Ivan Koloff

Ivan Koloff was one of the most fearsome wrestlers of the 1970s and 1980s. Despite being billed as being from Russia, Ivan was actually born and raised near Montreal Canada. He began wrestling in the mid 1960's under the name Red McNulty. After a few years, he took the name of "The Russian Bear" Ivan Koloff. He got his first big break in the WWWF(which is now known as WWE), which was owned by Vince McMahon Sr at the time. He wrestled there from 1969 until 1971, when on January 18th, he did the impossible when he beat the legendary Bruno Sammartino after his record near-8 year reign as champion. From accounts of people who were at Madison Square Garden that evening, you could have heard a pin drop as fans were in a state of utter disbelief. He would hold the title for a little over three weeks, however, as he was defeated on February 8th 1971 by Pedro Morales. His championship rein made him a superstar around the world. He left the WWWF soon after that loss, but would return to the Federation many times over the course of the next 12 years, main eventing Madison Square Garden against Bruno again in 1975 in the very first steel cage match ever held in the building. He would also go on to feud with WWF Champion Bob Backlund in the late 70s and early 80s. He was actually scheduled to win the WWF Championship a second time in december 1983, but a knee injury put him out of action. The Iron Sheik ended up winning the belt, instead, and the rest is history. Koloff became a fixture in the Mid-Atlantic region in the mid to late 80's after he recovered from his knee injury. He won the NWA Tag Team Titles several times with partners Don Kernodle, Ray Stevens, Krusher Khruschev, and his "nephew" Nikita Koloff. His tag team with Nikita was one of the most dominant of the mid 80s. They had a very memorable feud with the legendary Road Warriors. After Nikita and Ivan parted ways, Ivan wrestled in singles competition against the likes of Dusty Rhodes, Sting, Lex Luger, Ric Flair, and Magnum TA in between his Tag Team Title defenses. Ivan left the NWA, which had become WCW, in early 1989. He retired from full-time competition in 1994 at the ripe age of 52. Ivan Koloff was one of wrestlings true greats for the 20 years he was on top. He won titles and wrestled in rings all around the world. His dethroning of Bruno Sammartino is one of the most memorable events in wrestling history. He main evented Madison Square Garden on nearly two dozen occasions between 1969 and 1983. He wrestled with and against some of the all-time greats the sport of wrestling has ever seen. He is definitely a future WWE Hall of Famer.