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WWA World Tag Team Championship
The WWA World Tag Team Championship was the primary tag team title in the Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...-based World Wrestling Association from the promotion's formation in 1964 until the late 1980s when the promotion closed. Title history References {{Reflist Tag team wrestling championships ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World Wrestling Association (Indianapolis)
The World Wrestling Association was an Indianapolis-based professional wrestling promotion which was operated by Dick the Bruiser and his business partner Wilbur Snyder. It was affiliated with the larger American Wrestling Association and recognized its champions, along with its own and those of the Indianapolis-based Powerful Women of Wrestling. It ran from 1964 to 1989. History The World Wrestling Association (WWA), operating under the legal name Championship Wrestling of Indiana, Inc., was established in 1964 by William Afflis and Wilbur Snyder. The duo purchased the Indianapolis NWA promotion in 1964 from its longtime owner Jim Barnett, who at that time was attempting to start up a promotion in Australia. The name of the promotion was taken from the former promotions in the Chicago and Los Angeles areas. In 1965, the WWA purchased the Chicago-based Fred Kohler Enterprises from Fred Kohler. In May of the same year, the promotion ceased promoting events in Detroit. The prom ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blackjack Lanza
John Mortl Lanzo (October 14, 1935 – December 8, 2021) was an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Blackjack Lanza. Along with his long-term tag team partner, Blackjack Mulligan, Lanza was one-half of The Blackjacks: "black cowboy hat-wearing, cowboy boot-stomping, rugged hombres who drew money wherever they went". From the 1960s to 1980s, Lanza wrestled for promotions such as the American Wrestling Association, World Wrestling Association, and the World Wide Wrestling Federation, winning the AWA World Tag Team Championship, WWA World Tag Team Championship, and WWWF World Tag Team Championship alongside Mulligan. He is a member of the WWE Hall of Fame and the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame. Early life Lanza was born on October 14, 1935 to William Lanza and Louise Mortl, and attended the University of Minnesota, where he worked as a sociology teacher. Professional wrestling career Early career (1961–1962) Originating from Minneapo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rick McGraw
Richard McGraw (March 19, 1955 – November 1, 1985) was an American professional wrestler, best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) under the ring name "Quickdraw" Rick McGraw from 1980 until his death in 1985. Rick was a wrestler at Elon College 1973-74. Professional wrestling career McGraw began his career in 1975 in the Florida area. He adopted the nickname "Quickdraw" in reference to the cartoon character Quick Draw McGraw. He competed in the Mid-Atlantic region a couple of years later before entering the World Wrestling Federation. McGraw defeated enhancement talent, but mostly put over heels that were ready to challenge WWF champion Bob Backlund. He also competed on the Showdown at Shea show in August 1980, losing to Greg Gagne. McGraw left the WWF and competed for various regional territories of the National Wrestling Alliance. He was one-half of The New York Dolls with The Dream Machine (managed by Jimmy Hart) in the World Wrest ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steve Regal
Steve Regal (born August 25, 1951) is an American retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with the American Wrestling Association. Professional wrestling career Born in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, Regal started wrestling in 1977 and later achieved his biggest success in the American Wrestling Association (AWA) during the mid-1980s. During his tenure there, Regal defeated Buck Zumhofe for the AWA World Light Heavyweight Championship in 1984. In 1985, the AWA began teaming him with "Gorgeous" Jimmy Garvin and, with the help of the Fabulous Freebirds, defeated The Road Warriors to win the tag title. Regal and Garvin lost the tag title to Curt Hennig and Scott Hall four months later. Regal also made appearances with World Class Championship Wrestling during this time period, challenging Brian Adias for the Texas Heavyweight Title. The pair then signed to wrestle with the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA)'s Pacific Northwest Wrestling, where he held the NWA ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Igor Volkoff
Pierre Lafleur (born February 13, 1939) is a former French Canadian professional wrestler who is best known for his appearances with the World Wide Wrestling Federation under the ring name Lumberjack Pierre where he was the half of The Yukon Lumberjacks. Professional Wreslting Career Early Career (1966-1975) Lafluer joined Dick the Bruiser's WWA in 1966 where he wrestled as a Russian Igor Volkoff. He left the territory in 1969. In 1972 he worked for International Wrestling Enterprise in Japan as Buffalo Zarnoff. Also he worked in Portland, Vancouver, Montreal and Minnesota. Various Promotions (1975–1978) Lafleur made his debut in 1975 in the San Francisco territory of NWA as Soldier Lebeouf. He was not successful in San Francisco territory, so he left it after a short time. He wrestled with Nick Gulas and Jerry Jarrett in CWA Memphis as The Russian Stomper. He used the same gimmick in Jim Crockett's Mid-Atlantic territory. He returned to Indianapolis, where the first fame ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dominic Denucci
Domenico A. Nucciarone (January 23, 1932 – August 12, 2021) was an Italian-American professional wrestler and trainer better known under his ring name of Dominic DeNucci. He held over a dozen championships around the world in the 1960s and 1970s. His wrestling students included Mick Foley, Shane Douglas and Brian Hildebrand.Foley, Mick. Have A Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks (p.66-68, 80) Professional wrestling career Early career (1958–1964) He made his pro wrestling debut in 1958 in Montreal, Quebec under a hood as the Masked Marvel and also wrestled in Ottawa, Ontario. In 1959, DeNucci started teaming with the original Dino Bravo as Dominic Bravo, a storyline/kayfabe brother as the two worked as a tag team in Canada throughout The Maritimes, Toronto, Ontario, and Winnipeg, Manitoba. They also worked in Cleveland and Buffalo. The team headed west for Calgary wrestling for Stampede Wrestling starting in 1962. DeNucci would keep the Bravo name until he left Stampede ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Big John Studd
