Last week saw the tragic death of British indie wrestler Adrian McCallum, also known as Lionheart. At the time of his passing, McCallum was the reigning Insane Championship Wrestling Heavyweight Champion, and worked with many other promotions in the UK, as well as making appearances in Ring of Honor and TNA/Impact. Many workers and fans were hit hard by his death at the young age of 36, and the poignance of his final post on Twitter.
“One day you will eat your last meal,
You will smell your last flower, you will hug your friend for the last time. You might not know it's the last time, that's why you must do everything you love with passion” #Afterlife @rickygervais— Lionheart (@LionheartUK) June 19, 2019
In a perhaps uncharacteristically compassionate move, WWE has given its workers permission to appear and perform at A Night for Lionheart, a special tribute show that PCW Wrestling is putting on this Friday. NXT UK luchador Ligero has already announced that he’ll appear at the show, and other NXT UK Superstars are likely to show up as well. This death has hit the small and close-knit UK wrestling scene pretty hard, and it’s nice that WWE is being magnanimous about letting their talent appear at a memorial show that’s put up by another company. It goes without saying that PCW isn’t a threat to WWE in any way, but that’s never stopped them from drawing harsh lines about these things in the past.
Huge thanks to WWE…. permission has been given to a number of talent who asked to work our show for @LionheartUK on Friday. Names to be announced imminently… pic.twitter.com/2XPDKDTA1V
— PCW UK WRESTLING (@PCW_UK) June 24, 2019
When tragedy strikes, that’s when communities need to to come together, and it’s good to know that at least for this week, what company they work for isn’t keeping any UK wrestler separated from that community.
