Excerpts from Bellany's recent book,
"Wiki-People Who Died At Age 32"

Since 2006, Bellany has scoured Wikipedia for people who died at his exact age. When he was 32, he found 117 figures - some obscure and others notable, who had died at that tender age. In addition to writing up a short biography for each 'character', Bellany created original black and white portraits using illustrations he uncovered on image searches.

"Being the same age as each person I researched (when they died), I naturally felt a strong personal connection to their stories. I compared our accomplishments, social situations, and the eras in which we lived. It was a new way of looking at both history and myself. Now that I have moved on to age 33, I find myself contemplating the strange fact that I have lived longer than Bruce Lee, King Richard III and Alexander the Great. It definitely motivates me to work harder and make a difference."

↓more

・Bruce Lee

・Buzz Sawyer

・Davey Allison

・Dick Turpin

・Eadred of England

・Elizabeth Siddal

・Galeazzo Maria Sforza

・Glen Kidston

・Hernan Gaviria

・Jedediah 'Strong' Smith

・Joseph I

・Keith Godchaux

・Lya De Putti

・Mike Lockwood

・Ota Benga

・Ottavio Bottecchia

・Proof

・Regnier De Graaf

・Steve Chiasson

・Thomas Ashe

・Vladimir of Novgorod

・William Cartwright

・Wyndham Hallswelle

back to INDEX

Wiki-People Who Died At Age 32

Mike Lockwood a.k.a. 'Crash Holly' (1971-2003)
Wrestling as 'Johnny Pearson', 'The Leprechaun Erin O'Grady', 'The Green Ghost', 'Mad Mikey', and most memorably as 'Crash Holly', Mike Lockwood was one of the most successful professional wrestlers at the turn of the 21st century. His forte was the 'hardcore' style of wrestling, which even Wikipedia makes no concrete attempt to define. However, any connoiseur of 'hard core' music, or pornography might say that the term implies explicitly pushing traditional boundaries and societal rules. Lockwood was apparently this kind of wrestler.

In addition to winning the WWE European Championship, the Light Heavyweight Championship and the Tag Team Championship one time each, Lockwood was crowned champion of WWE's 'Hardcore Division' a whopping 22 times (Only 'Raven' had more with 27). Lockwood's most popular character, 'Crash Holly', was even given the nickname, 'The Houdini of Hardcore' for his knack of regaining the champion belt through 'hard core' deception.

As 'Crash Holly', Lockwood changed the course of 'Hard Core Wrestling' when he decried that "Championship titles must be defended 24 hours a day, seven days a week." This led to his being attacked by rival wrestlers in places as diverse as an airport, a circus funhouse, and even in his own hotel room. Almost always managing to come out on the winning end of a bout through some gimmick, 'Crash Holly' was loved by fans and detested by the 'Mean Street Posse' (Pete Gas, Rodney and Joey Abs), whom he all humiliated on a regular basis.

Lockwood's signature moves in the wrestling ring often depended on the character he was portraying. However, the moves that he is most closely identified with include the 'corner springboard bulldog', the 'crash course' (over the shoulder belly to back piledriver), 'double underhook', 'following snap', 'schoolboy', 'victory roll', 'tornado DDT', 'sunset flip powerbomb', 'running one-handed bulldog', 'enzuigiri', 'crash landing' (belly to back inverted mat slam), 'springboard moonsault', 'hurricanrana', and 'pre-school' (bottom rope arm twist ropewalk chop). Ouch.

After the popularity of 'Crash Holly' began to decline, Lockwood was released by WWE on June 30, 2003. Several months later, the disheartened wrestler was issued divorce papers by his wife. Just days later, Mike Lockwood's partially clothed body was found dead at the home of fellow wrestler Stevie Richards. Though the cause of death was first attributed to him having choked on his own vomit, it was later officially ruled a suicide. He was 32.