[8] He married a girl in California while on shore leave. Many of the viewers were horrified by Blassie's treatment of their hero. In the late 1960s, he moved to the East Coast and the World-Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF, later the World Wresting Federation (WWF) and now World Wrestling Entertainment WWE)). . Managed by "Loud" Lou Albano, Blassie continued his winning ways, but never won the WWWF's championship. Blassie would show Greenberg dozens of notebooks with "beautiful cursive handwriting." After Sheik lost the belt to Blassie's former managed wrestler Hulk Hogan, Blassie managed Sheik in various rematches around the country throughout the first half of 1984, culminating into another major televised rematch on December 28, 1984, once again in Madison Square Garden. [6] Blassie described this performer as "having a neck like a stack of dimes and a real pencil-neck geek". In it, Blassie is picked up at the Washington, D.C., airport by a limo full of young women, escorted around the nation's capital, gives his opinions and confronts tourists. So, how much is Freddie Blassie worth at the age of 85 years old? [6] He also began boxing at a local community center and won a heavyweight championship title. Blassie wrestled as a dark-haired good guy until he found out that the "heels" (bad guys) got better pay. Over the course of his in-ring career, Classy Freddie Blassie would wrestle a number of legends, many of whom have either become legendary wrestlers or became famous in the following decades for non-competitive roles. Keith Elliot Greenberg coauthored Legends of Wrestling: Freddie Blassie -- Listen, You Pencil Neck Geeks with wrestling icon "Classy" Freddie Blassie shortly before his death in 2003. He started a second career as a manager in the WWWF. 10 Backstage Stories About Bruno Sammartino WWE Fans Should Know [9] However, they eventually consented and Miyako returned with Blassie to the United States; they were married on September 30, 1968. Blassie would gain even more gold when Volkoff and Sheik defeated The US Express for the WWF Tag Team Championship at the first ever Wrestlemania. * Blassie also told Greenberg that women used to come up to him on the street and gawk at him because he was God's gift to women! After Blassie lost the WWA World Heavyweight Championship to Rikidzan in Los Angeles, the two had a rematch on live Japanese television. His parents repeatedly separated, only to reconcile. One of the men was Jilly Rizzo, Frank Sinatras number one sidekick and the owner of his own saloon. Blassie continued to interfere from ringside in matches, especially during Volkoff's feud with Corporal Kirchner. As much as governing body politics held back minorities, the wrestlers themselves had even more power. Born Fred Blassman in St. Louis, Blassie played baseball and football in high school. One of Blassies most notable clients during his run with WWE, however, was Hulk Hogan, who he managed as soon as Hogan debuted in the company in 1979. [7], After the US entered World War II, Blassie enlisted in the Navy and served in the Pacific Theater for 42 months. Bruno Sammartino and Vince McMahons Venomous 25-Year Feud, Bob Backlund Humble Beginnings to Championship Gold, World Wrestling Association: WWA Indianapolis Wrestling Territory, Rise and Sad Demise of The Midnight Express, Greatest Challenge Yet for Pro Wrestling Stories Author Jim Phillips, Adrian Street The British Brawler Who Wore Sequins, Ric Flair and Terry Funk: A Feud to Remember, Lou Thesz The Side Business Hustles of a Champion Wrestler, Velvet McIntyre | WWEs Original Irish Lass Kicker, Big Time Wrestling in San Francisco | Wrestling Territories, Wrestlers Who Shouldnt Have Followed Fathers Footsteps, Jack Donovan Deal One of Wrestlings Most Heinous Attacks. The nastier he was in the ring, the more popular he became to fans. From there, he moved on to become a regular writer, contributor, and reporter for WWE. [8] He was often billed as "The Vampire" during this time for biting his opponents and filing his teeth during interviews and promos. By 1952, Blassie was getting disillusioned by the East Coast and headed for California, although he did still work for various NWA territories in the South, particularly Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW). The "Shakespeare of WWE" made an appearance on our podcast The Genius Cast in 2018, and he certainly had a few good stories up his sleeves! Blassie began portraying himself as a villain, and it worked. [6] Blassie lost the title to Rikidzan on March 28, 1962.