After battling pneumonia and a blood infection over the last few months, Robert Lawrence Horne, better known to wrestling fans as Mo or Sir Mo of Men On A Mission, died Sunday night. He was 58.
In the early ’90s, at a time when there were only so many Black wrestlers on WWF television, Men On A Mission felt like Vince McMahon’s answer to the growing hip-hop scene, pairing the 6’9″ Mabel with Mo, who stood 6’1″, alongside their homie Oscar, who was always down for a funky fresh rhyme.
This was ’93 (but not ’til infinity), and the brothers (who were usually laced in purple or gold) played to the style of wrestling that was popular at the time, to some form of success. Not only did Oscar win an “Best Entertainer” Slammy Award in 1994, but Mabel won the 1995 King of the Ring, which led to him being called King Mabel, with Mo transitioning more to that of a homie or manager; this is why y’all are calling him “Sir Mo.”
Similar to The New Day, Mabel, Oscar, and Mo—aka Men On a Mission—were heels who later transitioned to babyfaces, and they lived that in their gimmick—they were like the brothers who used to run the streets, but had their “come to Jesus” moment and started acting right. It worked, leading them to a two-day reign as WWF World Tag Team Champions, winning the titles at a house show in London on March 29, 1994. While their title win was never televised, it did get announced on WWF TV.
After leaving the WWE, Men On A Mission returned to the USWA in Memphis (where they wrestled as the Harlem Knights prior to their WWE debut), and while Mabel was able to return to WWE and find a second wrestling life as Viscera, Mo kept it to Memphis, working solo in USWA and throughout Tennessee, even forming MOM 2K, a tag team that won the UCW Tag Team Championship back in 2015.
In his later years he ran SOAR Championship Wrestling alongside his wife, Denise Jones, which helped put on for upcoming independent wrestlers in Texas.
Mo had dealt with health issues in the later years of his life, after receiving a kidney transplant in 2018. Mo was active on social media, keeping fans abreast to his progress via Instagram on a regular basis, as well as selling t-shirts on Pro Wrestling Tees.
Everyone at the Black Rasslin’ Podcast would like to send out deepest condolences to Mo’s family. Rest in peace, Mo.