RIP Tommy Rogers

[Defrost]

http://www.f4wonline.com/more/more-top-stories/118-daily-updates/42831-qfantasticq-tommy-rogers-passes-away


By Dave Meltzer

Thomas Couch, best known as Tommy Rogers from the 80s and 80s tag team of The Fantastics, passed away this morning in Honolulu, where he has been living since 2006.

Couch, who just turned 54, had been having legal troubles in recent years stemming from fighting. He was to be sentenced tomorrow over a fight with police officers and feared a long prison stay.

At this moment, the cause of circumstances of his death are pending. There was no note left, and according to one of his best friends, he had been in good spirits in recent days. He was found at about 3 a.m. by his roommate in a chair in front of a computer, gurgling. The roommate called 911, but he was unable to be revived.

Tommy Rogers always finished high in lists of the most underrated pro wrestler of the 80s and 90s. He was small, but was as solid a worker as there was in wrestling, with a great physique. He and tag team partner Bobby Fulton were best known for their matches with The Midnight Express and The Sheepherders that were among the best matches of the late 80s.

The team held the UWF and World Class world tag team titles as well as the NWA U.S. tag team titles.

[OD50]

Originator of the Killswitch/Unprettier, think he called it the Tomakaze. I remember Christian talking about ''stealing" it from Rogers on Byte This in 2004 or something. The Fantastics were super over back in the day, especially with the ladies. I mostly remember them for that barb-wire cage match against the Sheepherders/Bushwhackers. Crazy that two pretty boys and a soon to be comedy team could do that sort of brutality.

[DDT]

:(

[Nash Diesel]

For a second I thought it was Wildfire Tommy RICH. Never really saw anything of the Fantastics, probably sad that when the name gets brought up I think of Stevie Richards, Blue Meanie, and Cactus Jack doing their strut in ECW in Jack's last match there. Barbed-wire cage match v. The Bushwackers? Fuck yes hope that is on the Network!

[OD50]

I think the Fantastics stuff to watch would be their Mid-South feud with the Sheepherders and the NWA feud with the Midnight Express. I remember being happy for their WCW comeback in 1994-95 but nothing much ever came of it.

[LOCONUT]

The fantastics are one of the greatest and most underrated tag teams ever. Their work with the Midnight Express in the late 80's was pretty easily my favorite tag team wrestling ever.

RiP

[Donald]

First time I saw this guy is a couple of months ago when I was watching an ECW PPV on the WWE Network. He was facing Chris Candido.

RIP

[MTR]

Fantastics were underrated. Great tag team that had a lot of great matches. Rogers was a great worker.

RIP

[stylepoints]

Man, this is terrible. I grew up watching them live at UWF events. The Fantastics were OVER. They were pretty much all the things Austin says a babyface should be. The UWF was a different kind of territory and they shouldn't have been as over as they were. They proved they were extremely tough though. The women loved them, and the men respected them. They had it all going for them. Their lack of size made them sympathetic, and when they made their comeback, they brought it.

Very sad. Just bad news all around.

[The Law]

Really big fan of The Fantastics. Unfortunately they hit their prime before the wrestling boom, so they never got the exposure they deserved. Great tag team.