[9]. Blassie retired from active wrestling in 1974, due to a California law that prohibited anyone over 55 from getting a wrestling license. The evocative turn of phrase stuck and became Blassies catchphrase to the point where it inspired the name of his autobiography and a novelty single (see below). "When hed go to a town, the most powerful Italians would latch themselves onto him and decided they were his protectors, whether Bruno liked it or not. In this match Hogan was once again victorious. He continued to outrage crowds by distracting referees so that his men could cheat and by getting in his own cheap shots when the refs weren't looking. Most recently, he co-authored the 2016 edition of the WWE Encyclopedia of Sports Entertainment. He felt this was his chance to tell his life story before moving on. Pro Wrestling Stories - Your daily source of nostalgia and a peek behind the curtain wall of wrestlings past! He bleached his hair and quickly became a heel's heel, outraging crowds by gleefully breaking every rule in the book. Worldwide star. He started a second career as a manager in the WWWF. Blassie was a contemporary of six-time NWA world champion Thesz, who died in 2002 at the age of 86. On an episode of WWF Championship Wrestling, Blassie barged into the announcer booth to proclaim that he had sold half of the contracts of Sheik and Volkoff to a mysterious benefactor for a large sum of money. Vince McMahon interviews "Classy" Freddie Blassie & Nikolai Volkoff | WWE His last name is slightly easier to pronounce than it looks. At 85 years old, Freddie Blassie height [13][6][dubious discuss], While touring Japan in 1965, and by this point divorced, Blassie met the woman who would eventually become his third wife, Miyako Morozumi, at a train station. It is a mostly improvised parody of the art film My Dinner with Andre and is set in a Sambo's restaurant where Kaufman and Blassie have a discussion over breakfast. [8] His final wrestling appearance was May 12, 2003 in Philadelphia on Raw, three weeks before his death. After handing over ME duties to Alex Richards, he remains a frequent contributor to the site. At an early age, Blassie was enamored with pro wrestling, particularly the "shooters" of the early era of pro wrestling in the 1930s, and would often sneak into a local gym to watch the technical masters stretch and submit their opponents. [3] Blassie also publicly represented Ali for media events and interviews for a period in the mid-1970s. [2] During that same title reign, in a match against Lord James Blears a fan threw acid on his back, and he had to return immediately to the locker room to wash it off; over the course of his career, he was also stabbed 21 times and lost vision in his right eye after being struck by a thrown hard-boiled egg. Despite that, Blassie ended the year by leaving WWWF and returning to Los Angeles and the WWA. [2] In 1963, Bearcat Wright defeated him to become champion, and it was quite a statement during the fight for civil rights that an African-American had won such a title. Head on over to theLWOS Boardsto engage in conversation with fellow fans! His father was an abusive alcoholic, prompting Frederick to stay with his grandparents whenever Jacob beat Anna. 2018 Remaster of Andy Kaufman on The Late Show w/ David Letterman w/ "Classy" Fred Blassie on February 23rd, 1983.More remastered Andy Kaufman - https://goo.. JP Zarka created Pro Wrestling Stories in May 2015. Between matches, he gave loud and boastful interviews, making The nastier he was in the ring, the more popular he became to fans on the other side of the ropes. He would become a frequent foe of Morales throughout the rest of his in-ring career in WWWF. Following his 1986 on-camera retirement (he remained an executive for the WWE), still made occasional on-camera appearances since then, and his last came on "WWE Raw" in May, just a few weeks before his death (to promote his newly-released biography, "Listen, You Pencil Neck Geeks"). [8] He worked for Jack Pfefer, who he claimed would only employ people who looked like sideshow freaks at his shows, and whose wrestlers included Tor Johnson, who made movies with director Ed Wood, and Lillian Ellison, the Fabulous Moolah. The suit, filed in federal court in White Plains, accuses the supermarket chain of negligence and recklessness and seeks more than $1 million in damages from corporate parent A&P and mat supplier G&K Services. According to Walton, Blassies biggest achievement came Aug. 27, 1971, when he met and defeated Canadian wrestler Golden Greek John Tolos at the Coliseum before 25,000 wrestling fans. Some wrestlers choose to play a villain as a way of promoting their career, while others are forced to by their promoters. By the 1970s, Blassie had relocated to the East Coast where he successfully pursued his mat career. ", In this particular story, Blassie won a match by count-out in Roosevelt Stadium when he kicked Sammartino in the breadbasket while the