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With his massive frame and larger-than-life persona, Steve McMichael was natural for the gridiron and the squared circle.
The man known as “Mongo” and “Ming The Merciless” left a trail of battered and beaten opponents during a Hall of Fame career with the Chicago Bears. Then he did the same as a professional wrestler.
McMichael, a star defensive tackle on the Bears’ famed 1985 Super Bowl championship team who remained a fixture in the Windy City for decades, died Wednesday following a battle with ALS. He was 67.
McMichael died at Lightways Hospice in suburban Joliet, his publicist, Betsy Shepherd, told The Associated Press.
An All-Pro in 1985 and 1987, McMichael was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2024. He played in a franchise-record 191 consecutive games from 1981 to 1993 and ranks second to Richard Dent on the Bears’ career sacks list with 92 1/2. His final NFL season was with Green Bay in 1994.
McMichael’s brash personality and willingness to say whatever was on his mind made him a perfect fit for pro wrestling. He began working for World Championship Wrestling in the 1990s at the height of the Monday Night Wars with the World Wrestling Federation, starting as a color commentator and later joining Ric Flair in the “Four Horsemen” group.
McMichael revealed in April 2021 that he was battling ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, which affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, causing loss of muscle control.

“I promise you, this epitaph that I’m going to have on me now? This ain’t ever how I envisioned this was going to end,” McMichael told the Chicago Tribune.
McMichael had been experiencing tingling in his arms for some time, which he figured was a neck or spine issue stemming from his playing days or his work as a wrestler. A neurosurgeon at the Mayo Clinic suggested in September 2020 that he had ALS. McMichael sought other opinions, and in January 2021, doctors in Chicago confirmed the diagnosis.
Though he mostly retreated from public life following his announcement, photos posted on social media by family and friends showed his decline. McMichael went from a 270-pound giant who used to blast through blockers and drive wrestlers headfirst into the mat with the “Mongo spike” to someone who was rail-thin, bedridden and hooked up to machines as his body failed him.
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