Officials: Professional Wrestler Died Of Accidental Overdose

BALTIMORE (AP) -- Officials say a Baltimore-born professional wrestler best known for competing in Extreme Championship Wrestling during the 1990s died from an accidental overdose earlier this month.

The Baltimore Sun reports Baltimore's Chief Medical Examiner Office announced Axl Rotten's cause of death.

Police said in a report that 44-year-old Rotten, who was born Brian Knighton, was found unconscious and not breathing Feb. 4 on the bathroom floor of a Linthicum fast-food restaurant.

He was pronounced dead at the scene.

In a statement after his death, WWE, the wrestling company which owns ECW, extended its condolences to Knighton's family, friends and fans.

The newspaper reported in 2005 that Rotten was known "for the extremes he would go to in the ring, including mutilating himself in matches involving barbed wire and broken glass."

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