Former WWE and WCW star Johnny Grunge passes away

[Ronn Harmon]

Former ECW star Johnny Grunge passes away
By JASON CLEVETT - SLAM! Wrestling



Johnny Grunge, front, and Rocco Rock as The Public Enemy

Former ECW and WCW tag team champion Johnny Grunge has passed away, according to a report on wrestlingobserver.com. Grunge, real name Mike Durham, was pronounced dead on arrival at an Atlanta area hospital this morning.

Grunge formed the team "The Public Enemy" with "Flyboy" Rocco Rock (Ted Petty) in 1993 and was soon part of Eastern Championship Wrestling, which later became Extreme Championship Wrestling. The two were extremly popular and revolutionized a hardcore tag team style, including ample use of tables in feuds against The Gangstas, Mikey Whipwreck and Cactus Jack and The Pitbulls.

The pair had a tryout before the Survivor Series in 1995 against The Smoking Gunns, but instead moved to WCW in 1996, feuding with Harlem Heat, The Nasty Boys and The American Males. They won the WCW Tag Team Titles as well, but left the company to try their luck in WWF. Their WWF run was less than memorable as the locker room didn't take to them and they quickly left.

The tandem faded from the wrestling scene and Rocco Rock died on September 21, 2002. Friends of Grunge have said that he hadn't been the same since Rock's death. Grunge made an appearance at Hardcore Homecoming on June 10, 2005 where he paid tribute to ECW wrestlers who had passed on. He and Pitbull Gary Wolfe were attacked by Danny Doring and Roadkill, and Grunge splashed Doring through a table.