Author: Anthony Brennan

Mike Jones better know to wrestling fans as Virgil and Vincent who was born on June 13, 1962, passed away on February 27, 2024 at 61 years old after a series of strokes.

Jones who was born in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania was a standout in both football and wrestling for Virginia union univeristy. After finishing school Jones entered bodybuilding where he met Tony Atlas who convinced him to get trained as a pro wrestler by the wild samoans(Afa and SIka)

Jones started out wrestling in Pennsylvania and Ohio and Maryland as Luscious Brown. It was as Luscious Brown that Jones made his WWF debute in a loss to Paul Orndorff.

IT was in Memphis  where he gained his first break and gained experience as soul Train Jones, a character based on Apollo Creed from Rocky. It was in where Jones teamed with Rocky Johnson, won multiple titles and became a huge fan favorite. Jones would later leave Memphis for a brief stint in Maro Savoldis ICW, where he continued using the Soul Train Jones gimmick before going to the WWF  in 1987.

When Virgil arrived in the WWF he took on the role of part time wrestler and full-time bodyguard to Ted Dibiase. He was given the name Virgil to mock Dusty Rhodes, whose real name is Virgil.

Virgil got his big break in the WWF in 1991 when he beat  his old boss Ted Dibiase at Wrestlemania 7 for the million dollar title. Although Wrestlemania 7 was the highlight of Jones career, he remained a WWF regular until 1994, and was used as a fill-in during 1995, A testitiment to how much the WWF felt they could count on Jones.

Jones had a brief stint on the independents, where Jones managed to stay in the spotlight. During this stint Jones wrestled for the NWC in Las Vegas. It was there,where Jones wrestled Jim Neidhart while he wore A KKK costume.

In 1995 gained his next big break when The Godfather and WCW couldn’t agree on money, for the role of NWO bodyguard, and again Jones made the most of it. This led to Jones being signed by WCW, for a similar role that Jones had when he first entered the WWF.

Jones entered the WCW as part-time wrestler and full-time bodyguard for the NWO, this time using the name Vincent, to mock Vince McMahon. Jones wrestling increased when he joined the NWO B team, and Jones would later join the West Texas Rednecks as Curly Bill.  Barry Whindham has said that “to eliminate any perception of racism from the group”! 

Jones saw an increased role when Vince Russo took over WCW, when Jones joined Russo’s creative control and adopted the name Shane. Jones would end his WCW run  using his own name Mike Jones in 2000, ending a run that lasted almost five years, 

After his WCW release Jones wrestled for many, performing in front of audiences in Japan, South Korea, Canada,Guam, Germany and Austria. 

Through twitter Jones brought himself back into the spotlight with over the top tweets. This led Jones back to the wrestling mainstream. From 2019-20Jones made several appearances an AEW all-elite wrestling as Mike Jones, as a non-wrestling member of Chris Jerichos inner-circle.

During an 2020 interview on Hannibal TV, a very humble, soft-spoken Jones laughe and explained that he was not tech-savy and didn’t know how to use twitter. Jones hired someone who did an amazing job bringing Jones back in the spotlight. 

Jones will always be known as one of the all-time great utility players. A performer who was extremely reliable and dependable, and did the best he could in what ever role he was given. Jones long stints with both WWF and WCW showed how great of a performer Mike Jones truly was.