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PWInsider.com is saddened to report the passing of former WWF Tag Team Champion Robert “Bobby” Horne, who performed for the company as Mo of Men on A Mission in the 1990s. Horne had been hospialized recently with pneumonia and a blood infection. He was only 58 years old.
Horne, a North Carolina native, was trained by Ivan Koloff as well as Gene and Ole Anderson. He debuted in 1991 and began working for the PWF promotion in North Carolina. He and Nelson Frazier (later Mable and Viscera) were put together as a tag team, The Harlem Knights, with George South as their advisor and manager. Horne also did some enhancement work for the WWF in that time period.
The team moved to Memphis Wrestling in 1993, where they were immediately pushed as a top heel duo, feuding with Jerry Lawler and Jeff Jarrett. The duo would sometimes team with Brian Christopher. They would later feud with The Moondogs over the USWA Tag Team Championship and Horne would challenge Jarrett for the USWA Southern Heavyweight Championship.
In a world where size was a premium, the WWF came calling, where the team was rechristened as hip hop act Men on A Mission, Mo and Mable. Clad in bright outfits, the team was managed by Oscar, a fan who had pitched himself as a rapping manager when he found himself in an elevator with Vince McMahon and Pat Patterson during Wrestlemania IX weekend in Las Vegas.
The pair received an immediate push as babyfaces, appearing as Doinks at the 1993 Survivor Series in Boston and feuded with The Quebecers, Pierre and Jacques. The duo won the WWF Tag Team Championship during a WWF tour of Europe but lost the belts back. They made their Wrestlemania debut at Mania 10 in NYC, challenging The Quebecers, winning by countout. In the same time period, they were regularly facing The Heavenly Bodies and Well Dunn. They would also return to the USWA from time to time due to WWF’s relationship with the company.
After being out for several months with a leg injury, Mo returned ahead of a decision to turn Men on A Mission heel. They attacked Oscar shortly after they turned heel on The Smoking Gunns. After a short feud with The Gunns, the decision was made to push Mable as a top heel. Mable would win the 1995 King of the Ring tournament in Philadelphia, beating Savio Vega in the finals. With Mable as King Mable, Mo began to be billed as “Sir Mo” with the idea that the pair were now heel royalty.
Mo shifted into a heel manager and mouthpiece role, but the two would still team including matches in the early In Your House PPV events against Vega and Razor Ramon. The duo worked for the WWF through the end of 1995, including a feud with The Undertaker. Mo finished up for the company in January 1996, losing to Marty Jannetty on a live event in Montreal.
The team returned to Memphis, against feuding with all the top babyfaces. Mo moved on to become part of The Nation of Domination in Memphis, a test run for the group before it moved to the WWF, as Sir Mohammad. The faction including PG-13. Tracy Smothers, Jacqueline Moore and Reggie B. Fine, among others, all using militant names. When the gimmick was taken to the WWF as a vehicle for Ron “Farooq” Simmons, only PG-13 went with it.
Horne, under a number of different ring names, remained working in the Memphis area, wrestling for a number of promotions and later run and booked his own company, Southern Extreme Wrestling. He and Mable feuded for a short time in Memphis Wrestling and he made occasional independent appearances in the United States in Canada. Horne later promoted Dyersburg, Tennessee under the New Blood Wrestling name and also worked as a truck driver. Horne last wrestled in 2002.
In recent years, had been dealing with a number of health issues and was in need of a liver transplant. He had been undergoing kidney dialysis and had been hospitalized during the pandemic within COVID-19. In 2018, he received a kidney replacement. In recent weeks, Horne had been hospitalized in Texas with a severe blood infection and pneumonia.
PWInsider.com sends our deepest condolences to the family, friends and fans of Bobby Horne.
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