Whatley started wrestling in 1973 after a brief career as a power lifter. He wrestled with the (original) Sheik's Big Time Wrestling, after which he wrestled primarily in Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee. While in Georgia Championship Wrestling, he had a memorable angle on television, where he was confronted by the Junkyard Dog, before a match against Buzz Sawyer. JYD slapped Whatley in the face, enraging him enough to pin Sawyer twice in a single episode of World Championship Wrestling. While in Ga, Whatley had a feud with Paul Ellering's Legion Of Doom that included matches against Jake "The Snake" Roberts. He also had a match in the Omni for the United States Heavyweight championship against Greg Valentine. Whatley was one of the most popular wrestlers in Ga, before going to Florida Championship Wrestling in 1984. He won the Southern Title twice while there.[1] He was one-third of the "Convertible Blondes" with Rip Rogers and Gary Royal in the Angelo Poffo-promoted ICW, even though he didn't dye his hair blonde.[1] One of Whatley's best-known moments in ICW was the "Mop Head" angle where Whatley had to wear a mop wig after losing a match to Ron Garvin. The match stipulation also required him to keep wearing it until he won another match. This led to not only a lengthy feud with Garvin but also to a long losing streak for Whatley. Most of Whatley's losses were by disqualification due to outside interference when Garvin would attack Whatley's opponent. The angle lasted for several months until Whatley finally won a match.
Whatley, circa 1983
He went to the NWA'sJim Crockett Promotions in 1985 and often teamed with Jimmy Valiant against members of Paul Jones' Army.[3] He turned on Valiant, and frequently teamed with The Barbarian and Baron von Raschke in their war against Valiant, and would frequently spit on his opponents during matches. He eventually lost a hair vs. hair match to Valiant and was shaved bald.[5] In 1986, during a short stint when Dusty Rhodes was NWA Champion, Whatley appeared to freelance during a TV interview and made the announcers visibly uncomfortable when he said that he wanted to become the first black NWA Champion.[3]
In late 1987, Whatley had left Jones and started teaming with Tiger Conway Jr. as "The Jive Tones".[3] They did not have much success, and Whatley left for Florida in 1988.[4] He was part of Kevin Sullivan's goon squad in Florida and departed for Alabama shortly after his arrival.[3]
Whatley was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2021 as a legacy member.[6][4] He also made an appearance as one of the trainers in the WCW power plant in the BBC Louis Theroux wrestling documentary in 1999 https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6b835n at about the 26:20 mark.
Death
While working for WCW in the late 1990s, Whatley was hospitalized for bronchitis, where doctors discovered he was suffering from heart failure; he was pronounced dead on two occasions while awaiting a heart transplant.[3] He suffered a heart attack in 2003.[4] On January 15, 2005, he had a heart attack and died in the hospital in Chattanooga on January 18.[3] He left behind four children.[4]
