Forgotten Wrestlers - Ivan Koloff

Ivan "The Russian Ber" Koloff was born as James Perras and he was not Russian at all. He was one of the most interesting professional wrestlers of his time and a lot of people have forgotten about him. The truth is that he was Canadian but his Russian character in wrestling is what made him famous around the world. Ever since he was little Perras was fascinated by wrestling and ended up joining the wrestling school of Jack Wentworth.

The wrestler, Ivan Koloff, made his debut in 1967. After that he went on to wrestle in most of the wrestling rings in the world and had a huge career for 31 years. The biggest moment of Ivan Koloff's wrestling career is considered to be the day in which he defeated Bruno Sammartino. That was hen he became the WWWF Heavyweight Champion, in 1971. The problem is that he lost the title quickly in front of Pedro Morales and the truth is that Ivan Koloff was just a transitional wrestler.

In the 80s Ivan Koloff had a lot of success in NWA and the Jim Crockett Promotions. That is where he aided the career of Nikita Koloff and had one of the best feuds of his career against Dusty Rhodes. On the whole, Ivan Koloff's career is well known for his feuds with the Rock 'n' Roll Express, the Road Warriors and Dusty Dhodes. One interesting fact you might have not known is that this professional wrestler also appeared in the first ever ECW show, back in 1992. Eventually Ivan Koloff retired and continued his work in a lot of charities. You might want to get your hands on his book, called "Is That Wrestling Fake? - The Bare Facts", quite an interesting book that wrestling fans from all over the world already love.

Ivan Koloff is well known for using some wrestling moves that include the classic bear hug, Cobra Clutch and Backbreaker as signature moves and some trademarks in the Russian Sickle (basically a Jumping Lariat) and the Diving Knee Drop.