It has been confirmed that former pro wrestler and manager Johnny Valiant has just passed away. Pittsburgh’s WPXI reported on Wednesday that Valiant was killed when he was struck by an incoming car when attempting to walk. The report notes that Valiant was not at a crosswalk at the time that he was hit by the vehicle. Several other reports have been able to confirm that Valiant passed away and WWE also addressed his death. Valiant passed away at a hospital later in the morning at the age of 71. Although he had been retired from wrestling for a number of years, fans still have fond memories of seeing Johnny Valiant compete and manage other wrestlers back in the day.
The Valiant Brothers were an accomplished tag team in the professional wrestling industry during the 1970s. The team of Johnny and Jimmy Valiant were two skilled professional wrestlers a few decades back who managed to hold onto tag team gold for over a year. Johnny Valiant later found success on his own as a singles star when he became a manger in the AWA. He would later go on to manage some tag teams during his time in WWE in the 1980’s. These teams included the likes of Greg “The Hammer” Valentine & Brutus Beefcake, as well as Demolition. He and Jimmy Valiant were later inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in the year 1996, making them the first tag team to enter WWE’s Hall of Fame.

WWE is saddened to learn that WWE Hall of Famer “Luscious” Johnny Valiant reportedly passed away this morning at the age of 71. https://t.co/vNfhyVo3Pb
— WWE (@WWE) April 5, 2018

Cody Rhodes may or may not be the leader of the Bullet Club faction very soon. Cody has certainly accomplished a lot ever since he left WWE in favor of competing for other promotions. With the amount of proven success that Cody has now, one would think that a possible return to WWE could be in the cards at some point. According to Rhodes during a recent interview with NOLA.com, he does not seem to have any desire to come back to WWE at all at the moment. Rhodes acknowledged that he accomplished a lot during his time with WWE, but he is now focused on the upcoming All In show and building up a better reputation for other wrestling promotions. He also discussed his feud and upcoming match against Kenny Omega at ROH’s Supercard of Honor show this weekend during the interview.