74-year-old Kevin Sullivan dead
The death of “The Taskmaster,” Kevin Sullivan, was announced on Friday morning. He was seventy-four.
Barry Rose, a prominent figure in Florida wrestling, confirmed his longtime friend’s passing, saying, “With the heaviest of hearts, we are devastated to have to report the passing of the legendary Kevin Sullivan.” May he rest in peace and let his loved ones, family, and friends know how much they mean to them.
Kevin experienced a horrific accident on May 12, 2024, while attending an autograph signing in Florida, according to the GoFundMe page set up by his daughter Nicole. After undergoing life-saving emergency surgery, he had life-threatening side effects such as encephalitis and sepsis. Due to this unplanned tragedy, Kevin’s family is facing significant financial hardship as he has been hospitalized, far from home, in the intensive care unit. Kevin has proven to be incredibly resilient in the face of these obstacles. He is still struggling to reclaim his freedom months later.
Fans, coworkers, and friends came together in support of Sullivan, and the campaign soon expanded much beyond its initial target.
Kevin Sullivan has been exposed to numerous videos and posts like “Thank you Kevin” and “Get well Kevin” in the past few days.
“Kevin Sullivan Has Been One Of My Closest Friends In The Business,” Ric Flair commented on X. His expertise in every sport, not just wrestling, is unmatched. He is among the most intelligent people in our company’s history.
Kevin handled a plethora of personalities, including Hall, Nash, The NWO, Eric Bischoff, Ric Flair, The Nature Boy, and Hulk Hogan, while leading WCW to a one and a half-year victory over WWE! Kevin, keep going strong! You Are Needed Here.
On October 26, 1949, Kevin Francis Sullivan was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. At eight years old, he developed rheumatism.
I actually began by finding a set of weights in my basement. I started working out after finding a set of weights in our four-decker apartment.
He actually used the television as his wrestling school, and he would take over the family’s TV every Saturday in their Cambridge tenement. Without really “officially” training, he soon found himself grappling into Quebec and around the northeast. Sullivan, however, showed himself to be a knowledge sponge.
After spending 13 months in Tennessee, moving to Florida in 1972 proved to be the catalyst for his career, where he studied under promoter Eddie Graham’s tutelage.
Eddie Graham once said that learning a new skill takes five years. I had some amazing teachers, so for me, it was probably a bit earlier than five years,” Sullivan said to Alex Marvez of the Wrestling Observer. The first time I came down here, Mike Graham and I were partners.
Someone informed me the other day that they still remembered the first time Mike Graham and I won crowns. I was unable to even recall who we defeated. It was like wrestling a man of Brian Pillman’s skill level when I got to face Bobby Shane. I had the opportunity to wrestle Terry Funk and Dory. I used to be a punching bag for guys that I wrestled for. There was Danny Hodge, Jack and Jerry Brisco, and others. It was an extremely fortunate opportunity for me.
Despite his small stature of 5 feet 9 inches and his healthy 250 pounds of weight, Sullivan was able to dominate wrestlers much larger than him. Billy Graham, superstar, saw that a lot. He possessed extraordinary talent, particularly considering his size.
When he wrestled [Blackjack Mulligan], he could make people forget about his size,” Graham (Wayne Coleman) said to reporter Scott Williams in 2004. Although Sullivan was larger than Mulligan, he would still need to go on his knees to compete against individuals twice his height. Extremely convincing and serious, and a wonderful buddy on a personal level.
No matter where he went, he learnt. Size never mattered to him, even though he was overshadowed by the bigger opponents in the WWWF in 1975–1976.
Kevin Sullivan was a brilliant booker as well as a politician.
He is requested to talk about other people rather than himself in a great deal of interviews, both with this website and others. He was full with wisdom.
He discussed previous coworkers he would run into at a forthcoming fan event in his 2012 SlamWrestling interview, but he didn’t say much about his personal or professional life.
When discussing storytelling in a 2018 interview with Steven Johnson, Sullivan managed to simultaneously honor and transcend the wrestlers of today and yesterday.
The males of today are far better athletes than those of my generation or any previous generation, which pains me to remark. However, their attempts to compose for these guys are unsuccessful. You have to resemble that character rather closely,Kevin Sullivan said to Johnson.
According to Sullivan, Superstar Billy Graham, Blackjack Mulligan, Dusty Rhodes, Ernie Ladd, and King Curtis Iaukea were among the greatest talkers of their day. The analogies detract from contemporary storytelling. You could tell after a while whether the interview went well and start drawing folks in.
He launched into a King Curtis, saying, “Some of those guys weren’t the best performers, but the way they talked was so believable.” Iaukea was recruited for the live TV show because it was running one minute behind schedule. He simply went outside and counted from 60 to 0.
