Want more wrestling news, rumors, and results? Be sure to visit PWInsider.com and PWInsiderXtra.com.
Al "The Dog" Green, who worked for WCW as one half of the Wrestling Crew with Marcus Laurinaitis and as one half of the Master Blasters tag team with Kevin Nash before getting a run as "The Dog" during the last year of the promotion, passed away this morning at the age of 58 in Florida. He had been battling health issues for some time.
Green had several runs in WCW. After being trained by Steve Keirn and working for Championship Wrestling from Florida, he was hired when Nash's original partner for the Blasters left the company. The team made a few appearances but never really took off.
While Nash was repackaged several times (immediately as Oz, then later as Vinnie Vegas before finding his stardom as Diesel in the WWF), Green left WCW and began working the local Florida scene, including the IWF promoted by Eddie Mansfield and
Green began teaming with Road Warrior Animal's brother Marcus Laurinaitis (who had been working Stateside and in Japan as The Terminator) as The Terminators. The team was his key to returning to WCW as they were hired and re-christened the Wrestling Crew with Marcus as Rage and Green now nicknamed Fury
Early 1993 WCW was nowhere near the powerhouse that the promotion would become just a few years later. The company was mostly taping TV for TBS with the Crew making regular appearances as an undercard team working with the likes of 2 Cold Scorpio & Marcus Alexander (not yet Buff) Bagwell and the team of Tom Zenk & Johnny Gunn. The duo worked there for several years until their run ended. They were never a truly pushed commodity, just a team that was on the roster there to have matches and do underneath programs. They were a solid team.
After their WCW run ended, the team headed to Europe, working for Otto Wanz' CWA, capturing the promotion's tag straps. They also toured All Japan Pro Wrestling in 1995.
During the height of the Monday Night Wars, WCW was on a hiring spree and Green was again back with the company, this time as a singles wrestler. Again, he was never given a strong push and was there more as a competitor working the secondary TV shows having matches and putting over bigger stars. He was pretty much a regular on that era's version of WCW Saturday Night.
During the latter days of the company, Green found a niche as a singles wrestler. He was nicknamed "The Dog" and teamed with Brian Knobbs as part of a hardcore tag team managed by Dave Finlay, who at the time, was out of action after a freak leg injury going through a table. The original plan was for Sabu to have been Knobbs' partner but when legal issues over whether he was signed to a contract with ECW or not kept him from coming in, WCW looked from within to fill the spot. As part of the character, Green would act like a dog, including drinking out of a toilet and barking.
When WCW shut down in 2001, Green had made his final appearances as a wrestler on a national stage but being from the Florida area, was close with Hulk Hogan and his group of friends, leading to a few appearances on Hogan's VH-1 reality series.
In recent years, Green had been suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a progressive disease that makes it hard to breathe. Of late, he had been using an oxygen tank 24/7 and had been battling health issues related to the disease for some time.
On behalf of everyone associated with PWInsider.com, we'd like to express our deepest condolences to the family, friends and fans of Al Green.
If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section, which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts, interviews and more by clicking here!
Bang On Casino
