Sean O'Haire

This article is about the professional wrestler. For the golfer, see Sean O'Hair.
Sean O'Haire

Sean O'Haire in March 2003.
Birth name Sean Christopher Haire[1]
Born (1971-02-25)February 25, 1971
Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
Died September 8, 2014(2014-09-08) (aged 43)
Spartanburg, South Carolina, U.S.
Cause of death Suicide by hanging
Spouse(s) Joy Haire (m. 2005; div. 2007)
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s) Sean O'Haire[2]
Billed height 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)[2]
Billed weight 270 lb (120 kg)[2]
Billed from Hilton Head, South Carolina[2]
Trained by WCW Power Plant[2][3]
Debut June 26, 2000[2]
Retired June 28, 2006

Sean Christopher Haire (February 25, 1971 – September 8, 2014) was an American professional wrestler, mixed martial artist and kickboxer, better known by his ring name, Sean O'Haire.[1][4]

O'Haire was best known for his appearances with the professional wrestling promotions World Championship Wrestling, the World Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Entertainment and New Japan Pro Wrestling in the early to mid-2000s. A three time WCW World Tag Team Champion, O'Haire was named "Rookie of the Year" by the Wrestling Observer in 2000.

Upon retiring from professional wrestling in 2006, O'Haire competed in mixed martial arts and kickboxing before becoming a hair stylist.[2][3][5]

Early life

Haire was born in Atlanta, Georgia, but spent most of his childhood in Hilton Head, South Carolina. Prior to becoming a wrestler, Haire participated in multiple Toughman competitions. He also owned a fitness center prior to becoming a wrestler.

Professional wrestling career

World Championship Wrestling (2000-2001)

After completing his training in the WCW Power Plant, World Championship Wrestling's training school, Haire made his WCW debut on the June 26, 2000 episode of Nitro under the name Sean O'Haire, as he and fellow Power Plant graduate Mark Jindrak defeated The Filthy Animals (Rey Mysterio and Juventud Guerrera).[6]

On the July 3 episode of Nitro, O'Haire and Jindrak faced the Misfits in Action (General Hugh G. Rection and Corporal Cajun) to determine the number one contenders for the World Tag Team Championship, but were defeated.[7] Despite this, O'Haire and Jindrak faced then-World Tag Team Champions KroniK and Vampiro and The Great Muta in a three-way match for the championship, but were unsuccessful in winning the title.[8] In August, O'Haire and Jindrak helped form The Natural Born Thrillers with Mike Sanders, Shawn Stasiak, Chuck Palumbo, Johnny "The Bull" Stamboli, and Reno.[9] They were briefly mentored by Kevin Nash.[9] In September, O'Haire and Jindrak won the World Tag Team Championship for the first time.[10]

O'Haire and Jindrak won the title once more before splitting when O'Haire and Jindrak participated in a tag team battle royal with the Natural Born Thrillers teammates Stasiak and Palumbo.[11] After the conclusion of the match, Sanders declared both teams victorious and said that the teams should trade partners. As a result, O'Haire formed a new tag team with Palumbo, while the second team consisted of Jindrak and Stasiak.[12]

Palumbo and O'Haire defeated The Insiders (Diamond Dallas Page and Nash) in January 2001.[12] A short time later, The Natural Born Thrillers broke up when Stasiak and Jindrak became jealous of Palumbo and O'Haire's success. The teams met at SuperBrawl Revenge on February 18 for the tag team gold. Palumbo and O'Haire retained their titles.[10] O'Haire and Palumbo next feuded with Totally Buffed (Buff Bagwell and Lex Luger) and defeated them at Greed on March 18 to retain the Tag Team Title.[13]

Over the following two weeks, O'Haire and Palumbo feuded with Team Canada (Lance Storm and Mike Awesome), defeating them on the final episode of Nitro on March 26.[14] WCW was purchased by the WWF, and both O'Haire and Palumbo's contracts were picked up.[4]

World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment (2001-2004)

O'Haire and Palumbo made their WWF debuts on the June 28, 2001, episode of SmackDown! as part of The Alliance, attacking the Hardy Boyz. O'Haire and Palumbo started feuding with the Acolytes Protection Agency in the following weeks, which ended at WWF Invasion on July 22 when the APA defeated them.[15] Subsequently, O'Haire and Palumbo defeated the Hardy Boyz on the August 2, 2001 edition of SmackDown!.[16]

O'Haire and Palumbo next dropped the Tag Team Title to The Brothers of Destruction (The Undertaker and Kane) on the August 9 edition of SmackDown! and lost their rematch for the championship in a steel cage match the following week on Raw.[17][18] O'Haire and Palumbo's last televised match together was on the August 26 edition of Heat defeating The Holly Cousins (Hardcore Holly and Crash Holly).

