A health update has been provided on WWE Hall of Famer Mike Rotunda, after it was reported earlier this week that he had been admitted to hospice care.
WWE Hall of Famer Mike Rotunda’s daughter, Mika Rotunda, has updated fans on her father’s health after Barry Windham and Leilani Kai reported that he had been admitted to hospice care. It turns out that Rotunda has not actually been admitted to hospice care, as Mika confirmed in an Instagram story that her father is actually in a rehabilitation centre after suffering a heart attack in September.
Although he hasn’t been admitted to a hospice, which is typically used as end-of-life treatment for patients, Mika confirmed that Mike suffered a “massive heart attack” on September 20, and that he was in a coma for a week and spent a whole month in the hospital. Thankfully, he has been moved to a rehabilitation centre and is in recovery.
Mike Rotunda’s Wrestling Legacy
Mike Rotunda made his wrestling debut in 1981, working for Jim Crockett Promotions and Championship Wrestling from Florida. He joined the WWF in 1984 with Barry Windham as the US Express, and they would go on to capture the World Tag Team Championship twice during their first run with the company. After they left the WWF in 1986, the US Express would go on to work for the AWA, JCP, WCW, FCW, New Japan, and All Japan.
Rotunda returned to the WWF in 1991 as Irwin R. Schyster, a heel tax collector who would harass other wrestlers, calling them “tax cheats” and focusing on getting them to “pay their share”. In 1992, he teamed up with “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase to form Money Inc., and the pair would go on to win the World Tag Team Title three times. Money Inc. disbanded in 1994, and IRS would go on to feud with Razor Ramon over the Intercontinental Title, and then with Tatanka after accusing him of not paying tax on his headdress.
He rejoined his former tag partner, DiBiase, in his Million Dollar Corporation faction in mid-1994 and would feud with various stars, including The Undertaker in 1995. IRS left WWF in 1995 to join WCW, where he wrestled until 2000 and would then work on the independent scene as well as the occasional NJPW and AJPW appearances until he officially retired from in-ring action in 2007.
Rotunda married Stephanie Windham, the daughter of Blackjack Mulligan and sister of his US Express tag partner, Barry Windham, and the couple would go on to have three children together, and two of them would go on to become Bo Dallas and Bray Wyatt, who both followed in their father’s footsteps and found success in the world of wrestling. Sadly, Bray Wyatt passed away on August 24, 2023.
Mike Rotunda and Barry Windham were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2024.
