Forgotten Wrestlers - Big John Studd

Big John Studd is one professional wrestler that was forgotten and younger wrestling fans do not know much about him. His real name was John William Minton and was trained by well known legend of wrestling Killer Kowalski. Both of them started working together and Big John's first ever major title was the WWWF Tag Team title won in tag team with Kowalski. Both were then masked and members of a team called the Masked Executioners.

Big John Studd left the WWWF and eventually wrestled under different names like The Masked Superstar II, Captain USA and Chuck O'Connor. As time passed he had interesting feuds with Barry Windham, Sweet Brown Sugar and Dusty Rhodes. Some older wrestling fans will definitely remember his heel gimmick and the stretcher he brought to the ring. In 1982 Studd started a feud with NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair and would eventually turn towards the WWF. That was when he started a huge feud with the WWF World Champion of the time, Hulk Hogan. In the WWF of the time we saw the wrestler managed by Bobby Heenan and we noticed one of the most memorable feuds of John Studd's career against Andre the Giant. There was a huge tag team match that showed Andre the Giant's hair being shaved after the match and the end of the feud was huge. Big John Studd offered $15,000 to anyone that could body slam him and this eventually led to a match between John Studd and Andre the Giant at the first ever Wrestlemania. The highlight was Andre body slamming Studd and claiming the money while also winning the match. The feud with Andre the Giant was probably the best feud that Big John Studd had in his wrestling career.

Big John Studd also participated in the well known Wrestlemania 2 Over the top Battle royal match. Studd set his focus on eliminating William Perry but eventually was eliminated by the professional football player, after the wrestler eliminated him. The winner of that Battle Royal was Andre the Giant. After this match and a tag team run with King Kong Bundy, Studd did not appear in the WWF for around 3 years. Big John returned to feud against members of the Heenan family and he eventually won the Royal Rumble of 1989. Unfortunately this was the most important moment of the wrestler's career. After serving as a special referee for the match between Andre the Giant and Jake "The Snake" Roberts at Wrestlemania V he started to take time off and eventually had to retire because of problems caused by taking growth hormones. Big John Studd eventually died because of Hodgkin's disease and liver cancer in 1995.

In conclusion, I would like to point out the ending of the famous Body Slam match against Andre the Giant at the first ever Wrestlemania! Enjoy!

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.