Former ECW wrestler Hack Myers passes away at 42
Donald Haviland, better known as Hack Myers, passed away today, reportedly from complications after brain surgery at Johns Hopkins University hospital in Baltimore. He would have turned 42 on Monday.
Haviland was an independent wrestler who was brought into ECW in February, 1994, by Paul Heyman, largely as an enhancement wrestler. Because he used to grunt and say “Sha” when doing offensive maneuvers, fans in Philadelphia would start chanting “Sha” during his matches whenever he’d do something. He became a cult favorite quickly, and even though he almost always lost, he was wrestling some of the biggest names in the company at the time, like Tommy Dreamer and Terry Funk, within a few months of his arrival. Eventually that led to his moniker as “The Shah of ECW.”
Heyman used him better, not as a headliner, but he was a featured undercard act who usually got a big reaction. The gimmick started running its course and he was going to leave the promotion, so he did a loser leaves town match with Too Cold Scorpio on the 1996 November to Remember show, which he lost. He did a couple of matches as a nostalgias act later, and wrestled mostly Florida independent shows through around 2011.
Dave Meltzer is the founder and lead writer on the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the weekly constant when it comes to news and reviews in pro wrestling and mixed martial arts for more than 40 years. Dave also co-hosts Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and had had bylines for The National, Yahoo Sports, MMA Fighting and others.