Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling October 10, 1981

Ivan Koloff R.I.P.

For the 2nd day in a row the wrestling world has lost another legend.

Ivan Koloff born Oreal Perras in Montreal, Quebec, Canada in 1942.

"The Russian Bear", age 74, announced 2 weeks ago he was battling liver cancer and the wrestling world rallied to his side but as I personally know, liver cancer is a rapid and always deadly form of the disease.   He died early this morning, February 18th 2017 just a day after the passing of another WWF/WWE legend George "The Animal" Steele.   Rest in Peace to these legends, we will never see the likes of them again.

The man known as “The Russian Bear” actually got his start in his homeland of Canada, where he began his career in the early 1960s as Red McNulty, an Irish hooligan character. After gaining some experience, Koloff traveled to Japan where he honed his craft before returning to Canada as Ivan Koloff, a Russian villain from the Ukraine. In 1969, Koloff debuted in the World Wide Wrestling Federation, managed by Captain Lou Albano and becoming one of the biggest stars in the company. Koloff’s target was the WWWF World Heavyweight Champion Bruno Sammartino, who was the biggest hero the company heralded. After feuding with Sammartino for some time, on January 18th, 1971, Koloff defeated Sammartino in Madison Square Garden for the WWWF Championship with a knee drop from the top rope, ending Sammartino’s 2,803 reign as champion!

Wrestling Magazine Cover of the Week

Wrestling 85

Fall 1985

The Koloffs vs The Road Warriors

(World War III Begins!)

WE LOVE PRO WRESTLING

NWA US Champion "Rowdy" Roddy Piper 

and 

Mid Atlantic Heavyweight Champion Ivan Koloff

Today In Wrestling History (August 31st)

Title Changes for August 31st

1945 – Ted Cox defeats Nature Boy Buddy Rogers to win the Texas Heavyweight Championship

1950 – Don Eagle defeated Gorgeous George to win the AWA (Ohio) World Heavyweight Championship

1951 – Art Neilson & Jack Steel defeated Farmer Jones & Al Massey to win the NWA Southern (Georgia) Tag Team Championship

1968 – Jose Lothario & Joe Scarpa defeated Professor Boris Malenko & Handsome Johnny Valentine to win the NWA Southern (Florida) Tag Team Championship

1968 – Verne Gagne defeated Dr. X (Dick Beyer) to win the AWA World Heavyweight Championship

1973 – Mr. Wrestling II defeated Cowboy Bill Watts to win the vacant NWA Georgia Heavyweight Championship

1979 – Ole Anderson &"The Russian Bear" Ivan Koloff defeat Stan "The Lariat" Hansen & "Wildfire" Tommy Rich to win the NWA Georgia Tag Team Championship

1983 – Jumbo Tsuruta defeated Bruiser Brody to win the NWA International (Japan) Heavyweight Championship

1986 – Eddie Gilbert & Sting defeated The Fantastics to win the vacant UWF World Tag Team Championship

1987 – Jerry "The King" Lawler defeated Don Bass in a Hair vs.Title Cage match to win the AWA Southern Heavyweight Championship for the 51st time

1987 – Ted Arcidi won a Battle Royal to win the vacant WCWA Texas Heavyweight Championship

1996 – Jamie Dundee defeated Wolfie D. to win the USWA Television Championship

1997 – PG-13 defeated Steven Dunn & Flash Flanagan to win the USWA World Tag Team Championship. This would be the final reign for the championship before the USWA closed in November 1997

1997 – Kensuke Sasaki defeated Shinya Hashimoto to win the NJPW IWGP Heavyweight Championship

2002 – El Dandy defeated Perro Aguayo, Jr. to win the Mexican National Light Heavyweight Championship

Wrestling Magazine of the Day

November 1975

NWA Florida Tag Team Champions (Koloff and Saito)

Ivan Koloff and Mr. (Masa) Saito held the NWA Florida Tag Team champions on 3 different occasions.

They won the belts the first time in defeating Rocky Johnson and Pedro Morales in 1977.
They lost the belts to Mike Graham and Steve Keirn and then won them back in a rematch, all in 1977.  Graham and Keirn vacated the titles later in 1977 and on December 6th 1977 Koloff and Saito won a tournament final over the Masked Marauders to win their 3rd and final Florida Tag Team championship.

Here is that tournament as shown on Florida Championship Wrestling TV, narrated by the legendary Gordon Solie.

Match of the Night (Koloff vs Magnum T.A.)

Tonight's match is from the greatest feud of the 1980s, maybe even of all time.   The series of matches between Nikita Koloff (The Russian Nightmare) and Magnum T.A.  for the NWA US Heavyweight Title.

The matches spanned 1985-86 until the tragic accident that left Magnum nearly paralyzed and unable to wrestle again.

Sadly this affected the careers of both men as Magnum and Nikita were on a trajectory to be NWA World Champion and then feud over the title and be the next generation of superstars for the NWA/WCW.  Nikita would veer his character away from the hated to beloved Russian as he sided with Dusty Rhodes in his on going feud with the Four Horseman.

From NWA World Wide Wrestling, September 1986...less than a month from Magnum's accident, he battles US Champion Nikita Koloff.

