Chase Tatum, who wrestled in WCW in 1998 & 1999, was found dead in his home in Buckhead, Georgia on Sunday, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
His father Roy Tatum told the newspaper that his son died of an accidental drug overdose ten days after undergoing back surgery to repair a degenerative disc. His father said his son had been battling a painkiller addiction and had plans to enter a rehabilitation facility in Miami soon. “He was in the process of getting his life back together,” Tatum said. “He was confident that he was going to turn things around, to live a normal life without those painkillers.”
A friend discovered Tatum’s body at around 4 p.m. on Sunday afternoon at his Buckhead, Georgia home. Tatum was unresponsive and could not be revived by emergency medical technicians.
At 6-feet, 3-inches tall and 265 pounds, Tatum won the Mr. Georgia bodybuilding competition when he was 19 years old. He was a personal trainer, and a client encouraged him to give professional wrestling a shot. He went to the WCW Power Plant and made his debut in the promotion in 1998, losing to Scott Steiner on an episode of WCW Thunder on March 6.
Tatum worked approximately 10 televised matches during his entire WCW tenure. He primarily worked in an enhancement role on WCW Saturday Night. He lost to the rising Bill Goldberg on the March 14, 1998 edition of WCW Saturday Night. He also lost to Curt Hennig, Van Hammer, Scott Norton and current SmackDown wrestler Dave Taylor over the course of two years. His lone singles win in WCW came against The Gambler in January 1999. He worked two episodes of WCW Monday Nitro during the summer of ’99; losing to WCW Television Champion Rick Steiner in a squash match on July 26, and in his final appearance in WCW on August 23, he was powerbombed by Sid Vicious during his match with Mikey Whipwreck, which ended in a no contest. Tatum was briefly a member of the short-lived No Limit Soldiers faction which included Rey Mysterio and Konnan. In September 1999, WCW purged the roster and released a slew of wrestlers including Tatum. That marked the end of his career in professional wrestling.
His father said he suffered his back injury during his time in WCW and took painkillers to get by for a number of years because he did not have health insurance to pay for the surgery to correct the problem.
Tatum had been acting in recent years and appeared in the 2007 film Who’s Your Caddy?. He also worked as a road manager and personal assistant for hip hop duo Outkast.
For the Atlanta Journal-Constitution‘s story on the death of Chase Tatum, click here.