Palumbo was thrown out of The Alliance in late October and joined the WWF in November. Also in September, O'Haire was sent to Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) for seasoning where he joined Kenny Bolin's "Bolin Services". O'Haire returned to WWE on the June 30, 2002 edition of Heat, defeating Justin Credible.[4] He made a few more appearances on Heat, in dark matches and at house shows throughout the rest of 2002, facing off against and teaming with, among others, Doug Basham, Damaja, D'Lo Brown, Johnny Stamboli, Shelton Benjamin, Charlie Haas, Christopher Nowinski and Raven.[4]

In January 2003 vignettes started to appear on WWE programming showing O'Haire in his new gimmick — a Devil's advocate character.[19] He urged people to commit adultery, break the law, not pay taxes, and not go to church, among other things. He ended each vignette with the line "I'm not telling you anything you don't already know." In 2003, O'Haire returned to the main SmackDown! roster, telling various superstars to perform indecent acts which included persuading Spanky to streak through the arena and Dawn Marie to flash the audience.[20]

O'Haire's persona included a long black trench coat he wore to the ring and his obsession with spiders, including fairly new tattoos with black flames on each wrist and a red spider web shooting out from the flames on his left wrist and a blue spider web on his right wrist. On the inside of his left forearm was a blue spider and on the inside of his right forearm was a red spider. His titantron video was also inside the body of a spider with a spiderweb in the background. He quickly came under the tutelage of wrestling legend, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper in April 2003.[19] His new persona was abandoned but he held victories over Rikishi, Funaki, Mr. America (Hulk Hogan) by count out, Chris Benoit, and Eddie Guerrero.[19] WWE officially released Piper from his contract on June 26, 2003, right after O'Haire and Piper made their last appearance together on SmackDown!.[21] In late November 2003, he was involved in a motorcycle accident which required stitches and kept him out of action for the next month or so. When he recovered in February, he was sent back to OVW and released on April 3, 2004 after O'Haire and WWE had mutually parted ways.[22]

New Japan Pro Wrestling, independent circuit and retirement (2004-2006)

Haire went to work for New Japan Pro Wrestling in May 2004. still under the ring name Sean O'Haire. On July 17, 2004, O'Haire and Piper re-united at a Ballpark Brawl show where Haire was Piper's hand-picked wrestler to face Jimmy Hart's hand-picked wrestler Abyss. O'Haire defeated Abyss by disqualification. Haire then went on to work for Ultimate Pro Wrestling[4]

O'Haire reunited with Chuck Palumbo on February 23, 2005 at UPW's Homecoming Havoc in which they were defeated by Tom Howard and Predator. Haire retired from professional wrestling soon after in order to focus on mixed martial arts.

Kickboxing

Sean entered K-1 on December 31, 2004 with a second round knockout loss to Musashi and then went on to compete in two WGP rounds held in Las Vegas (05,06) where he racked up losses to both Gary Goodridge (1st round 0:55 tko) & Chalid Arrab (1st round 0:23 ko) to round off his K-1 record to 0/3.[23] Not long after his first K-1 bout he was allegedly slated for a fight against Rick Cheek but his record was brought into question; K-1 reportedly claimed his record was 10/1 in kickboxing & 8/0 in MMA where only his K-1 bout vs Musashi & his MMA bout against Shungo Oyama could be found.[24]

Mixed martial arts

On October 21, 2006, Haire fought Eric "Butterbean" Esch at Pride 32 in Las Vegas.[22] Esch was originally announced to be fighting Mark Hunt, but the Nevada State Athletic Commission would not allow Hunt to fight Esch arguing that Hunt had an unfair mat advantage. PRIDE had stated that "visa issues" were preventing Hunt from competing in the bout, but it was later confirmed that Hunt could not compete due to the Commission's ruling. The fight was stopped 29 seconds into the first round after Esch landed 4–5 straight punches to Haire's head to bring him to the ground.