Match of the Day (NWA World Tag Team Titles)

NWA World Tag Team Title Match

July 9th 1985

Shelby,  NC  

Click here to read Mike Moonyham's column celebrating 30 years of the Rock and Roll Express

The Russians

(Ivan Koloff and Krusher Kruschev)

The NWA World Tag Team Champions

vs

The Rock and Roll Express

(Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson)

This was the first World Tag Title victory for the Rock and Roll Express

Bruno Sammartino Finally in the WWE Hall of Fame

It can now be considered a real WWE Hall of Fame as of today, with the announcement that Bruno Sammartino will be inducted in to the Hall this year the night before Wrestlemania.   The ceremony will be held in Madison Square Garden, where the legend began and grew over the years.

Bruno held the then WWF Heavyweight title the first time for a record 2,803 days (almost 8 consecutive years) May 17th 1963 - January 18th 1971.  After losing the title to Ivan Koloff, Bruno would regain the belt on December 10th 1973 when he pinned Stan "The Man"Stasiak  in Philadelphia.  He would hold the WWF Title for another 1,237 days (nearly 3 and half years) before losing to "Superstar" Billy Graham in Baltimore on April 30th 1977.    Bruno holds the record for longest reigning champion for any wrestling organization.

ESPN broke the story today that both sides have agreed to Bruno's induction into the Hall of Fame.
read it by clicking here

NWA Superstars on the Superstation 1986

This is the NWA (Crockett Promotions) first attempt at a nationally televised supercard that was taped Feb. 2nd 1986 and aired on WTBS Feb 7th 1986.

The card stacked up like this:

World Tag Team Title Match
The Rock N Roll Express (Champions)
vs
The Midnight Express w/Jim Cornette

The Road Warriors vs The Koloffs (Ivan and Nikita) w/Baron Von Raschke

NWA National Heavyweight Title Match
Tully Blanchard vs Dusty Rhodes (Champion)

NWA World Heavyweight Title Match
Ron Garvin  vs  Ric Flair (Champion)

Today in Wrestling History - October 20th

1984

The NWA World Tag Team Title Match

Cage Match

Greensboro NC

Ivan Koloff and Don Kernodle

(Champions)

vs

Manny Fernandez and Dusty Rhodes

NWA-AWA Star Wars

In February 1985 the NWA and AWA decided to join forces to put together a Super Card for the New Jersey Meadowlands.  This was, sadly, a desperate attempt to stem the tide of the WWF and Vince McMahon who was raiding the talent and the regions of the AWA and NWA.   They went to the heart of the WWF, New York City/NJ area, to try and promote themselves as a better alternative to the "cartoonish"  style the WWF had adopted in its spread across the US.

here is that first card from 1985 with the biggest names of the NWA and AWA.  Sadly this was ignored by the US wrestling press and television.  However, Japanese fans got to see the card and all the talent on display and that is why we have the japanese commentary.

Star Wars was held 3 more times with the only card to draw more than 10,000 fans was on December 29th 1985, well below the 18,500 fans for the first show.   All in all it was a money loser for both promotions and the small crowds finally convinced them to steer clear of the New York area for good.

If you notice Sgt Slaughter winning the Battle Royal in a nod to his recent departure from the WWF, they knew he still had a huge following in the NY/NJ area.

The scheduled matches

1. Ivan & Nikita Koloff beat Steve Keirn & Jimmy Valiant when Ivan pinned Valiant.
   
2. Jimmy Garvin beat AWA World Champion Rick Martel via DQ.
   
3. AWA World Tag Champs The Road Warriors beat Jerry Lawler & Baron Von Raschke when Raschke was pinned.
   
4. NWA World Champ Ric Flair pinned Harley Race (25:00).
   
5. Sgt. Slaughter won a "tag team battle royal." Slaughter's partner, Jerry Blackwell, was injured and could not compete, forcing Slaughter to wrestle alone. Also in the match were: The Road Warriors, Ivan & Nikita Koloff, Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell, Kamala & Billy Robinson, Mark & Chris Youngblood, Jerry Lawler & Baron Von Raschke, Bob Backlund & Jimmy Valiant, Mr. Saito & Masked Superstar, Nick Bockwinkel & Dory Funk Jr., Jimmy Garvin & Larry Zbyszko, and Steve Keirn & Jerry Oski.

Your Match of the Night

Tonight's Match is from the first Clash of Champions, March 27th 1988.   This is the 6 man tag team match featuring the World Six Man Tag Team Champions, Dusty Rhodes and The Road Warriors vs the Powers of Pain with Ivan Koloff.
You will notice Animal is wearing a "mask" to protect his eye that was actually hurt in a match with the Powers of Pain when the Barbarian dropped all his weight on Animals head.  This broke his orbital bone, fractured his skull, broke his cheek bone and his nose.  After surgery and time off he came back with the mask and it was the focus of most of his matches for several weeks including this one.  He didnt actually have any physical contact until he completely healed and the mask was just a prop for buildup in his matches.

WWWF Title

Today in 1971 WWWF United States Heavyweight Champion Pedro Morales pinned WWWF World Heavyweight Champion Ivan Koloff to win the title. Koloff had Morales in a waistlock, with Morales kicking off the top turnbuckle and falling on top of Koloff with both of their shoulders down.

The referee began counting, with Morales lifting a shoulder after the two-count. Bruno Sammartino, whom Koloff had defeated three weeks earlier for the title, came out and congratulated Morales after the match. As a result of his winning the World title, Morales' United States title was vacated.

Here is film of the match with the announcer and crowd noise dub in many years later.