Family of wrestling legend Mark 'Rollerball' Rocco to host charity night to raise funds for kids with dementia

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

The family of wrestling legend Mark 'Rollerball' Rocco - who died aged 69 after being struck down by dementia in his last years - is organising a glitzy charity evening to raise funds to help kids with the childhood form of the devastating disease.

His family, friends and stars of the wrestling world paid tribute to him after he died at a car home in Warrington in 2020. He had been suffering with vascular dementia for the last three years of his life.

Now - delayed by the pandemic - his family is organising an evening to remember Mark and to raise money for the Batten Disease Family Association (BDFA) - Batten disease is a devastating degenerative condition known as the childhood form of dementia. Up to 150 children in the UK are thought to be living with the disease.

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Raised in Simister near Prestwich, Mark, real name Mark Hussey, became a wrestling legend and a Saturday afternoon TV star - the baddie grapple fans loved to hate. He is credited with paving the way for the the mega-bucks entertainment behemoth that is WWE.

He turned professional in 1969 and became a huge star in Japan, the first to adopt the Black Tiger character whose ring feud with Tiger Mask made him a household name in the Far East.

Hussey went on to become a household name here in the UK too, fighting as Mark 'Rollerball' Rocco every Saturday lunchtime on ITV's World of Sport hosted by Dickie Davies. His ring nemeses were Oldham wrestler Marty Jones and Wigan fighter, Dynamite Kid - and their TV duels made him a star.

Long before WWE in the US made world stars of wrestlers like Dwayne Johnson and Mark's good friend Hulk Hogan, he helped bring wrestling to