On August 17, 2007, Haire was scheduled to fight Mark Kerr at the Mohegan Sun Arena for the Global Fighting Championships promotion but the entire card was canceled after four of the eight scheduled bouts fell through. No explanation was given at that time, regarding the cancellation, only a guarantee of a full refund. It was revealed by GFC representative Joel Parker that half of the night's fights were called off, prompting the decision to nix the card rather than put on a lackluster event. Parker revealed that several fighters were disqualified for either failing to meet their contracted weight or for medical reasons. Kerr and Edwin Dewees were pulled from the card by the overseeing athletic commission for missing weight. According to commission doctors, Kerr registered an unhealthy blood pressure reading the day prior.[25] Kerr was set to fight Haire.[25]

In 2007, Haire took part in Champions Quest Fighting Challenge. He was successful in his first fight on September 29, against Darrell Wood, and beat Frankie Parkman on December 7.[22] However, he never fought again after December 2007. Haire defeated Tony Towers with a Guillotine Choke in the first round. Haire had many MMA fights on smaller shows not listed by the major MMA fight databases.[26]

Personal life

Haire married his wife Joy in Maui, Hawaii on May 15, 2005.[27] Approximately a year and a half later, he announced their divorce during a radio interview with SquaredCircleRadio.[28]

In 2006, Haire was arrested for allegedly assaulting a woman at "Club Hypnotic" in June 2004,[1] but was acquitted after she admitted the allegations were false. He was also involved in a fight in Hilton Head on March 30, 2007, in which he sustained fractures to his face and skull, including his orbital bone. As the result of the fight, the vision in his left eye was impaired. Although Haire claimed that he was going to the aid of a friend, witnesses asserted that Haire tried to instigate a fight with his alleged assailant, Juan Brantley. Brantley had filed a complaint with police on March 17, in which he stated that Haire had attempted to start a fight with him at another bar.[1]

On September 9, 2009, Haire was arrested in Georgia for allegedly choking out his girlfriend.[29] He was charged with battery and criminal trespassing before being released on $4,600 bail,[29] but the charges were dropped at later time. On November 23, 2011, Haire was again arrested in Georgia and charged with battery.[30] He was later released on $1,850 bail.[31]

In addition to his father, John Ernest Haire, he is survived by a sister, Erin Alverson Haire of Spartanburg; brothers, Andrew Renny Lands of Spartanburg, Shane Cecil Joseph Haire of Rock Hill, Shan Ezra Haire of Statesville, Ga., Theodore Haire.[32]

Death

On September 9, 2014, Haire's body was found by his father, hanged from a bedpost in his Spartanburg, South Carolina, home. He had apparently committed suicide the day prior.[33] Haire had been reportedly suffering from depression and alcohol addiction prior to his death. It had been reported that Haire had been to WWE sponsored rehab multiple times.[34]

In wrestling

Championships and accomplishments

Kickboxing record

Date Result Record Opponent Event Method Round Time
2006-08-12 Loss 0–4 United States Justice Smith K-1 World Grand Prix 2006 in Las Vegas II, US KO 2
2006-04-29 Loss 0–3 Germany Chalid Arrab K-1 World Grand Prix 2006 in Las Vegas, US KO (Right Uppercut) 1 0:23
2005-04-30 Loss 0–2 Canada Gary Goodridge K-1 World Grand Prix 2005 in Las Vegas, US KO (Right Uppercut) 1 1:56
2004-12-31 Loss 0–1 Japan Musashi K-1 PREMIUM 2004 Dynamite!!, Japan KO 2 0:44

Mixed martial arts record

Res. Record Opponent Method Event Date Round Time Location Notes
Win 4–2 Frankie Parkman KO (punch) Champions Quest – Fighting Challenge December 7, 2007 1 1:04
Win 3–2 Darrell Wood KO (strikes) Champions Quest – Fighting Challenge September 29, 2007 1 2:07
Loss 2–2 Eric Esch TKO (punches) Pride 32 - The Real Deal October 21, 2006 1 0:29
Loss 2-1 Kim Min-soo Submission (guillotine choke) Hero's 2005 in Seoul November 5, 2005 1 4:46
Win 2–0 Shungo Oyama TKO (punches) K-1 Fighting Network Rumble on the Rock 2004 November 20, 2004 1 0:31
Win 1–0 Tony Towers Submission (guilotine choke) Venom - First Strike September 18, 2004 1 1:42

