The post-mortem revealed that Mal had a bad heart and he had already had six previous heart attacks which no one knew about. He died of a heart attack that wasn't caused by the splashdown manoeuvre. Mal shouldn't have been wrestling, and he said to his wife that morning that he was sick of it.
You are correct. When Daddy performed the splash he actually lands on his hands and feet and then lowers himself on the opponent in a controlled way in the last split second. Not to say he can't mistime it though. But Mal had a heart condition as you say, and they reckon he had a heart attack before the splash. Or it could have been brought on by stress and the fear of it, nobody can say for certain.
@@PreservationEnthusiast Two things come to mind here. The US wrestler Ox Baker had a couple of his opponents die after receiving Baker's finishing move, the heart punch. In both cases, the opponent had a pre-existing condition: one was wrestling with a ruptured pancreas and died from internal bleeding; the other had a heart condition similar to that of Kirk and died in the shower after the match. While promoters used those tales to build Ox's heat, Ox himself wasn't wild about bringing up either incident. As far as Big Daddy's splashdown, Kimala (known to UK fans as the Mississippi Mauler) used the same move under his US gimmick of being a Ugandan headhunter. A friend of mine from high school wrestled him in the WWF as a jobber. Kimala mistimed the impact and ruptured the jobber's spleen, which ended his pro wrestling career. It happens.
@@actionsub I can't disagree with anything thing you say. It's scripted and arranged as in Kayfabe, but those are still 20 to 30 stone guys performing moves and chucking themselves around in an acrobatic way. There's huge power and plenty of potential for errors.
I remember hearing about it on the news. This was the beginning of the end for Big Daddy. He was never the same person. He didn't wrestle much after that. RIP Big Daddy/Mal Kirk.
I was at Bridlington spa the night after this happened to watch Big Daddy in tag team action against Giant Haystacks and his partner was supposed to be Mal Kirk. Rasputin took the place of Kirk.
I think it was this moment that haunted Big Daddy until his final days. Then again, it helped him to continue wrestling with a safer style. He may've used fewer moves after the Kirk incident, but at least he was still able to draw huge crowds.
I've got legends of wrestling 2 on my ps2 and big daddy finisher is called daddy splash it proves that finishing moves are very dangerous without a doubt 😲
I met Mal Kirk. He looked intimidating but he was a nice guy and happily gave me his autograph. I don't blame Big Daddy for his death, but he was exploited by the Crabtrees according to his daughter.
@@jamiew1664Allow me to explain...all he did was waddle up to his opponent and bump into them with his belly, thus propelling them across the ring. They then fell over, and up he'd come and crash down on them. "Wrestling" no, a farce...most definitely.
To be honest, it’s not entirely certain whether Crabtree killed him. The general consensus after the autopsy was that Kirk had an existing heart condition that led to a number of small and unnoticed heart palpitations during the match. This eventually caused a fatal heart attack just before he took the splash that supposedly killed him. Crabtree was cleared of any criminal offence because doctors gave their professional opinion that Kirk was dead the second he hit the mat. That being said though, the physicality of wrestling is probably the spark that lit the fuse for that chain of events. It’s hard to imagine that Kirk would have suffered that way were it not for being in the ring.
I remember a bunch of the local skinheads saying that just before they attacked Adrian Street in the car park there were six of them ..He gave them free flying lessons., They were lucky just some gravel rash and nasty bruises he was only playing he could have sent them to intensive care or even the morgue YOU HAVE TO BE ABLE TO DO IT TO FAKE IT
The post-mortem revealed that Mal had a bad heart and he had already had six previous heart attacks which no one knew about. He died of a heart attack that wasn't caused by the splashdown manoeuvre. Mal shouldn't have been wrestling, and he said to his wife that morning that he was sick of it.
You are correct. When Daddy performed the splash he actually lands on his hands and feet and then lowers himself on the opponent in a controlled way in the last split second. Not to say he can't mistime it though.
