WWE Hall Of Famer Mike Rotunda Admitted To Hospice Care

WWE Hall of Famer Mike Rotunda, also known as Irwin R. Schyster, or IRS for short, has been admitted to hospice care.

Speaking in an interview with Bill Apter, Mike Rotunda’s U.S. Express tag team partner and brother-in-law, Barry Windham, said that Rotunda has been admitted into hospice care, but did not say what illness Rotunda is suffering from. Windham said:

“It’s kind of tough right now. You know, Mike is in hospice right now. So, anyway, that family, I love that family. But it’s so tragic.”

While hospice care does not necessarily mean that a patient is end of life, it is usually only used as a way to care for patients who are expected to live only up to six months, and the focus is less on curing the illness and more on managing symptoms and making the patient as comfortable as possible.

Mike Rotunda’s Wrestling Legacy

Mike Rotunda made his wrestling debut in 1981, working for Jim Crockett Promotions and Championship Wrestling from Florida. He joined the WWF in 1984 with Barry Windham as the US Express, and they would go on to capture the World Tag Team Championship twice during their first run with the company. After they left the WWF in 1986, the US Express would go on to work for the AWA, JCP, WCW, FCW, New Japan, and All Japan.

Rotunda returned to the WWF in 1991 as Irwin R. Schyster, a heel tax collector who would harass other wrestlers, calling them “tax cheats” and focusing on getting them to “pay their share”. In 1992, he teamed up with “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase to form Money Inc., and the pair would go on to win the World Tag Team Title three times. Money Inc. disbanded in 1994, and IRS would go on to feud with Razor Ramon over the Intercontinental Title, and then with Tatanka after accusing him of not paying tax on his headdress.

He rejoined his former tag partner, DiBiase, in his Million Dollar Corporation faction in mid-1994 and would feud with various stars, including The Undertaker in 1995. IRS left WWF in 1995 to join WCW, where he wrestled until 2000 and would then work on the independent scene as well as the occasional NJPW and AJPW appearances until he officially retired from in-ring action in 2007.

Rotunda married Stephanie Windham, the daughter of Blackjack Mulligan and sister of his US Express tag partner, Barry Windham, and the couple would go on to have three children together, and two of them would go on to become Bo Dallas and Bray Wyatt, who both followed in their father’s footsteps and found success in the world of wrestling. Sadly, Bray Wyatt passed away on August 24, 2023.

Mike Rotunda and Barry Windham were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2024.