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Where are they now 70s edition
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Killer Khan courtesy JL Wiseman
Crusher Verdu was a man with a huge chest who had a brief run at Bruno Sammartino who Bruno was champion. After the WWWF run Verdu wrestled in Los Angeles, Florida, and Indianapolis. Verdu has the distinction of being one of the first people Capt. Lou Albano managed. Verdu seems to have vanished into obscurity, his last known whereabouts were in Ohio where he was selling cars at one time. Verdu may still be suffering from a broken heart after his longtime girlfriend died tragically while training to become a wrestler.
Killer Kahn was one of the first huge Japanese stars of the late 70s and early 80s. His biggest claim to fame and biggest run came with Andre the Giant. Kahn broke Andre's ankle as part of an angle and the two had a brief feud. Kahn was also fodder for Hulk Hogan during Hogan's title run in the late 80s and then he sort of disappeared. Kahn was one of the first the use the Asian Mist gimmick. He owns a restaurant in Japan and is married and living in Florida with is wife and three kids.
Dick "The Destroyer" Beyer will long be remembered for being one of Rikiidozans most famous opponents and having of the most watched matches on Japanese TV drawing over 70 million viewers. Beyer wrestled in the US mostly for the AWA but would branch out occasionally and work other territories. Most of Beyer's time as spent in Japan where he once work for six straight years and had a series of matches with Mil Mascaras which were huge. Beyer is also known for having one of the lamest yet most recognizable masks in the business. Beyer has a Masters Degree in Education and at one time taught for the Akron School District in New York. He is on the board of the Cauliflower Alley Club and is still active making appearances including a recent birthday celebration as part of a TNA house show.
Ken Patera was an Olympic Weightlifter who won several medals at the Pan American Games but failed to even with Olympic gold. At one time Patera was considered one of the strongest men on the planet. His career in wrestling started in 1973 with a series of matches against Johnny Valentine. Patera bounced around from the NWA to the WWA to the WWF in the 70s and 80s until settling down for a period in the WWF where he became the Intercontinental Champion. After his WWF run he mad his way to Mid-Atlantic Wrestling and then to the AWA as part of the (Bobby) Heenan family where he would team with Gerry Blackwell and win the tag titles. During that AWA run Patera and Masa Saito decided that they were really hungry and smashed the window of a McDonald's in Wisconsin, fought the law and the law won. After serving time in prison Patera returned to the WWF for a brief period but was never the same.
Ahmed Johnson got his start in pro wrestling while attending a school run by Ivan Pustki and started working for the Global Wrestling Federation. It was not long before he got the call to the WWF and eventually won the Intercontinental Title. Johnson had a reputation for hurting people in the ring because he was awful, to put things nicely. His reign in the WWF last longer than most expected and when he was dismissed he jumped to WCW but was eventually let go because of performance issues and he had put on weight and that made him even worse in the ring. Johnson last wrestled in 2003 and has since settled down with his wife and son. He has another daughter and three sons who live in different states.
Dan Spivey has the distinction of being part of a tag team called American Starship with Scott Hall. After a short and unsuccessful run as the American Starship, Spivey wound up in the WWF where he partnered with Mike Rotunda for a brief period. After being used basically as a glorified jobber, Spivey left for Japan and toured with them from 1988 to 1995. Coming back from Japan Spivey teamed with Sid Vicious as the SkyScrapers in WCW managed by Teddy Long. They had a vicious feud with the Road Warriors and the Steiner Brothers. When Sid Vicious was injured Spivey joined forces with Mean Mark Callous (Undertaker) for awhile and eventually made his way back to Japan. Spivey would go back to the WWE as Waylon Mercy a character based on the movie Cape Fear that seemed to fail miserably to to the limitations of Spivey in the ring. Spivey now owns a construction company in Florida as was in trouble as early as 2005 for driving under the influence.
Ivan Koloff will be forever remembered as the man who ended Bruno Sammartino's reign as WWWF Champion. "The Russian Bear" who is actually from Canada would go on to have a very successful career both as a singes and a tag team member, doing a Russian character and playing the anti-American villain. After wrestling several WWWF title holders after losing the belt to Pedro Morales, Koloff moved down to the Mid-Atlantic area and helped guide the careers of Nikita Koloff and Kruscher Khruschev. Ivan would win many singles and tag team titles over the course of his career. After wrestling Koloff turned to God and became an ordained minister and today preaches an performs marriage ceremonies. He is married and has four grown children. He has also written a book "Is that wrestling fake? The bare facts" and can be ordered through www.1wrestlinglegends.com
Ron Bass started his career in 1975 wrestling in the Florida territory and Mid-Atlantic where he was a very successful holding many regional singles titles and eventually moved to the WWF where he was fodder for Hulk Hogan. After being regulated to opener or mid-card, Bass has some memorable feuds, most notably with Brutus Beefcake. After losing a hair match against Beefcake, Bass left the WWF and wrestled mainly on the indies until he retired. Bass retired to Floria, obtained a Bachelors Degree from Arkansas State and worked in construction. He has one son.
Matt Borne is probably best noted for playing the role of Doink the Clown in the WWE. Though there were many Doinks Borne was the original and played the part with more passion than the others combined. Borne started working in 1980 and wrestled mainly in the indies before moving to World Class Championship Wrestling for a few years. Borne then went to WCW and Big John and wrestled mostly in tag teams, winning many different championships. Borne moved on to the WWF and became Doing which lasted off and one over a period of years but Borne's drug abuse always curtailed any serious run he would have. Borne went to ECW as Doink and after losing to ECW champion Shane Douglas, Borne altered the Doink look and would dress opponents as clowns when they lost to him. He lost his way again due to his substance abuse and eventually left ECW. Borne still wrestles on occasion as Doink or Evil Doink
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