Athletes - Mike Rotunda

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	Athletes - Mike Rotunda

Lawrence Michael (Mike) Rotunda (born March 30, 1958 in Syracuse, New York), also known as Mike Rotundo and Irwin R. Schyster, is an American former professional wrestler.

Career

After graduating from Syracuse University, Rotunda began wrestling in 1981 as a fan favorite in Florida Championship Wrestling. He often teamed with his real life brother-in-law, Barry Windham. Rotunda and Windham joined the World Wrestling Federation as The U.S. Express in 1984 and won the WWF World Tag Team Championships twice, feuding with The Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff, who they lost the tag titles to at WrestleMania 1.

Rotunda left the WWF in late 1985 and returned to Florida without Windham, where he feuded with Sir Oliver Humperdink's "Shock Troops".

In 1987 Rotunda joined the National Wrestling Alliance affiliate Jim Crockett Promotions, where he lingered at mid-card level as a face before turning heel and joining Kevin Sullivan's Varsity Club, a group of wrestlers with amateur wrestling credentials. Rotunda began bickering with fellow Varsity Club member Rick Steiner, a graduate of the University of Michigan, over which of the two had a superior alma mater. This in turn led to the two arguing over which of them was the superior wrestler.

Rotunda gave the NWA Florida Heavyweight Championship that he had won in early 1987 to Steiner and went on to win the NWA World Television Championship from Nikita Koloff. He then began a feud with Jimmy Garvin because Sullivan wanted Garvin's wife Precious. Steiner eventually left the group and began feuding with Rotunda, with the enemies trading the Television Championship before Rotunda lost the title to Sting.

"Dr. Death" Steve Williams and Dan Spivey joined the Varsity Club in late 1988, and Rotunda teamed with Williams to win the NWA World Tag Team Championships from The Road Warriors. Referee Theodore Long turned heel during the match and administered a fast count, enabling Rotunda and Williams to overcome the champions. Long went on to become a manager following the controversial officiating.

In May 1989, Williams and Rotunda were stripped of their titles and Rotunda briefly left the NWA. He returned in 1990 as the maritime Captain Mike Rotundo. He formed a "crew" consisting of Abdullah the Butcher and Norman the Lunatic and feuded with Kevin Sullivan's new stable, "Sullivan's Slaughterhouse" (Cactus Jack, Buzz Sawyer and Bam Bam Bigelow).

In mid-1990 Rotunda became Michael Wallstreet with Alexandra York and her computer as his manager. The partnership was a brief one, as Rotunda left the NWA for a bigger role in the WWF in early 1991.

In the WWF, Rotunda became Irwin R. Schyster (I.R.S.) and he is perhaps best known for this role. Irwin R Shyster was a heel "tax-man" gimmick (he was portrayed as a former IRS tax collector from Washington DC) who harassed all of the faces and fans, urging them to pay their taxes. However, he was a sound technician in the ring - this would later see him form the team of "Money Inc." with Ted DiBiase and together the two men won the WWF World Tag Team Championships a further three times. His biggest singles feud was with Razor Ramon.

Rotunda was briefly part of DiBiase's "Million Dollar Corporation" before leaving the WWF for World Championship Wrestling. Once in WCW, he played a character similar to I.R.S. known as V.K. Wallstreet (a play on Vincent Kennedy McMahon; the "V.K." was later dropped) but failed to recapture his earlier success. He joined the nWo briefly at the request of DiBiase and wrestled in All Japan Pro Wrestling and New Japan Pro Wrestling as a member of "nWo Japan". Rotunda continued to wrestle primarily in Japan throughout the 1990s until he retired to run a security company with his wife (Blackjack Mulligan's daughter) in 2004.

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Athletes - Mike Rotunda

Career

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