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Crites, Ben (April 7, 2007). "Ex-wrestler charged in the past". The Island Packet. The McClatchy Company. Retrieved June 23, 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Mark Jindrak and Sean O'Haire". WCW.com (via Wayback Machine). World Championship Wrestling. Archived from the original on January 7, 2001. Retrieved June 23, 2014.
  3. 1 2 "15 Superstars who should've been bigger deals". WWE.com. WWE. March 12, 2013. Retrieved June 23, 2014.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Sean O'Haire". Online World Of Wrestling. Retrieved June 23, 2014.
  5. ↑ Vrabel, Jeff (July 31, 2012). "The devil came down to Georgia". South magazine. Retrieved June 23, 2014.
  6. 1 2 3 4 "Nitro report on June 26, 2000".
  7. 1 2 3 "Nitro report on July 3, 2000".
  8. ↑ "Nitro report on July 31, 2000".
  9. 1 2 "The Natural Born Thrillers Profile". Online World Of Wrestling. Retrieved 2008-09-22.
  10. 1 2 3 Duncan, Royal; Will, Gary. "WCW World Tag Team Title History". Solie's Title Histories. Retrieved 2008-09-22.
  11. ↑ "WCW Thunder Year-By-Year: 2000 - December 20". Online World Of Wrestling. 2000-12-20. Retrieved 2008-04-26.
  12. 1 2 "Palumbo & O'Haire Profile". Online World Of Wrestling. Retrieved 2008-09-23.
  13. ↑ Powell, John (2001-03-18). "WCW downplays demise at Greed". SLAM! Sports. Retrieved 2008-09-23.
  14. ↑ "WCW Nitro Year-By-Year - March 26, 2001". Online World Of Wrestling. 2001-03-26. Retrieved 2008-09-23.
  15. ↑ Powell, John (2001-07-22). "Austin turns at Invasion". SLAM! Sports. Retrieved 2008-09-24.
  16. ↑ "WWE SmackDown! Results - August 2, 2001". Online World Of Wrestling. 2001-08-02. Retrieved 2008-09-26.
  17. ↑ "WWE SmackDown! Results - August 9, 2001". Online World Of Wrestling. 2001-08-09. Retrieved 2008-09-26.
  18. ↑ "WWE Raw Results - August 13, 2001". Online World Of Wrestling. 2001-08-13. Retrieved 2008-09-26.
  19. 1 2 3 "Sean O'Haire (or Sean Oh'where")". Online World Of Wrestling. 2004-02-09. Retrieved 2008-09-23.
  20. ↑ "WWE SmackDown! Results - February 6, 2003". Online World Of Wrestling. 2003-02-06. Retrieved 2008-09-26.
  21. ↑ "WWE SmackDown! Results - June 26, 2003". Online World Of Wrestling. 2003-06-23. Retrieved 2008-09-26.
  22. 1 2 3 "Sherdog Fightfinder - Sean O'Haire". Sherdog. Retrieved 2008-09-23.
  23. ↑ "Sean O'Haire profile".
  24. ↑ "Duke Roufus... Back For The Fans...Back For The Fight!". 30 March 2005. Retrieved 25 October 2009.
  25. 1 2 "'Friday's Global FC Event Cancelled". Sherdog. 2007-08-17. Retrieved 2008-09-23.
  26. ↑ Meltzer, Dave (September 14, 2009). "HERE AND THERE". Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
  27. ↑ Profile, SEANsational.com; accessed September 10, 2014.
  28. ↑ Divorce announcement, SquaredCircleRadio.com; accessed September 10, 2014.
  29. 1 2 "Other News: Former WCW tag champion arrested for assaulting girlfriend; TMZ covers story". Pro Wrestling Torch.
  30. ↑ "Former WCW/WWE Wrestler Star Arrested on Battery Charges".
  31. ↑ "Former WCW/WWE Wrestler Sean O'Haire Arrested".
  32. ↑ http://www.thestate.com/2014/09/10/3672636/former-wwe-wrestler-hilton-head.html
  33. ↑ Selby, Jenn (September 11, 2014). "Sean O'Haire dead: Former WWE and WCW star dies in apparent suicide". The Independent. Retrieved September 14, 2014.
  34. ↑ "Sean O'Haire's final fight was one he couldn't win". The Post and Courier. September 14, 2014. Retrieved October 2, 2014.
  35. 1 2 "Battle of the F5".
  36. 1 2 "Thunder report on June 28, 2000".
  37. ↑ "9/27 WWE Velocity review: Kidman, O'Haire, Ultimo, Rhyno, Nunzio".
  38. 1 2 "7/12 WWE Velocity review: Kanyon, Nunzio, Spanky, O'Haire (post-Piper)".
  39. 1 2 3 4 "8/16 WWE Velocity review: Nunzio, Funaki, Hardy, O'Haire, Jordan".
  40. ↑ "4/8 WWE in Rosemont, Ill.: Smackdown/Velocity tapings results".
  41. 1 2 "Thunder report on July 26, 2000".
  42. 1 2 "Thunder report on August 2, 2000".


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