Brian Blair
Brian Leslie Blair (born January 12, 1957) is an American retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) under the ring name B. Brian Blair as one half of the tag team The Killer Bees in the 1980s. Early life Blair was born on January 12, 1957, in Gary, Indiana, United States. Blair began competing in sports in junior high school and won city championships well as a regional junior high school heavyweight. Blair won many accolades in high school other than sports; he was named "Mr. Titan" and was voted "Best all Around" his senior year. To this day he holds the record for most letters at Hillsborough High School in Tampa, Florida. After graduating at the age of 17, Blair started training in the summer for Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF). Blair had his heart set on playing football for the then NCAA Division II powerhouse, the University of Tampa, where he sold sodas to the fans and watched his favori ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Cauliflower Alley Club
The Cauliflower Alley Club is a non-profit fraternal organization, which includes a newsletter and website, comprising both retired and active professional wrestlers and boxers in North America. Established in 1965 by Mike Mazurki and Art Abrams, the organization hosts an annual reunion dinner which has traditionally been attended by celebrities and other professional athletes. Several historical Hollywood locations have been home to the reunion banquets such as the Masquer's Club, the Roosevelt Hotel and the Old Spaghetti Factory as well as The Riviera and the . Its registered symbol is a solid silver mold of Mazurki’s left ear, which was afflicted by cauliflower ear, a common permanent injury among athletes who compete in violent contact sports, one also pictured in its club logo, and its newsletter is accordingly named ''The EAR''. History The Cauliflower Alley Club was founded in 1965 by Mike Mazurki as a fraternal organization of professional wrestlers, boxe ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mike McGuirk
Michelle Kathleen McGuirk (born March 16, 1955) is an American professional wrestling personality, best known as a ring announcer for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) from 1986 through 1994. She is the daughter of professional wrestler Leroy McGuirk. Professional wrestling career Mike McGuirk grew up in the wrestling business. Her father Leroy McGuirk ran wrestling promotions in the midwest up to the early to mid-1980s. Leroy never wanted his daughter to follow in his footsteps and become a wrestler. After her father had left the business, she provided the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) with wrestling rings whenever they ran shows in her area. She also did some timekeeping. She announced her first show on September 12, 1986 at the Mid-South Coliseum. McGuirk's television debut was in April 1987 on ''WWF Wrestling Challenge''. From her debut, she was the object of ridicule from heel commentator/manager Bobby "The Brain" Heenan (though backstage they in fact got on well with ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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University Of Tampa
The University of Tampa (UTampa, UT or Tampa U) is a private university in Tampa, Florida. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. UTampa offers more than 200 programs of study, including 19 master's degrees and a broad variety of majors, minors, pre-professional programs and certificates. The school was initially established in 1931 as a junior college housed in a local high school. In 1933, it became a four-year university and moved onto the grounds of the recently closed Tampa Bay Hotel. The large and lavish central building of Henry B. Plant's resort was converted into Plant Hall, and the Moorish minarets atop the distinctive structure have long been a symbol of both the school and of the city of Tampa in general. UTampa grew gradually in the 20th century while navigating several periods of financial difficulty, including in the 1970s, when the school decided to fold its locally popular football program due to concerns about costs. Successful ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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David Von Erich
David Alan Adkisson (July 22, 1958 – February 10, 1984) was an American professional wrestler, better known by the ring name David Von Erich. A member of the Von Erich family, Von Erich is best known for his appearances with World Class Championship Wrestling, the Dallas, Texas-based professional wrestling promotion owned by his father, Fritz Von Erich. Early life David was named after his mother Doris' brother David (real name Eugene David Smith), who at 14 had died of a brain tumor only months before David Von Erich was born in 1958. David, along with brothers Kevin and Kerry, loved to hunt and fish with their father; Fritz. Hunting on the Von Erich ranch was quite an event. Many of their relatives and friends would join in and sometimes the hunting group would be 20 or more. WCCW Referee David Manning and WCCW Announcer Bill Mercer were quite often among the group. David's first love in life was raising horses, which turned out to be very profitable for him. He raised and ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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World Class Championship Wrestling
World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW), later known as the World Class Wrestling Association (WCWA), was an American professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas. Originally owned by promoter Ed McLemore, by 1966 it was run by Southwest Sports, Inc., whose president, Jack Adkisson, was better known as wrestler Fritz Von Erich.Foley, Mick. Have A Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks (p.129) Beginning as a territory of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), it went independent in 1986 in a bid to become a major national promotion, but was unsuccessful in its attempts and eventually went out of business in 1990. Rights to the pre-1989 WCCW tape library belong to WWE (the post-1988 rights are owned by International World Class Championship Wrestling) and select episodes from 1982 to 1988 are available on the WWE Network. World Class Championship Wrestling experienced tremendous success from 1981–1985, shattering attendance records and ac ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Fritz Von Erich
