According to Wikipedia…

A midget professional wrestler is a dwarf or person of short stature who competes in professional wrestling. The heyday of midget wrestling was in the 1950s and 1960s, when wrestlers such as Little Beaver, Lord Littlebrook, and Fuzzy Cupid toured North America, and Sky Low Low was the first holder of the National Wrestling Alliance‘s World Midget Championship. In the following couple of decades, more wrestlers became prominent in North America, including foreign wrestlers like Japan’s Little Tokyo.

Beginning in the late 1980s, midget wrestling reached its peak at the World Wrestling Federation (WWF)’s WrestleMania III. Afterward, promotions continued to feature midget divisions, but its popularity was slowly declining. By the mid-1990s, midget wrestlers were mostly featured in comical matches and segments, rather than serious competitive wrestling-type matches. In Mexico, however, this was not the case, as wrestler Mascarita Sagrada continued to compete in prominent Mexican promotions such as Asistencia Asesoría y Administración and Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre. By the mid-2000s in the United States, midget divisions were once again being featured in major wrestling promotions, and wrestlers such as World Wrestling Entertainment (formerly the WWF)’s Hornswoggle were competing for and winning championships made for full-size male wrestlers.

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Midget professional wrestling had its early origins in the vaudeville shows of the United States. In these shows, comedy was as important as athletics. The sport is also indebted to professional wrestling’s carny origins, where a premium was placed on the visually unusual. Early historyThe Little People of America (LPA) have criticized midget wrestling as reinforcing stereotypes that little people are no more than entertainment. The LPA also frowns on the use of the word “midget” in the name of the sport—stating that it is as offensive as a racial slur—but the performers themselves do not always feel the same way.

In 1949, Sky Low Low won a thirty-man battle royal to become the first NWA World Midget Championship, a singles midget championship promoted by the National Wrestling Alliance. Sky Low Low, one of the most prominent midget professional wrestlers, had a longtime feud with Farmer Brooks.

The 1950s have been called the “golden age of midget wrestling.” During the decade, Sky Low Low, Little Beaver, Lord Littlebrook, and Fuzzy Cupid all toured the territories of Canada, wrestling in promotions such as Stu Hart‘s Stampede Wrestling. The dominant promoter and booker for midget wrestling at the time was Jack Britton, who was stationed in Montreal. InOntario, Larry Kasaboski also promoted midget wrestling shows. In Canada, Sky Low Low and Little Beaver earned up to 15% of the gate proceeds at their events. The midget professional wrestlers had many gimmicks to attract audiences and revenue. One of Sky Low Low’s gimmicks was an open challenge to any other midget professional wrestlers to beat him in a two out of three falls match for $100. He would also turn himself upside down and balance on his head. The duo of Sky Low Low and Little Beaver even squared off in a match forElizabeth II of the United Kingdom and King Farouk of Egypt. Sky Low Low also frequently teamed with Fuzzy Cupid in tag team matches. Meanwhile, Lord Littlebrook was credited as being one of the first wrestlers of any height to use aerial maneuvers in his matches. In addition to North America, Littlebrook wrestled in Australia, Japan and Thailand. The midget wrestlers also performed in Cuba prior to the 1950s, South America, Central America, England, Ireland, Scotland, and the countries on the mainland European continent.

In the 1960s, Littlebook trained other midget wrestlers, including Cowboy Lang. Female wrestler The Fabulous Moolah also trained midget wrestlers at her home in South Carolina, including female midget wrestler Diamond Lil.

Female midget wrestlers were popular in the 1960s and 1970s. Beginning in the mid-to-late 1960s, Diamond Lil wrestled Darling Dagmar, and in the 1970s, Lil mainly feuded with Princess Little Dove. Other prominent female competitors included Sheila Johnson, Cherrie Lamour, and Gypsey Rose. The women, as well as the men, competed regularly for promotions such as Georgia Championship Wrestling.

Peak and decline

Midget wrestling continued to be popular into the 1970s and 1980s, with foreign wrestlers coming to the United States to compete. Little Tokyo, a Japanese professional wrestler, made his way to the National Wrestling Alliance in the 1970s. British wrestler Lord Littlebrook continued to compete, but he became a manager for Jack Victory and Rip Morgan in World Championship Wrestling in the late-1980s.

The World Wrestling Federation featured several midget wrestlers on their cards in the 1980s. At WrestleMania II in April 1986, The Haiti Kid appeared in the corner of actor Mr. T, who was in a match against wrestling Roddy Piper. On March 12, 1987, at the WWF’s WrestleMania III event—which had a record attendance of over 93,000 fans and is considered the pinnacle of the1980s wrestling boom—featured a tag team match with midget wrestlers Haiti Kid and Little Beaver, with normal sized wrestler Hillbilly Jim defeating Little Tokyo and Lord Littlebrook, with King Kong Bundy by disqualification. During the match, Bundy slammed Little Beaver to the mat, which broke his back and forced him into early retirement. Sky Low Low was also touring with the WWF in the 1980s.

