The Genius Cast with Lanny Poffo (2018-19), HOMAGE.com Our favorite in retro wrestling attire! KyleEnjoysWrestling wrote on 30.07.2019: [ 9.0] "People mostly know Blassie for his manager roles, but he was also a pro in the ring. In this series, we will look at some of pro wrestlings greatest and most well-known managers and/or valets, but explore their prior career as an in-ring professional wrestler. [9] However, they eventually consented and Miyako returned with Blassie to the United States; they were married on September 30, 1968. Tolos moved first to Vancouver, where he married his wife Ingrid in 1967 (they later divorced), then worked his way south until he reached Los Angeles.
Freddie Blassie was one of the most hated heels of his time. Death He has written several wrestling biographies including Freddie Blassies The Legends of Wrestling, Ric Flairs To Be The Man, "Superstar" Billy Grahams Tangled Ropes,and the unreleased biography of The Iron Sheik which, despite being chockful of stories that would be sure to make your jaw drop, will never see the light of day. Frederick Kenneth Blassie (Classy Freddy Blassie, The Vampire, Sailor Fred Blassie, The Hollywood Fashion Plate, The Fashion Plate of Professional Wrestling), Miyako Morozumi (30 September1968 - 2 June2003)( his death), ? He did an advice segment on the ''Tuesday Night Titans'' TV program, made personal appearances and did radio interviews. Blassie was inducted into the WWF Hall of Fame in 1994 by Shane McMahon. He joined the Navy at the start of World War II and started wrestling under the name of Sailor Fred Blassie while stationed at Port Hueneme in California. According to Walton, Blassies biggest achievement came Aug. 27, 1971, when he met and defeated Canadian wrestler Golden Greek John Tolos at the Coliseum before 25,000 wrestling fans. "That's why he was 'Classy' Freddie Blassie." Freddie Blassie retired as an active wrestler in 1974 in part because of the difficulty of securing a wrestling license . Despite Blassie not actually holding any titles to unify, his feud with Sammartino saw Bruno become a national hero, but in the process, Blassie became lifelong friends with another WWWF employee, Gorilla Monsoon. While writingThe Legends of Wrestling, Greenberg got to know Freddie Blassie quite well and mentioned in his appearance on The Genius Cast that Blassie really opened up to him. Hogan would return in late 1983, turning face almost immediately after and thus separating from Freddie Blassie. However, sadly, Freddie passed away before he could ever speak to his son again. By the mid-1970s, Freddie Blassie was in his 50s and began to settle into a role as a manager in WWE, though he would still occasionally wrestle a match. Freddie Blassies origins are worth knowing about, especially because they involve much earlier days of the pro wrestling world -- as in, within the first half of the 20th century. [7] Later, he received regular work wrestling at local carnivals. Still claiming to be the West Coast Champion, entered into a feud with Bruno Sammartino to unify the titles. [4] But for nearly 40 years, Fred Blassie was an in-ring talent who ruled the West Coast, a multi-time World Champion, and one of the most feared villains in pro wrestling history. As a wrestling manager, wore shirts and trousers of the exact same color, sometimes with a matching jacket. We recommend you to check the complete list of Famous People born on 8 February. From there, he moved on to become a regular writer, contributor, and reporter for WWE. Freddie Blassie, the silver-maned wrestler with a voice from the depths of the earth who made himself a hero to mat fans in the 1950s and 60s by playing the villain, has died. He returned to AJPW again in 1973, but the following year in 1974, he jumped to New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) for his final tour of Japan. Born Fred Blassman in St. Louis, Blassie played baseball and football in high school. [3], Blassie's famous "pencil-neck geek" catchphrase originated early in his career while describing a fellow carnival performer who appeared in a geek show. Blassie retired from active wrestling in 1974, due to a California law that prohibited anyone over 55 from getting a wrestling license. Accounts about his early athletic career do not quite agree, but he first tried to make his mark as a boxer, despite warnings that his arms were too short. Blassie began portraying himself as a villain, and it worked. He triggered heart attack-related deaths in Japan, was stabbed by angry fans 21 times and was once doused with acid! [spoken to the WWF wrestlers during Invasion 2001] Gentleman, there [6] He performed for that promotion until his full retirement from professional wrestling in 1986.
