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Brian Pillman (May 22, 1962 - October 5, 1997) was a professional wrestler in the early 1990s.

Pillman began life with throat cancer, and underwent some 33 operations to remove it. As a result, his voice would be permanently raspy. The somewhat smallish Pillman would go on to survive this bout with illness and play football for Miami University and the Cincinnati Bengals in the 1980s. It was at this time that he began to take steroids and painkillers to perform. He would have problems with addiction the rest of his life.

Pillman broke into wrestling in the late 1980s for World Championship Wrestling. He would be known as "Flyin' Brian" Pillman for his aerial style, and achieved some measure of fame in the ahead-of-their-time tag team of the Hollywood Blondes, with Steve Austin. They had a run with the tag team titles but would quickly be lost in the shuffle.

Pillman was part of the legendary Four Horsemen for part of 1995, and began to transition into his "Loose Cannon" gimmick. He was, as the name would suggest, known for his unpredictability. He did one of the first "worked shoot" gimmicks, blurring the lines of reality and storyline, and he famously outed Kevin Sullivan as a booker backstage in their strap match at Superbrawl 1996.

Pillman would later head to the WWF, but not before a near fatal accident in his Humvee, which shattered his ankle, essentially destroyed his wrestling ability, and restarted his addiction to painkillers. When he arrived in the WWF, he could not wrestle, and had to get himself over solely on his own personality. He took part in the infamous gun incident with Steve Austin, where Austin "broke into" Pillman's home and Pillman pulled a gun on him. Of course, the entire incident was staged, but the resulting controversy presaged the "Attitude" era of the WWF and nearly lost their network deal with USA.

Pillman wrestled minimally between 1996 and 1997. He aligned himself with the Hart Foundation and feuded with Goldust. Immediately prior to the 1997 Badd Blood pay per view, Pillman died in his hotel room. While he was heavily into prescription drugs, an autopsy found a previously undetected heart condition had led to his death. He did not know he was about to become a father once again when he died.

For the next few years, a Brian Pillman memorial wrestling show would be put on in Cincinnati, featuring WWF, WCW, and local talent, and benefitting his children.

• Professional wrestlers
• 1962 births
• 1997 deaths