Update (6:54 p.m. ET): WWE has confirmed that Lawler was pronounced dead on Sunday evening. Lawler had been declared brain dead on Sunday morning until family made the decision to pull him off life support.
Update (2:15 p.m. ET): TMZ.com is reporting that Lawler is still on life support after trying to hang himself in his Memphis jail cell. His condition was described as “dire.”
As noted earlier, Memphis Wrestling News first reported Lawler as having passed away, while Dave Meltzer confirmed the same.
We will continue to follow the story as it develops.
Former WWE star Brian “Christopher” Lawler passed away on Sunday at the age of 46 after reportedly hanging himself while he was currently in jail for a DUI charge.
The news was confirmed by Memphis Wrestling News’s Facebook page, who issued a statement from the Lawler family and notably Brian Lawler’s father, WWE Hall of Famer Jerry “The King” Lawler.
Update via @CaEWrestling, the image below shows Memphis Wrestling News stating that Brian Lawler has died.
I will attempt to verify this information.#WWE #Newshttps://t.co/EIAsfZ4qUn pic.twitter.com/GdehCufop6
— Tom Colohue (@Colohue) July 29, 2018
Dave Meltzer also reported Lawler as having passed away this morning.
Just to confirm, Nikolai Volkoff, Brian Lawler and Brickhouse Brown have all passed away. Very sad day for pro wrestling.
— Dave Meltzer (@davemeltzerWON) July 29, 2018
Lawler is most known for his time in WWE in the late-1990s to the early-2000s as the Grandmaster Sexay character in the Too Cool team with Scotty 2 Hotty and Rikishi, winning the WWE Tag Team Titles in 2000.
Lawler also worked for the USWA promotion in the mid-1990s, with several major rivalries with the likes of Jeff Jarrett and others.
Lawler’s last big role for WWE was in 2011 as part of the build to the Jerry Lawler vs. Michael Cole at that year’s Wrestlemania in Atlanta, then went on to make sporadic reunion appearances with Scotty 2 Hotty and Rikishi in the years that followed.
On behalf of the staff at Wrestleview.com, we send out our condolences to the family and friends of Lawler during this tough time.