referee was distracted. [18][19] Blassie also appeared in the SummerSlam opening video. He liked to use a variety of names but had trouble gaining the affection of fans who gravitated toward the likes of Lou Thesz and Gorgeous George. In that storyline, he is menaced by Eric Bischoff and his henchmen, before calling on the Dudley Brothers to "Get the tables!" He bleached his hair and quickly became a heel's heel, outraging crowds by gleefully breaking every rule in the book. I think Dick Lane was as good as Gordon Solie in his day. He became less the focal point of WWA, and soon began working more NWA territories, as he spread his wings into enemy territory. Blassie got involved when he threw his cane into the ring, with Sheik and Volkoff using it to their advantage to gain the victory. Blassie's interference at Wrestlemania 2 cost Volkoff his match with Kirchner, when the cane was grabbed by Kirchner instead of Volkoff. He retired from competition in the late 1970s to manage a new generation of gladiators such as Hulk Hogan. heel's heel, outraging crowds by gleefully breaking every rule in the Learn how and when to remove this template message, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=My_Breakfast_with_Blassie&oldid=1107033235, Articles needing additional references from June 2021, All articles needing additional references, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 27 August 2022, at 19:43. This is in reference . If you're not from the midwest you're not allowed to have an opinion on this. After a 39-year in-ring career in the sport, Blassie retired as a wrestler as a 4x WWA World Heavyweight Champion, a 17x NWA Georgia Southern Heavyweight Champion, NWA Junior Heavyweight Champion, as well as dozens more regional titles in multiple NWA territories. He had been in poor health for quite a while, and it was as if he wanted to wait to get his story out before he passed on. "Classy" Freddie Blassie also made a cameo appearance as himself, along with "Wrestling's Living Legend" Bruno Sammartino, and Ric Flair in the 1986 film Body Slam starring Dirk Benedict, "Captain" Lou Albano, and "Rowdy" Roddy Piper. [8] His death was announced by Jim Ross, 20 minutes into that same day's episode of Raw. He's also written for Pro Wrestling Illustrated, WrestleZone, The Windsor Star, and other publications. When meeting someone, he would ask where they were from, and no matter their response, he would reply with, "Oh, that's God's country!". Had some great matches with Rikidozan & even back in the late 60s he was over bigtime as a heel. Blassie also mastered the television interview, boasting his superiority over other wrestlers he liked to call ''pencil-neck geeks.'' But for nearly 40 years, Fred Blassie was an in-ring talent who ruled the West Coast, a multi-time World Champion, and one of the most feared villains in pro wrestling history. Freddie Blassies income source is mostly from being a successful Actor. After being pounded by a longer-limbed opponent, he switched to professional wrestling. The defendants had a duty to provide reasonably safe conditions for its customers, the suit charges. In the 1950s, Fred Blassie was hands down the most hated wrestler in the southeastern territory. The closest I ever saw him to loosing the mask was against Cowboy Bob Ellis, I believe in the mid 60's. I can still remember old Dick Lane calling the action. He was 85.Mr. In this series, we will look at some of pro wrestlings greatest and most well-known managers and/or valets, but explore their prior career as an in-ring professional wrestler. Blassie would continue to make his titles make history in 1963, he lost to Bearcat Wright, making Wright the first African-American to hold a World title in the United States. His wife is Miyako Morozumi (30 September 1968 - 2 June 2003) ( his death), ? One poll ranked him as the most hated wrestler in the United [spoken to the WWF wrestlers during Invasion 2001] Gentleman, there Renowned as "The Hollywood Fashion Plate",[3] he was a one-time NWA World Junior Heavyweight Champion, and was inducted into the WWF Hall of Fame in 1994. A gifted gabber and a splashy dresser, Blassie guided The Iron Shiek to the WWF World Heavyweight title in 1983, Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff to the WWF World Tag Team titles, as well as managing such clients as Adrian Adonis, Jesse The Body Ventura, Kamala, Hercules Hernandez, and even Hulk Hogan during his first stint in the WWF. [9] The sight of the Japanese legend covered in his own blood gave several viewers heart attacks, and some reportedly died.
The 57 Bus Main Idea,
Mama Cozzi Pizza Expiration Date,
Brenda Smith Obituary Ohio,
What Should I Bring To Homestead Crater?,
Oak Woods And Prairies Weathering,
Articles F