Eddie “The Amazing Kung Fu” Hamill, a Belfast-born wrestler who gained popularity for his crafty Kung Fu-inspired style around the British scene, has passed away.
Hamill died on early Wednesday morning following a lengthy battle with pneumonia, POST Wrestling learned. He was 81.
After taking an interest in combat sports, particularly Judo, the Northern Irishman found wrestling in his early 20s after attending a class at “The Pit” wrestling club. He later cited being trained by Noel “Darkie” Arnott at Milo’s Wrestling Gym, a grimy atmosphere void of amenities like running water or heat.
“All it had was a wrestling ring,” Hamill told The Wrestling Ireland in 2018. “There was no charge to training – the deal was that you had to wrestle on their shows for free for your first 6 bouts.”
He would begin wrestling in his home country as Mike “Judo” Hamill, a nod to his father, before later beginning to wrestle as “The Amazing Kung Fu.”
Hamill started as a masked wrestler, something his peers considered unconventional, considering he worked a babyface gimmick. He eventually decided to start performing unmasked after rumors emerged that other wrestlers were using the same persona, he told SLAM! Wrestling in 2009.
Hamill branched out beyond Northern Ireland by the late 60s, beginning to work all around the U.K. He had moved to Wales by the early 70s after beginning to work with local promoter Orig Williams.
His career led him all around the region, including numerous appearances on the national TV program World of Sport. He would also head to Canada and tour with Stampede Wrestling later in his career, where he would share the ring with names like The Dynamite Kid, Davey Boy Smith, and Bret Hart.
Hamill would retire by the late 80s, transitioning into a role as a lifeguard for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.
Hamill remembers his best matches being against Manchester’s Mark Rocco, a veteran who notably also feuded in Japan against Tiger Mask under the persona Black Tiger. Hamill described him as the “perfect partner” for matches.
“He was never off you, and you always came out of a match with Mark with a black eye or something,” he told Slam. “But truth be told, I liked it that way, because I wanted it to look real.”
