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 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 o ...

and professional wrestling trainer. He is best known for his appearances with

Championship Wrestling from Florida Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF) was the corporate and brand name of the Tampa, Florida wrestling office existing from 1961, when Eddie Graham first bought into the promotion, until 1987, when it closed down. It is also referred to as ...

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

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

s. Before becoming a professional wrestler, he worked as a truck driver in the Garment District in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

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 Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

-based promotion Big Time Wrestling under the ring name "Crusher Duggan", winning the NWA Texas Heavyweight Championship later that year. On July 19, 1961, Simon unsuccessfully challenged Buddy Rogers for the

NWA World Heavyweight Championship The NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship is a world heavyweight professional wrestling championship owned and promoted by the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), an American professional wrestling promotion. The current champion is Tyrus (wrestler), ...

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which th ...

. In September 1961, Simon joined in the

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origin ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over t ...

-based

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 ...

. He adopted the persona of "Otto Von Krupp", a German wrestler who wore jackboots and a

swastika The swastika (卐 or 卍) is an ancient religious and cultural symbol, predominantly in various Eurasian, as well as some African and American cultures, now also widely recognized for its appropriation by the Nazi Party and by neo-Nazis. I ...

on his back. Simon formed a

tag team Tag team wrestling is a type of professional wrestling in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. Tag teams may be made up of wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of establish ...

with Bob Geigel, with the duo winning the AWA World Tag Team Championship in November 1961, holding it until Simon left the promotion in January 1962. In 1962, playing upon

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...

tensions, Simon adopted the persona of "Boris Malenko", an agent of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

. He was occasionally billed as "The Great Malenko"; a pun, with "Malenko" being Russian for "little", or as "Dr. Malenko" or "Professor Malenko". He built his career in South Florida, where his gimmick made him a hated heel among the

Cuban Cuban may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Cuba, a country in the Caribbean * Cubans, people from Cuba, or of Cuban descent ** Cuban exile, a person who left Cuba for political reasons, or a descendant thereof * Cuban citizen, a pers ...

population. Over the next decade, he held the NWA Florida Heavyweight Championship twice, the NWA Florida Tag Team Championship twice, the

NWA Southern Heavyweight Championship (Florida version) The Florida version of the NWA Southern Heavyweight Championship was the major singles professional wrestling championship in the National Wrestling Alliance's Florida territory, Championship Wrestling Florida. It existed from 1962 until 1987 ...

once, the NWA Southern Tag Team Championship (Florida version) once, and the NWA Brass Knuckles Championship (Florida version) eight times. His main rivals included

Eddie Graham Edward F. Gossett (January 15, 1930 – January 21, 1985), better known as Eddie Graham, was an American professional wrestler. He was also the promoter and booker for Championship Wrestling from Florida and President of the NWA in the 1970s. ...

Wahoo McDaniel Edward Hugh McDaniel (June 19, 1938 – April 18, 2002) was an American Choctaw- Chickasaw professional American football player and professional wrestler better known by his ring name Wahoo McDaniel. He is notable for having held the NWA Un ...

, Johnny Valentine, Joe Scarpa, and

José Lothario Guadalupe Robledo (December 12, 1933 – November 6, 2018) was a Mexican professional wrestler, best known by the ring name of José Lothario. He performed for such promotions as the NWA and the WWF. Professional wrestling career Lothario sta ...

. In an angle in 1966, after Malenko bloodied Sammy Steamboat by biting his ear, Eddie Graham stormed the ring and punched Malenko's dentures out of his mouth, then crushed them. In 1970, Malenko returned to Big Time Wrestling, where he held the NWA American Heavyweight Championship and the NWA Texas Tag Team Championship. He had a heated feud with Wahoo McDaniel, with McDaniel defeating him in a hair versus hair match in July 1970. A bout between the two in the Astrodome set a longstanding attendance record. In December 1970, McDaniel defeated Malenko in a

loser leaves town match Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "concept" or "gimmick matches" in the jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick matches are more common than others and are often used to advance or conclude a ...

, marking his departure from the promotion. During his time with Big Time Wrestling he was managed by Lord Charles Montegue. On May 9, 1972, Malenko and

Bob Roop Robert Michael Roop (born July 22, 1942) is an American retired amateur wrestler and professional wrestler whose career spanned high school, college, the United States Army, amateur and professional wrestling. He was an American heavyweight Grec ...

defeated Bearcat Wright and Bobby Shane to win the NWA Florida Tag Team Championship, and six days later, Malenko defeated Wright in singles competition to win his eighth and final Florida Brass Knuckles title in Orlando. On June 24, 1972, Malenko and Johnny Weaver defeated Mike Webster and The Professional for his second run with the Florida Tag Team titles. Malenko toured Japan with

All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW/AJP) or simply All Japan is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion established on October 21, 1972 when Giant Baba split away from the Japanese Wrestling Association and created his own promotion. Many wrestlers had left with Baba ...

in 1973 and

New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion based in Nakano, Tokyo. Founded on January 13, 1972, by Antonio Inoki, the promotion was sold to Yuke's, who later sold it to Bushiroad in 2012. TV Asahi and Amuse, Inc. own minority sha ...

in 1974. During his time with NJPW, Malenko wrestled a number of high-profile bouts with Antonio Inoki. In the late 1970s, Malenko wrestled for the

Knoxville, Tennessee Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division and the stat ...

