Mark Rocco

Mark Hussey (11 May 1951 – 30 July 2020) was an English professional wrestler who competed for Joint Promotions, All Star Wrestling and the second BWF as Mark "Rollerball" Rocco and as the original masked Black Tiger in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) during the 1970s and 1980s. A fourth-generation wrestler, he was the son of British wrestler "Jumping" Jim Hussey and the father of boxer Jono "Rocco" Hussey.

Regularly appearing on ITV's World of Sport and the later standalone ITV Wrestling show, he feuded with many of the top light heavyweight wrestlers of the era including Marty Jones, the Dynamite Kid, "Iron Fist" Clive Myers, Kendo Nagasaki and Satoru Sayama (billed in the UK as "Sammy Lee") in England. He and Sayama also feuded in Japan while both under masks, Sayama as Tiger Mask and Rocco as his nemesis Black Tiger.

Professional wrestling career Early career Born in Manchester, Rocco grew up in his father's gym where other local wrestlers trained. Although his father was opposed to his being a professional wrestler, going so far as to have his son banned from his gym, Rocco would receive lessons from some of the veterans while his father was out on tour.

Rocco started amateur wrestling at age 16, competing as far away as southern France and Pakistan, Vacating his British title to concentrate on the World title, Rocco feuded intensely with a returning Dynamite Kid, culminating in a World title match in Lewisham, South London that ended in a double knockout.

New Japan Pro-Wrestling

After his series of highly regarded matches, Rocco was contacted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling to wrestle a series of matches against Lee/Sayama in Japan. Wrestling under the name Black Tiger, against Sayama's Tiger Mask character, Rocco and Tiger Mask's matches were some of the highest-rated in Japanese television history. Rocco agreed and made the jump, also working for promoter Brian Dixon, whose Wrestling Enterprises promotion evolved into All Star Wrestling.

In 1983, Rocco appeared during All Star Wrestling's national tour of Great Britain and issued an open challenge for a non-title match to any wrestler in the promotion. Accepted by Frank "Chic" Cullen, he was defeated by Rocco although they shook hands following the match.

During the second week of the tour, after defeating Mike Jordan in a singles match, Rocco challenged the Dynamite Kid who had also recently returned from NJPW to a match later that night. Agreeing to a tag team match, he and Fit Finlay would later lose to Dynamite Kid and Marty Jones at the end of the night after Dynamite Kid pinned Finlay. The following week he again challenged the Dynamite Kid challenging him to a 30-minute "iron man" match which resulted in a time limit draw with one pinfall each. This led to a brutal feud between the two, which would lead to many aggressive, bloody encounters, culminating in the Dynamite Kid challenging Rocco to a ladder match for his World Heavy Middleweight title. Rocco successfully defended the title after he had tied the Dynamite Kid's arms to the cord of the area curtains. He would later defend the title in a rematch against Cullen, Robbie Brookside and his former tag team partner The Cobra during the last weeks of the tour.

In late 1985, Rocco lost his title to Cullen but regained it a few days later.

Tag team and feud with Kendo Nagasaki Another televised confrontation between Rocco and Yamada would come in 1987, on opposite sides of a tag match. Yamada and his tag partner in Britain, "Ironfist" Clive Myers had challenged legendary masked wrestler Kendo Nagasaki to a tag team match and, having a shared rival in Yamada, Rocco volunteered. Nagasaki and Rocco defeated Yamada and Myers in the main event of a TV taping at the Fairfield Hall Croydon.

Tours of mainland Europe In June 1988, he teamed with Dave Finlay losing to Mile Zrno & Tony St. Clair in a match to crown the first CWA World Tag Team Champions in Linz, Austria.

Rocco also wrestled in France for Roger Delaporte's Fédération Française de Catch Professionnel going back to the late 1970s. One of his World Heavy Middleweight title defences, against Danny Boy Collins in Paris, France in 1988, was aired on French national TV station TF1's New Catch programme. This was later rescreened in 1991 on Eurosport, with Williams providing English commentary.

Retirement In 1990, Rocco emigrated to Tenerife.

In 1991, Rocco collapsed in the dressing room following a match against Fit Finlay in Worthing. Rocco, who had been suffering from pain in his back and kidneys since a match against Dave Taylor the previous night, was taken to a nearby hospital where doctors found his heart was working at only 30% and diagnosed him with a heart condition which forced him to retire from professional wrestling. He vacated his World championship, which was soon after won by Robbie Brookside in a tournament. Rollerball Rocco was the subject of the 2011 song "Inside the Restless Mind of Rollerball Rocco" by English musician Luke Haines. It is featured on Haines' psychedelic rock concept album about British wrestlers entitled "9 1/2 Psychedelic Meditations on British Wrestling of the 1970's And Early 1980's".

In September 2012, Rocco was named as one of the mentors on the Challenge reality television programme TNA Wrestling: British Boot Camp. In June 2013, he was interviewed on The Art of Wrestling with Colt Cabana. Joint Promotions World Heavy Middleweight Championship (1 time - first reign only of four total) British Light Heavyweight Championship (1 time) Pro Wrestling Illustrated PWI ranked him #298 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the PWI 500 in 1991 Wrestling Observer Newsletter Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 2022) World Wrestling Federation WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

Death

Hussey died on 30 July 2020, in a care home in Warrington at the age of 69. According to some friends of Hussey's family on a Facebook page, he was battling dementia for a long period of his life, and his health deteriorated in his last days.