WWE Hall Of Famer Pat Patterson Passes Away

Pat Patterson, one of professional wrestling's most successful and well-known personalities for five decades, has passed away at the age of 79.

Born Pierre Clermont in Montreal, Quebec, Patterson began his career in 1958 in his native country before moving on to the San Francisco promotion, Big Time Wrestling. Despite not speaking English, Patterson became an important staple in the Bay Area for nearly two decades, winning the regional tag team championship an unprecedented 11 times with seven different partners--including with the likes of Peter Maiva and Rocky Johnson--and twice capturing the legendary Cow Palace Battle Royal in 1975 and 1981.

Eventually going into a behind-the-scenes personality and producer, Patterson helped create one of WWE's most iconic events, the Royal Rumble, as well as helped book Hulk Hogan vs Ultimate Warrior at Wrestlemania VI.

Patterson returned to the ring during WWE's Attitude Era along with Gerald Brisco as one of Mr. McMahon's "Stooge" characters. At one point, Patterson even pinned Crash Holly to win the Hardcore Title, making him one of two people to have won the 24/7 Champion as well as the Hardcore Championship--the other being his fellow Stooge, Gerald Brisco.

Behind-the-scenes, it was known in certain circles that Patterson was gay, but finally publically came out in an episode of WWE Legends House in 2014, becoming one of the first out gay wrestlers in the company.

Patterson was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 1996 by fellow Canadian, and WWE Champion, Bret Hart and leaves behind a one of a kind legacy in professional wrestling.