Billy Red Lyons, 1932-2009. R.I.P.

William Snip, who wrestled under the name Billy Red Lyons, died yesterday after a long battle with cancer. He was 77.

I never saw Billy Red wrestle. But to a generation of 12-year-old Canadian boys getting into Hulk Hogan he was the voice of Maple Leaf Wrestling which was the Canadian arm of the World Wrestling Federation as it was then known.

Billy Red interviewed wrestlers and basically played the straight man. He promoted upcoming matches and implored viewers, "Don'tcha dare miss it." That sure brings me back to 1984-1985.

It is weird but I was thinking about watching Maple Leaf Wresting yesterday and remembering Billy Red's interviews and now lo and behold he's gone. This happened to me earlier this year with Andrew Martin (a.k.a. Test) who appeared in a dream of mine the night before I learned he had died.

I'm not trying to be spooky. It's coincidence. During the course of a day and when we dream at night people we remember suddenly come to mind for no apparent reason only to recede once more. It's inevitable that sooner or later one will think about someone and then the next day you learn they have died. I can see how that might be spooky but we tend to want to read more into it than what's actually there. But it is weird that this process has come to pass with two wrestlers.