brought back by the WWE in 2004 and was once again paired up with the Undertaker. Months later Undertaker would burry Paul Bearer in a bed of concrete. Paul Bearer would make brief appearances in the WWE from 2010-2013. He was paired with Kane in those brief instances. On March 5th 2013 William Moody died. Many sources are pointing to a blood clot as the cause of death. There is no debate that William Moody was one of the greatest wrestling managers off all time. He will be deeply missed, as the wrestling community throughout the world morns his loss. -Joe Passarelli  |
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