Promotions such as World Class Championship Wrestling and Windy City Wrestling also had midget divisions during this time. Grand Prix Wrestling in Canada employed midget wrestlers, including Farmer Brooks until it closed in 1992. In late 1992, Canadian Claude Giroux signed on with the WWF and teamed with The Bushwhackers in their feud against The Beverly Brothers, both of which were teams of full-sized wrestlers.

Competitive midget wrestling, however, declined sharply in the United States in the early 1990s. Midget wrestlers began to show up in more comedic roles, which has been criticized by theLittle People of America as being “thoroughly degrading and puts little people out there as a sideshow and entertainment.” In these comedic roles, the wrestlers appeared as miniature versions of existing full-size wrestling stars. For example, Claude Giroux continued his tenure in the WWF by dressing up as a smaller version of larger wrestlers, most prominent was his Dink the Clown character, who was the “mini” of Doink the Clown. As Dink, Giroux appeared at 1994′s WrestleMania X in a match where he teamed with Doink against Bam Bam Bigelow and Luna Vachon. He made another appearance at that years Survivor Series teaming with Doink and two other midget wrestlers (Pink and Wink) in a match against Jerry Lawler and Lawler’s “minis” (Sleazy, Queasy and Cheesy). In response to the growing popularity of using midget wrestlers as comedy, Lord Littlebrook, who was popular in the 1950s, stated “I’m disgusted, I really am…I want midget wrestling, I don’t want midget comedy.”

Eddie was a photographer, reporter and writer for the wrestling magazines that wanted access to Memphis Wrestling.  In that role Tommy and his wife would allow Eddie to spent time with my wife and me in our home in Nashville.  Eddie and I went on some trips and he took some photos for the office.  Eddie never got tired of talking about Wrestling.

The above photos were taken by Eddie Gilbert in the spring of 1976 in Jackson, Tennessee.

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Claude Giroux (July 13, 1956) is a Canadian-born midget wrestler whose career spans over 20 years. He is still active in the Canadian Independent circuit. Giroux’s biggest exposure came when he performed as Doink The Clown‘s sidekick Dink in the World Wrestling Federationbetween 1993 and 1995. Outside of his stint as Dink the Clown, Giroux also performed in the WWF as Tiger Jackson in the 1980s and as The Macho Midget and Little Hulkster in the later half of the 1990s.

Giroux made his debut in the late 1970s after being trained by Little Brutus and Hall of Famer Sky Low Low under the name “Tiger Jackson”. With Midget Wrestling being seen as a sideshow to the “tall version”, Giroux tended to travel from promotion to promotion instead of staying in one area for a long time. In the early days of his career, Giroux wrestled in many National Wrestling Alliance territories, for the World Wrestling Council in Puerto Rico, and in Germany, as well. Giroux also made appearances in the World Wrestling Federation from 1982, often teaming with his brother Lionel Giroux who wrestled as ”Little Beaver”.

In late 1992, Jackson signed on with the WWF and started to team up with The Bushwhackers in their feud against The Beverly Brothers. The Beverly Brothers recruited “Little Louie” to even the sides but to little success falling to the combination of the Bushwhackers and Tiger Jackson time and again including a prime time loss on the “Road to WrestleMania IX” Special shown on March 28.

Imitating others

In Mexico there is a tradition for the midget wrestlers to imitate “full sized” wrestlers such as Mascarita Sagrada and Mascara Sagrada. In the 1990s, Claude Giroux followed that tradition after working for the WWF for about 6 months, appearing as miniature versions of several full-sized wrestlers.

Macho Midget

Giroux’s first “imitation” gimmick came as a direct result of the antics of the heel Doink the Clown, who had a second Doink come out to interfere in the match. During a match between Doink and Randy Savage on Monday Night Raw, Giroux climbed out from under the ring dressed like a miniature version of Randy Savage (instantly dubbed the Macho Midget). The sight of the Macho Midget distracted Doink long enough to be rolled up for a loss after Doink’s own tactics were turned on him. After his debut, Giroux helped Randy Savage out a few times but also went back to teaming with the Bushwhackers, this time working as ”The Macho Midget.”

