Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
Grappling with Tragedy is a series of articles that deal with unfortunate, tragic incidents that have occurred throughout the history of professional wrestling. It is unlike the ‘Wrestling with Sin’ series that deals more with the seedier side of wrestling like arrests, murders and suicides. Grappling looks more at particular tragic incidents that have in some instances altered pro wrestling in some way.
Dan Masters
Dan ‘The Man’ Masters was a lifelong wrestling fan, who spent over 25 years in the business. He began working as an “intern” for ‘The American Dream’ Dusty Rhodes Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling based in Masters home state of Georgia. Masters did a little of everything such as ring announcing, refereeing, ring crew and everything else in between…learning the ropes of the wrestling business.
In 2002, Masters would get the opportunity of a lifetime as he was hired by WWE to be the ring announcer for their developmental territory in Georgia run by ‘The Assassin’ Jody Hamilton called Deep South Wrestling. He remained with Deep South and WWE until 2004. When not growing his wrestling resume, Masters worked as a deejay for large broadcast companies like Cumulus and Clear Channel.
Masters continued his passion for pro wrestling working for various promotions as a ring announcer and backstage interviewer for places like Ring of Honor, PCW, Warriors of Wrestling and NWA Hollywood. He also did work for boxing and MMA events as well. His biggest career opportunity came when he was hired by David McLane to be the ring announcer for the relaunch of WOW…Women of Wrestling.
On September 27, 2022…while vacationing in El Salvador…Dan Masters was involved in a car crash that tragically took his young life. Masters had made many friends in the business including Dusty Rhodes, Rob Van Dam, Katie Forbes and many others. Wrestling journalist Mike Mooneyham wrote about Masters…“You never knew when Dan was going to pop up at a wrestling show, but whenever he did, he made his presence known. A great guy who made friends wherever he went.”