Linda Lautrec and Andy Kaufman loosely scripted the film over several months late at night on the telephone. Learn how and when to remove this template message, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=My_Breakfast_with_Blassie&oldid=1107033235, Articles needing additional references from June 2021, All articles needing additional references, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 27 August 2022, at 19:43. In 1964, the legendary "Classy" Freddie Blassie was still an in-ring competitor when he took on local hero Bruno Sammartino in front of a hostile New Jersey crowd, where he cheated for a cheap countout victory over the champ. Freddie never held a true world title but he was still one of the greatest of the 50s through the 60s". Outside of being an award-winning television producer, the New York Times best-selling author began writing about professional wrestling for several newspapers and magazines in the 90s. Born in 1918 to German parents who escaped World War I, Blassie took up boxing as a teenager, but found a growing interest in wrestling and actually snuck into matches, eventually befriending catch wrestlers and learning holds from them. JP Zarka created Pro Wrestling Stories in May 2015. While there, he feuded with Soulman Rocky Johnson, The Sheik, and "The Golden Greek" John Tolos. [4] In 1998, Blassie was the winner at the fourth annual Cauliflower Alley Club East Coast Banquet. One poll ranked him as the most hated wrestler in the United States. The two spoke the same dialect of German, their parents had mutual friends, and . The "Shakespeare of WWE" made an appearance on our podcast The Genius Cast in 2018, and he certainly had a few good stories up his sleeves!
"Classy" Freddie Blassie WWE Hall of Fame Induction Speech [1994] His penchant for biting opponents earned him the nickname "The After handing over ME duties to Alex Richards, he remains a frequent contributor to the site. While there, he won the NWA Georgia Southern Heavyweight Championship, the holder of which was generally first in line to challenge the NWA World Heavyweight Champion whenever he passed through the territory. Freddie accomplished that goal and did so in grand style, as only he could. Download 100+ Free Freddie Blassie Wallpaper Images & 500,000+ Wallpapers for Free. 304K views 6 years ago The Dudley Boyz put Rico through a table after getting the call from WWE Hall of Famer "Classy" Freddie Blassie at ringside. book. Hed adopt a bleach-blond look, start biting his opponents in the ring, and would often be seen filing down his teeth to better sink his teeth in his opponent. World Wrestling Entertainment WWE)). [16] In 1999, he was shown making the opening narration of WrestleMania XV. He achieved the rank of Petty Officer (Second Class) before he was discharged. ", Bruno kayfabed him. )[8] The movies title and premise are parodies of the 1981 art-house classic My Dinner with Andre.[23]. Blassie was a regular on the WWWF's "All-Star Wrestling" and "Championship Wrestling" weekly TV shows that were videotaped at small arenas in Pennsylvania and aired throughout the Northeast. Fred Blassie was born and raised in the St. Louis, Missouri, area.
Why FREDDIE BLASSIE Was So Great f/ WRESTLINGBIOS - YouTube Keith Elliot Greenberg has been doing his part to preserve professional wrestling history for the past few decades. is 6'(1.83m) . Blassie originally wrestled mainly in the Southeast and West Coast, winning many titles in both.
Classy car for a class act | WWE His penchant for biting opponents earned him the nickname "The Vampire". The nastier he was in the ring, the more popular he became to fans. A nice man, with a lovely wife and it was great having him there to cut a wonderful promo during my show. For the first installment, we look at one of the most iconic villains in pro wrestling history as both a wrestler and a manager in Classy Freddie Blassie. Blassie claims that he made Regis Philbin into the celebrity he is today. Danny Djeljosevic is a writer based in San Diego, CA. At an early age, Blassie was enamored with pro wrestling, particularly the shooters of the early era of pro wrestling in the 1930s, and would often sneak into a local gym to watch the technical masters stretch and submit their opponents. [3][23] (The film was referenced by American rock band R.E.M. He continued to outrage crowds by distracting referees so that his men could cheat and by getting in his own cheap shots when the refs weren't looking. And more wrestling fans definite need to know about the. Comedian Andy Kaufman & professional wrestler Classy Freddie Blassie eat breakfast & discuss life. One of the 100 Greatest Wrestlers of the 20th Century (Inside Wrestling Presents, Summer 2000). Notable Title Wins Include: NWA Southern Heavyweight title (14); WWA (Los Angeles) World Heavyweight title (4); WWA World Tag Team title (2 times w/Mr. Originally from Chicago, he has called London home since 2008. In the late 1960s, he moved to the East Coast and the World-Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF, later the World Wresting Federation (WWF) and now World Wrestling Entertainment WWE)). His parents repeatedly separated, only to reconcile. Take Linda McMahon, for instance. Fred Blassie was born and raised in the St. Louis, Missouri, area. Renowned as "The Hollywood Fashion Plate",[3] he was a one-time NWA World Junior Heavyweight Champion, and was inducted into the WWF Hall of Fame in 1994. Blassie was a regular on the WWWF's "All-Star Wrestling" and "Championship Wrestling" weekly TV shows that were videotaped at small arenas in Pennsylvania and aired throughout the Northeast. Blassie. He bleached his hair and quickly became a heel's heel, outraging crowds by gleefully breaking every rule in the book. But while his US in-ring career ended (while still working for WWWF), he remained employed by WWWF and became a manager instead. The two of them had a great relationship off-camera, but because kayfabe was well and truly protected during this time in the business unless you were on the inside, you never were to know that a heel and face got along in real life. (bad guys) got better pay. Blassie worked for the World Wrestling Federation, now known as World Wrestling Entertainment, which presented him with its lifetime achievement award in 1996.
