Monday, February 18, 2013

Should Have Been Huge: Sweet And Sour Larry Sweeney

I am not going to sit here and lie to you and tell you that I knew about Larry Sweeney and followed him from day one until he passed away.  Until he died I had no idea who he was, didn't even know his name, didn't know he existed until Chris Hero tweeted that Sweeney had passed away. Intrigued, I went to Youtube and searched for something, anything that would tell me something about this guy beyond Wikipedia. It was like finding out that there is something awesome was out there and everyone knew about it except for you, and you found out about it only after it had went away forever. Watching his promos and matches made me want to see newer and better stuff which led to the sad realization that that would never happen because in a struggle with bi-polar disorder Sweeney committed suicide.

This is a guy so talented, with an obvious passion for what he was born to do that you can't help but just sit and watch him cut a promo and listen to him. As a matter of fact, before I wrote this post I spent like two or three hours just watching clips of him with a smile on my face thinking that he was like a newer version of Dusty Rhodes/Roddy Piper/Superstar Billy Graham/Bobby Heenan again only to remember that he was gone. Now in a move of assholishness I am going to make you feel my pain.


Larry jumped from several indy promotion but most of his memorable work was with Chikara and Ring Of Honor where he wrestled  and was a manage of a stable known Sweet and Sour International/Inc.(ROH) but was equally entertaining in both roles.
While Larry was entertaining wrestling it was obvious that he excelled working the mic. It takes a real pro to cut promos with intensity and realism when you're not in a huge arena and in front of maybe 200 people. 







I could post more and more videos to where you and I were sitting here until the wee hours of the morning thinking "THIS GUY SHOULD BE HUGE!" but then we have to face the sadness of him being gone. Aint no doubt about it.


RIP Larry(Alex Whybrow) I wish I would have seen you before you went away.

Update: I found a Larry Sweeney Memorial Page that has a collection of his best moments on Facebook
and I would like to link to Thresholds Chicago, a place that helps people with mental illnesses like Bi-polar Disorder. And if at anytime anyone reading ever feels like they are going to do themselves harm , remember suicide is permanent solution to a short term problem. Again RIP Alex "Larry Sweeney" Whybrow. If anyone knows of a Sweeney merchandise(T-shirts) source please drop me a line in the comments.

Today is Alex's birthday so I decided to rerun this as tribute. RIP
1 year anniversary and I still can watch clips until the wee hours of the morning. RIP 04/11/2012

2 comments:

  1. I was watching an ROH DVD a few days ago and I saw him and I missed him. But watching him and hearing him speak, I realized something that made him so good. Other than the fact that he can cut a promo and generally speak on the mic really well, one thing that I think made him even better than most guys on the mic these days was his voice. Why? Because it was rough. Most guys' voices today make them sound like punks so who can't be taken seriously. Sweeney's voice made him sound like a man. And men are taken seriously.

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    1. That and you can tell when a guy has a passion for what he does. Whether it be digging ditches, teaching, writing, or wrestling. And Sweeney had passion. He cared

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