Donald Haviland (December 7, 1973 – December 5, 2015) was an American

professional wrestler Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to real-life wrest ...

, better known by his

ring name A ring name is a type of stage name or nickname used by an athlete such as a professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, or boxer whose real name is considered unattractive, dull, difficult to pronounce or spell, amusing for the wrong reasons ...

, Hack Meyers. He was best known for his time in

Extreme Championship Wrestling Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) was an American professional wrestling promotion that was based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and operated by its parent company HHG Corporation. The promotion was founded in 1992 by Tod Gordon as Nationa ...

from 1993 to 1996.

Professional wrestling career

Early career (1990–1993)

Haviland made his wrestling debut as Bronco Billy, forming a

tag team Tag team wrestling is a type of professional wrestling in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. Tag teams may be made up of wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of establis ...

with Colt Starr known as The Texas Longhorns. He wrestled in

independent promotions In professional wrestling, the independent circuit (often shortened to the indie circuit or the indies) is the collective name of independently owned promotions which are deemed to be smaller and more regionalized than major national promotions. ...

for the next three years before signing with

Eastern Championship Wrestling Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) was an American professional wrestling promotion that was based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and operated by its parent company HHG Corporation. The promotion was founded in 1992 by Tod Gordon as Nationa ...

Eastern Championship Wrestling / Extreme Championship Wrestling (1993–1996, 1997, 1998)

Meyers first appeared in ECW at a joint-promotional event between ECW and Mid-Eastern Wrestling Federation on November 14, 1993, where he defeated Trent Young. He began full-time wrestling for ECW by making his debut on the February 15, 1994 episode of '' Hardcore TV'' by losing to Mr. Hughes. He wrestled mainly on the

undercard In sports, a card lists the matches taking place in a title match combat-sport event. Cards include a main event match and the undercard listing the rest of the matches. The undercard may be divided into a midcard and a lower card, according to ...

. He had several matches against ECW's biggest superstars at ECW supercards, but he was never able to defeat ECW's top talent. Haviland's gimmick in ECW was "The

Shah Shāh (; ) is a royal title meaning "king" in the Persian language.Yarshater, Ehsa, ''Iranian Studies'', vol. XXII, no. 1 (1989) Though chiefly associated with the monarchs of Iran, it was also used to refer to the leaders of numerous Per ...

of ECW", a fan favorite. During any exchange of blows, fans would chant "Shah!" every time he landed a punch or kick, and "Shit!" when his opponent retaliated. In 1994, Meyers' made his first major appearance at the Ultimate Jeopardy event, where he teamed with Don E. Allen and Blue Max in a

handicap match Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "Glossary of professional wrestling terms#Gimmick, gimmick matches" in the Glossary of professional wrestling terms, jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick m ...

against

911 911, 9/11 or Nine Eleven may refer to: Dates * AD 911 * 911 BC * September 11 ** The 2001 September 11 attacks on the United States by al-Qaeda, commonly referred to as 9/11 ** 11 de Septiembre, Chilean coup d'état in 1973 that ousted the ...

, which 911 won. He wrestled

Tommy Dreamer Thomas James Laughlin (born February 13, 1971) is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler and professional wrestling promotion, promoter better known by the ring name Tommy Dreamer. He is signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestli ...

at Hostile City Showdown, but was defeated. At

Heat Wave A heat wave or heatwave, sometimes described as extreme heat, is a period of abnormally hot weather generally considered to be at least ''five consecutive days''. A heat wave is usually measured relative to the usual climate in the area and ...

, he teamed with

Rockin' Rebel Charles Williams (January 13, 1966 – June 1, 2018) was an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Rockin' Rebel. He was best known for his appearances on the U.S. independent circuit with promotions such as Eastern Ch ...

in a loss to

The Bad Breed The Bad Breed was the professional wrestling tag team of Axl Rotten with his storyline brother/real life protégé Ian Rotten. The team achieved their greatest fame in the Philadelphia professional wrestling promotion Extreme Championship Wrestlin ...

( Ian and

Axl Rotten Brian Knighton (April 21, 1971 – February 4, 2016), better known by the ring name Axl Rotten, was an American professional wrestling, professional wrestler. In the early 1990s, he was a part of the tag team The Bad Breed with Ian Rotten. He had ...

