Adrian Street, a Welsh professional wrestler who gained prominence in the 1970s and 1980s, died last week at Cwmbran Grange University Hospital, according to BBC. He was 82 years old. The outlet reported that Street had recently undergone brain surgery. He survived cancer in 2001, but his wife, Linda, said that his latest battle was a more difficult challenge.
“He’d had a heart problem a while ago which was resolved,” she said. “But then he had a stroke earlier this month which resulted in a bleed on the brain. He was recovering from that at home when he developed colitis – a chronic inflammatory bowel disease – which later turned into sepsis. That’s what killed him. It all came about so quick. I’ve still not come to terms with it yet.”
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Linda went on to say that her husband was “the kindest, most lovely and loving man I’ve ever known. The total opposite to how he behaved on stage.” She added that she planned to have Street cremated and his ashes scattered on the mountains near their home in Cwmbran.
Street began his wrestling career in 1957, and his final match took place in 2010. During his career, Street was a six-time NWA Southeaster Heavyweight Champion and a Mid-South Television Champion. When Street was competing in the United Kingdom, he developed a flamboyant character that would push the envelope.
“I have never been a fan of Gorgeous George – my inspiration came from ‘Nature-boy’ Buddy Rogers – but my effort to emulate his style was not understood by my British fans, instead of cheering as I imagined they would, they blew kisses – I would not let them see I was upset with their response, so I threw it back in their faces, by adopting an effeminate image – Later when I thought about it, I thought that was not the response I was hoping for, but it was much greater response than any of the other wrestlers got that night,” Street said in an interview with Art Over Covers in 2021. So rather than fight against it, I not only decided to go with the flow, I also continued to push the envelope until I invented the full-blown persona of ‘Exotic Adrian Street.’” Street never competed in WWE but was featured in a special produced by the WWE Network. Last year, Street appeared with his wife at WWE Clash at the Castle event in Cardiff, Wales.
