Mike McCord

Michael McCord is an American retired professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, "The Universal Heartthrob" Austin Idol. McCord graduated from Robinson High School in Tampa, Florida. He started wrestling as Iron Mike McCord, a superheavyweight powerlifter in 1972, and became a star in a number of southeast promotions, holding many titles in the Memphis, Georgia, Birmingham, Texas All Star & Mid Atlantic territories. McCord also had a stint in WWE with Lou Albano as his manager. He also worked main event matches against then world champion Pedro Morales. McCord and wrestlers Gary Hart and Bobby Shane were passengers on a Cessna 182 flown by wrestler Buddy Colt, which crashed on February 20, 1975 into Tampa Bay in Florida, killing Shane. After a period of inactivity healing from two broken ankles, he emerged with bleach-blonde hair, over 100 lbs lighter, and the new ring name "Universal Heartthrob" Austin Idol. Idol is well known for a feud during the 1980s with the popular Jerry "The King" Lawler in the CWA and AWA territories. In a 1981 angle, Idol dressed up as a masked Mexican wrestler, presenting the "Top Rated Wrestler in Mexico" award to Lawler on TV before sucker-punching him. Afterwards, he delivered an interview where he promised to clean up Memphis and rid it of Lawler. Early in the year, Lawler burned Idol's neck in a match. On April 27, 1987, Idol defeated Lawler in a steel cage match with the assistance of "Wildfire" Tommy Rich, who hid underneath the r…