Dink the Clown

Giroux’s most known “imitator” role was as “Dink the Clown,” the slapstick partner of Doink the Clown (at the time played by Ray Apollo, the fourth and last wrestler to play Doink on a regular basis in the WWF). Dink was introduced as a present to Doink the Clown by Santa Claus himself on an edition of WWF Superstars of Wrestling that aired on November 27, 1993. From then on, Dink accompanied Doink to ringside and took part in the clown antics played on opponents. While acting as a manager, Giroux occasionally also wrestled as Dink, twice on Pay Per View. Dink’s first PPV appearance was on March 20, 1994 at WrestleMania X, teaming with Doink to face Bam Bam Bigelow and Luna Vachon in a losing effort. Dink’s second PPV appearance came at the 1994 Survivor Series where he was joined by fellow “Mini Clowns” Pink and Wink to make up the team Clowns’R’Us to face Jerry Lawler and his three “Mini Kings” – Sleazy, Cheesy and Queasy. After losing the match, all six midgets attacked Jerry Lawler and chased him from the ring.

Lionel Giroux (1935 – December 4, 1995) was a Canadian midget wrestler who is best known by his ring name Little Beaver. His most famous appearance was in a six-man match at WrestleMania III for the World Wrestling Federation.

Lionel Giroux began his wrestling career in 1950, at the age of fifteen, and then began to wrestle for promoters in Quebec. He, along with Sky Low Low, became two of the most famous midget wrestlers in wrestling who had enough drawing power to command a large portion of the live gate for wrestling events. Giroux helped to create the comedy matches that have since become a trademark for midget wrestling in Canada and the United States. In 1973, Giroux won the Pro Wrestling Illustrated Midget Wrestler of the Year award.

His last in-ring appearance was at WrestleMania III in the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan in 1987, at the age of 52. Giroux, wrestling as Little Beaver, teamed with Hillbilly Jim andHaiti Kid defeating King Kong Bundy, Little Tokyo and Lord Littlebrook after Bundy was disqualified for attacking Little Beaver. During the match, Giroux suffered a back injury at the hands of Bundy, which forced him to retire from professional wrestling. In a 1998 interview with King Kong Bundy, Bundy said he hoped that he wasn’t responsible for Giroux’s early death, saying he wouldn’t want that on his conscience.

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The team began its career in Stampede Wrestling, where they won the Stampede International Tag Team Championship on two occasions. They spent the majority of the 1970s in variousNational Wrestling Alliance (NWA) territories.

[edit]World Wrestling Federation

In the early 1980s, the Wild Samoans joined the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). They made their Madison Square Garden debut on January 21, 1980 in a WWF Tag Team Championshipmatch against Tito Santana and Ivan Putski, who retained their title. In the upcoming months, both men became contenders for Bob Backlund‘s WWF Championship, but neither man won the gold. They, however, won their first championship in the WWF, the tag team championship, by defeating Santana and Putski on April 12, 1980. They reigned as champions for approximately five months, until dropping the title to Backlund and Pedro Morales in a two out of three falls match at Showdown at Shea. Because Backlund was already the reigning WWF Champion, the team had to forfeit the title, and a tournament was held to crown new tag champions. On September 8, 1980, the Wild Samoans defeated Tony Garea and Rene Goulet in the tournament finals to win the title. Their reign lasted for one month, until they lost to Garea and his new partner, Rick Martel. The Wild Samoans feuded with the champions for the rest of the year, but they were not able to recapture the gold.

Mid-South and Mid-Atlantic

In late 1981, the Wild Samoans joined Mid-South Wrestling. With, “Big Cat” Ernie Ladd as their financial adviser, they won the Mid-South Tag Team Championship and feuded with Junkyard Dog and Dick Murdoch. After also attacking Ladd, the two began a feud with their former adviser. In response, Ladd formed a team with “Iron” Mike Sharpe, with whom he forced the Wild Samoans to leave Mid-South.

After leaving Mid-South, the duo appeared in Georgia Championship Wrestling. As part of the territory, they defeated the Fabulous Freebirds for the NWA National Tag Team Championship, which they later vacated.

Return to the World Wrestling Federation

The Wild Samoans eventually ended up back in the World Wrestling Federation with their former manager Capt. Lou Albano. Afa and Sika began their third WWF Tag Team Championshipreign on March 8, 1983 by defeating Chief Jay and Jules Strongbow. In a rematch on March 19, they were also victorious. Also during this time, while feuding with Rocky Johnson, Jimmy Snuka, and André the Giant, the duo added Afa’s son Samula to their team, first as a replacement for Sika when he got hurt, then as their backup upon his return.

They lost their tag team title to the team of Rocky Johnson and Tony Atlas on November 15. During the match, Albano tried to interfere on the Samoans behalf by attempting to hit Johnson over the head with a chair. He accidentally hit Sika instead, however, and Atlas covered him for the win. The duo eventually left the WWF in 1984.

In 1987 Sika reappeared briefly in the WWF, now managed by Mr. Fuji, performing both in singles competetition and as a tagteam (partnered with Kamala. Kamala and Sika’s biggest match as a tagteam was a loss to the Can-Am Connection on Superstars of Wrestling. Sika also participated in the invitational battle royal that opened Wrestlemania IV. He was the second one eliminated, however.

