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World Championship Wrestling (Australia)
World Championship Wrestling was an Australian professional wrestling promotion that ran from 1964 until 1978. History The promotion gained publicity through television programs on the Nine Network, which were presented at noon on Saturdays and Sundays. An average of 6,500 people attended in the first three months of the promotion's existence, a crowd of 8,000 attended a show on 7 November in Melbourne when the first title change in the new promotion took place as Dominic De Nucci defeated Killer Kowalski. WCW also promoted throughout Southeast Asia, particularly in Singapore and Hong Kong. When WCW began operations in 1964, the promotion created the International Wrestling Alliance as a sanctioning body for WCW's original championships, the IWA World Heavyweight and World Tag Team Championships. WCW joined the National Wrestling Alliance in August 1969, but they continued to recognize the IWA World championships until 1971, when they were abandoned in favor of new NWA-sanctio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metropolitan area known as Greater Melbourne, comprising an urban agglomeration of 31 local municipalities, although the name is also used specifically for the local municipality of City of Melbourne based around its central business area. The metropolis occupies much of the northern and eastern coastlines of Port Phillip Bay and spreads into the Mornington Peninsula, part of West Gippsland, as well as the hinterlands towards the Yarra Valley, the Dandenong and Macedon Ranges. It has a population over 5 million (19% of the population of Australia, as per 2021 census), mostly residing to the east side of the city centre, and its inhabitants are commonly referred to as "Melburnians". The area of Melbourne has been home to Aboriginal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abdullah The Butcher
Lawrence Robert Shreve (born January 11, 1941), better known by the ring name Abdullah the Butcher, is a Canadian retired professional wrestler. He has a reputation for being involved in some of the most violent and bloody hardcore wrestling matches of all time. Over his time in wrestling he was given the moniker of "Madman from Sudan". One of Shreve's trademarks is a series of divot-like scars on his head that he has due to excessive use of blading during his career. The scars are so deep that, according to Mick Foley, Shreve is able to put gambling chips into them. An amateur martial artist, Shreve also has knowledge of judo and karate, often including this knowledge in his wrestling matches through throws and chops. Early life Shreve was born on January 11, 1941 and raised in Windsor, Ontario, as part of a family of ten people in a deeply impoverished household. He learned karate and judo as a youth and, teaching fellow children in the backyard, claims to have eventually ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bugsy McGraw
Michael Davis (born November 1, 1945), best known as Bugsy McGraw, is a retired American professional wrestler. He also wrestled under the name The Skull. He is not to be confused with the other wrestler named Mike Davis. McGraw is known for his long beard and for his philosophical, crazed rants during wrestling interviews. He was a major star in significant territories during the 1970s and 1980s, including major runs in Vancouver, Australia, Florida, Dallas and Memphis. Professional wrestling career Career in the 1960s and 1970s Davis started his career as The Big "O" in 1967 in Florida, Detroit, and Central Areas Wrestling, wrestling under a mask. In 1971, he competed in Florida as Beautiful Brutus, first managed by The Great Malenko (aka Boris Malenko), who he would go on to feud with after firing Malenko as his manager. "Beautiful Brutus" went on to defeat Malenko for the Brass Knuckles title in the Florida territory. Their feud led to a bloody series of matches across the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brute Bernard
James Prudhomme (June 6, 1921 – July 14, 1984), was a Canadian professional wrestler, better known by the ring names Brute Bernard or Jim 'Brute' Bernhard. He spent much of his career wrestling as part of a tag team with Skull Murphy. He competed for several wrestling promotions associated with the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). He also worked for the Australia-based World Championship Wrestling (WCW) as well as the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF). He died of a gunshot while cleaning a rifle in 1984. Career Early career Bernard was discovered by wrestling promoter Jack Britton, who convinced him to become a wrestler. He made his debut in 1957, competing in Ontario. He initially wrestled under his real name, but he later took on the name Brute Bernard. He also competed as in Detroit for a promotion run by Ed Farhat. He teamed up with fellow Canadian wrestler Skull Murphy throughout the 1960s. Their first championship came on May 16, 1963, when they won the WWWF Unite ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blackjack Slade
Blackjack (formerly Black Jack and Vingt-Un) is a casino banking game. The most widely played casino banking game in the world, it uses decks of 52 cards and descends from a global family of casino banking games known as Twenty-One. This family of card games also includes the British game of Pontoon, the European game, Vingt-et-Un and the Russian game Ochko. Blackjack players do not compete against each other. The game is a comparing card game where each player competes against the dealer. History Blackjack's immediate precursor was the English version of '' twenty-one'' called ''Vingt-Un'', a game of unknown (but likely Spanish) provenance. The first written reference is found in a book by the Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes. Cervantes was a gambler, and the protagonists of his " Rinconete y Cortadillo", from '' Novelas Ejemplares'', are card cheats in Seville. They are proficient at cheating at ''veintiuna'' (Spanish for "twenty-one") and state that the object of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Quinn (wrestler)
