Wrestler Mike Boehne, real name Eric Priest, has tragically passed away in a motorcycle accident – numerous fellow wrestlers have taken to social media to pay their respects
Wrestler Mike Boehne, real name Eric Priest, has tragically passed away in a motorcycle accident at the age of 50.
Priest was born in 1975 and fell in love with wrestling in WWF WrestleMania. In 2005 the 6ft 3ins wrestler, weighing in at a 238lbs, revealed that being a wrestler “is all I’ve ever wanted to be”. Priest continued to work with wrestlers throughout his life helping to train wrestlers on and off until 2018. The wrestling legend’s last appearance in the ring was in 2020’s Kaiju’s Attack Wrestling in Chicago, Illinois.
Priest made his wrestling debut in 2000 after training alongside Ace Steel and Danny Dominion. The wrestler went under various nicknames during his careers such as The Gold Standard, Uncle Chester and the iconic Underwear Model. In a 2005 interview Priest revealed how Danny Dominion came up with the Underwear Model Gimmick.
Priest said: “We were sitting around talking about my character and we had nothing. Actually, I was trying to be a tough guy, I wanted a ‘Stone Cold’ type name.
“He started laughing and said: ‘Dude, you are not a tough guy, you’re too pretty. You should be like ‘Beverly Hills 90210‘ Boy or ‘The Underwear Model’.”
On Priest’s passing Nick Headford took to Facebook and wrote: “Eric Priest, you were the coolest guy I knew in the business and truly honoured to call you brother. I will miss our conversations, laughs and most of all our friendship. I was fortunate to share your last match with you.”
He added: “Dude, this is so heart wrenching for me right now. Gone way way too soon. Rest easy my brother.”
Multiple wrestlers and commentators took to social media to pay their respects to Priest.
Fellow wrestler Steve Stone opened up on their friendship and said: “We just talked 3 weeks ago about finally starting that podcast. We both wanted to get our aggression out and focus our past addiction issues on something we loved.
“We always ended every convo with I love you and I can’t believe I’ll never hear that deep belly laugh of yours again. One of my best matches was with you at the i8 tournament.
“We were both so proud of it. Life is short. Life isn’t fair. The evil always seems to stay alive and well while the good die young and innocent”