Anthony White (born April 23, 1954) better known by his ring name “Tony Atlas” is a bodybuilder, powerlifter, and professional wrestler who has held multiple titles and championships in each sport. He is also known by his bodybuilding title, “Mr. USA” (a distinction he earned three times), the nom de guerre the “Superman”, as well as an alter ego named Saba Simba. He returned as an on screen manager for World Wrestling Entertainment, recently appearing on its now-defunct ECW brand.

Atlas started wrestling in 1975 for the National Wrestling Alliance World Wide/Mid Atlantic area. His debut, on July 10, was a tag team match with Bob Bruggers against Art Neilson and The Blue Scorpion. The match finished with Atlas winning the fall for his team with a sleeper hold on the Blue Scorpion.

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Throughout his career he worked for World Championship Wrestling (WCW), the NWA’s Jim Crockett Promotions, the World Wrestling Council(WWC), World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW), the American Wrestling Association (AWA), and the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). Among his regular partners were Tommy Rich (as “TNT”), Dick Murdoch, and Rocky Johnson. He was also the very first man to press slam and pin Hulk Hogan though Hogan’s foot was on the rope and the referee didn’t see it.^{[citation needed]}

During his time with the NWA, Atlas captured the NWA Georgia Tag Team Title with Tommy Rich. He later teamed with Mr. Wrestling II, Thunderbolt Patterson, Kevin Sullivan, and Rocky Johnson. In the WWF, Tony teamed with Rocky Johnson to defeat the Wild Samoans to win the WWF World tag team title, becoming the first Afro-American team to hold the belts.  After losing the titles to Adrian Adonis and Dick Murdoch, Johnson soon departed. WWF management was prepared to offer Atlas a run as the company’s Intercontinental champion, but a burgeoning drug problem led to Atlas missing dates and becoming unreliable both inside and outside the ring. Atlas was thus shunted to the mid card in the WWF in short lived tag teams with Ivan Putski, Lanny Poffo and George Wells. He was also used as a jobber to the stars, putting over newly arriving talent like King Kong Bundy and Harley Race.

In 1987, Tony left for the Texas based World Class Championship Wrestling where he adopted the moniker of “The Black Superman”. He had almost instant success when he teamed with Skip Young to win the World Class Texas Tag Team Title. Atlas left the company in 1988.

Atlas then moved on to the Northeast independent area in late 1988. He joined International Championship Wrestling (owned and operated by Mario Savoldi) where he turned heel and under the management of The Duke (not Pete Doherty) won the ICW Heavyweight title from Joe Savoldi. Atlas lost the belt to Vic Steamboat in Middletown, NY. But after a few months, he regained the belt from Steamboat. That match became infamous because of the number of times it was shown on the IWCCW syndicated show.

In late 1990, after a winning a battle with drug addiction a rejuvenated Atlas returned to the WWF, reinvented as Saba Simba and was a competitor in the 1991 Royal Rumble. On December 13, 2010, Tony appeared on Right After Wrestling and credited the Saba Simba character with saving his life as he was homeless and living on a park bench before getting a phone call from Vince McMahon. He played a warrior of a Ugandan tribe, but the gimmick was unpopular at best, and considered racist at worst. He left for WCW shortly thereafter. In 1992, he wrestled in WCW, and in 1994 for the American Wrestling Federation (AWF). He briefly showed back up in the WWF around Wrestlemania 13 being spotted in the crowd and cheering for Rocky Mavia.

While working for the World Wrestling Council in Puerto Rico, Atlas may have witnessed the murder of Bruiser Brody by another wrestler, Jose Gonzalez (Invader #1). Atlas was never called back to testify.

Atsushi Onita (大仁田 厚 Ōnita Atsushi) (born October 25, 1957) is a Japanese former politician and active professional wrestler best known for his work in FMW. He is credited with importing to Japan, as well as innovating, the death match style of professional wrestling (which was largely popular and rooted in Puerto Rico).

He was the first true graduate of the All Japan Pro Wrestling dojo (Jumbo Tsuruta had debuted first, but he had trained in Amarillo, Texas, with Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk). In his early days he teamed with dojo classmate Masanobu Fuchi, who debuted only a few weeks after him. He was known as a loyal ring attendant to Giant Baba, who had accepted him into the dojo despite not having graduated from high school. In the late ’70s and the early ’80s, he and Fuchi toured Memphis, Tennessee, winning the AWA Southern tag team title three times.

