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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.
Russ Haas
Thomas Russell Haas followed in his older brother Charlie Haas’ footsteps and attended Seton Hall University in New Jersey and like his older brother, competed as an amateur wrestler. Upon graduating, Haas pursued a career in professional wrestling like his brother Charlie two years earlier. Russ was trained by the legendary ‘Iron’ Mike Sharpe in New Jersey. After completing training in 1998, Russ Haas formed a tag team with brother Charlie known as ‘The Haas of Pain.’
The Haas brothers wrestled for various independent groups on the east coast including, East Coast Championship Wrestling, Combat Zone Wrestling and Jersey All Pro Wrestling winning tag team titles everywhere they competed. In August of 2000, the Haas brothers received a WWF dark match tryout and received an offer to sign a developmental contract. Charlie stated a few years later in an interview that he and Russ were ecstatic and just happy to be able to pursue their dreams.
After a year in developmental, the Haas brothers were being prepped to be called up to the main roster. Charlie said that they were going to form the ‘Team Angle’ faction with Kurt Angle and Shelton Benjamin. Before the brothers were called up, in the early morning hours of December 15th, 2001, Charlie and Russ were studying wrestling tapes getting ready for their WWE debuts. Russ went home around 3 in the morning to get some sleep. Later that morning, Russ’s wife couldn’t wake Russ up. He was pronounced dead at his home.
An autopsy was performed and it was determined that Russ had died of heart failure. He had previously suffered a minor heart attack in September of 2001. Former developmental wrestler/manager Jason Sensation stated that Russ died at an early age due to abusing steroids to get himself bigger. Sensation claimed that Jim Ross would always critique the brothers and told them that they needed to “get bigger.” Regardless if that is true or not, Russ Haas was just 27 years old at the time of his death. Several independent promotions held Russ Haas memorial events and brother Charlie debuted in WWE under the moniker of R.C. Haas. The Team Angle faction that he and Russ were scheduled to join with Kurt Angle did in fact go through a year after Russ’s tragic passing.
To read other Grappling with Tragedy articles, please click here.