"Masked Superstar" Eadie To Wrestling Hall Of Fame, Fayette County Commissioners To Honor

By Thomas Leturgey

Known to many wrestling fans as "The Masked Superstar," or one-half of the record-breaking "Demolition," Brownsville, PA's Bill Eadie will soon receive two unique designations. The Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum in Amsterdam, New York—the world’s only “brick and mortar” Hall of Fame—will soon add an "Ax."

Eadie, 65, first started wrestling in Detroit in 1973 and then made his way closer to home in Pittsburgh. “I remember Bill Eadie when he first wrestled as The Paramedic at Pittsburgh's Civic Arena,” said longtime friend and fellow wrestler Ken Jugan, aka Lord Zoltan. Eadie then wrestled locally as Bolo Mongol. Many fans would soon learn of him in the Mid-South region as The Masked Superstar. He punished opponents with a Swinging Neckbreaker and Cobra Clutch. At 6’3,” and 300-pounds, “The Masked Superstar” provided an impressive figure.

In the late 1970’s it’s also believed that Eadie was one of the first wrestlers who ever bodyslammed 400 lb. Andre the Giant. It would be at least another decade and 100 lbs. before Hulk Hogan performed the same feat at the Pontiac Silverdome in 1987.

It was also in 1987 that Eadie formed one-half of the Demolition tag team. Randy Colley first played the character “Smash,” alongside Eadie’s “Ax.” Fans didn’t accept Colley as anything other than his previous “Moondog” character so he was replaced, famously by Barry Darsow. The team won WWE tag team gold three times, including once for 698 days. That record stands to this very day. Eadie left the WWE in 1990.

Throughout the 1990’s, Eadie wrestled as Demolition Ax in Japan, albeit with different partners. He would wrestle all over the globe before reuniting with Darsow for independent shows.

Eadie also worked with another former WWF wrestler, Nick “Big Bully” Busick to operate a high risk security business in Atlanta, where he now lives. Busick calls Eadie “a class act.”

Eadie would return to Pittsburgh and wrestle with the Keystone State Wrestling Alliance (KSWA) in 2008. On March 29, 2009 Eadie would return to the Steel City and be inducted to the KSWA Hall of Fame. On October 10, 2009 Eadie and Darsow won the KSWA Tag Team titles in Pittsburgh and received a standing ovation from the standing-room-only crowd. The team would surrender the belts and Eadie would return on September 4, 2010 as part of the “Officer Paul Sciullo Memorial Wrestling Event.” The fundraiser was designed to help the family of Officer Scuillo, who was killed in the line of action along with two other officers on April 4, 2009.

Eadie, who also worked as a teacher and coach in Ohio, has been active in various philanthropic activities, including raising money for hospitals near Atlanta. He continues to wrestle occasionally, sometimes with Darsow as Demolition.

In a related move, the Fayette County Commissioners will honor "The Masked Superstar" with a proclamation this Thursday, May 15, at 10:00 a.m. Eadie is not expected to attend, as he will be on his way to northern New York state. 

Other inductees in the PWHF Class of 2014 are Stu Hart and LeRoy McGuirk, Bruiser Brody and Mr. Wrestling #2, Johnny Walker, Don Muraco, Sherri Martel, Pittsburgh native Don Fargo and his wrestling "brother" Jackie Fargo, Gary Hart and Lord Alfred Hayes.

“As rough as he is in the ring, he is a true gentleman outside and a true credit to professional wrestling,” commented Jugan of Eadie.  “His selection to into the "real" Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2014 in Amsterdam, is well deserving.” The Hall of Fame weekend is May 16 & 17, 2014.