John Arthur Quinn (October 15, 1941 – April 22, 2019) was a Canadian professional wrestler. He was best known for his appearances in the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) under the ring name The Kentucky Butcher in the late-1960s, where he challenged then WWWF World Heavyweight Champion Bruno Sammartino on several occasions, including a 1968 main event at Madison Square Garden. In addition to his appearances in the WWWF, Quinn performed under his birth name for North American regional promotions including NWA All-Star Wrestling, Pacific Northwest Wrestling and Stampede Wrestling from the early 1960s to early 1970s. During his later career, he also appeared in European and Japanese organizations from the 1970s until the late 1980s. A popular "heel" in Great Britain during this time, he held the British World Heavyweight Championship a record four times between 1980 and 1986. Professional wrestling career Early career (1961–1967) A native of Hamilton, Ontario, Quinn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Art Nelson
Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of what constitutes art, and its interpretation has varied greatly throughout history and across cultures. In the Western tradition, the three classical branches of visual art are painting, sculpture, and architecture. Theatre, dance, and other performing arts, as well as literature, music, film and other media such as interactive media, are included in a broader definition of the arts. Until the 17th century, ''art'' referred to any skill or mastery and was not differentiated from crafts or sciences. In modern usage after the 17th century, where aesthetic considerations are paramount, the fine arts are separated and distinguished from acquired skills in general, such as the decorative or applied arts. The nature of art and related concepts, such ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apache Bull Ramos
Manuel Ramos (August 3, 1937 – May 27, 2006) was an American professional wrestler, better known as Apache Bull Ramos. From his debut in 1956 until the 1970s, he primarily worked as a heel and had notable feuds with Bruno Sammartino, Dutch Savage, Jimmy Snuka, Terry Funk, and Mil Máscaras. He traveled to Japan, Korea, and Australia to wrestle. Professional wrestling career Ramos grew up in Houston and attended wrestling matches with his uncle and father. In the early 1960s, his uncle suggested that Ramos enter the profession. He, however, was boxing at the time and turned down the idea. He later met Paul Boesch, a wrestling promoter, who helped him get into wrestling. He entered the professional wrestling business in 1964 and was trained by Danny McShain, Cyclone Anaya, and David Weinstein. In Los Angeles, he feuded with Mil Mascaras. It culminated in a Hair vs Mask match, which Ramos lost, causing him to have his head shaved. He later had a short run in the World Wide W ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antonio Pugliese
Antonio Pugliese (January 22, 1941 – August 19, 2000), better known by his ring name, Tony Parisi, was a Canadian professional wrestler. He won tag team championships in several promotions, including the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF). With Louis Cerdan, he held the WWWF World Tag Team Championship from 1975 to 1976. As a singles wrestler, he also won the WWF International Heavyweight Championship. After retiring from wrestling, Pugliese continued to work in the industry and also operated a hotel and restaurant. He died in 2000 from an aneurysm. Professional wrestling career Early career (1961 - 1966) Pugliese made his professional wrestling debut in Detroit, Michigan in 1961. He soon began competing in Canada, where he was a popular babyface (fan favorite) wrestler. In one of his first matches, he faced Gino Brito, who later became his long-time tag team partner. Pugliese and Brito moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 1962 to wrestle in a promotion operated by N ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Angelo Savoldi
Mario Louis Fornini (April 21, 1914 – September 20, 2013) was an Italian/American professional wrestler and wrestling promoter, better known professionally as Angelo Savoldi. At the time of his death, he was known as the world's oldest retired wrestler at the age of 99. Early life Fornini was born in Castrocielo, Italy in 1914. At the age of five, he and his family moved to the United States, where they lived in Hoboken, New Jersey. As a child, Fornini was reportedly friends with Frank Sinatra. He first began to wrestle at A. J. Demarest High School (since replaced by Hoboken High School), but left during the Great Depression to get a job cutting metal at the Cleveland Container. Professional wrestling career Fornini's brother Lou was a professional wrestler in New York, and so Fornini approached New York promoter Jack Pfefer. Pfefer christened him "Angelo Savoldi", and, billed as the brother of Joe Savoldi, he began wrestling in 1937. By 1938, Savoldi was regularly wrestling ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andreas Lambrakis
Andreas Lambrakis (Greek: Ανδρέας Λαμπράκης) was a professional wrestler from Greece. Billed as a former "Greek Heavyweight Champion" he was active in Australia during the 1950s and 1960s, and also competed in the World Wide Wrestling Federation. He was a mentor to the new up and coming Greek wrestler who would famously be called Spiros Arion Spiros Arion ( el, Σπύρος Αρίων) born Spyridon Manousakis ( el, Σπυρίδων Μανουσάκης) (born September 1940) is an Egyptian-born Greek former professional wrestler who had an extensive and successful career, mainly in ... who at the start of his career billed himself as the son of Lambrakis. In 1964, he scored several significant wins in Toronto. Championships and accomplishments *Other titles **Greek Heavyweight Championship (1 time) **European Heavyweight Championship (1 time) References {{DEFAULTSORT:Lambrakis, Andreas Australian male professional wrestlers Greek male professional wrest ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
André The Giant
André René Roussimoff (; 19 May 1946 – 28 January 1993), better known by his ring name André the Giant, was a French professional wrestler and actor. Roussimoff was known for his great size, which was a result of gigantism caused by excess growth hormone. It also led to him being called "The Eighth Wonder of the World". Beginning his career in 1966, Roussimoff relocated to North America in 1971. From 1973 to the mid-1980s, Roussimoff was booked by World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) promoter Vincent J. McMahon as a roving "special attraction" who wrestled for promotions throughout the United States, as well as in Japan for New Japan Pro-Wrestling. During the 1980s wrestling boom, Roussimoff became a mainstay of the WWWF (by then renamed the World Wrestling Federation), being paired with the villainous manager Bobby Heenan and feuding with Hulk Hogan. The two headlined WrestleMania III in 1987, and in 1988, he defeated Hogan to win the WWF Championship, his sole ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
