WWE Hall of Famer who played villain Nikolai Volkoff dies at 70

shockedcanadian

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Aug 6, 2012
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I suppose I post this loosely under sports. I remember as a kid I hated this guy and his partner the Iron Sheik, but boy did they do their job well.

RIP. Another part of my childhood memories has passed on to the next world.

WWE Hall of Famer who played villain Nikolai Volkoff dies at 70

The former pro wrestler known for entertaining audiences by playing beloved villain Nikolai Volkoff has died. Josip Peruzovic was 70.

His wife Lynn Peruzovic confirmed his death Sunday.

She said he had heart problems, and that when she went to give him medicine he was not responsive.

World Wrestling Entertainment said in a statement that Peruzovic was “one of the greatest villains sports-entertainment had ever seen.”

He was known for singing the onetime Soviet Union’s national anthem before matches, and for his tag team alliance with another wrestler known as The Iron Sheik.
 
one of three to pass today.

Brian Christopher was one of three deaths in the wrestling world
WWE Hall of Fame wrestler Nikolai Volkoff (real name Josip Nikolai Peruzović) died at the age of 70, the WWE announced on Sunday. Volkoff played a larger-than-life Russian villain and was one-half of a tag team with The Iron Sheik. Volkoff was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005 after a wrestling career of 40-plus years.

Brickhouse Brown (real name Fredrick Seawright) died Sunday at the age of 57 from cancer, according to the Wrestling Observer. Brown was best known for his time in the USWA, AWA and CWA.

Ex-WWE wrestler Brian Christopher dies after suicide attempt
 
I suppose I post this loosely under sports. I remember as a kid I hated this guy and his partner the Iron Sheik, but boy did they do their job well.

RIP. Another part of my childhood memories has passed on to the next world.

WWE Hall of Famer who played villain Nikolai Volkoff dies at 70

The former pro wrestler known for entertaining audiences by playing beloved villain Nikolai Volkoff has died. Josip Peruzovic was 70.

His wife Lynn Peruzovic confirmed his death Sunday.

She said he had heart problems, and that when she went to give him medicine he was not responsive.

World Wrestling Entertainment said in a statement that Peruzovic was “one of the greatest villains sports-entertainment had ever seen.”

He was known for singing the onetime Soviet Union’s national anthem before matches, and for his tag team alliance with another wrestler known as The Iron Sheik.

Sorry to hear of his passing. I remember when him and Hacksaw Jim Duggan were wrestling one time in South Carolina. The ring started to fall apart so they called some technicians to the "stage" to fix the top turnbuckle that had become disloged from one of the poles. These two bitter enemies stood there and watched this technician eventually use duct tape to fix it. Amazingly, they never threw themselves over to that corner for the rest of the match....lol. Anyway, Volkoff had this look on his face where he was about to crack up. I used to love the singing and how the crowd would just go wild with the booing...

Wanted to contribute something I wrote a while back about wrestlers....

As for Nikolai, never met him. I did want to say though that as a youth when I was in school, I was privileged and honored to receive numerous scholarships to continue my studies in academia. Among others, the Knights of Columbus or maybe it was the Kiwanis Club’s local chapter was honoring me and several other far more deserving HS students at a dinner ceremony one night to give us our scholarship certificates. The key note speaker was none other than James J. Dillon who was cast as a manager in the theater of the ring. I don’t recall many of the other speakers that evening except for he and Paul Bosch (sp?) who was the local wresting promoter, a member of the club, and the man who introduced him with this gushingly appreciative preamble. That Saturday night, the two were butting heads on TV. I knew then and there it was all an act.

Anyway, JJ got up and talked for what seemed like 3 hours (it was probably 30 minutes in reality—I was just overwhelmed by the whole scene) about commitment, following through on what you said you’d do, and at the end of the day ( recall this specifically) being able to look at yourself in the mirror. He had note cards he was obviously reading from as he announced us to come up to the stage and get our little plaques. I remember earlier in the evening, the greeter at the Hall escorting us to the table asking my family their first names and making sure that she knew how to pronounce our last names correctly. I have a name that is one of those that is borderline; like TOE_MAY_TOE and TAH_MOT_OH. That information had made it to Dillon. He got it perfectly, called me to the stage and shook my hand like he was pumping water out of the earth, posed for a picture with a photographer and came to our table after the desert course to meet my parents. He did the same for the other 12-15 students as well; often sitting at a spare chair and spending 5-10 minutes with total strangers, puffing on a big cigar but being very mindful about it. That Saturday night, he was the scum of the earth on Channel 39.

From what I have heard, Dillion and other wrestlers from that era did this sort of thing all the time for a small fee and a free dinner. It was part of how they made their living. I would imagine that Nikolai (Josip) was cut from the same cloth.

I never quite understood why those who despise wrestling require it to be authentic while readily accepting magic and any number of other forms of entertainment as being falsely labeled.
 

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