Mike Lockwood 1971-2003

A Big Man
By Donovan Morgan, Frank Murdoch and Michael Modest

As we sit in our office this drizzly Friday Morning we find ourselves doing little work and a lot of reminiscing. Tomorrow we have the open tryouts, next Saturday – a wrestling show in Lathrop. A lot of work to do, with little time left to get it done. No work today. Today we are laughing, telling stories and feeling sad all at the same time because we have lost our friend Mike.

So many crazy stories-many of them not suitable for print. If only the dojo walls had ears.

Mike Lockwood achieved a dream that so many young athletes aspire to, but never quite realize. At 5’ 8” and all of 200 pounds, Mike achieved immeasurable success in a “big mans world”, against all odds. Mike made it to the big show. The upper echelon of the wrestling world, and when he made it there – he stayed. For a better part of five years, Mike proved to the wrestling fans that a man’s size is not measured in feet and inches. Heart, guts and determination is the measure of a man.

Mike paid his dues to the wrestling world and he left this world owing nobody. Mike gave his friendship unselfishly. Usually friendship is one thing and business is another, but not with Mike.

Mike came to the IRON dojo some months ago while wrestling for WWE in Oakland. It was a Saturday class. He hopped right into the ring and gave our students three hours of training and commentary. For many of the young students that train with us it was a really big deal. Their first personal meeting with a true wrestling Superstar! But for “Crash” it was fun and it was just a favor for his friends Donovan, Frank and Mike. He explained to our guys that he was grateful for all of his friends because he would not have been where he was without them. We all play a part in each others lives and each other’s success.

When Mike heard of our open tryouts, he hopped on a plane and was here immediately. No charge. Worked a show for our co-promotion IRON Lucha Libre the next day. Again, no charge. Recently, just before we headed out to our show in Santa Cruz, we got a call, “Frank! It’s Mike. I’m in California driving on Highway 1. Do you mind if I stop by your show tonight?” We figured he would come by, maybe sign some autographs. Nope, not Mike. He came wrestling bag in hand and asked if he could work. Of course! When we tried to pay him. He insisted on only two beers and a dollar.

In Santa Cruz, he could have gone to the ring and just went through the motions. Work an easy match, do little in the ring and just get over on whom he was. But no, Mike went to the ring and busted his ass. He took a lot of heat and a lot of bumps and had probably the best match of the night with his partner Bart Blaxon against the Ballards.

He was an unselfish friend. He told us time and again to use his name, fame and credibility to our advantage as much as possible, while he still had it. He wanted nothing from us in return except a home.

We were so looking forward to Mikes move to California. He was looking forward to being a permanent part of Pro Wrestling IRON. Today, Mike was to fly in for the open tryouts being held tomorrow. The airplane has come and gone. Mike has missed his flight.

We extend our deepest sympathy to Mike’s family. His sweet little girl who will never again see her bigger than life Dad.

We also extend our deepest condolences to all of you reading this, as this is your loss too. We cannot be selfish with our grief. After all, Crash Holly, Mad Mikey, “Leprechaun” Erin O’Grady, Jonnie Pearson, W.C Pearson (it’s a funny story), and Mike Lockwood belonged to all of us.

Tomorrow, it’s back to work. Open tryouts at 3:00 and preparation for the show on the 15th.

Today we reflect on our old friend Mike Lockwood. A big man indeed.

Rest peacefully Mike

My brother Shawn was good friends with Mike, although they lost
contact after Mike began traveling more for his career. They actually
worked together at Safeway when Mike was coming up in wrestling. They
would party and drink together a lot (my family is half Irish). They were
both big football fans and they would give each other shit about their
teams (my brother is a Vikings fan and I think Mike was a Rams fan).
The last show I was at, Mike actually told me to tell my brother that
the Vikings are pussies.

One day when I was in college, my brother brought home a tape and
told me I had to check it out. Sure enough, it was a match of The
Leprechaun versus Vic Grimes. This was the first time I was exposed to
independent wrestling and learned there was even a way in to wrestling if
you wanted to do it. Since I had been doing acrobatics training, I
thought I would give it a try. Six months later I signed up at APW. If I
hadn't seen Mike wrestle, I probably would never have stepped in the
ring.
-Nate Miyaki

I remember the first day I met Mike, he was speaking and helping run a class @ PWI. Everything he said he said w/passion. You could tell that he loved wrestling and dedicated himself to what he was doing. All his energy and knowledge that he shared so freely w/us. Knowledge not only about in ring work but about every aspect of wrestling things that a lesser man would have kept as his secrets of success. He was one of the most inspiring people I have met, how much he went through to succeed and still do and care about the little things.

The last time I say Mike was at a dojo show. Actually he was involved in my match, it was an honor. I was really looking forward to coming home to have him be a trainer and spending more time w/us. But I guess God gets to enjoy his company now.