Jack Barton Adkisson Sr. (August 16, 1929 – September 10, 1997), better known by his ring name Fritz Von Erich, was an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, wrestling promoter, and the patriarch of the Von Erich family. He was a 3-time World Heavyweight Championship (professional wrestling), world champion and a 6-time WCWA World Heavyweight Championship, NWA United States Champion. He was the owner of World Class Championship Wrestling. Football career Adkisson attended Southern Methodist University, where he threw discus and played football. He has been reported to have played with the now defunct Dallas Texans (NFL), Dallas Texans of the NFL (not the American Football League, AFL team which became the Kansas City Chiefs), but this is not true. He was signed as a guard but was cut. He then tried the Canadian Football League (CFL). Professional wrestling career Early career and training While in Edmonton, he met wrestler and trainer Stu Hart, and Hart deci ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jesse Ventura
Jesse Ventura (born James George Janos; July 15, 1951) is an American politician, political commentator, actor, media personality, and retired professional wrestler. After achieving fame in the WWE, World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE), he served as the 38th governor of Minnesota from 1999 to 2003. He was elected governor with the Reform Party of the United States of America, Reform Party and is the party's only candidate to win a major government office. Ventura was a member of the United States Navy Underwater Demolition Team during the Vietnam War. After leaving the military, he embarked on a professional wrestling career as a Heel (professional wrestling), heel from 1975 to 1986, taking the ring name "Jesse 'the Body' Ventura." He had a lengthy tenure in the WWF/WWE as a performer and color commentator and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame WWE Hall of Fame (2004), class of 2004. In addition to wrestling, Ventura pursued an acting career, appearing in films such as ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by List of cities in Missouri, population and area. The city lies within Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson, Clay County, Missouri, Clay, and Platte County, Missouri, Platte counties, with a small portion lying within Cass County, Missouri, Cass County. It is the central city of the Kansas City metropolitan area, which straddles the Missouri–Kansas state line and has a population of 2,392,035. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090, making it the sixth-most populous city in the Midwestern United States, Midwest and List of United States cities by population, 38th-most populous city in the United States. Kansas City was founded in the 1830s as a port on the Missouri River at its confluence with the Kansas River from the west. On June 1, 1850, the town of Kansas was incorporated; shortly after came the establishment of the Kansas Terr ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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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, from 1982 to 1985, and finally from 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. After graduating, Ge ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hulk Hogan
Terry Gene Bollea (; born August 11, 1953), better known by his ring name Hulk Hogan, is an American retired Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE as a brand ambassador. Known for his flamboyance and massive physique, and his trademark blond horseshoe moustache and Kerchief, bandanas, Hogan is widely regarded as the most recognized wrestling star worldwide, the most popular wrestler of the 1980s and one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time. Hogan began his professional wrestling career in 1977, but gained worldwide recognition after signing with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) in December 1983. There, his persona as a Face (professional wrestling), heroic all-American helped usher in the 1980s professional wrestling boom, where he headlined eight of the first nine editions (WrestleMania I, 1, WrestleMania II, 2, WrestleMania III, 3, WrestleMania V, 5, WrestleMania VI, 6, WrestleMania VII, 7, WrestleMania VIII, 8, and Wres ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ivan Koloff
Oreal Donald Perras (August 25, 1942 – February 18, 2017) was a Canadian professional wrestler, better known by the ring name "the Russian Bear" Ivan Koloff, where he was billed from Russia and, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Ukraine. He was the third wrestler to hold the WWWF Championship. In April 2025, it was announced that Koloff would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. Early life Perras was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and raised on a dairy farm in rural Ontario along with his six brothers and three sisters. Since first watching professional wrestling on TV at the age of eight, he wanted to become a wrestler, and would often wrestle with his brothers growing up. At age 18, he left high school and joined Jack Wentworth's wrestling school in Hamilton, Ontario, where he would lift weights and learn wrestling holds. Professional wrestling career Early career (1963–1967) Perras debuted as an Irish rogue villain character named Red McNult ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Pat Patterson (wrestler)
Pat Patterson (born Pierre Clermont; January 19, 1941 – December 2, 2020) was a Canadian-American professional wrestler and producer, widely known for his long tenure in the professional wrestling promotion WWE, first as a wrestler, then as a creative consultant and producer, or agent. He is recognized by the company as their first Intercontinental Champion and creator of the Royal Rumble match. He was inducted into the WWF Hall of Fame as part of the class of 1996. In 2019, Patterson became the oldest person to win a title in WWE history, after winning the WWE 24/7 Championship at age 78. He was described by journalist Dave Meltzer as "Vince McMahon's right-hand man" and "one of the chief architects of the WWE, playing an integral role in helping it become a global phenomenon". Early life Patterson was born into an impoverished French-speaking family in the Ville-Marie borough of Montreal, Quebec, Canada on January 19, 1941. He began training to wrestle at the age ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |