WWE Hall of Famer Jack Brisco has died at the age of 68 following complications from open heart surgery.

He had been in poor health for a number of months and collapsed a week ago while recovering from the operation.

Brisco will always be renowned as one of the best pure wrestlers in the business.

He held the NWA world heavyweight championship in the mid 1970s for two and a half years, only interrupted by the one week reign of Japan's Giant Baba.

He also held the NWA world tag team championship three times with his sibling Gerald as The Brisco Brothers.

Brisco was an accomplished amateur wrestler before turning pro, winning the NCAA National Wrestling Championship in 1965.

He grew up a huge fan of the grappling industry and dreamed of a career in professional wrestling.

When he broke into the pro ranks, he was regarded as a natural and a man who learned his craft with phenomenal speed, much like Kurt Angle in the modern era.

Brisco rose to fame in the mid 1970s and his feud with Dory Funk Jr for the NWA world heavyweight championship was regarded as a classic of its time, winning Pro Wrestling Illustrated's Match of the Year Award in 1974.

Twelve months earlier, Brisco was voted Wrestler of the Year twelve and he and his brother's rising stock saw them pitted against The Funk Brothers of Dory Jr & Terry.

However, Brisco played just an important part in wrestling history outside the ring.

He and Gerald sold their shares in Georgia Championship Wrestling to Vince McMahon in 1984 and convinced others to do the same. That gave McMahon a controlling stake in the company and proved a major turning point in his expansion of the World Wrestling Federation from a regional to a national promotion.

Brisco is also credited with discovering Terry Bollea in the late 1970s, who he sent to Hiro Matsuda to be trained. Bollea went on to be known universally as Hulk Hogan.

He was also a major influence on the career of Ric Flair, who learned his trade in the Brisco era. The Nature Boy has often mentioned Brisco's name in interviews as a mentor - both in the ring and out of it.

Jack quit wrestling in 1984 picking up one last honour by becoming possibly the only man in the history of the business to retire and never return.

He and Gerald were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2008.

WWE honoured his passing on this week's Raw, something they controversially did not do for more recent fallen stars such as Test and Umaga.

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A message on the company's website reads: "World Wrestling Entertainment has been made aware of the passing of WWE Hall of Famer Jack Brisco.

"The WWE extends its deepest condolences to the Brisco family. Mr Brisco was under contract with WWE from 1984 to 1985 and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2008.

"Jack Brisco was one of the most decorated performers in sports entertainment history, and a bona fide legend in Florida and the southeastern United States."

Writing on his blog, WWE announcer Jim Ross added: "I feel so blessed that I got to know Jack Brisco on a personal level and I loved him like family.

"Jack Brisco was revered within our business but he was always just a poor kid from Oklahoma, raised without a father who always wanted to be a pro wrestler, and through hard work and dedication became one of the most famous men to ever wrestle for a living.

"Jack lived his dream and helped make another poor kid from Oklahoma see that dreams can true for all of us."

They tend to die young, in that sport.

I got to know "The Sheik" late in his life. He and his wife were the nicest people, but the Sheik was a wreck, physically, at the end.

Here's some info. on him http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Farhat

If you are talking about the original Sheik and not the Iron Sheik of WWE fame, it's totally understandable.

He was one of the most physical guys to ever perform in the business. He did things in his matches that actually gave inspiration to most of the things that went on in the old ECW.