George "The Animal" Steele, the charismatic wrestler known for his body hair, green tongue and a taste for eating the stuffing out of turnbuckles, has died while in hospice care at the age of 79. His death was confirmed by the WWE over Twitter.
Born William James Myers in 1937, the future WWE Hall of Fame member started out with a football career in mind like so many other wrestlers, but saw his career cut short due to knee problems. That led him to the wrestling rings of Detroit, where he started his career as a masked man known as "The Student."
Steele initially retired in 1988 due to a battle with Crohn's disease, but came out of retirement during the WWE's "Attitude Era" for a short time in 1998, before his career finally wound down. He'd make appearances from time to time for promotions like WCW and TNA. To movie fans he might be best-known for his appearance as the wrestler Tor Johnson in Tim Burton's 1994 film Ed Wood.
While a cause of death has yet to be revealed, Steele endured medical problems brought on by Crohn's, including having his colon removed in 2002.
Below is a 90* tridial for his Colon removal.