“Telling a narrative requires you to set aside your ego. Sullivan continued, “I always tell babyfaces that in order to be a knight in shining armor, you have to slay a dragon, not a salamander, which means you really have to put the heel over and fight from the bottom like Ricky Morton does.”
He would play a cult-like leader in Championship Wrestling from Florida in 1984, and the gimmick would help him become well-known. He was Kevin Sullivan, dubbed “The Prince of Darkness.”
Graham told Williams, “It was really unique, all the devil stuff.” “Kevin was crazy, but he was hilarious, and he did that bit exactly right.” Kevin was a lovely man and a humorous guy. I had known him for a very long time, and he was a great comedian. However, he was successful in persuading the crowd. They were afraid that he was legitimate.
Even though Satan or the devil were not mentioned in the Florida interviews, when news of Sullivan’s murder accidentally leaked in 1992, it was unavoidable to bring up the whole “You can’t kill the Devil” argument. In March 1992, John Arezzi discussed it in his Pro Wrestling Spotlight Newsletter. Arezzi composed:
Calls went out to media, promoters, wrestlers other than George Napolitano, and wrestlers. Nobody was aware of anything. When I finally spoke with Kip Frey at 5 p.m., he told me that he had spoken with Kevin earlier in the day. Whooo! My relief quickly gave way to rage. Who and why did this rumor start? I must have received twenty-five calls that night, all informing me that Kevin Sullivan had passed away.
And his death had to have been caused by a dozen distinct things. From getting shot, to drowning, to using O.D. As the stories came in, they became more and more amazing. Although I was furious about everything, I was also becoming increasingly interested in Kevin and Nancy (“Woman”) Sullivan’s reactions. I spoke with Nancy over the phone the next day. She informed me that for the previous two days, their home had been a madhouse. They received literally hundreds of calls on Kevin’s “death.” Kevin should give me a call, I requested her. That evening, my phone rang later.
Afterward, Arezzi called Sullivan:
This whole thing began on Friday, February 14. Janie from the WCW offices called me. She claimed to have heard that I perished in an auto accident. After reassuring her that I was fine, we parted ways. Nancy and I went to pick up Oliver Humperdink, or Hump, so he could attend the Ed Gantner Memorial Service on Sunday. While in the car, Hump told me that a girl he knows in Charlotte, North Carolina, had called him and claimed to have shot him in a club. It gets stranger than this. On Sunday, we didn’t come home. On Monday, when we arrived home at around 5:30 p.m., my close friend the Chief of Police was waiting for us in our parking lot.
He had heard that I was dead inside the apartment and was prepared to bang on my door. When we first entered the house, the answering machine had a hundred calls. Everyone at my friend’s memorial service told me that I had passed away. It’s absurd! We heard the weirdest story about Hump visiting my house with two guys. I got into a gunfight when a narcotics deal went sour. I shot everyone, got dead, and Hump got taken hostage. Two pairs of sweatsocks? What the hell could you get for a ransom for Humperdink? Nancy was reportedly imprisoned for conspiracy after that. It was insane. I know I have a lot of pals, at least.
The Comp-U-Serve computer service, which offers a wrestling insider information program, is where the rumor seems to have originated. It’s likely that the confusion around Buzz Sawyer’s passing and some idiot’s ignorance of his facts caused the mix-up. Now, the narrative is somewhat humorous. However, it’s unsettling to learn of a friend’s passing. Nancy’s comment, “Remember one thing John, you can’t kill the devil,” perfectly captured the situation.
Kevin Sullivan may have had a bigger impact on the wrestling industry behind the scenes for all of his titles, whether they were earned in the Northeast, Florida, Georgia, the Gulf Coast, Tennessee, or on a national level with World Championship Wrestling.
Kevin Sullivan was available to all who wished to listen and learn.
Almighty Sheik Joe Cabibbo commended Sullivan for spending hours talking to him about booking at the Cauliflower Alley Club in 2015.
From three marriages, Kevin Sullivan had four children.
Shannon and Ben were the two children from his first marriage.
His most well-known marriage was to fitness model Nancy Toffoloni, who started out as a valet and worked her way up to Florida. Later, she left Sullivan for Chris Benoit; in this instance, Sullivan was the booker, effectively scheduling his own divorce, and she was tasked with hanging out with Benoit. Overzealous followers falsely accused Sullivan of being involved in the double murder suicide when Benoit killed Nancy and their son, Daniel, in 2007.
His third marriage produced two daughters, Nicole and Bianca, to the former bodybuilder Linda Taylor. For a while, the Sullivan family owned and operated the Upper Florida Keys’ Froggy’s Fitness facility.
Kevin Sullivan has received numerous accolades from his peers, including as the New England Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame (2013), the NWA Hall of Fame (2014), and the Men’s Wrestling Award from the Cauliflower Alley Club in 2022.
