PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- Professional wrestler "Playboy" Buddy Rose has died at his home in Vancouver, Wash.
He was 56.
Rose, whose given name was Paul Perschmann, was familiar to Portland wrestling fans in the 1970s before making the jump to the national stage in the 1980s.
Rose had a series of matches against then-World Wrestling Federation champion Bob Backlund in 1982 and 1983.
In 1985, he battled Tito Santana in the first match of the very first WrestleMania. Rose, however, donned a mask and went by the name "The Executioner" in that defeat.
The Clark County medical examiner's office told The Oregonian that Rose died from natural causes.
Though agile and athletic, Rose carried a little too much weight even during his heyday. The wrestler described himself as quote: "heavy in the seat, light on the feet."
