Brian Christopher, former WWE wrestler and son of wrestling legend Jerry Lawler, was pronounced dead on Sunday after taking his own life in jail, according to Wrestling Observer Newsletter. He was 46.
Born Brian Christopher Lawler in 1972, Christopher got his start in wrestling at the age of 16 as part of his father’s United States Wrestling Association under the ring name “Too Sexy” Brian Christopher. From 1988 to 1997, Christopher competed against legends like Jeff Jarrett, Tom Pritchard and even his own father.
Christopher was signed by WWE — then known as WWF — in 1997 as part of the company’s light heavyweight division, competing for the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship in a losing effort to Taka Michinoku. While Lawler hyped his son on commentary, their relationship was never directly referred to outside of oblique references.
In 1999, at the height of WWF’s Attitude Era, Christopher reached the peak of his career under the ring name Grandmaster Sexay, teaming up with fellow light heavyweight Scotty “2 Hotty” Taylor and future WWE Hall of Famer Rikishi to form the faction Too Cool. In 2000, the team defeated Edge and Christian to win the WWF Tag Team Championship, but after injuries forced the team to break up, Christopher was released in 2001 after it was discovered he was smuggling drugs across the Canadian border.
After a two-year stint in the Total Nonstop Action wrestling alliance and appearances on the indie circuit over the course of a decade, Christopher returned to WWE for a Too Cool reunion in 2014. But reports have surfaced of Christopher’s troubled personal life, getting arrested on DUI charges in 2009 and again earlier this month.
Representatives for the Lawler family did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.