The world is a little darker place now that this star has gone.
-Sara Delray

The first time I met Mike was when WWE was in town and Mike had took time out of his schedule to come to one of the PWI practices and talk to all of the students. He talked to us for a long time, telling us about a lot of the experiences that he had gone through, teaching us some of the finer points of wrestling and helping steer our careers down the right path. That was the first of many times that Mike helped us out and asked for nothing in return. I, along with Vito, had the honor of wrestling against Mike on two separate occasions, and I learned greatly each time. It was obvious to me that he was not the typical "veteran". He really went out of his way to make those matches as good as possible and to make them learning experiences. Even though he didn't have to, Mike went over every detail of both matches with us to help us learn from them. He made it a point to make the match around myself and Vito and made us look like a million bucks. Even with his level of success, he always acted like one of the boys and treated everyone as his equal. Every time I saw him, I was greeted with a smile and a hug. Although I didn't know him as long or as well as others, he is someone that I am proud to call my teacher, and more importantly, my friend. What I will remember most about him is his demeanor back stage. Mike made the practical joke a form of art. It was rare for me to be around him and not laugh. One of the funniest things I remember is when we wrestled for the first time. Just before he gave me his finisher, he screamed "RICHARDS!!!" at the top of his lungs and I couldn't help but laugh. Even at a show across the country, and even though only 3 or 4 people got it, Mike made it a point to rib his friend Steve Richards. When I asked him about it afterwards, he laughed and told me that a good rib must always be used, regardless if anybody gets it or not. Even when ribbing, he's teaching. Mike went out of his way to help anybody who asked, he was a true class act.
-Sal Thomaselli

The first time I met Mike was the weekend of the Aug 3rd show in San Francisco, which he was cool enough to work for free. I thought he was an awesome guy backstage and offered a lot of good advice to the rest of the guys. He was always in a humorous mood in the ring and backstage. My condolences go to Mike Lockwood's family and friends here at Pro Wrestling Iron.
- Jesus Cruz

Well where to start off....
I met Mike Lockwood (Crash Holly aka Leprechaun Erin O'Grady) in 1996 when I first started being affiliated with APW at the time. He was a really down to earth type of guy who I thought I could relate to as I did to Donovan and Modest and when he made it to the WWE and had his tenure their it was great to see someone I met before he made it big actually walk the ramp of the WWE. Then when he began to appear at our PWI shows it felt good to see him in action and knowing he was going to be helping out with the training .In Conclusion Crash has a special place in my heart as I'm sure he does in everyone else's heart who knew him.
Crash I know you can hear our hearts and I can speak for everyone when I say God Bless you and we will see you in the End
R.I.P
Mike Lockwood (Crash Holly)
-JT Mallat

Oct 25th Crash was my tag partner in a match against the Ballard's. I’ll never forget that match as long as I live. When crash came to the ring the crowd became electric. His presence in the ring is very overpowering. In the locker room he would always have a group of the boys around and the laughs were plenty. His generosity was more than most will know, his love for wrestling, more than any will have. My prayers go out to his family and friends we truly have lost a friend ,a brother, a teacher, a great man.

Mike I thank you for all you have done for me, PWI, and wrestling. You will
be sorely missed in this sport and in our lives. I’ll never have the words
or the time to write about all the feelings and thoughts that I have. It
just isn’t time to take it home. God Bless
-Bart Blaxon

I never knew Mike Lockwood on a very personal level and I only had the pleasure of talking with him on a few occasions, but those few occasions really stuck with me and will forever. You see, it isn't often that such a funny, positive, uplifting, and most of all influential person comes along. I first met Mike Lockwood when he was in town for a WWE house show a few months ago. He came down to the Tetsu Academy to lecture and teach about everything he possibly could about the wrestling industry. He spoke from the heart; like he really cared about the youngsters at the gym that day and genuinely wanted to help them better themselves and their careers. This is when I knew what an influential and caring person he was. He was always looking to help somebody else.

Over the last few months, I saw Mike at open tryouts and at a few of Pro Wrestling Iron's shows. He was always making people laugh everywhere he went. One recent memory really stands out. It was at a show in Santa Cruz on October 25th, 2003. Crash showed up just to see how he could make the show better as he wasn't booked or advertised. This showed everyone how much he cares about IRON and about the betterment of our shows and the wrestlers. During his match, he got a really deep cut on his hand from the sharp edge of a cowbell. He was a bloody mess and had blood all over his face and body and laid out on the floor for minutes after the match while wrestlers, fans, and PWI staff helped him to his feet and to the back. Once in the back, he just smiled wide and said "Let this be a lesson to all of you young guys. When you get an injury like I just got in that match...milk it for all it's worth." To me, that just showed his unselfishness right there. Here he is with a half severed pinky finger, blood all over the place, and the first words out of his mouth are words of wisdom and advice. He was truly a class act and a caring individual.

