Former NWA President Howard Brody Passes Away

Former President of the National Wrestling Alliance, Howard Brody passed away on Wednesday, according to PWInsider. Brody recently underwent quadruple bypass surgery and developed an infection that caused his untimely passing. Brody was President of the NWA from 1996 to 2001, a period that saw the one-time industry leading promotion navigate tough waters after their split from World Championship Wrestling in 1994. Brody was featured on WWE programming during the NWA's brief invasion of the company in 1998, alongside NWA figureheads like Jim Cornette.

Along with his duties in the NWA, Brody helped Cornette bring his Smoky Mountain Wrestling promotion into profitability, and also founded the show "Ring Warriors" with Hiro Matsuda in the early-1990s. The pro wrestling show, an Americanization of New Japan Pro Wrestling's "World Pro Wrestling," worked to get a foothold in the burgeoning online content landscape, as "Ring Warriors" is unofficially the first wrestling show to broadcast on the internet. The company waned until 2011 when it was revived by Brody, wrestler Vito DeNucci, and Paul Jones (no relation to the wrestling manager), although it was again restructured in 2013. Ring Warriors produced its final event in December of 2018. 

According to PWInsider, Brody was also the main person who assisted Puerto Rican wrestling legend Carlos Colon with the sale of the World Wrestling Council tape archives to the WWE in 2018. Brody is also responsible for bringing NWA Mid-Atlantic Wrestling to China in the early 2000s, making it the first wrestling promotion to run in mainland China. The promotion presented shows in late-December 2003, and early-January 2004, with "Dr. Death" Steve Williams winning the MACW Heavyweight Championship at the Dec. 30th, 2003 show.

The entire Wrestling Inc. staff sends their condolences to the family and friends of Howard Brody.