Josip Hrvoje Peruzović, better known by his ring name Nikolai Volkoff, was a Croatian-American professional wrestler from Yugoslavia, best known for his time in the World Wrestling Federation where he usually played a Soviet heel.
WrestleMania was the inaugural WrestleMania and inaugural professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event, produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It took place on March 31, 1985, at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The attendance for the event was 19,121. The event was seen by over one million viewers through closed-circuit television, making it the largest pay-per-view showing of a wrestling event on closed-circuit television in the United States at the time.
WrestleMania III was the third annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. The event was held on March 29, 1987, at the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan. There were 12 matches, with the main event featuring Hulk Hogan successfully defending the WWF World Heavyweight Championship against André the Giant.
WrestleMania 2 was the second annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. The event took place on April 7, 1986, making it the only WrestleMania that was not held on the traditional Sunday until the two-night WrestleMania 36 in April 2020. The event took place at three venues simultaneously: the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York, the Rosemont Horizon in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, Illinois, and the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena in Los Angeles, California.
Robert Keith Orton Jr., known by the ring name "Cowboy" Bob Orton, is an American semi-retired professional wrestler. He is a son of professional wrestler Bob Orton Sr., the brother of professional wrestler Barry Orton, and the father of professional wrestler Randy Orton. He is best known for his time in the World Wrestling Federation,, including his involvement in the main event of the inaugural WrestleMania. He has also wrestled for several promotions in the United States, Japan, and other countries.
The Wrestling Classic was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It took place on November 7, 1985, at the Rosemont Horizon in Rosemont, Illinois in the United States. It was the promotion's second ever pay-per-view.
James Brunzell is an American retired professional wrestler. Best known for his successful tag teams, Brunzell performed for various wrestling promotions during his 21-year career.
John Stagikas is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, R. J. Brewer. Brewer is known for his appearances with Lucha Libre USA, where he portrayed a conservative supporter of Governor of Arizona Jan Brewer and Arizona SB 1070 opposed to illegal immigration to the United States. He is also known for his appearances elsewhere on the independent circuit as "Hurricane" John Walters, including with Ring of Honor, where he is a one time Pure Champion.
John L. Sullivan was an American professional wrestler and manager, better known by his ring name, Johnny Valiant. He competed in the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF), which became the World Wrestling Federation during his time with the promotion. He won the World Tag Team Championship two times. The first run was with his first and most famous storyline brother Jimmy Valiant over Tony Garea and Dean Ho on May 8, 1974; his second title run was with his second storyline brother Jerry Valiant over Tony Garea and Larry Zbyszko on March 6, 1979.
The 1990 SummerSlam was the third annual SummerSlam professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It took place on August 27, 1990, at The Spectrum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The card consisted of 10 televised matches, including two main events. The Ultimate Warrior successfully defended the WWF World Heavyweight Championship against Rick Rude in a Steel Cage match, and Hulk Hogan defeated Earthquake by countout.
The 1988 Royal Rumble was the inaugural Royal Rumble professional wrestling event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It took place on January 24, 1988, at the Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The event aired as a television special on the USA Network on the same night as Jim Crockett Promotions' Bunkhouse Stampede pay-per-view (PPV) and was centered on the Royal Rumble match, a modified battle royal in which participants enter at timed intervals instead of all beginning in the ring at the same time. It would be the only Royal Rumble event to broadcast as a television special, as beginning with the 1989 event, it began airing on pay-per-view. After the launch of the WWE Network in 2014, this inaugural Royal Rumble was included with the rest of the Royal Rumble events in the PPV section.
The 1987 Survivor Series was the inaugural Survivor Series professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It took place on Thanksgiving Night on November 26, 1987, and was held at the Richfield Coliseum in Richfield Township, Ohio. It was one of the first four annual pay-per-view events produced by the WWF, along with WrestleMania introduced in 1985 and Royal Rumble and SummerSlam introduced in 1988, referred to as the "Big Four".
The Bolsheviks were a professional wrestling tag team in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) from late 1987 until the spring of 1990. The team was composed of Nikolai Volkoff and Boris Zhukov portraying a pair of Soviet-themed bad guys. Volkoff was born Josip Peruzovic on October 14, 1947. Although he portrayed a Russian as a wrestler, he was, in fact, from Croatia. Zhukov was an American named Jim Harrel, who had spent the previous few years of his wrestling career portraying a Russian.
The Executioners is the name of several tag teams and single masked wrestlers who wrestled in the BYWA, TWA, AWF and the World Wide Wrestling Federation.
Chaotic Wrestling (CW) is an American independent wrestling promotion, which has been operating throughout New England since 2000; with its current home base in North Andover, Massachusetts.
Barry W. Hardy is an American professional wrestler and trainer who has competed in North American independent promotions since 1987, including East Coast Wrestling, Mid-Eastern Wrestling Federation, the National Wrestling Alliance, New Millennium Wrestling and Larry Sharpe's World Wrestling Association.
Wladek Kowalski, known by the ring name as Killer Kowalski, was a Polish-Canadian professional wrestler.
Domenico A. Nucciarone was an Italian-American professional wrestler and trainer better known under his ring name of Dominic DeNucci. He held over a dozen championships around the world in the 1960s and 1970s. His wrestling students included Mick Foley, Shane Douglas and Brian Hildebrand.
The Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff were a professional wrestling tag team who competed in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) from 1984 to 1987.
James "Jim" McCarthy is an American professional wrestler and trainer, best known by his ring name Dukes Dalton. He competes on the independent circuit in the Northeastern United States. He has wrestled for the Century Wrestling Alliance, the National Wrestling Alliance, and Chaotic Wrestling where he was inducted into its hall of fame in 2008. He also made brief appearances in the World Wrestling Federation in 1999 and 2001, both as a singles wrestler and with tag team partner Knuckles Nelson.
