Sweet n' Sour

Very sad news to spread here on the blog this afternoon as one of the best pro wrestling managers I've ever had the pleasure to watch, Larry Sweeney, committed suicide today. A mainstay of Chikara and Ring of Honor in the last decade, Sweeney was an amazing manager. A complete throwback to the likes of Bobby Heenan and Jimmy Hart, Larry was probably born a generation too late as WWE got away from using managers. He did have one appearance on WWE TV, playing the role of Nick Hogan in a Hogan Knows Best parody segment in the summer of 2006. The fact that he was able to essentially play a relevant, up to date character while still maintaining a 1970s/1980s wrestling mentality is probably what was most impressive about Sweeney to me.

I first came across Larry Sweeney as a member of the Figure Four Online website, hearing him being interviewed by Bryan Alvarez. It was through his appearances on the Figure Four Daily show that he and Bryan actually built up a feud, leading to a series of matches for Larry's coveted "ICW-ICWA Texarkana Television Championship" in 2007. Larry was hilarious without exception in all of his appearances on the radio show, just another aspect of the wrestling business where he excelled.

Few details are known about the circumstances of his death right now, but he was troubled by depression for many years, and was diagnosed bi-polar.

I'm truly, deeply sorry for the loss to his family, friends, and fans, and I will never grow tired of re-listening to those Figure Four Daily episodes.