). This led to a series of matches between Meyers and Rebel, culminating in a showdown at Hardcore Heaven, which Meyers won. He faced

Chris Benoit Christopher Michael Benoit ( ; May 21, 1967 – June 24, 2007) was a Canadian Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He worked for various pro-wrestling promotions during his 22-year career, but is notorious for Chris Benoit double-murd ...

in a losing effort at Holiday Hell. Meyers found some success in mid-1995, winning at back-to-back supercards. He defeated Big Malley at Hardcore Heaven and Val Puccio at

. He lost to JT Smith at Wrestlepalooza but followed this up with an evenly split series of rematches. Meyers faced the returning Sabu in a losing effort at

November to Remember November to Remember (commonly abbreviated to N2R) was a professional wrestling event produced by Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). It was held during the month of November from 1993 to 2000. Starting with the 1997 edition the event was broadc ...

in one of the longest matches on the card. He followed this up with a victory over Stevie Richards as well as supercard wins over Bruiser Mastino at December to Dismember and JT Smith at Holiday Hell 1995. He lost to Taz at the 1996 House Party and J.T. Smith at Big Ass Extreme Bash. Meyers' final appearance in ECW for some time was a loss to

2 Cold Scorpio Charles Bernard Scaggs (born October 25, 1965) is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name 2 Cold Scorpio. He gained fame for his performances in professional wrestling promotions such as World Championship Wrestling (WCW ...

in a Loser Leaves Town match at

. Meyers did return briefly to ECW, teaming with Balls Mahoney and

in a six man tag team match versus

The Dudley Boyz The Dudley Boyz (also known as Team 3D) are an American professional wrestling tag team who consisted of kayfabe half-brothers Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley. The team was also joined by various Dudley Brothers, Dudley family members, notably ...

at Born to Be Wired on August 9, 1997. Meyers would take the pinfall, losing after receiving a 3D. His last match in ECW was on November 27, 1998 on

ECW Hardcore TV ''ECW Hardcore TV'' is an American professional wrestling television program that was produced by the Philadelphia based promotion Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) composed of footage from live shows and recorded interviews. It ran in syndi ...

where he teamed with Balls Mahoney and

Masato Tanaka is a Japanese Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, best known for his appearances with Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) in Japan where he was a FMW Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship#Title History, one-time FMW Brass Knuckle ...

losing to the Dudley Boyz.

Late career (1997–2011)

After leaving ECW he remained in the wrestling industry, working for various promotions continuing using a hardcore style, including IPW, IWA Mid-South, FOW, MLW, and MCW, among others. In May 1997, Meyers worked at least two matches for

World Championship Wrestling World Championship Wrestling (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of National W ...

(WCW), losing to The Giant and The Barbarian. In May 1999, he appeared for one night in the WWF (

World Wrestling Federation World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...

), teaming with Chris Nelson, facing

The Hardy Boyz The Hardy Boyz are an American professional wrestling tag team consisting of brothers Jeff Hardy, Jeff and Matt Hardy. They are both signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where they are former three time TNA Tag Team Championship, TNA ...

on WWF Shotgun Saturday Night. He also trained wrestlers, such as Scoot Andrews and

Travis Tomko Travis David Tomko (born March 23, 1976) is an American retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) from 2003 to 2006 under the ring name Tyson Tomko, with New Japan Pro-Wrestling ...

. He wrestled predominantly in the Florida independent circuit in the latter days of his career. He retired in 2011.

Death

On November 15, 2015, fellow ECW alumnus Axl Rotten tweeted that Haviland would undergo

brain surgery Neurosurgery or neurological surgery, known in common parlance as brain surgery, is the medical specialty that focuses on the surgical treatment or rehabilitation of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system including the brain, s ...

Johns Hopkins Hospital Johns Hopkins Hospital (JHH) is the teaching hospital and biomedical research facility of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1889, Johns Hopkins Hospital and its school of medicine are considered to be the foundin ...

. On December 5, 2015, Haviland died from complications of that surgery. He was two days away from his 42nd birthday.

Championships and accomplishments

*Florida State Professional Wrestling Association **FSPWA Tag Team Championship (1 time) *Florida Wrestling Alliance **FWA Heavyweight Championship (1 time) *Freestyle Championship Wrestling **FSCW Heavyweight Championship (1 time) * Future of Wrestling ** FOW Tag Team Championship ( 1 time) – with Dave Johnson *Hardkore Championship Wrestling **HCW Hardcore Championship (1 time) *Independent Professional Wrestling **IPW Hardcore Championship (1 time) *''

Pro Wrestling Illustrated ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publishing Group. The maga ...

'' **PWI ranked him #314 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the

PWI 500 ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publishing Group. The maga ...

in 1999 *Other titles **FWF Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Meyers, Hack 1973 births 2015 deaths 20th-century male professional wrestlers 20th-century American professional wrestlers 21st-century male professional wrestlers 21st-century American professional wrestlers American male professional wrestlers Professional wrestlers from Baltimore