{"id":371390,"date":"2024-02-28T19:26:36","date_gmt":"2024-02-28T20:26:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=371390"},"modified":"2024-02-29T00:04:15","modified_gmt":"2024-02-29T00:04:15","slug":"unique-wrestling-icon-dies-after-health-battle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=371390","title":{"rendered":"'Unique' wrestling icon dies after health battle"},"content":{"rendered":"

M\ufeffichael Jones – better known to wrestling<\/a> fans as Virgil – has died at the age of 61.<\/p>\n

The former WWF and WCW competitor \ufeffhad battled a number of health issues in recent years, suffering two strokes and being diagnosed with both dementia and colon cancer.<\/p>\n

He began his pro wrestling journey in the 1980s, competing under the name "Soul Man Jones" across multiple promotions, before signing with the Vince McMahon-led WWF.<\/p>\n

LIVE UPDATES:<\/strong> Australia vs New Zealand first Test live coverage\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\ufeffREAD MORE:<\/strong> Matildas cruise to Olympics<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\ufeffREAD MORE:<\/strong> Ricciardo caught in middle as F1 rule drama erupts<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Jones would then become aligned with Hall of Famer Ted DiBiase under the Virgil moniker, acting as a bodyguard figure, before ultimately turning on 'The Million Dollar Man' and becoming a fan favourite in early-1991 after the crowd's support for him grew.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Later that year, Virgil captured the Million Dollar Title from DiBiase in what was the highlight of his wrestling career, but would depart the WWF in 1994.<\/p>\n

Jones \ufeffspent four years with rival promotion WCW in the late-1990s, before a brief return to WWE<\/a> in 2010 alongside DiBiase's son, Ted Jr.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/WWE\/status\/1762896754406470032?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

Tributes began to pour in for Jones after the news of his passing, with the likes of Matt Hardy, \ufeffJake Roberts and Jim Duggan paying their respects.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/JakeSnakeDDT\/status\/1762873953754751453?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a>https:\/\/twitter.com\/MATTHARDYBRAND\/status\/1762867359272878252?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a>https:\/\/twitter.com\/RealHacksawJim\/status\/1762900256193130700?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a>https:\/\/twitter.com\/Bowens_Official\/status\/1762901079010713786?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

The news comes just days after the passing of Ole Anderson – a founding member of the legendary Four Horsemen stable with Ric Flair – at the age of 81.\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

M\ufeffichael Jones – better known to wrestling fans as Virgil – has died at the age of 61. The former WWF and WCW competitor \ufeffhad […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":371392,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371390"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=371390"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371390\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":371393,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371390\/revisions\/371393"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/371392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=371390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=371390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=371390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}