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Post by topdollar on Feb 21, 2017 13:30:08 GMT -5
Ivan Koloff was without a doubt the best kayfabe Russian in wrestling history. I'll always remember NWA World Tag Team Champs Ivan and Nikita Koloff vs. AWA World Tag Team Champs the Road Warriors. RIP Russian Bear.
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Post by jimsteel on Feb 22, 2017 21:26:03 GMT -5
 slam.canoe.com/Slam/Wrestling/2017/02/22/22705969.htmlThe Hamilton Spectator broke the news today of the death of John Croitoru -- Johnny K-9 and Bruiser Bedlam to wrestling fans. He died in a Toronto halfway house, though details of his passing are not clear as of yet. He had only recently been released from a prison in British Columbia. Susan Clairmont reported that Croitoru died at the Keele Community Correctional Centre in Toronto's west end. He was 53 years old, and survived by a wife and three children back in B.C. Hamilton, Ontario was the long-time home for Croitoru, and where he broke into professional wrestling, training with Nick DeCarlo and Vic Rossitani. Since WWF taped its broadcasts at static locations like the Brantford, Ontario, arena, or Poughkeepsie, NY, K-9 found lots of work as enhancement talent. He was well-remembered by fans for dropping to his knees, crossing his arms, and bellowing. Outside of his work doing jobs for bigger names in WWF, Croitoru had his biggest run with Jim Cornette's Smoky Mountain Wrestling, where he was known as Bruiser Bedlam. Starting in April 1994, he was given a monster push in SMW, arriving as a mystery opponent who beat Bob Armstrong. He stuck around roughly a year. He also was briefly in Stampede Wrestling in Calgary in 1986, when Bruce Hart renamed him Terrible Turk Oran Tugdekyn, and the program promoted him as such: "Known throughout wrestling centres in the world as the Terrible Turk, Oran Tugdekyn arrives in Western Canada with a reputation as a brutal and unpredictable grappler who shows little regard for his opponents." Croitoru promoted wrestling shows in Hamilton in the late 1980s as well. Away from the ring, Croitoru was in trouble with the law throughout his life, including running with a bike gang in Hamilton. He spent time in a B.C. prison for conspiring to commit murder as a part of a 2008 gang war, and conspiring to traffic in cocaine and marijuana, following a 2013 sentencing. He was released in late 2016 and was on statutory release, and subject to constant supervision. The most notorious case, though, was still outstanding. Hamilton Police believed that Croitoru was involved in the 1998 murder of criminal defence lawyer Lynn Gilbank and her husband Fred. Clairmont detailed the rest in her Spectator article: "In 2005, Andre Gravelle was arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder. Croitoru, known as an enforcer for the Gravelle family, was charged with two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of conspiracy to commit murder. The following year, the Crown withdrew the charges against both men, saying there was no likelihood of conviction." |
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Post by jimsteel on Feb 24, 2017 19:15:50 GMT -5
 Bruiser" Bob Sweetan, known as Mr. Piledriver as the babyface star of Southwest Championship Wrestling and rival of Tully Blanchard during the company's 1982-83 run on the USA Network, died on February 10th. Sweetan, born Robert Beier, was a noted tough guy, who was also very much of a bully, and a loner. He also worked under the name K.O. Cox. He had a regular tag team at one time with a brother, Fred Sweetan, whose real name was Fred Prosser. His most famous run in San Antonio, because of the national exposure, was an anomaly, since he was an ugly brawling heel most of his career. But during his biggest exposure he played the part of the blue collar brawler type from nearby Round Rock, TX, going against Blanchard, who played the role of a young rich playboy type. He was 76 years old. |
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Post by TTX on Feb 24, 2017 19:28:27 GMT -5
I'm waiting for him to be added by that lawyer to the WWE lawsuit.
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Post by jimsteel on Mar 7, 2017 14:03:23 GMT -5
 Tom Jones, a star in a number of territories during the 70s and 80s, passed away yesterday. We don't have details available past he had serious health problems for years and had been suffering from dementia. Jones wrestled regularly from 1965 to 1988. He was probably best known in the Leroy McGuirk territory, where he formed a championship tag team with Billy "Red Lyons" in 1971 and 1972. He also held championships in the Amarillo territory under a mask as The Gladiator, in Georgia, California, the Pacific Northwest, Florida, Alabama, and for Southwest Championship Wrestling. He worked frequently as part of a tag team, known for his hot tags, with partners like Lyons, Mando Guerrero, Mr. Wrestling (Gordon Nelson), and S.D. Jones (who were often billed as the Jones Boys). In the latter part of his career, he wrestled under a mask as Mr. Ebony, part of Devastation Incorporated, managed by Skandor Akbar, often wrestling against the Von Erich brothers. |
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Post by jimsteel on Mar 7, 2017 19:52:35 GMT -5
 Outlaw Ron Bass passes Away at 68 "Outlaw" Ron Bass, who wrestled from 1971 to 1989, and had a prominent run in the WWF, has died in Florida. He had been hospitalized last week with an apparent burst appendix, and died on Tuesday. |
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Post by throwingtoasters on Mar 7, 2017 20:05:37 GMT -5
Wow. Sorry to hear about Ron Bass. He was a little scary to me as a kick, especially when he attacked Beefcake with the spurs.
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Post by TTX on Mar 7, 2017 20:45:10 GMT -5
RIP to both of them. Bass is one of those guys I like more now than I ever did as a kid.
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Post by cruefan68 on Mar 8, 2017 0:48:10 GMT -5
Wow we have had so many deaths in wrestling already this year. Really sorry to hear about Tom Jones and Ron Bass. I saw Bass more and always enjoyed watching him in Florida, the Mid-Atlantic and later WWE. He and J.J. Dillon made a great wrestler-manager combo. I remember Mr. Ebony in World Class but was unaware until now that it was Jones. RIP to both men.
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Post by aceldamas on Mar 8, 2017 11:28:16 GMT -5
Wow we have had so many deaths in wrestling already this year. Really sorry to hear about Tom Jones and Ron Bass. I saw Bass more and always enjoyed watching him in Florida, the Mid-Atlantic and later WWE. He and J.J. Dillon made a great wrestler-manager combo. I remember Mr. Ebony in World Class but was unaware until now that it was Jones. RIP to both men. I didn't know Jones was Mr. Ebony either. Ebony was in the PNW territory for a while so I saw him quite a few times. I have a fond memory regarding him. After the matches were over one night in my town, some friends and I snuck around back and boosted our smallest friend up to look into the window of the heel locker room. He freaked out and jumped down yelling "Run!" Once we were a distance away, we asked what he saw. "Mr. Ebony without his mask! And he saw me!" It was like our lives were in danger for seeing his face. That's how well kayfabe worked back in the day. LOL |
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