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AWA World Tag Team Championship
The American Wrestling Association (AWA) World Tag Team Championship was a professional wrestling world tag team championship in the American Wrestling Association from 1960 until the promotion folded in 1991. History When the NWA Minneapolis Wrestling and Boxing Club operated by Verne Gagne withdrew from the National Wrestling Alliance in May 1960, Stan Kowalski and Tiny Mills were the recognized champions of the NWA World Tag Team Championship (Minneapolis version) From January 8, 1957, through August 1960 the NWA Minneapolis Wrestling and Boxing Club promoted the Minneapolis version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship as the main professional wrestling championship for tag teams on their shows held in a .... At the time, the AWA continued to recognize the NWA champions as their World champions. However, by August 1960, and having recently recaptured the NWA Tag Team championships for a second time, Kowalski and Mills were recognized as the first AWA World Tag Team Ch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Wrestling Association
The American Wrestling Association (AWA) was an American professional wrestling promotion based in Minneapolis, Minnesota that ran from 1960 until 1991. It was owned and founded by Verne Gagne and Wally Karbo. The territory was originally part of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), becoming an independent territory in 1960. History Early years Anton Stecher, brother and manager of former World heavyweight champion Joe Stecher, was a founding member of the NWA in 1948 and had promoted wrestling in Minneapolis since 1933 through his Minneapolis Boxing and Wrestling Club. In 1952, he sold a one-third interest in the promotion to his son Dennis and Wally Karbo. Stecher died on October 9, 1954, and control of the promotion passed to Karbo and Dennis. Verne Gagne, an amateur wrestling champion, had become a well-known and popular wrestler nationally in the 1950s as a result of his appearances on the DuMont Network. He aspired to become NWA World Champion, but political sent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lenny Montana
Lenny Montana (born Leonardo Passafaro; March 13, 1926 – May 12, 1992) was an American actor who played the role of feared hitman Luca Brasi in '' The Godfather''. Prior to becoming an actor, he had a successful career as a professional wrestler and worked as an enforcer for the Colombo crime family. Biography Early life and early wrestling career Montana was born in Brooklyn, New York on March 13, 1926. He was of Italian-American heritage. He was fluent in both English and Italian. His wrestling career began in neighboring New Jersey in 1953. He wrestled under the Zebra Kid gimmick, and was billed at the height of 6'6". It wasn't long before Montana found success. Along with Golden Terror, he won the New Jersey Tag Team titles on April 4, 1953. He began to travel, wrestling in the Midwest. He soon won the NWA Central States Heavyweight Championship, defeating Dave Sims on October 1, 1953, in Kansas City. However he lost the title on December 11, 1953, to Sonny Myers, w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tor Kamata
McRonald Kamaka (March 9, 1937 – July 23, 2007) was an American-Canadian professional wrestler known by the ring name Tor Kamata. He won several heavyweight and tag team championships, most notably the PWF World Heavyweight Championship in All Japan Pro Wrestling and the AWA World Tag Team Championship in the American Wrestling Association. He was a classic heel, reviled for dirty tricks in the ring, included rubbing salt in his opponent's eyes. Professional wrestling career After returning to Hawaii after leaving the United States Air Force, 50th State Big Time Wrestling promoter Ed Francis convinced Kamaka to try professional wrestling. He was given the name Tor Kamata in reference to Tomas De Torquemada of the Spanish Inquisition. He also worked as Mr. Moto, holding the American Wrestling Association's AWA World Tag Team Championship with Mitsu Arakawa. One of his signature moves, the "judo chop" became a popular phrase for all types of martial arts strikes in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,607 and a metropolitan population of 834,678, making it the sixth-largest city, and eighth-largest metropolitan area in Canada. The city is named after the nearby Lake Winnipeg; the name comes from the Western Cree words for "muddy water" - “winipīhk”. The region was a trading centre for Indigenous peoples long before the arrival of Europeans; it is the traditional territory of the Anishinabe (Ojibway), Ininew (Cree), Oji-Cree, Dene, and Dakota, and is the birthplace of the Métis Nation. French traders built the first fort on the site in 1738. A settlement was later founded by the Selkirk settlers of the Red River Colony in 1812, the nucleus of which was incorporated as the City of Winnipeg in 1873. Being far inland, the local c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harley Race
Harley Leland Race (April 11, 1943 – August 1, 2019) was an American professional wrestler, promoter, and trainer. Race wrestled in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), the American Wrestling Association (AWA), the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE), and World Championship Wrestling (WCW). He was an eight time world champion, having won the WWA World Heavyweight Championship once and the NWA World Heavyweight Championship seven times and was the first NWA United States Heavyweight Champion (now WWE United States Championship). Race is one of six men to have been inducted into each of the WWE Hall of Fame, the NWA Hall of Fame, the WCW Hall of Fame, the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame. Early life Race was born in Quitman, Missouri on April 11, 1943. Race was an early fan of professional wrestling, watching programming from the nearby Chicago territory on the DuMont Television Network. After overcoming ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line with Kentucky. The city is the economic and cultural hub of the Cincinnati metropolitan area. With an estimated population of 2,256,884, it is Ohio's largest metropolitan area and the nation's 30th-largest, and with a city population of 309,317, Cincinnati is the third-largest city in Ohio and 64th in the United States. Throughout much of the 19th century, it was among the top 10 U.S. cities by population, surpassed only by New Orleans and the older, established settlements of the United States eastern seaboard, as well as being the sixth-most populous city from 1840 until 1860. As a rivertown crossroads at the junction of the North, South, East, and West, Cincinnati developed with fewer immigrants and less influence from Europe than ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stan Holek
