Don Kernodle Passes Away
He was 71-years-old
May 18, 2021
Former NWA star Don Kernodle sadly passed away on Monday. He was 71-years-old.
Dave Meltzer reported on Wrestling Observer Radio that Kernodle committed suicide. He had been dealing with multiple health issues in recent years, according to PWInsider.
Kernodle made his debut in 1973 in Jim Crockett Promotions. He then became a popular member of Sgt. Slaughter's 'Cobra Corps' in Mid-Atlantic Wrestling in the early 1980s and enjoyed two reigns as one-half of the Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Champions with Jim Nelson.
Following Nelson's removal from the NWA, Kernodle teamed with Sgt. Slaughter and they held the NWA Tag Team Championship for 181 days in late 1982 and early 1983 until they dropped the belts to Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood in a Steel Cage match at the Charlotte Coliseum. The success of the match, according to PWInsider, contributed to the NWA running Starrcade on closed-circuit TV later that year.
Following this, Kernodle would have two more reigns with the NWA Tag Team Championship before departing the alliance in 1986.
He would return to wrestling in 2002 with brother Rocky and they made semi-regular appearances in CWF Mid-Atlantic until 2006.
Outside of the squared circle, Kernodle became a Sergeant for Immigration Customs Enforcement for Alamance County, North Carolina and he was later a Deputy Sheriff for Alamance County.
Cultaholic Wrestling extends its condolences to Don Kernodle's family and friends.
