On 23 August 1987, Kirk died following a tag team match between Kirk and King Kendo against Big Daddy and Greg Valentine at the Hippodrome in Great Yarmouth. The match took place as part of a storyline where Kirk was feuding with Big Daddy. He told his wife when he left his house the day he was due to wrestle the match: "I don't want to go; I hate this job". The match lasted for fifteen minutes. The finish of the match was Big Daddy performing his "Big Daddy Splashdown" finisher on Kirk, where he would jump up and land horizontally across his opponent's chest (which is commonly known as a splash), and hold Kirk down for the pinfall. After pinning Kirk to win the match, Big Daddy got up but Kirk remained on the canvass and started to turn purple. Big Daddy noticed there was something wrong and told his cornerman. The promoter Max Crabtree and others got into the ring and attempted CPR. However, because of Kirk's size, they and the St John's Ambulance personnel present were unable to work Kirk's chest. The ring had to be dismantled, with eight men required to get Kirk on a stretcher and into the ambulance but he was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital.