"Pretty Boy" Doug Somers, best known for his AWA Tag Team Championship run in the 1980s, has passed away. He was 65 years old.
Somers spent many years in the AWA, but has periodically appeared in numerous other promotions throughout his career, including Mid-Atlantic Wrestling, WWE and WCW. At the highest point of his career, Somers won the AWA Tag Titles in 1986 alongside partner “Playboy” Buddy Rose and manager Sherri Martel.
The two of them defeated Curt Hennig and Scott Hall to win the titles. They would go on to feud with The Midnight Rockers over the belts for the remainder of 1986, culminating with the duo of Michaels and Jannetty winning the title in early 1987.
In 2011, he filed a lawsuit against WWE regarding them using footage of his matches on DVDs and Classics on Demand, but lost the case to WWE.
Other than the AWA Tag Team titles, Somers is also a former AIWF World Heavyweight Champion, a two-time NWA tri-State Tag Team Champion and an NWA Western States Heavyweight and Tag Team Champion. Somers has fought the likes of Sting, Bret Hart, Greg Gagne, Jimmy Snuka and Ron Simmons. After being trained by WWE Hall of Famer Harley Race, Somers debuted in 1971, and retired from in-ring competition in 2012.