I saw how great of a person Mike Lockwood was just in a few short encounters with the man. I was truly looking forward to working with him on a regular basis and learning from him and always being able to laugh when he was around, and it is just mind boggling that we won't hear anymore of his sarcastic humor at upcoming shows and at the dojo. He will truly be missed as I am sure he has impacted a great number of people in a much more positive way than he impacted me in our few short meetings. Mike, Crash, you will be missed, but you won't be forgotten. I'd also like to send out my condolences to his family and friends. Thank you.
-Justin Reschke

All the memories I have involving Mike Lockwood are good ones, from the moment I met him to the last time we spoke. I hadn’t known him for very long, but he managed to leave one hell of an impression on me. I’ve had encounters and interactions with him, all of which made one thing clearly apparent to me. Mike Lockwood was a genuinely giving person. He gave pieces of himself to everyone he came in contact with.

I met him at the PWI practice that some of the other students have already mentioned. He contained tons of knowledge regarding the business, and was very open about sharing it with us. There was no mistaking he was very passionate and spoke candidly. It clearly came across in his body language, and his knowledge for the usage of extended words of the English vocabulary. I found it to be quite impressive. He was open to answering anyone’s question. He actually encouraged us to ask them.

I looked forward to his visits. I knew if Mike was around then it would be a guaranteed good time. He had a great sense of humor, and was always a blast to be around. Not much of a dancer though, but I gave him an “A” for his effort. He was a pure entertainer... in and out of the ring. He loved to be in the spotlight. Life was his stage and he was always seemed ready to perform for us who gathered around him.

Regardless of his position he was a very humble person. He always treated me as an equal. I was a bit intimidated by him at first, but that’s because he had such a strong presence in life. Mike quickly made me feel comfortable around him. I never felt I was out of place or like it’s a burden to ask him something.

I remember being in the ring, going over what was to be my debut match. He got right into the ring and began working with us too. I thought it was really nice of him to take the time to help when he didn’t need to. I didn’t have to ask him for his help, he just willingly took it upon himself to do it. I appreciate and thank him for that.

Mike was always a good sport about me picking at his brain. I’m going to miss that about him. I’ve learned a lot through our conversations. Those conversations will always be meaningful to me. I appreciated them more than he will ever know.

He turned out to be quite inspiring to me. He gave people like me hope, and a reason to continue to dream. He’s proof that the underdog can beat the odds of making it in this business. I was looking forward to him training us at PWI. I was actually really excited about it when I found out. I’m glad at least I got a chance to share my excitement with him about that over the phone.

I still find myself a bit lost for words.... all in all like others have stated, Mike Lockwood was truly a class act. He will be sorely missed... more than he would ever have known. This ended up being a lot more than I planned on writing, but a lot less there is to say. My condolences go out to his family, friends and especially his precious sweet little girl.
-Mayan

As I get older I have had more and more people that are a part of my life pass away. Each time I loose a friend or family member it doesn't get any easier. The passing of a loved one is something I haven't gotten use to. The only thing that seems to help with this difficult part of life is telling and hearing stories of who we will all miss.

I believe it was late 1997 or early 98 , and we where having a show in Sacramento. I had only been around the business for about a year. On the drive up I was preparing Rose, my girlfriend at the time, about what might happen at the hotel. She didn't understand why anyone would do the things I was saying but I got her to leave our clothes in the car just in case. Most of the boys went out that night and a few stayed at the hotel. I remember Modest, Rose and I were watching a movie in Modest s room. When the movie ended Rose and I decided to call it a night and went back to our room.

Rose walks in and tries to turn the light on and nothing happened. I try, and still nothing. I fumble around looking for another switch, and still, nothing. I then realized that the dresser, TV, table and chairs weren't in my way when I was walking in the dark. As my eyes adjusted I began to see a pile of stuff on the bed. I find the dresser on the bed, and in the drawers were the light bulbs.

When we got the first light bulb in we see that everything in the hotel room was now all stacked on top of the bed with a open bible as the center piece. Once I was able to calm Rose down and put all of the stuff back, Rose and I, plus a few others, returned the favor that night. The next morning at breakfast, no one said a word.

I would later hear that it was Mike (Crash) along with Donovan that got our hotel room. If it was borrowing $20.00 for a bottle of Southern Comfort, eating all of the minestrone soup from the Olive Garden, throwing a toothless man into a swimming pool, dog piles in battle royals, N.P.W., Mike (Crash) was always involved.

We will miss you Mike. The people you have left behind have stories and memories that will never die.
-Nick Chaboya