Don Kernodle, who had runs in WWE and NWA and held the NWA World Tag Team Championships, has passed away. PWInsider reports that Kernodle passed on Monday at the age of 71. Kernodle had reportedly been dealing with several health issues over the past few years, though the cause of death is not yet known.
Kernodle began wrestling in 1973 after graduating from Elon College in North Carolina, making his debut in Jim Crockett Promotions after he accepted a “shoot” challenge from Bob Roop. Both Ole Anderson and Gene Anderson offered to train Kernodle for free based on that challenge, and he started as part of Sgt. Slaughter’s Cobra Corp as Private Kernodle. He would team with Pvt. Jim Nelson to win the NWA NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Championship in May of 1982. They quickly lost the titles to Porkchop Cash and Iceman Parsons but would regain them 16 days after they lost them, going on a 66-day run with the titles.