When the junior heavyweight boom started in Japan under Tatsumi Fujinami and Tiger Mask Satoru Sayama, Onita was picked as the ace of AJPW’s makeshift junior heavyweight division. Baba was able to get Chavo Guerrero, Sr., who had been an early rival of Fujinami, over to AJPW’s side, and Guerrero brought the NWA International Junior Heavyweight Championship with him, effectively establishing it as AJPW’s junior heavyweight cornerstone. Onita and Guerrero’s subsequent feud over the title spanned three promotions (AJPW, Jim Crockett Promotions andEmpresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre), and, while not as spectacular as New Japan Pro Wrestling‘s junior division, provided solid alternate wrestling to AJPW fans. In 1985 he had to retire due to accumulated injuries. By then he had already been replaced as the junior ace by the new version of Tiger Mask, Mitsuharu Misawa.

Peruzović grew up in the Socialist Republic of Croatia, which was then part of the Yugoslavia, a Communist country. His mother is Russian and his father was Croatian and Italian. He was on the Yugoslavian weightlifting team until 1967, when he defected to Canada while at a weightlifting tournament in Vienna, Austria. He received training in Calgary from the legendary Stu Hart, followed by his arrival in the United States in 1970.

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As soon as he arrived, he began wrestling in the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) (currently known as World Wrestling Entertainment). Wrestling as Bepo Mongol, managed by “Captain” Lou Albano and partnered with Geto Mongol, he captured the WWF International Tag Team Titlesfrom Tony Marino and Victor Rivera on June 15, 1970. After losing the titles to Luke Graham and Tarzan Tyler in a match that unified the WWF International and WWF World Tag Team Titles, Peruzovic went on to singles competition under the name Nikolai Volkoff.

In 1974, Volkoff appeared in perhaps the most memorable match of his life when he appeared at a sold out Madison Square Gardenand wrestled one of the sport’s most famous champions, the great Bruno Sammartino. Volkoff chased the WWF title for the majority of his early career and was always given a considerable amount of title shots from whoever was the current WWF Champion.

Late in 1974, Volkoff moved to the AWA where he wrestled under the name of Boris Breznikoff; managed by Bobby “The Brain” Heenan, he used the same gimmick with a different ring name. He reverted back to the Volkoff name in his WWF return in 1976. During this time in the WWF, Volkoff was announced as being from Mongolia. He enjoyed a very successful feud with Bruno Sammartino. The feud started when Volkoff attacked Sammartino during an interview segment. They sold out arenas all throughout the Northeast. Also during this tenure, Volkoff began a ring gimmick where he would crush a fresh apple with one hand as a sign of what he would do to his opponents.

In the early 1980s, Volkoff wrestled for Cowboy Bill Watts in the Mid South region.

In 1984, Volkoff returned to the now WWF and teamed with the Iron Sheik. It was at this point that Volkoff really pushed the envelope and began to sing the national anthem of the Soviet Unionbefore every match, in order to gain even more heat for being a foreign heel.

The new team of Volkoff and The Iron Sheik captured the coveted WWF Tag Team Championship from The U.S. Express (Mike Rotundo and Barry Windham) at WrestleMania, on March 31, 1985. After losing the titles back to Rotundo and Windham three months later, Volkoff began to wrestle more in singles competition, picking up a notable feud with Corporal Kirschner.

According to the Sheik around this time, their friendship behind the scenes ended over $2. Allegedly, Sheik wanted to tip a wheelchair man who helped transport the Sheik and their luggage, but only had $100 bills. He asked Nikolai for $2, and Nikolai refused, saying the wheelchair man “didn’t need the money. Sheik ended this tirade by calling Nikolai a “Cheap jew son of a bitch”

In the fall of 1986, Volkoff’s manager Classy Freddy Blassie sold half interest in his stable of superstars to the “Doctor of Style,” Slick. Giving Slick co-managerial rights to Nikolai Volkoff, Classy Freddy Blassie also shared the contracts of the Iron Sheik and Hercules. Blassie eventually retired in the fall of 1986. Sheik and Volkoff feuded with WWF newcomer Jim Duggan for the majority of 1987.

In late 1987, Volkoff was teamed with Boris Zukhov, another alleged Russian (actually an American), to form The Bolsheviks. However, this tag team combination for Volkoff did not gain the success as did his partnership with The Iron Sheik. As they lost the public eye due to many losses, they eventually lost their manager Slick. The Bolsheviks never held any titles together, and are perhaps best remembered for being defeated in 19 seconds by The Hart Foundation at WrestleMania VI. Eventually, by 1990, The Bolsheviks split up. Volkoff publicly ended the partnership prior to a match where he confronted Zukhov and then started singing “The Star-Spangled Banner“, drawing loud cheers from the audience and turning face in the process.

During the Cold War period, Volkoff played a communist villain who was one of the most hated men in professional wrestling. His act included angering fans by insulting America and singing the “Russian National Anthem” before each match, joined in tag team matches by the Iron Sheik (whose home nation of Iran was also seen as an American enemy). Although Peruzovic had originally sought to be a “good guy“, he had a stellar career as one of the top “bad guys” in the business. With the Cold War ending, Peruzovic finally got his wish and was allowed to turnhimself into the “good guy” he always wanted to be. Stated Peruzovic to his managers, “I told them, communism is over. I did my job. No more bad guy.”

