Profile of Mike Rotunda on Famous Like Me

Mike Rotunda
Statistics
Stage names	Mike Rotunda Mike Rotundo Captain Mike Irwin R. Schyster I.R.S. Michael Wallstreet Mike Drond Mr. Wallstreet V.K. Wallstreet
Height	6 ft 3 in (191 cm)
Weight	255 lb (116 kg)
Born	March 30, 1958
Hometown	Syracuse, New York
Trained by	Dick Beyer
Debut	September 22, 1981
Retired	2004

Lawrence Michael (Mike) Rotunda (born March 30, 1958 in Syracuse, New York), also known as Mike Rotunda and Irwin R. Schyster, is an American former professional wrestler.

Career

After graduating from Syracuse University, Rotunda began wrestling in 1981 as a fan favorite in Florida Championship Wrestling. He often teamed with his real life brother-in-law, Barry Windham. Rotunda and Windham joined the World Wrestling Federation as The U.S. Express in 1984 and won the WWF World Tag Team Championships twice, feuding with The Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff, who they lost the tag titles to at WrestleMania 1.

Rotunda left the WWF in late 1985 and returned to Florida without Windham, where he feuded with Sir Oliver Humperdink's "Shock Troops".

In 1987 Rotunda joined the National Wrestling Alliance affiliate Jim Crockett Promotions, where he lingering at mid-card level as a face before turning heel and joining Kevin Sullivan's Varsity Club, a group of wrestlers with amateur wrestling credentials. Rotunda began bickering with fellow Varsity Club member Rick Steiner, a graduate of the University of Michigan, over which of the two had a superior alma mater. This in turn led to the two arguing over which of them was the superior wrestler.

Rotunda gave the NWA Florida Heavyweight Championship that he had won in early 1987 to Steiner and went on to win the NWA World Television Championship from Nikita Koloff. He then began a feud with Jimmy Garvin because Sullivan wanted Garvin's wife Precious. Steiner eventually left the group and began feuding with Rotunda, with the enemies trading the Television Championship before Rotunda lost the title to Sting.

"Dr. Death" Steve Williams and Dan Spivey joined the Varsity Club in late 1988, and Rotunda teamed with Williams to win the NWA World Tag Team Championships from The Road Warriors. Referee Theodore Long turned heel during the match and administered a fast count, enabling Rotunda and Williams to overcome the champions. Long went on to become a manager following the controversial officiating.

In May 1989, Williams and Rotunda were stripped of their titles and Rotunda briefly left the NWA. He returned in 1990 as the maritime Captain Mike Rotundo. He formed a "crew" consisting of Abdullah the Butcher and Norman the Lunatic and feuded with Kevin Sullivan's new stable, "Sullivan's Slaughterhouse" (Cactus Jack, Buzz Sawyer and Bam Bam Bigelow).

In mid-1990 Rotunda became Michael Wallstreet with Alexandra York and her computer as his manager. The partnership was a brief one, as Rotunda left the NWA for a bigger role in the WWF in early 1991.

In the WWF, Rotunda became Irwin R. Shyster (I.R.S.). He harassed all of the faces, urging them to pay their taxes, and went on to form "Money Inc." with Ted DiBiase, with whom he won the WWF World Tag Team Championships a further three times. His biggest singles fued was with Razor Ramon.

Rotunda was briefly part of DiBiase's "Million Dollar Corporation" before leaving the WWF for World Championship Wrestling. Once in WCW, he played a character similar to I.R.S. known as V.K. Wallstreet but failed to recapture his earlier success. He joined the nWo briefly at the request of DiBiase and wrestled in All Japan Pro Wrestling and New Japan Pro Wrestling as a member of "nWo Japan". Rotunda continued to wrestle primarily in Japan throughout the 1990s until he retired to run a security company with his wife (Blackjack Mulligan's daughter) in 2004.

In wrestling

Previous managers

• Captain Lou Albano
• Ted DiBiase
• Jimmy Hart
• Kevin Sullivan
• Miss Alexandra York

Quotes

• "You can pay me now or you will pay me later."

Finishing and signature moves

• Stock Market Crash (Fallaway slam)
• Write-Off (Jumping lariat)
• Penalty (STF)
• Abdominal stretch
• Airplane spin
• Butterfly suplex

Championships and Accomplishments

Florida Championship Wrestling

• 2-time NWA Florida Southern Heavyweight Champion
• 3-time NWA Florida Heavyweight Champion
• 4-time NWA Florida United States Tag Team Champion (3-time with Barry Windham, 1-time with Mike Davis)

National Wrestling Alliance

• 1-time NWA World Tag Team Champion (with Steve Williams)
• 2-time NWA World Television Champion
• 1-time NWA Mid-Atlantic Television Champion
• 1-time NWA Canadian Television Champion

Pro Wrestling Illustrated

• PWI ranked him # 164 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the PWI Years in 2003
• PWI ranked him # 48 in the best tag teams during the PWI Years (with Barry Windham) and # 61 (with Ted DiBiase)

World Wrestling Federation

• 5-time WWF World Tag Team Champion (2-time with Barry Windham, 3-time with Ted DiBiase)

External link

• Mike Rotundo at OWW.com

This content from Wikipedia is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Mike Rotunda