John William Minton (February 19, 1948 – March 20, 1995) was an American professional wrestler and actor, better known by his ring name, Big John Studd. Studd is best known for his appearances with the World Wide Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Federation in the 1970s and 1980s. Studd held a number of championships over his career, including the NWA American Heavyweight Championship, NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Championship, and WWF World Tag Team Championship, and was the winner of the 1989 Royal Rumble. He was posthumously inducted into the WCW Hall of Fame in 1995 and the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2004. Early life Studd joined the United States Army and served as a military police officer. Professional wrestling career Early career (1972) Studd was trained by Killer Kowalski. He debuted in 1972 under the ring name "The Mighty Minton", wrestling on the Los Angeles NWA Hollywood Wrestling, where he formed a tag team with "Superstar" Billy Graham. World Wide Wre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zarinoff Lebeouf
Pierre Lafleur (born February 13, 1939) is a former French Canadian professional wrestler who is best known for his appearances with the World Wide Wrestling Federation under the ring name Lumberjack Pierre where he was the half of The Yukon Lumberjacks. Professional Wreslting Career Early Career (1966-1975) Lafluer joined Dick the Bruiser's WWA in 1966 where he wrestled as a Russian Igor Volkoff. He left the territory in 1969. In 1972 he worked for International Wrestling Enterprise in Japan as Buffalo Zarnoff. Also he worked in Portland, Vancouver, Montreal and Minnesota. Various Promotions (1975–1978) Lafleur made his debut in 1975 in the San Francisco territory of NWA as Soldier Lebeouf. He was not successful in San Francisco territory, so he left it after a short time. He wrestled with Nick Gulas and Jerry Jarrett in CWA Memphis as The Russian Stomper. He used the same gimmick in Jim Crockett's Mid-Atlantic territory. He returned to Indianapolis, where the first fame ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rene Goulet
Robert Bédard (July 12, 1932 – May 25, 2019) was a Canadian professional wrestler. better known by his ring name, the "Number One Frenchman" Rene Goulet. Early life Robert Bedard was born on July 12, 1932 in Quebec City and played hockey as a defenseman, and nearly dying after an opponent’s skate cut into his throat. In addition to hockey, Bedard trained as a bodybuilder and a boxer, but decided to try out wrestling after another boxer warned him he’d be "punch-drunk" by the time he was 25. Professional wrestling career Goulet began his career in Quebec City, Quebec, in 1957, with his first match being against Gerard Dugas. Bedard adopted his ring name Rene Goulet when he began working in Verne Gagne and Wally Karbo’s Minneapolis territory. Gagne and Karbo changed Bedard’s name to capitalize on his good looks (and the popularity of singer Robert Goulet). Despite not knowing English, he succeeded, and he and his wife would both work hard to learn the language. He ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pepper Gomez
José "Joseph" Serapio Palimino Gomez (April 21, 1927 – May 6, 2004) was an American professional wrestler and bodybuilder, better known by his ring name, Pepper Gomez. Known for his exceptional abdominal muscles, he would allow rivals to perform stunts such as jumping onto his stomach from the top of a ladder or driving a Volkswagen Beetle over his stomach, earning him the nickname "The Man with the Cast Iron Stomach". He wrestled as a blue-collar Latino babyface. Early life Gomez was born in Los Angeles, California in 1927. While at high school, he competed at football, gymnastics and track. He attended Los Angeles City College, where he played football as a fullback. Bodybuilding career In 1947, Gomez began participating in bodybuilding. His training partners included Armand Tanny and Joe Gold. He took part in a series of bodybuilding competitions over the next five years, winning the "Muscle Beach, Mr. Muscle Beach" contest in Santa Monica, California in 1950. In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johnny Valiant
John L. Sullivan (born Thomas Sullivan; November 25, 1946 – April 4, 2018) was an American professional wrestler and manager, better known by his ring name, Johnny Valiant. He competed in the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF), which became the World Wrestling Federation during his time with the promotion. He won the World Tag Team Championship two times. The first run (which lasted over a year) was with his first and most famous storyline brother Jimmy Valiant over Tony Garea and Dean Ho on May 8, 1974; his second title run was with his second storyline brother Jerry Valiant over Tony Garea and Larry Zbyszko on March 6, 1979. Professional wrestling career Sullivan grew up in Pittsburgh's North Hills suburb, not far from wrestling champion Bruno Sammartino. After asking for advice on how to become a professional wrestler, Sullivan became close friends with Sammartino and began his career in the Detroit territory wrestling, refereeing and working the ring crew for the w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jimmy Valiant
James Harold Fanning (born August 6, 1942) is an American professional wrestler better known by his ring name Jimmy Valiant. Early life Fanning was born in Tullahoma as the youngest of five children of James and Effie Fanning. He later incorporated the names of his four sisters – Louise, Christine, Charlena and Patrica – into the spider web tattoo on his upper arm. Professional wrestling career Fanning started wrestling in 1964 as "Big Jim Vallen". He went to the World Wide Wrestling Federation in the 1970s as "Handsome Jimmy Valiant" and formed a team with Johnny Valiant that would dominate the tag team scene for a while as WWWF Tag Team champions. In the later 1960s in the WWA, they were managed by Bobby Heenan. Valiant had entered the WWWF in 1971 as a babyface, originally known as "Gentleman Jim Valiant," but quickly switched to heel. He had title matches against champion Pedro Morales in secondary arenas, such as Philadelphia, and feuded with short-term tag partner ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
