Nicholas Nestor "Kola" Kwariani ( ka, კოლა (კოლია) ქვარიანი) (January 16, 1903 – February 27, 1980), known by the

ring name A ring name is a type of stage name used by an athlete such as a professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, or boxer whose real name is considered unattractive, dull, difficult to pronounce or spell, amusing for the wrong reasons, or projecting ...

Nick the Wrestler, was a

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

professional wrestler Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

and

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

player.

Early life

Kwariani was born in

Kutaisi Kutaisi (, ka, ქუთაისი ) is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world and the third-most populous city in Georgia, traditionally, second in importance, after the capital city of Tbilisi. Situated west of Tbilis ...

, the son of Nestor and Caserines (née Kesaria) Kwariani.

Professional wrestling career

Kwariani had been a

Greco-Roman The Greco-Roman civilization (; also Greco-Roman culture; spelled Graeco-Roman in the Commonwealth), as understood by modern scholars and writers, includes the geographical regions and countries that culturally—and so historically—were di ...

champion in Europe before the war and a professional wrestler in the United States afterward. He participated in many wrestling matches, most famously with "Mr. America" Gene Stanlee, which was featured as one of the top 10 matches of the wrestling Golden Era in the U.S. From 1959 to 1960, he coached

Antonino Rocca Antonino Rocca (born Antonino Biasetton; 13 April 1921 – 15 March 1977) was an Italian Argentine professional wrestler. He tag teamed with partner Miguel Pérez. He was posthumously inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as a member of the class ...

. From 1959 to 1962, he closely worked with

Bruno Sammartino Bruno Leopoldo Francesco Sammartino (October 6, 1935 – April 18, 2018) was an Italian-born American professional wrestler, best known for his work with the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF, now WWE). There, he held the WWWF World Heavywei ...

Chess career

According to ''

Chess Review ''Chess Review'' was a U.S. chess magazine published from January 1933 to October 1969 (Volume 37 Number 10). Until April 1941 it was called ''The Chess Review''. Published in New York, it began on a schedule of at least ten issues a year but lat ...

'' magazine, Kwariani was the only chess-playing professional wrestler in the U.S. In the 1950s, he was an active player at the Chess and Checker Club in New York City, also known as "The Flea House".

Other media

Kwariani had a role in

Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, his films, almost all of which are adaptations of nove ...

's 1956 film '' The Killing'', in the role of chess-playing wrestler Maurice Oboukhoff, who is hired to start a fight to create a diversion during a heist. A picture of Kwariani, Kubrick, and

Sterling Hayden Sterling Walter Hayden (born Sterling Relyea Walter; March 26, 1916 – May 23, 1986) was an American actor, author, sailor and decorated Marine Corps officer and an Office of Strategic Services' agent during World War II. A leading man for mos ...

appeared on the cover of ''

'' magazine in March 1956.

Death

In February 1980, while entering the Chess and Checker Club, Kwariani was seriously injured after being assaulted by a group of teenagers. The incident was later described by Samuel Sloan: "Nick came in the downstairs entrance one evening when about five black youths were leaving. They bumped into each other. Words were exchanged. Nick never took any guff from anybody and soon he was engaged in a fight with all five black kids at once. Nick probably could still have handled any one or two of them, but five were too many. Nick was beaten." He was then taken to a hospital, where he died at age 77. He was predeceased by his wife, Sidonia (Novak) Kwariani.Profile
findagrave.com; accessed September 4, 2021.

Filmography

*'' The Killing'' (1956) - Maurice Oboukhoff

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kwariani, Kola 1903 births 1980 deaths

American chess players Professional wrestlers from Georgia (country) American male professional wrestlers Russian male professional wrestlers Male sport wrestlers from Georgia (country) Sportspeople from Kutaisi 20th-century American male actors 20th-century chess players American murder victims deaths by beating in the United States 1980 murders in the United States