Mark Rocco's Real Name: Mark Hussey

Quick answer: Mark Rocco's real name was Mark Hussey. He was born on May 11, 1951, in Manchester, England, and died on July 30, 2020. He wrestled as Mark "Rollerball" Rocco and as the original masked Black Tiger in New Japan Pro-Wrestling.

Hussey family and ring names

Slam Wrestling, WrestlingData, and British obituaries identify Mark Hussey—son of wrestler "Jumping" Jim Hussey—as the man billed Mark Rocco (Slam Wrestling; WrestlingData; Manchester Evening News). A fourth-generation grappler, he grew up around his father's gym near Prestwich/Simister and learned holds from veterans when Jim was on the road—even though his father initially opposed a wrestling career and preferred showjumping for his son.

He debuted around 1969–70, used the Continental ring name Rocco in France and Germany, then brought it home under Joint Promotions. ITV's World of Sport made him a Saturday-afternoon heel fans loved to hate. He won the British Heavy Middleweight Championship from Bert Royal (1977 era reporting) and traded the title in televised wars with Marty Jones. Later he dominated world heavy-middleweight billing through the 1980s, including a knockout win over Joel de Fremery on UK television. Feuds with Dynamite Kid, Clive Myers, Kendo Nagasaki, and Sammy Lee (Satoru Sayama) defined British light-heavyweight television of the period.

Black Tiger and later life

In New Japan he was the first Black Tiger, feuding under the mask with Sayama's Tiger Mask and helping put junior-heavyweight wrestling on the international map. Dave Meltzer and UK historians long ranked him among Britain's best workers of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Contemporary UK coverage also credits a WWF junior-heavyweight title win at Madison Square Garden while he worked as Black Tiger. Heart problems ended his full-time career around 1990–91 after doctors found an abnormal heartbeat and fitted a pacemaker; he retired from the grind in his late thirties.

After the ring he lived partly in Tenerife, ran local businesses, and raised charity funds through Lions Club work. He briefly mentored talent (including a TNA British boot-camp role) and presented belts to rising stars such as Brian Danielson. Hussey died on July 30, 2020, in a Warrington care home after years with vascular dementia; his family later organized benefits for childhood dementia charities (Manchester Evening News). Sons Rich and Jono competed in boxing—keeping the family's combat sports thread alive under the Rocco/Hussey legacy.

British wrestling / World of Sport history books Tiger Mask era NJPW DVD anthologies Dynamite Kid biographies mentioning UK rivals