The WWE legend and multi-time holder of many National Wrestling Alliance championships, Black Bart, has died at the age of 76 having stopped cancer treatment a few months ago
WWE legend Black Bart has died after a battle with cancer. The wrestler, whose career spanned more than 30 years and peaked in the 1980s and 1990s, was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2022, but the disease was caught late, having already progressed to stage four.
In December, his family revealed the 76-year-old, whose real name is Rick Harris, had taken the difficult decision to stop his chemotherapy treatment after their health insurance stopped covering its cost.
The family said in a statement at the time that the aggressive treatment was “doing more damage than good” as his condition wasn’t improving and it was causing him pain.
They said: “He [Bart] has told me that he doesn’t want any more chemo, he feels that it’s doing more damage than good and I have to back him up on that. He doesn’t feel that he has given up he’s just not putting any more poison in his body. He is completely in God’s hands now. God’s will be done.”
However, a new statement released this morning tells how he passed away yesterday (January 11).
Wife Linda said: “You might know him as Black Bart but to me he was my husband Ricky. He left us this morning . He was pronounced at 5:26 this morning. He is Resting In Peace.”
Paying tribute to him, fellow WWE legend John Bradshaw Layfield posted a photo of him and Black Bart on X.
He wrote: “Black Bart took me under his wing and taught me how to be a professional wrestler. We were tag champs in Texas-but we were also just buddies. We sat together in the dressing room while Bart spit in his trashcan and constantly joked about everything. Bart meant the world to me. I love you big brother. RIP”
Most of Black Bart’s career accomplishments came by way of his time in the historic National Wrestling Alliance, where he won several championships, including the NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championships.
He also held the Continental Wrestling Association Heavyweight Championship on two occasions in the late 1980s.
His final match was in 1999, when he lost to Awesome Kong at the McKinney Roller Rink in Texas, during Texas Championship Wrestling’s TCW McKinney Mayhem event. His last WWE match was not held on television, as he lost to Big Country in a dark match on episode 537 of WWF Superstars in January 1997.
For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.
