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.
Dominic Pye
Harry Dominic Pye was a second generation British professional wrestler who came from a family of both wrestlers and boxers. His father was known as ‘The Doncaster Panther’ Jack Pye who wrestled from the 1930’s to the early 1950’s. His son Harry, wrestled under the moniker of ‘Dirty’ Dominic Pye in England and ‘The Prince of Darkness’ here in the United States. Dominic wrestled from the 1950’s to 60’s.
The second generation wrestler…as with many other wrestlers with legacies…wanted to carve his own niche into the industry. He didn’t want to live off his famous father’s name. Dirty Dominic was as tough as nails and said to be a kind, but had a volatile temper. He also possessed uncanny strength and power. In once instance, Dominic came out from his flat to see somebody double parked by his car…blocking him from leaving. Dominic went nuts and actually used his strength to tip over the vehicle to get out of his spot.
Despite having all that power behind him…many of his opponents in the ring said that Dominic Pye was easy to work with. He wrestled light and was never stiff on another wrestler. Not only was Dominic Pye a success in British wrestling, he also was a well respected promoter and trainer. Pye trained future stars such as Jock Cameron, Wild Angus and Rex Strong. Domonic made top money in the United Kingdom as he was a huge attraction to fans.
Realizing that pro wrestling wouldn’t be there for him forever….Pye became a night club manager and furniture dealer on the side to make extra money. He eventually retired from wrestling around 1970 and lived near Blackpool in England. On February 26th, 1979….Pye was in his backyard shooting pigeons with his shotgun. As he was climbing over a fence on his property…his shotgun accidentally went off killing Pye. It turned out that the gun was defective.
Harry Dominic Pye was just 50 years old at the time of his death.