Stan Holek (April 4, 1933 – November 28, 2015) was a Canadian professional wrestler, better known by his ring names, Stan Lisowski and Stan Neilson. He became known for being part of two famous "brother" tag teams, the Lisowskis (with Reggie Lisowski) and the Neilsons (with Art Neilson). Professional wrestling career Holek originally got into wrestling after his older brother began wrestling in Detroit. At age 18 in 1951, he debuted after training with Bert Rubi, The Sheik and Larry Shane in Detroit. He then began teaming with Reggie Lisowski as the Lisowski Brothers. After the team split up, Holek began teaming with Lisowski's old partner Art Neilson. Neilson and Holek became known as the Neilsons. The Neilsons would become AWA World Tag Team Champions in 1962 defeating the team of Bob Geigel and Stan Kowalski. They lost the title later that year to Mr. High (Doug "Gilbert" Lindzy, no relation to the latter Doug Gilbert) and Mr. Low (Dick Steinborn). In addition, Holek wre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Kalmikoffs
The Kalmikoffs were a professional wrestling group of fictitious soviet brothers. It began as a tag team consisting of Ivan (Edward Bogucki) and Karol (Karol Piwoworczyk) who were later joined by "brothers" Nikita (Nikita Mulkovitch) and Stan (or Igor) (Eric Pomeroy). They were very successful in the mid-1950s to early 1960s, especially the original tag team of Ivan and Karol. History The original two members debuted on October 28, 1953 in Amarillo, Texas as Ivan Kalmikoff and Karol Krauser against George and Jack Curtis. Later, already known as the Kalmikoffs became fictional brothers and became a successful tag team in the Minneapolis territory (future American Wrestling Association) and in Canada winning several titles. In 1962, after the formation of the AWA, Karol shortly left the promotion and Ivan begun teaming with another brother, Nikita with some success. After Karol returned to the AWA, the original duo won the AWA World Tag Team Championships. By 1963, Ivan settled ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
The ''Wrestling Observer Newsletter'' (''WON'') is a newsletter that covers professional wrestling and mixed martial arts. Founded in print in 1982 by Dave Meltzer, the ''Wrestling Observer'' website merged with Bryan Alvarez's ''Figure Four Weekly'' website in 2008, becoming ''Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online''. Issues are offered in print and digital. The newsletter is often considered the first " dirt sheet", which is a wrestling publication which covers the art from a real-life perspective. History The beginnings of the ''Wrestling Observer Newsletter'' date back to 1980, when Meltzer began an annual poll amongst those with whom he corresponded regarding professional wrestling. According to Meltzer, he was just a fan at first. A short time later, he began maintaining a tape-trading list, and would occasionally send match results and news updates along with tape updates. Meltzer stated that he wanted to keep his friends in college "in the loop" for his tape trading a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boris Malenko
Lawrence J. Simon (June 28, 1933 – September 1, 1994), better known by the ring name, Boris Malenko ( rus, Бори́с Маленко́, p=bɐˈrʲis mɐlˈɛnko, pron), was an American professional wrestler and professional wrestling trainer. He is best known for his appearances with Championship Wrestling from Florida and Big Time Wrestling in the 1960s and 1970s as a Russian heel. He was the father of professional wrestlers Joe Malenko and Dean Malenko. Early life Simon was born in Newark, New Jersey and raised in Irvington, New Jersey. As a teenager, Simon competed at amateur wrestling in YMCAs. Before becoming a professional wrestler, he worked as a truck driver in the Garment District in New York City. Professional wrestling career Simon made his professional debut in 1955 as "Larry Simon", wrestling in the Eastern United States. In 1957, he joined the Dallas, Texas-based promotion Big Time Wrestling under the ring name "Crusher Duggan", winning the NWA Texas H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dale Lewis (wrestler)
Dale Folsom Lewis (August 29, 1933 – August 30, 1997) was an American wrestler who competed in the Greco-Roman heavyweight division at the 1956 and 1960 Olympics. He won the 1959 Pan-American Games in this event. Championships and accomplishments *American Wrestling Association **AWA Nebraska Heavyweight Championship (1 time) **AWA Midwest Heavyweight Championship ( 1 time) ** AWA Midwest Tag Team Championship ( 3 times) - with Stan Pulaski (2) and Francis St. Claire (1) * George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame ** Class of 2007 * Georgia Championship Wrestling ** NWA Georgia Heavyweight Championship (1 time) * St. Louis Wrestling Club ** NWA United National Championship (1 time) *Championship Wrestling From Florida ** NWA Brass Knuckles Championship (Florida version) 2 times ** NWA Florida Heavyweight Championship ( 1 time) * World Championship Wrestling (Australia) **NWA Austra-Asian Tag Team Championship The NWA Austra-Asian Tag Team Championship was th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bob Geigel
Robert Frederick Geigel (October 1, 1924 – October 30, 2014) was an American professional wrestling promoter and professional wrestler. He operated the Kansas City, Missouri-based Heart of America Sports Attractions promotion from 1963 to 1986, and served three terms as the president of the National Wrestling Alliance from 1978 to 1980, 1982 to 1985, and 1986 to 1987. Early life Geigel was born on October 1, 1924, in Algona, Iowa to Frederick Samuel and Leota May Geigel. He attended Algona High School, graduating in 1942. After graduating, Geigel enlisted in the United States Navy. He served in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater of World War II as a Seabee. After leaving the Navy, Geigel began studying in the University of Iowa in 1946. He graduated in 1950 with a degree in physical education. Geigel was a champion amateur wrestler during his college years, coming in third place during the 1948 NCAA Championships in the weight division. Professional wrestling career Gei ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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