A short time after The Bolsheviks split, Volkoff became a fan favorite for the first time in his career. His gimmick was now that of a recently liberated Lithuanian, following the fall of the Soviet Union; he became very pro-west which led to a feud with Sgt. Slaughter who was involved in an Iraqi sympathizer role and teamed with the Iron Sheik, who had recently began an Iraqi gimmick as opposed to his actual Iranian heritage. After this feud was over, Volkoff’s popularity declined and he left WWF in 1992.

In 1994, Volkoff again returned to the WWF and became a sympathetic heel by playing the whipping-boy of Ted DiBiase‘s Million Dollar Corporation. Volkoff had fallen on hard times and was forced to take a job working for DiBiase and his new Corporation. As low man in the group he was forced to wrestle matches no one else wanted to or sent out to “soften up” opponents for other members of the stable as the sacrificial lamb of the group. The disrespect even extended to renaming him “Nickel & Dime” Volkoff and DiBiase forcing him to place a ¢ on his trunks where the Russian sickle once was along with a sign on his ring attire that read “Property Of The Million Dollar Man”. Following this last run in the WWF, Volkoff entered a semi-retirement. Volkoff made a brief cameo on an episode of Shotgun Saturday Night where Todd Pettengill discovered him homeless sleeping in a box on the streets of New York. He also appeared at WrestleMania X-Seven in the Gimmick Battle Royal.

On February 3, 2005, Volkoff was announced as one of the WWE Hall of Fame inductees for the Class of 2005. He was inducted on April 2, 2005 by Jim Ross in the Universal Amphitheatre inLos Angeles, California.

In 2006, Volkoff took part in the World Wrestling Legends pay-per-view 6:05 The Reunion. Managed by the Iron Sheik, he wrestled a match against “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan. Before the match, he once again sang the national anthem of the Soviet Union and riled up the crowd.

Volkoff made his first appearance on WWE television in over 2 years on the August 13, 2007 edition of Raw as a contestant on WWE Idol, a parody of American Idol. Volkoff appeared alongside the Iron Sheik and Howard Finkel, although Volkoff was the only one who sang. Volkoff sang the Soviet Union national anthem, receiving boos from the crowd (despite being a face) and was insulted by judge William Regal, although judges Mick Foley and Maria both praised the performance. In response, Sheik, who was also insulted, went on a tirade until both he and Volkoff were escorted out of the building by security.

The March 10, 2008 edition of WWE Raw, featured rematches from previous WrestleManias. The Iron Sheik appeared along with Nikolai Volkoff to face off against the U.S. Express in a rematch from the first WrestleMania. The match was cut short however by Jillian Hall, who came out to sing “Born in the U.S.A.”

On the November 15, 2010, edition of Raw, as part of the Old School theme, Volkoff appeared with the Iron Sheik, singing the Soviet national anthem before being interrupted by Santino Marella and Vladimir Kozlov, the latter of whom then sung a duet with Volkoff of the Russian National anthem.

Currently, Volkoff works for various independent promotions throughout North America.

Samuel Larry Anoa’i Fatu is a professional wrestler best known under the name of The Tonga Kid, or Tama.

During his career Fatu has wrestled for the World Wrestling Federation, American Wrestling Association, World Class Championship Wrestling andWorld Championship Wrestling. Fatu debuted as a professional wrestler in 1983, after being trained by the Wild Samoans. He entered into a feud with Roddy Piper in the World Wrestling Federation. In late 1986, he teamed with Tonga Fifita. In February, they turned into villains, and Fatu was renamed to Tama, while Fifita was renamed to Haku. Together, they were christened The Islanders. They were managed by Bobby Heenan.

In October, they began a feud with Strike Force, the WWF Tag Team Champions, but were unable to win the titles, despite having several attempts. In early December 1987, the Islanders were disqualified from a match with the British Bulldogs when they kidnapped the Bulldogs’ dog, Matilda. The Islanders were indefinitely suspended in the storyline until Matilda was found.From late January 1988 until early February, the Islanders were consistently beaten by the British Bulldogs.

At a Saturday Night’s Main Event on March 7, they beat the Killer Bees, a tag team consisting of Brian Blair and Jim Brunzell. At Wrestlemania 4, the Islanders, with Bobby Heenan, defeated the Bulldogs and Koko B. Ware, with Matilda. On April 21, Heenan introduced Siva Afi as the newest member of the group, but Afi never made another appearance with the Islanders. Fatu then left the WWF. Fatu joined the National Wrestling Alliance, as a part of the Samoan Swat Team, wrestling as Samoan Savage.^{[citation needed]}

During his career, he was the youngest man ever to headline a wrestling show at Madison Square Garden. He remained active until 1992. Fatu went on to work with Solofa Fatu in his promotion Nu-Wrestling Evolution.^{[citation needed]} Fatu appeared as “Tonga Tom” in the 1987 movie Body Slam, along with Dirk Benedict and Roddy Piper. In 2007, Fatu once again wrestled as “The Tonga Kid”, working with BAW Championship Wrestling, in a match with D-Lo Brown.

