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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.
Dave ‘DJ’ Peterson
Dave ‘DJ’ Peterson was trained to become a professional wrestler by famed midget wrestler ‘Lord’ Littlebrook and wrestler Mike George and made his debut in 1984. Peterson had the size and the look of a star for the 80’s. He stood 6’3, weighed 265 pounds and was very athletic for his size. Peterson wrestled for various territories including Central States, World Class, Mid South/UWF Calgary Stampede and Continental based in Alabama. He feuded with the likes of the Freebirds and won several regional titles including the WCCW television title.
Peterson did have a few runs on the national level wrestling as a low to mid card wrestler for both the AWA and Jim Crockett Promotions. He even had a brief run in the WWF as enhancement talent putting over bigger named stars. Peterson was very good friends with Marty Jannetty who he teamed with many times in the Central States territory. When Jannetty went to the AWA, Verne Gagne asked him to pick a partner to form a new tag team. Being put on the spot, Jannetty named Shawn Michaels who he also knew from Central States and formed the Midnight Rockers.
Jannetty would later say it was a big regret that he didn’t choose his best friend and that it was a major oversight on his part. DJ Peterson would eventually be brought into the AWA as a singles wrestler. In the dying days of the company, Peterson teamed with The Trooper aka The Patriot to win the AWA world tag team titles. DJ and the Trooper would be the very last AWA tag team title holders before the promotion went under.
After the AWA folded in 1991, Peterson continued his career by wrestling on the independents. On May 25th, 1993, Peterson who was an avid motorcyclist was involved in a crash that killed him instantly. Rumors had it that Peterson may have been decapitated in the motorcycle crash. Regardless, DJ Peterson still had a career ahead of him. He was only active in the business for 9 years. Dave ‘DJ’ Peterson was only 33 years old at the time of his death.
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