This Day in Wrestling History (May 22): JBL and John Cena Break The Muta Scale

It's a happy 28^th birthday for Santana Garrett.

Trained by her father, fellow wrestler Kenny Garrett, the second generation wrestler has amassed championships with over a dozen independent organizations in her seven-year career, most notably the NWA World Women's Championship in February 2015 and the Shine Championship two months later. In November 2015, Garrett became the first American-born wrestler to hold the Wonder of Stardom Championship, the secondary singles title for World Wonder Ring Stardom. She held the title until just one week ago when she was defeated by Kairi Hojo.

Garrett made appearances for WWE's NXT promotion in 2013 and 2016 and appeared for TNA in 2010 and 2013 and was a full-time member of their roster in 2014 as Brittany.

The 2014 Cauliflower Alley Club Future Legend Award winner was ranked the #4 women's wrestler in the world by Pro Wrestling Illustrated in 2015.

It's a happy 41^st birthday for Tracy Brookshaw, but she's best known to wrestling fans as Traci Brooks.

The Canadian-born Brooks was a model before breaking into the wrestling business, winning a local calendar contest in 2000, then doing promotional modeling for Molson, Labatt, and Budweiser.

After being trained by Ron Hutchinson at his wrestling school in Toronto, Brookshaw appeared for numerous independents throughout Ontario as Traci Brooks.

Brookshaw joined TNA in 2003 and would hold a variety of roles for the company over the next nine years, including wrestler, manager, and on-screen authority figure (most notably as "Knockout Law" in 2008). One of the wrestlers she managed would end up being her future husband. She married Frank Gerdelman, aka Frankie Kazarian, in January 2010. The couple started dating in 2006 when Brookshaw was managing Gerdleman. They have one child together.

Brookshaw suffered from Erb's palsy, a defect that impairs movement in the arms. Though she recovered, she noted that she has limited function in her right arm.

In July 2009, Brookshaw became the first TNA Knockout to pose for Playboy, but her shoot never made it to print. The shoot was released through Playboy's Cyber Club website in September.

Traci called it a career last July when she managed her husband Kazarian and Christopher Daniels, the Addiction, to a win over The Kingdom's Matt Taven and Michael Bennett at a House of Hardcore event in Toronto.

Today would have been the 54^th birthday of Brian William Pillman.

Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Pillman's athletic career began not in a wrestling ring, but on a football field.

He played college football as a defensive tackle for the Miami of Ohio Redhawks (then Redskins) where he set the school record for tackles for loss. He roommated with John Harbaugh, current head coach of the Baltimore Ravens. Despite being a second-team All-American twice, he went undrafted by the NFL and joined the Cincinnati Bengals as an undrafted free agent. He won the team's Ed Block Courage Award in 1984, but was cut following the season. He tried catching on for the Buffalo Bills in 1985, but was cut just before the season. He played for the Canadian Football League's Calgary Stampeders in 1986.

Late in the year, Pillman began his wrestling career for Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling. He and Stu Hart's son Bruce would form Bad Company and would win their tag team titles twice from April 1987 to July 1988. To get Pillman over as a face, Pillman had his girlfriend Trisa Hayes portray his sister so he could come to the rescue of heel wrestlers taunting her (Hayes would

Pillman returned to the States in 1989 and wrestled as Flyin' Brian for WCW. He was nicknamed Flyin' Brian for his innovative (for American audiences) lucha libre-style offense, (he often drew comparisons to The Rockers, Shawn Michaels and Marty Janetty, who was doing the same for the WWF). Pillman would hold the United States Tag Team Championship with Tom Zenk for a few months in 1990 and would win the WCW Light Heavyweight Championship in 1991 and 1992. During that period, he feuded with Barry Windham and took on the Yellow Dog persona after leaving a Loser Leaves WCW match.

Brian turned heel in September 1992 after an injury forced Brad Armstrong to vacate the light heavyweight title. He would chase the NWA and WCW tag team titles, first with old rival Barry Windham, then "Stunning" Steve Austin as one half of the Hollywood Blonds. The duo won the titles in March 1993 from Ricky Steamboat and Shane Douglas, and would feud with the Four Horsemen for the spring and summer. Their brash attitudes and outright mocking of the Horsemen made the duo quite popular, but the duo would split later in the year.

After spending part of 1994 in ECW, he returned to WCW as a face, but eventually evolved into a tweener. He and old rival Arn Anderson teamed up and feuded with Ric Flair during the summer and fall of 1995. Flair would recruit Sting for their battle with Anderson and Pillman at Fall Brawl 1995, but it turned out to be a ruse: Pillman, Anderson, and Flair, along with newcomer Chris Benoit, would form a new version of the Four Horsemen.

His erratic behavior and strange look, which began to develop around this time, would be a part of his new "Loose Cannon" gimmick. In February 1996, Pillman and Kevin Sullivan fought in a strap match, where the loser would acknowledge defeat by saying they respect their opponent. The match went less than a minute before Pillman said "I respect you, booker man", outing Sullivan as a booker for WCW. Eric Bischoff fired Pillman following the event, but believed he would return to the company after some seasoning with the new gimmick. It didn't quite work out that way: Pillman left for ECW, and eventually the WWF.

After spending a couple of months wreaking havoc in ECW (and never wrestling a match), he was in a single car accident that shattered his angle and put him in a coma for a week. The surgery forced doctors to fuse the ankle together to a fixed walking position, forcing Pillman to abandon his high-flying offense.

While recovering from his injury, Pillman signed the first fully guaranteed contract in WWF history in June 1996 (this was done to curb the abrupt loss of talent WWF had suffered over the previous year). Brian would do commentary for the company before transitioning to a wrestling role late in the year.

He would take part in one of wrestling ‘s most infamous angles, "Pillman's Got A Gun" on the November 4, 1996 RAW. Brian's old tag team partner Steve Austin looked to take out Pillman for good after damaging Pillman's ankle with a chair a few weeks earlier (Austin wedged a chair in Pillman's ankle then stepped on the chair; the attack has become known as the Pillmanizer), but Pillman was prepared: he pointed a 9mm pistol at the intruding Austin. No shots were fired, but a few expletives definitely went off. The WWF and Pillman both had to issue apologies the next week following the event. Pillman would be a part of the last incarnation of the Hart Fountation in 1997, feuding with Austin. Pillman was in the midst of a feud with Goldust and Marlena at the time of his death.

Scheduled to wrestle Dude Love at Badd Blood: In Your House on October 5, 1997, Pillman was found dead by hotel maids in Bloomington, Minnesota at the hotel he was staying at the previous night. Though alcohol and drugs was found in the hotel room, an autopsy revealed that it was an undetected heart condition that contributed to his death, the same condition that lead to the death of his father.

Pillman was survived by his wife Melanie, two children together in Brian and Skylar (who was born after Brian's death), two daughters from previous marriages, Danielle and Brittany, and two stepchildren, Alexis and Jesse. Pillman's stepdaughter Alexis Reed, who got into the wrestling business in 2008, was killed in an auto accident in November 2009. She was 26.