The Legends of Wrestling - "Classy" Freddie Blassie 3 Saving Freddie Blassie Thanks To Kayfabe. Many of the viewers were horrified by Blassie's treatment of their hero. Discover Freddie Blassie's Biography, Age, Height, Physical Stats, Dating/Affairs, Family and career updates. Discover today's celebrity birthdays and explore famous people who share your birthday. After a 39-year in-ring career in the sport, Blassie retired as a wrestler as a 4x WWA World Heavyweight Champion, a 17x NWA Georgia Southern Heavyweight Champion, NWA Junior Heavyweight Champion, as well as dozens more regional titles in multiple NWA territories. He was 85.Mr. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Funeral services will be held at noon Friday at Hitchcock Presbyterian Church in Scarsdale, N.Y. Prep Rally is devoted to the SoCal high school sports experience, bringing you scores, stories and a behind-the-scenes look at what makes prep sports so popular. Between matches, he gave loud and boastful interviews, making him a favorite of talk shows and reportedly influencing a fellow egomaniac then known as Cassius Clay. Blassie would eventually come to be known as a manager (see below) in WWE, but in the 1960s and 1970s, he actually wrestled for the promotion, back then known as the World Wide Wrestling Federation.
Freddie Blassie Wrestlers Database CAGEMATCH - The Internet He kept track of all of his matches during his career, including personal anecdotes. .
Wrestler's widow goes to the mat - New York Post His career began in earnest after [6] On July 7, Blassie successfully defended his title against the former NWA World Heavyweight Champion Lou Thesz. What did Disney actually lose from its Florida battle with DeSantis? . Freddie Blassie, Pro Wrestler Popular as Villain, Dies at 85, https://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/08/sports/freddie-blassie-pro-wrestler-popular-as-villain-dies-at-85.html. Freddie Blassie managed many heels to success, including the team of The Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff, who would win the World Tag Team Titles from US Express thanks to Blassies delivering a strategic shot with his cane. Credited with bringing a young Hulk Hogan into the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in late 1979. My Breakfast with Blassie was conceived of by Linda Lautrec and Johnny Legend as a satire on My Dinner with Andre. [22], Filmed in 1982, My Breakfast with Blassie featured Andy Kaufman and Freddie Blassie eating at a Sambo's in Los Angeles. Fred Blassie was born and raised in the St. Louis, Missouri, area. Lanny approached Blassie, who always had three girls with him, saying he "needed some relief. He spent his time in the Missouri territory, working mainly in St. Louis and Kansas City, but when the U.S. entered the Second World War, he enlisted in 1942 and joined the U.S. Navy, where he spent four years (42 months) in combat in the U.S. battles in the Pacific.
The Legends of Wrestling - "Classy" Freddie Blassie: Listen, You Pencil Born Fred Blassman in St. Louis, Blassie played baseball and football in high school. [3], In 1952, Blassie moved to Los Angeles to work for Jules Strongbow. He briefly turned face in 1989, making an appearance on Prime Time Wrestling angry with Bobby Heenan over money Heenan hadn't paid him back. [21] The segment featured Blassie, his wife, and Raw co-General Manager Eric Bischoff, who was about to allow 3 Minute Warning to attack him, until Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Dudley Boyz stepped in. [2] He sporadically returned to make brief appearances following his retirement in 1986, mostly in produced video packages hyping the "new generation" of wrestling. Despite that, Blassie ended the year by leaving WWWF and returning to Los Angeles and the WWA. Vampire". 1 One of the great legends of pro wrestling albeit one whose in-ring career predated the 1980s Golden Era wrestling boom Classy Freddie Blassie was a successful heel who wrestled all over. "Classy" Freddie Blassie is a legendary wrestling personality, both as a wrestler and a manager. After being pounded by a longer-limbed opponent, he He returned to the company in 1971, reaching the final of a tournament in January for the vacant WWWF United States Heavyweight Championship before losing to Pedro Morales. American professional wrestler and manager, Worldwide Wrestling Associates (19601968), World Wide Wrestling Federation (1964; 1971). He is a writer and editor-in-chief here on the site, a podcast producer, the chief graphic designer of the cover art for the sites articles, the former host of The Genius Cast with Lanny Poffo, and an elementary school teacher and assistant principal who enjoys playing guitar and spending time with his lively daughters!