Michael Sharpe

Michael Sharpe

Born: October 28, 1951
Died: January 17, 2016
in Hamilton - Ontario - Canada
was a Canadian professional wrestler and actor better known as Iron Mike Sharpe.

Sharpe comes from a family legacy of wrestling, as his father Mike Sharpe Sr. and uncle Ben Sharpe were a successful tag team in the 1950s, recognized as champions from San Francisco to Japan. He grew up in California, but moved with his father back to Canada as a teenager. In high school, he dabbled in boxing and weightlifting before choosing to follow in his father's footsteps.

Dewey Robertson trained him for the ring at age 25 and shortly thereafter Sharpe made his mark wrestling for promotions around Canada such as Gene Kiniski's NWA All-Star Wrestling. He became a two-time NWA Canadian Tag Team Champion, partnering first with Moose Morowski and later with Salvatore Bellomo, and also won the Pacific Coast Heavyweight title. His career picked up steam after moving to Louisiana, where he became a fan favorite and won two different Mid-South Wrestling belts - Louisiana champion (two times) and the Mississippi title (also two times) along with a Brass Knucks title in 1979.

In January 1983, Sharpe entered the World Wrestling Federation and would become a regular of its programming throughout the mid-1980s and early 1990s. He was announced and self-proclaimed as "Canada's Greatest Athlete" (a nickname taken from Kiniski) and was further distinguished by his near-constant yelling and grunting throughout a match, as well as a mysterious black brace on his right forearm, supposedly protecting an injury but more widely believed to contain a foreign object. Initially in his WWF career he was managed by Captain Lou Albano and received a sizeable push, regularly defeating jobbers after smashing them with said forearm. This culminated on April 30, 1983 with a match against world heavyweight champion Bob Backlund at the Philadelphia Spectrum, but Sharpe was defeated and would never reach such main event heights again. In fact, Sharpe would never hold a single title for the promotion, and would become largely relegated to the mid-card of house shows and being regularly used as a jobber himself to rising stars of the then-WWF in television tapings. New England area fans were less impressed with Sharpe than those in the South, and reports from the era say 'WIMP!' was a common insult flung his way. Death

Sharpe died on January 17, 2016 at the age of 64 after he had been battling several health issues.

Acting career

Mike will be making his film debut in 2010's Cartel co-starring Josh Brolin.

Movies for Michael Sharpe...

Giants, Midgets, Heroes and Villains II
Title: Giants, Midgets, Heroes and Villains II
Character: "Iron" Mike Sharpe
Released: January 22, 2008
Type: Movie
Once again fans can re-live the legendary glory age of wrestling and once and for all know that the bone breaking, blood-pounding action is real. Several of the matches on this DVD, when they originally aired on T.V. had to run with a disclaimer because the content was over the top vicious & bloody. The infamous match between Ric Flair & Ted DiBiase in a concussion bandage, the ambush beating Hacksaw Jim Duggan received by the hands of Ted DiBiase and his henchmen, the intentional blinding of J.Y.D. by the Midnight Express and the brutal beating Ric Flair endured by the Freebirds during an NWA Championship cage match. All this and more, plus 4 man & 6 man tag team matches, midget matches, a Hacksaw Jim Duggan montage video and Classic interviews including one with Andre the GIANT done by none other then Vince McMahon himself. Enjoy!
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Mid-South Wrestling Giants, Midgets, Heroes & Villains vol. 1
Title: Mid-South Wrestling Giants, Midgets, Heroes & Villains vol. 1
Character: "Iron" Mike Sharpe
Released: July 31, 2007
Type: Movie
Mid-South Wrestling is proud to present, it's 1st volume of a 4 DVD collection entitled "Giants Midgets Heroes & Villains". It captures some of the greatest moments and biggest names in professional wrestling history from 1980-1985. Until now, this footage has never before been seen on video or DVD. The only way someone could have seen this footage was if they attended a live event or caught a broadcast years ago, but now thanks to Mid-South Wrestling, fans can go back and re-live the excitement, the splendor, the raw action and the true essence of what was known by fans as the glory days. Giants Midgets Heroes & Villains is a true gift to all wrestling fans and is the long awaited arrival of some of the greatest wrestling history.
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Grand Masters of Wrestling: First Blood Vol. 1
Title: Grand Masters of Wrestling: First Blood Vol. 1
Character: Iron Mike Sharpe
Released: January 1, 2006
Type: Movie
In 1993 champion fencer Jeff Bukantz, a lifelong wrestling fan who had befriended Ken Patera and Mike Sharpe, held a wrestling show as a fundraiser for the US Maccabiah Games fencing team under a tent in his yard. Rather perplexingly, over a decade later footage of the event somehow made its way to bargain-bin video publisher Digiview Entertainment, who divided it into two hour-long DVD volumes and released them under the name "Grand Masters of Wrestling: First Blood."
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Title: WWE Raw
Character: Iron Mike Sharpe
Released: January 11, 1993
Type: TV
A regularly scheduled, live, year-round program featuring some of the biggest WWE Superstars.
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WWE SummerSlam Fever
Title: WWE SummerSlam Fever
Character: "Iron" Mike Sharpe
Released: August 19, 1990
Type: Movie
The Summer heats up as the Superstars of WWE hit the ring for some rope-meltingly hot action in the lead up to WWE SummerSlam '90!
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WWF SuperTape
Title: WWF SuperTape
Character: "Iron" Mike Sharpe
Released: March 21, 1990
Type: Movie
Sean Mooney hosts an expanded edition of memorable action, exclusive interviews, and never-before-seen footage with WWE SuperTape. Witness several of your favorite WWE Superstars of the '80s, including The Bushwhackers, Mr. Perfect, The Rockers, and many more!
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The Best of the WWF: volume 9
Title: The Best of the WWF: volume 9
Character: "Iron" Mike Sharpe
Released: October 15, 1986
Type: Movie
The best of the WWE superstars in and out of the ring brought to you by Coliseum Home Video!
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Title: WWF Wrestling Challenge
Character: Iron Mike Sharpe
Released: September 6, 1986
Type: TV
WWF Wrestling Challenge was a professional wrestling television program produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It was syndicated weekly and aired from 1986 to 1995. The show became simply known as WWF Challenge in 1995. The show featured matches, pre-match interviews, and occasionally, summarized weekly events in WWF programming. Matches primarily saw top tier and mid-level talent versus jobbers. At times, there was a "feature" match between main WWF talent. As with other syndicated WWF programming, the show promoted WWF event dates and house shows in local media markets.
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WWE The Big Event
Title: WWE The Big Event
Character: "Iron" Mike Sharpe
Released: August 27, 1986
Type: Movie
The Big Event was a Canada-only professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), which took place on August 28, 1986, at the Exhibition Stadium in Toronto, Ontario. The event drew a legitimate crowd of 74,000 fans which was an outdoor attendance record at the time. The event set an attendance record for a wrestling show that would not be beaten until WrestleMania III. The main event heading into the event was between WWF Champion Hulk Hogan and Paul Orndorff for the WWF Championship.
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WCCW Christmas Star Wars '82
Title: WCCW Christmas Star Wars '82
Character: "Iron" Mike Sharpe
Released: December 25, 1982
Type: Movie
Kerry Von Erich faces Ric Flair in a bloody Steel Cage Match with Michael "P.S" Hayes as referee with the NWA World's Heavyweight Championship hanging in the balance!