Posted on 09/14/2017 1:22:34 PM PDT by EveningStar
Otto Wanz, the most famous wrestler in Germany and Austria during the 70s and 80s, passed away Thursday morning from what was described as a short but heavy illness. He was 74.
Wanz, a powerhouse at 6-foot-2 and 380 pounds, would be best known in the United States for his run as AWA Champion in 1982. Wanz had been champion of his own Catch Wrestling Association, but was largely unknown outside of Germany and Austria. He defeated Nick Bockwinkel for the title on August 29th, 1982, in St. Paul in a match that caused lingering hard feelings between Bockwinkel and longtime manager Bobby Heenan, because Bockwinkel never told Heenan that the title was changing hands ahead of time.
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For a pro wrestler, he had a pretty good run, living to 74.
It sounds as though he was well liked in and out of the ring.
Funny, but I don't think they play wrestling much on TV these days.
Perhaps most sports go through a boom and bust period, sort of like styles of comedy, styles of drama.
Boxing used to be very big when I grew up in 60’s and 70’s.
I’m from Michigan, so Hockey was huge too, being so close to Ontario.
One Canadian sport that I don’t believe will ever be big here is called “Curling”. It looks like hockey players using brooms (yes, I said brooms) to sweep a big flat rock across the ice. My cousins and I used to fall over laughing when we saw it on Channel 9, from Windsor, Ontario.
“Bockwinkel never told Heenan that the title was changing hands ahead of time.”
Prearranged outcomes in wrasslin’ are almost as commonplace as in Democrat polling places.
RIP.
“Perhaps most sports go through a boom and bust period....”
Wrestling has had several booms and busts. I remember the wrestling results being reported in the sports sections of newspapers. Then it petered out until the late 70’s or early 80’s when it was big again.
Unlike earlier days which had local promoters who “owned” their territories, wrestling is, for the most part, controlled by one company today.
When the WWE goes down it will be interesting to see what replaces it.
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