-based promotion Southeastern Championship Wrestling, winning both the NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Championship (Northern Division) and the

NWA Southeastern Television Championship The NWA Southeast Television Championship was a minor title in the National Wrestling Alliance's Alabama territory known as Southeast Championship Wrestling. It existed from 1977 until 1985. Title history See also *National Wrestling Allianc ...

in 1978. He became the

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activitie ...

Jerry Blackwell Jerry Blackwell (April 26, 1949 – January 22, 1995) was an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name "Crusher" Jerry Blackwell. Blackwell competed in the 1979 World's Strongest Man contest, but withdrew early in the competi ...

after it was claimed he had acquired the

mortgage A mortgage loan or simply mortgage (), in civil law jurisdicions known also as a hypothec loan, is a loan used either by purchasers of real property to raise funds to buy real estate, or by existing property owners to raise funds for any ...

to Blackwell's family farm, forcing him to fight on his behalf. The

angle In Euclidean geometry, an angle is the figure formed by two rays, called the '' sides'' of the angle, sharing a common endpoint, called the ''vertex'' of the angle. Angles formed by two rays lie in the plane that contains the rays. Angles ...

ended after Ron Garvin paid off the mortgage, freeing Blackwell to attack Malenko. Malenko retired in 1980 and opened a training school in Florida with his sons Dean and Joe.

Wrestlers trained

* Dean Malenko * Joe Malenko * Kane * Tugboat * Al Perez * Norman Smiley *

Gangrel David William Heath (born February 16, 1969) is an American semi-retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) from 1998 to 2001 and intermittently throughout the mid-2000s under the ...

* Barry Horowitz * X-Pac *

Bobby Blaze Robert Smedley (born June 25, 1963 in Ashland, Kentucky) is an American retired professional wrestler and author, better known by his ring name Bobby Blaze. He gained the majority of his in-ring success performing for Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SM ...

* Bob Orton Jr. * Buddy Landel * Chris Champion * Eddie Sharkey * Horace Hogan * Marc Mero * Perry Saturn * Van Hammer * Carl Malenko * Bob Cook * Frank Reyes * Debbie Malenko

Personal life

Simon, who was Jewish, had two sons, Dean and Jody, both of whom became professional wrestlers. He died in September 1994 from

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ...

Championships and accomplishments

*All-Star Wrestling Omaha **Nebraska Heavyweight Championship (1 time) *

** AWA World Tag Team Championship ( 1 time) - with Bob Geigel *

** NWA Brass Knuckles Championship ''(Florida version)'' ( 8 times) ** NWA Florida Heavyweight Championship ( 1 time) ** NWA Florida Tag Team Championship (

2 times "2 Times" is a song co-written and recorded by British Italian-based singer Ann Lee. It was released in 1999 as the lead single from her debut album, ''Dreams'' (1999). The single entered and peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart. Outside ...

) - with

(1 time) and Johnny Walker (1 time) ** NWA Southern Heavyweight Championship ''(Florida version)'' ( 1 time) ** NWA Southern Tag Team Championship ''(Florida version)'' ( 1 time) - with Johnny Valentine * National Wrestling Alliance **

NWA Hall of Fame The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) Hall of Fame is an American professional wrestling hall of fame maintained by the NWA. It was established in 2005 to honor select wrestling personalities, mostly alumni of the NWA. Inductees receive commemora ...

(Class of 2016) * NWA Big Time Wrestling ** NWA American Heavyweight Championship ( 1 time) ** NWA Texas Heavyweight Championship ( 1 time)* ** NWA Texas Tag Team Championship ( 1 time) - with Killer Karl Kox * Southeastern Championship Wrestling ** NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Championship ''(Northern Division)'' ( 1 time) **

( 1 time) * WWE ** WWE Hall of Fame (

Class of 2018 ''Class of 2018'' is a 2018 Filipino teen suspense– thriller film directed by Charliebebs Gohetia. It stars Sharlene San Pedro and Nash Aguas. The film was produced and distributed by T-Rex Entertainment. It premiered in the Philippines on No ...

)

''Luchas de Apuestas'' record

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Malenko, Boris 1933 births 1994 deaths 20th-century American male actors American male professional wrestlers Deaths from leukemia Faux German professional wrestlers Faux Russian professional wrestlers Jewish American sportspeople Jewish professional wrestlers People from Irvington, New Jersey Professional wrestlers from New Jersey Professional wrestling promoters Professional wrestling trainers Sportspeople from Newark, New Jersey WWE Hall of Fame Legacy inductees 20th-century American Jews 20th-century professional wrestlers AWA World Tag Team Champions NWA Florida Heavyweight Champions NWA Florida Tag Team Champions NWA Southern Heavyweight Champions (Florida version) NWA Brass Knuckles Champions (Florida version) NWA World Tag Team Champions (Florida version)