But Mal had a heart condition as you say, and they reckon he had a heart attack before the splash. Or it could have been brought on by stress and the fear of it, nobody can say for certain.
@@PreservationEnthusiast Two things come to mind here. The US wrestler Ox Baker had a couple of his opponents die after receiving Baker's finishing move, the heart punch. In both cases, the opponent had a pre-existing condition: one was wrestling with a ruptured pancreas and died from internal bleeding; the other had a heart condition similar to that of Kirk and died in the shower after the match. While promoters used those tales to build Ox's heat, Ox himself wasn't wild about bringing up either incident.
As far as Big Daddy's splashdown, Kimala (known to UK fans as the Mississippi Mauler) used the same move under his US gimmick of being a Ugandan headhunter. A friend of mine from high school wrestled him in the WWF as a jobber. Kimala mistimed the impact and ruptured the jobber's spleen, which ended his pro wrestling career. It happens.
@@actionsub I can't disagree with anything thing you say.
It's scripted and arranged as in Kayfabe, but those are still 20 to 30 stone guys performing moves and chucking themselves around in an acrobatic way. There's huge power and plenty of potential for errors.
No one was blamed, just the media wanted to make a big thing about it.
I remember hearing about it on the news. This was the beginning of the end for Big Daddy. He was never the same person. He didn't wrestle much after that. RIP Big Daddy/Mal Kirk.
Im 44, but i remember being a kid and friends at school telling me about this..
I was at Bridlington spa the night after this happened to watch Big Daddy in tag team action against Giant Haystacks and his partner was supposed to be Mal Kirk. Rasputin took the place of Kirk.
Long live the memories of Mal & Big Daddy. xoxo The Clarences
King kong kirk wife never blamed big daddy for her hushands death RIP MAL AND BIG DADDY
I think it was this moment that haunted Big Daddy until his final days. Then again, it helped him to continue wrestling with a safer style. He may've used fewer moves after the Kirk incident, but at least he was still able to draw huge crowds.
This killed Big Daddy he was never the same again
R.I.P. Mal.
Kirk was already on borrowed time.
I've got legends of wrestling 2 on my ps2 and big daddy finisher is called daddy splash it proves that finishing moves are very dangerous without a doubt 😲
I met Mal Kirk. He looked intimidating but he was a nice guy and happily gave me his autograph. I don't blame Big Daddy for his death, but he was exploited by the Crabtrees according to his daughter.
RIP King Kong kirk RIP Big Daddy
Big Daddy, wrestlings biggest farce.
why u say that? explain yourself.
@@jamiew1664Allow me to explain...all he did was waddle up to his opponent and bump into them with his belly, thus propelling them across the ring. They then fell over, and up he'd come and crash down on them. "Wrestling" no, a farce...most definitely.
I never knew that happened, so not completely circus after all. Accidents do happen.
Sadly deaths do happen. Then and now. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perro_Aguayo_Jr.#Death
To be honest, it’s not entirely certain whether Crabtree killed him. The general consensus after the autopsy was that Kirk had an existing heart condition that led to a number of small and unnoticed heart palpitations during the match. This eventually caused a fatal heart attack just before he took the splash that supposedly killed him. Crabtree was cleared of any criminal offence because doctors gave their professional opinion that Kirk was dead the second he hit the mat.
That being said though, the physicality of wrestling is probably the spark that lit the fuse for that chain of events. It’s hard to imagine that Kirk would have suffered that way were it not for being in the ring.
But but but, it's all choreographed. Nobody really gets hurt. It's all fake. Right?
I remember a bunch of the local skinheads saying that just before they attacked Adrian Street in the car park there were six of them ..He gave them free flying lessons., They were lucky just some gravel rash and nasty bruises he was only playing he could have sent them to intensive care or even the morgue YOU HAVE TO BE ABLE TO DO IT TO FAKE IT
RIP Mal Kirk. RIH Big Daddy.
Rih?
Big Daddy was so distraught that he was wrestling the following night! 🤔
Easy!
...Easy !!
.....EASY !!!