| 1982 European Wrestling Championships | |
|---|---|
| Host city |  Bulgaria , Varna |
| Dates | 17 – 25 April 1982 |
| Champions | |
| Freestyle |  Soviet Union |
| Greco-Roman | Soviet Union |
The 1982 European Wrestling Championships was held from 17 to 25 April 1982 in Varna, Bulgaria. [1] [2]
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Soviet Union | 10 | 4 | 4 | 18 |
| 2 | Bulgaria | 7 | 1 | 4 | 12 |
| 3 |  Hungary | 1 | 5 | 1 | 7 |
| 4 |  Poland | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| 5 |  West Germany | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 6 |  Romania | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
 Sweden | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| 8 |  Yugoslavia | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| 9 |  Turkey | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 10 |  Czechoslovakia | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
 East Germany | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| 12 |  Finland | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Totals (12 entries) | 20 | 20 | 20 | 60 | |
Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri, better known by his ring name the Iron Sheik, is an Iranian retired professional wrestler, amateur wrestler and actor. He is the only Iranian champion in WWE history, having won the WWF World Heavyweight Championship in 1983. His villainous character peaked during the 1980s WWF wrestling boom and his rivalry with Hulk Hogan turned Hogan into one of the greatest television heroes of the decade. He later formed a tag team with Nikolai Volkoff, which won the WWF Tag Team Championship at the inaugural WrestleMania event. In 2005, he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.
David Alan Adkisson was an American professional wrestler, better known by the ring name David Von Erich. A member of the Von Erich Family, Von Erich is best known for his appearances with World Class Championship Wrestling, the Dallas, Texas-based professional wrestling promotion owned by his father, Fritz Von Erich. Von Erich was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2009.
Sylvester Ritter was an American professional wrestler and college football player, best known for his work in Mid-South Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation as the Junkyard Dog, a nickname he received while working in a wrecking yard. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2004.
Harry Masayoshi Fujiwara was an American professional wrestler and manager, known professionally by his ring name Mr. Fuji. He was famous for often throwing salt in the eyes of fan favorite wrestlers. Notable wrestlers and tag teams managed by him include Don Muraco, Yokozuna and Demolition.
Charles Donald Kernodle Jr. was an American professional wrestler with the National Wrestling Alliance's Jim Crockett Promotions.
John Stanley Hansen II is an American retired professional wrestler.
The Bushwhackers are a professional wrestling tag team who competed first as the New Zealand Kiwis and then as The Sheepherders during their 36-year career as a tag team. They wrestled in the World Wrestling Federation, Jim Crockett Promotions, and on the independent territorial wrestling circuits. The Bushwhackers consisted of Butch Miller and Luke Williams while the Sheepherders also included Jonathan Boyd and Rip Morgan as members at times. Williams and Miller were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2015, and the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum in 2020.
Fanene Leifi Pita "Peter" Maivia was a Samoan-American professional wrestler. Maivia was the maternal grandfather of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, and was also part of the famous Anoa'i family. He was also a promoter for the National Wrestling Alliance in Hawaii.
Leati Sika Amituana'i Anoa'i, better known as Sika Anoa'i or simply Sika, is an American Samoan retired professional wrestler. He is best known as one-half of the tag team The Wild Samoans with his brother Afa. Championships held by Anoa'i over the course of his career include the WWF World Tag Team Championship. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2007 and the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2012. He is a member of the Anoa'i family and the father of professional wrestlers Rosey and Roman Reigns.
Paul Robert Perschmann was an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Playboy Buddy Rose. He wrestled primarily for the AWA, WWF, and for promoter Don Owen in Pacific Northwest Wrestling.
Masanori Saito was a Japanese professional wrestler better known as Mr. Saito or Masa Saito (マサ斎藤), who wrestled for 33 years around the world. He had success as a singles wrestler, winning the AWA World Heavyweight Championship in 1990, and as a tag team wrestler with multiple partners in various National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) territories.
Pacific Northwest Wrestling (PNW) is the common name used to refer to several different professional wrestling companies, both past and present, based in Portland, Oregon, United States. The first such company was founded by Herb Owen in 1925. It was the Northwest territory of the National Wrestling Alliance from the Alliance's inception in 1948 until 1992. The area was brought to its prime by Herb's son, Don Owen, and this version of Pacific Northwest Wrestling saw many of the top names in pro wrestling come through on a regular basis. The Pacific Northwest was considered one of the main pro wrestling territories from the 1960s to the 1980s.
Francis Huntington is an American retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation in the early 1980s under the ring name Jules Strongbow, where he held the WWF World Tag Team Championship on two occasions with his kayfabe brother, Chief Jay Strongbow.
The North Carolina Tar Heels are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The name Tar Heel is a nickname used to refer to individuals from the state of North Carolina, the Tar Heel State. The campus at Chapel Hill is referred to as the University of North Carolina for the purposes of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was chartered in 1789, and in 1795 it became the first state-supported university in the United States. Since the school fostered the oldest collegiate team in the Carolinas, the school took on the nickname Carolina, especially in athletics. The Tar Heels are also referred to as UNC or The Heels.
Southwest Championship Wrestling (SCW) was a professional wrestling promotion that was owned by Joe Blanchard and based in San Antonio, Texas, from 1978 to 1985, when it was purchased by Texas All-Star Wrestling and absorbed into that company.
Jonathan Barry Boyle was an Australian professional wrestler who is known worldwide under the name "Lord" Jonathan Boyd. Initially Boyd competed both in North American and international promotions as part of the Royal Kangaroos with his cousin Norman Frederick Charles III. Later on Boyd would team up with Luke Williams as the Sheepherders and compete in many North American federations such as Continental Wrestling Association, Southeast Championship Wrestling and Southwest Championship Wrestling. Boyd would also act as a manager for Luke and Butch Miller as they competed under the "Sheepherder" name.
Robert Louis Backlund is an American retired amateur and professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances in the World Wide Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Federation from 1976 to 1984 and in the 1990s, where he held the WWWF Championship/WWF Championship on two occasions. His first reign was the second longest in history. Backlund was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2013.
Edward M. Wright was an American professional wrestler who became popular in the late 1950s and 1960s. Despite racial tension in the United States, he became wildly popular as a babyface. Wrestling in either singles competition or in tag team competition, thousands of fans would pack arenas to see him. He was the son of boxer Ed "Bearcat" Wright, and had an 8–0 record as a professional boxer himself in the early 1950s, boxing as "Bearcat Wright Jr."
John Joseph Murphy was a Canadian professional wrestler better known by his ring name Skull Murphy. He began his career wrestling in Canada and later worked at Jim Crockett Promotions and Georgia Championship Wrestling in the United States. In the 1960s, he teamed with Brute Bernard in the World Wide Wrestling Federation and won championships in several professional wrestling promotions. In his later career, he worked primarily in Australia.