Jonard Frank Labiak

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Gordon Solie is possibly the most recognized voice from the days of “classic wrestling” (used here synonymous with the territorial system) and was nicknamed the “Dean” of wrestling announcers, the “Walter Cronkite of wrestling” and the “Howard Cosell of wrestling”.

He is best known for his laconic, intelligent commentary, and he tried to impart a seriousness to ring action that many of his coworkers eschewed for the loud, bombastic style more common today. One of his trademarks was his pronunciation of “suplex” as “su-play,” a term later used by the AWA‘s Rod Trongard and wrestler/announcer Terry Taylor and, more recently by Mauro Ranallo, during Pride FC broadcasts. Other famous Solieisms include: “he’s not fast, he’s sudden”, “He’d fight a buzzsaw and give it the first two rounds”, “five letters, two words, I Quit”, “his face is becoming a Crimson mask“, “They’re going at it hammer and tongs”, and “Pier 6 brawl”.

Samuel Larry Anoa’i Fatu is a professional wrestler best known under the name of The Tonga Kid, or Tama.

During his career Fatu has wrestled for the World Wrestling Federation, American Wrestling Association, World Class Championship Wrestling and World Championship Wrestling. Fatu debuted as a professional wrestler in 1983, after being trained by the Wild Samoans. He entered into a feud with Roddy Piper in the World Wrestling Federation.^[4] In late 1986, he teamed with Tonga Fifita. In February, they turned into villains, and Fatu was renamed to Tama, while Fifita was renamed to Haku. Together, they were christened The Islanders.^[1][4] They were managed by Bobby Heenan.

In October, they began a feud with Strike Force, the WWF Tag Team Champions, but were unable to win the titles, despite having several attempts. In early December 1987, the Islanders were disqualified from a match with the British Bulldogs when they kidnapped the Bulldogs’ dog, Matilda. The Islanders were indefinitely suspended in the storyline until Matilda was found. From late January 1988 until early February, the Islanders were consistently beaten by the British Bulldogs.

At a Saturday Night’s Main Event on March 7, they beat the Killer Bees, a tag team consisting of Brian Blair and Jim Brunzell. At Wrestlemania 4, the Islanders, with Bobby Heenan, defeated the Bulldogs and Koko B. Ware, with Matilda. On April 21, Heenan introduced Siva Afi as the newest member of the group, but Afi never made another appearance with the Islanders. Fatu then left the WWF. Fatu joined the National Wrestling Alliance, as a part of the Samoan Swat Team, wrestling as Samoan Savage.^{[citation needed]}

During his career, he was the youngest man ever to headline a wrestling show at Madison Square Garden. He remained active until 1992. Fatu went on to work with Solofa Fatu in his promotion Nu-Wrestling Evolution.^{[citation needed]} Fatu appeared as “Tonga Tom” in the 1987 movie Body Slam, along with Dirk Benedict and Roddy Piper. In 2007, Fatu once again wrestled as “The Tonga Kid”, working with BAW Championship Wrestling, in a match with D-Lo Brown

Steve Borden

Borden has held twenty-three championships in various promotions throughout his career, and is a thirteen-time world champion: a six-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion, two-time WCW International World Heavyweight Champion, two-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion, two-timeTNA World Heavyweight Champion, and one-time WWA World Heavyweight Champion. Industry commentators have described Sting as the “franchise” of WCW; prior to its cessation, the organization said of Sting, “He is the franchise player of WCW, and perhaps no one better represents the organization than the man called Sting”. He is arguably the most well-known professional wrestler to have never performed forWorld Wrestling Entertainment.

Borden is the only wrestler to win Pro Wrestling Illustrated’s “Most Popular Wrestler of the Year” award four times.

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Universal Wrestling Federation (1986–1987)

The Blade Runners surfaced in the Universal Wrestling Federation, an organization run by Bill Watts and based in Shreveport, Louisiana. Hellwig, who would later become The Ultimate Warrior in the World Wrestling Federation (now WWE), left the promotion in mid-1986, leaving Sting without a partner. Sting joined Hotstuff & Hyatt International, a heel stable headed by “Hot Stuff” Eddie Gilbert and Missy Hyatt. Sting won the UWF World Tag Team Championship twice with Gilbert in 1986 and a third time with Rick Steiner in 1987.^[2]

Following a match against Terry Taylor in mid-1987, Gilbert interfered on Taylor’s behalf, costing Sting the match. Taylor and Gilbert ganged up on Sting until Gentleman Chris Adams came to Sting’s aid. Adams cleared the ring and then asked Sting if he was with him or against him in his feud with Taylor and Gilbert. Sting turned face by declaring his allegiance to Adams.

