Barry Windham is asking for prayers to be sent to Mike Rotunda, who he states is in hospice care.
Bill Apter spoke with Windham this past Saturday at Grapple Con in Florida and described the health of his brother-in-law and former tag partner:
It’s kind of tough right now. Mike is in hospice right now.
I love that family, but it’s so tragic.
Rotunda, 67, is the father of the late Windham Rotunda a.k.a. Bray Wyatt and Taylor a.k.a. Bo Dallas. Rotunda married Barry Windham’s sister as the tag partners became brothers-in-law.
He wrestled at Syracuse University and connected with alumni from the school, Dick Beyer, and entered professional wrestling in 1981.
Rotunda and Windham comprised The U.S. Express in the WWF as the company was expanding nationally and won the tag titles from Adrian Adonis & Dick Murdoch in January 1985.
They lost the belts to The Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff on the first WrestleMania card in March but regained the titles in June before losing them for the final time to Brutus Beefcake & Greg Valentine in August.
Both would exit the WWF, and Rotunda worked for several territories before landing in Jim Crockett Promotions as part of The Varsity Club. He portrayed several characters in WCW, from Captain Mike Rotunda to Michael Wallstreet, and stayed with the group until early 1991.
He returned to the WWF under the new persona of I.R.S. (Irwin R. Schyster). This featured his run teaming with Ted DiBiase as Money Inc., where the duo won the tag titles three times and were part of Hulk Hogan’s return match at WrestleMania 9 in Las Vegas.
Rotunda returned to WCW in 1995 as V.K. Wallstreet, with the initials being a subtle reference to Vince McMahon. He was part of the N.W.O. and, through its working agreement with New Japan Pro Wrestling, split his time between both promotions. He was with WCW about a year before it went out of business and wound down his in-ring career with All Japan Pro Wrestling shortly after the talent exodus led by Mitsuharu Misawa.
In 2000, he teamed with Dr. Death Steve Williams, and the pair won the Real-World Tag League tournament, defeating Toshiaki Kawada & Masa Fuchi in the final.
In 2006, he joined the WWE as a road agent and spent the next fourteen years in the company, making numerous cameo appearances on special episodes where he reprised the I.R.S. character. He was among the many employees furloughed during the pandemic and was given a full release later that year.
In 2024, he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame with Windham.
Windham ended his interview with Apter, asking for prayers to be sent to Mike.
