Career
William Alvin Moody was a former member of the United States Air Force who wrestled in the Southern United States in the late 1970's. Eventually he began a career as a manager, going by the ring name "Percy Pringle." After gaining a degree in Mortuary Science and becoming a certified funeral director and embalmer he continued on as a manager, working with wrestlers like Mark Calloway and Steve Austin through the eighties.
The WWF
In 1990 he entered the WWF as "Paul Bearer," carrying an urn to the wrestling ring as he managed his main charge, the Undertaker. Often times storylines would involve someone stealing the urn from him and Bearer trying to get it back. He served as Undertaker's manager until Summerslam '96, when he turned on him and became Mankind's manager after a "Boiler Room Brawl" match. Eventually Bearer started threatening to reveal a dark secret of the Undertaker's unless he allowed Bearer to manage him again. This continued until Undertaker could take no more of it and refused Bearer's services. It was then that Bearer revealed that Undertaker's half-brother Kane, who Undertaker had believed to be burned to death when they were children, was actually still alive. Kane made his debut in October of 1997, costing the Undertaker the first ever "Hell in a Cell" match. Bearer managed Kane through his feud with the Undertaker until suddenly turning on him and siding with the Undertaker again as he formed the "Ministry of Darkness." After disappearing from television in 1999 after Undertaker suffered an injury, Bearer alternated between periodic returns to television and backstage work as a road agent and a talent scout for the company. He spent a year with the NWA-TNA promotion before returning to the WWE in 2003. He remained there until 2005.
Post-Wrestling
Moody had returned to the funeral industry after leaving the WWE. He had successful gastric bypass surgery to combat his problems with morbid obesity. He had two sons, Daniel and Michael. Daniel wrestles as "The Future Legend" D.J. Pringle.
On March 6, 2013 William Alvin Moody passed away.
Log in to comment