Behind the scenes, Gilbert endorsed Borden by telling a dirt sheet that Sting would be a megastar in the future. Later that year, Sting was tabbed to win the UWF Television Championship, then held by Gilbert, until Jim Crockett of the National Wrestling Alliance bought the company from Watts. Crockett’s booker, Dusty Rhodes, decided to put the Television title on Taylor to set up a feud between Taylor and NWA Television Champion Nikita Koloff to unify the two titles. Rhodes used then-unknown Shane Douglas as the transitional champion from Gilbert to Taylor because Rhodes did not want to diminish Sting’s growing stardom with a brief title run.

Robert Rechsteiner (born March 9, 1961) is an American professional wrestler, better known under his ring name Rick Steiner.

Steiner is best known for his tenure with World Championship Wrestling, where he was an eight time World Tag Team Champion (seven times with his brother Scott and once with Kenny Kaos). In addition to tag team success, he was also a one time United States Heavyweight Champion and athree time World Television Champion. Besides WCW, Steiner also found success in the World Wrestling Federation, where he and Scott won theWorld Tag Team Championship twice.

Rechsteiner was an amateur wrestling standout at the University of Michigan, where he placed second at the Big Ten Championships in 1983, became an All-American and established the fastest pin record in the school’s history at 15 seconds. After earning his bachelor’s degree in education, he was introduced to professional wrestling by George “The Animal” Steele and entered the business immediately out of college. He initially wrestled under the name Rob Rechsteiner before he took on the simpler stage name Rick Steiner. He spent time in theAmerican Wrestling Association, Montreal promotion International Wrestling, and the Universal Wrestling Federation before going to work for the National Wrestling Alliance in 1988.

Butch Miller

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Butch Miller started wrestling for NWA New Zealand (later known as All-Star Pro Wrestling) in 1964 where he achieved a great deal of regional success. Miller, along with his friend Luke Williams, was brought to America in 1965 by fellow New Zealander Steve Rickard, who was also the booker for NWA Hawaii. Luke and Butch initially worked in Canada among others for Stu Hart’s Stampede Wrestling billed as “The Kiwis” (Butch was known as “Nick Carter” and Luke was known as “Sweet William”). The first recorded title that the Kiwis won was in 1974 when the duo beat Bob Pringle and Bill Cody for the Stampede International Tag Team Championship on January 6, 1974. The Kiwis lost the titles to Tokyo Joe and the Great Saki only to regain them a short time later. The Kiwis lost the titles for good when Stan Kowalski and Duke Savage defeated them and kept the titles away from them in subsequent rematches.

After leaving Stampede Wrestling, the Kiwis began doing double duty in NWA Pacific Northwest as well as the Canadian based International All-Star Wrestling around 1979-1980 as “the Kiwi Sheepherders”. In 1979, the team won the NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Championship on three occasions between July 21 and August 5, 1980 before the left the territory. On September 22, the Sheepherders lost the gold to Dutch Savage and Stan Stasiak only to regain them a week later. On February 11, 1980, the Sheepherders became double champions when they downed Dutch Savage and Stasiak once again, this time for the NWA Canadian Tag Team Championship. Top faces Rick Martel and “Rowdy” Roddy Piper teamed up in May 1980 to take the NWA Canadian tag title from the Sheepherders and, in effect, run the duo out of the Northwest region by August, gaining the NWA Pacific Northwest tag titles when the Sheepherders left the promotion.

The next stop for the Sheepherders was a brief stay in the Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling territory run by Jim Crockett. In MACW, the two won the NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Championship by beating Matt Borne and Buzz Sawyer for the gold. The Sheepherders held onto the gold for close to three months before dropping it to Dewey Robertson and George Wells on December 12. After losing the titles, Luke and Butch headed for warmer weather as they traveled to Puerto Rico and began working for the World Wrestling Council as “Los Pastores”. While in Puerto Rico, the team would win the WWC North American Tag Team Championship twice while touring the island.

After the team left WWC, Butch decided that he wanted to return closer to home and went to Australia to wrestle. Luke remained in the United States determined to keep the “Sheepherders” name on everyone’s lips by teaming up with “Lord” Jonathan Boyd (formerly of the Royal Kangaroos). In 1983, Boyd and Williams were working for Southwest Championship Wrestling when June Jonathan Boyd legitimately broke his leg in a car accident. While Boyd was out with the broken leg Butch returned from Australia to reunite with his old tag-team partner.