Posted on 10/06/126 by DMV Wrestling News
Jeff Miller, the veteran independent wrestler known as Metal
Maniac, died over the weekend. He was 66.
The Cauliflower Alley Club announced Miller’s death Friday.
A cause of death was not disclosed. Miller had reportedly
been ill before his death.
Miller spent much of his career on the Northeast independent
wrestling circuit and was perhaps best known for his long
association with Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka.
The two wrestled each other regularly on independent shows
during the latter part of Snuka’s career. Miller also
traveled with Snuka and helped make sure he got to his
bookings. Dave Meltzer wrote in the Wrestling Observer that
Miller “worked everywhere with Snuka.”
Miller began wrestling in the early 1990s after training
with Snuka, Don Muraco and Siva Afi. He appeared for Eastern
Championship Wrestling in 1992, before the Philadelphia
promotion became Extreme Championship Wrestling.
His ECW appearances included a challenge of Muraco for the
ECW Heavyweight Championship in 1993 and a match against The
Sandman at NWA Bloodfest later that year.
Miller also worked for promotions throughout the Northeast,
including East Coast Professional Wrestling, NWA New Jersey,
World Xtreme Wrestling and Maryland’s Mid-Eastern Wrestling
Federation, the predecessor to MCW Pro Wrestling. He also
appeared at Global Wrestling Federation television tapings
in Dallas.
Professional wrestling journalist Bill Apter remembered
Miller as a close friend.
“So sad another wrestling close friend of mine has died,”
Apter wrote on Facebook. “He was a gem of a person and a
dear friend.”
Brian Heffron, better known as The Blue Meanie, also
remembered Miller as someone he encountered regularly on the
Northeast wrestling circuit.
“A mainstay of wrestling in the northeast,” Heffron wrote.
“I got to share many a locker room with him.”
Miller’s Metal Maniac character drew from his background in
music. He played bass, and his family owned a recording
studio in New Jersey. He incorporated heavy metal music and
face paint into his wrestling persona.
He continued making wrestling appearances for decades.
Miller was still wrestling for East Coast Professional
Wrestling in 2018 and received an Independent Wrestling
Lifetime Achievement Award from ISPW promoter Tommy Fierro
in 2022.
Miller had lived in Hawaii in recent years.
“Jeff was part of the fabric of our wrestling community,”
the Cauliflower Alley Club said in announcing his death.