UPDATE: As noted earlier, Sean O’Haire has
passed away. Earlier tonight, we spoke to someone who was very close to Sean and
he says O’Haire had been suffering from depression and substance abuse issues in
recent years. Of course, we don’t want to speculate at this time and will wait
until the autopsy results are in. The close friend says an autopsy is scheduled
for today or tomorrow but the results likely won’t be back for several
weeks.
O’Haire was just forty-three years old. An obituary for O’Haire
notes that he was found in his Spartanburg, South Carolina home on Monday.
O’Haire was best known for his team-ups with Mark Jindrak and
Chuck Palumbo in WCW (and WWE in Palumbo’s case). He won the WCW World Tag Team
Titles three times, twice with Jindrak and once with Palumbo. He lost some steam
in WWE after the Invasion storyline and had been primed to return with a new,
dark preacher-esque gimmick in 2003, but it was quickly abandoned. He was
released from his WWE contract on April 3, 2004 after having been sent to OVW in
February.
According to Wikipedia, O’Haire was arrested in 2006 for allegedly
assaulting a woman at “Club Hypnotic” in June 2004, but he was found not guilty
after the girl confessed that the allegations were not true. He was also
involved in a fight in Hilton Head on March 30, 2007, in which he sustained
fractures to his face and skull, including his orbital bone. As the result of
the fight, the vision in his left eye was impaired. Although O’Haire claimed
that he was going to the aid of a friend, witnesses asserted that O’Haire tried
to instigate a fight with his alleged assailant, Juan Brantley. Brantley had
filed a complaint with police on March 17, in which he stated that O’Haire had
attempted to start a fight with him at another bar.
On September 9, 2009, O’Haire was arrested in Georgia for
allegedly choking out his girlfriend. He was charged with battery and criminal
trespassing before being released on $4600 bail, but the charges were later
dropped and O’Haire was found not guilty. On November 23, 2011, O’Haire was
again arrested in Georgia and charged with battery. He was later released on
$1850 bail.
After a career in pro wrestling, kickboxing, MMA and acting didn’t
pan out the way he had hoped, O’Haire opened a barbershop in Hilton Head, South
Carolina. It was during this time that he fell into deep depression according to
our source. O’Haire also had one son named Theodore.
WCW alum Scotty Riggs posted the following on Twitter, confirming
the news of Sean’s passing:
Just
got a message that former wrestler Sean O’ Haire has passed away. #RIPSeanOHaire
—
RIGGS (@realscottyriggs) September
10, 2014
On behalf of everyone here on the website, our condolences to the
family, friends and fans of Mr. O’Haire.
ORIGINAL: Former WWE and WCW Superstar Sean O’Haire (real
name Sean Haire) has passed away at age 43.
Haire died on Monday, according to a Tribunes.com obituary.
The cause of death for Haire has not yet been revealed, however it is known
that he passed away at his home in South Carolina.
Also, former WCW star Scotty Riggs tweeted the following:
“Just got a message that former wrestler Sean O’ Haire
has passed away. #RIPSeanOHaire”
A Celebration of Life visitation will be held from 1:00-3:00pm on
Saturday, September 13th at his home at 510 Hampton Drive, Spartanburg, SC
29306.
