Real Name: Wladek Kowalski Birth: 1926/10/13 Windsor, Ontario Debut: 1947 First Match in Japan: 1963/03 (JWA) Official Retirement: 1977 Last Match: 10-min exhibition against John Tolos, 1992/09/19 Yokohama, Japan (FMW) Death: 2008/08/30 Titles: NWA Texas Tag Team NWA Central States Heavyweight NWA Pacific Coast Tag Team (San Francisco) World/International Heavyweight (Montreal) [12] World Heavyweight (Boston) NWA Central States Tag Team NWA Pacific Coast Tag Team (Vancouver) [2] NWA Canadian Heavyweight (Calgary) [2] WWWF United States Tag Team IWA World Heavyweight (Australia) [5] NWA United States Heavyweight (Hawaii) IWA World Tag Team (Australia) [4] NWA Iowa Tag Team NWA Texas Brass Knuckles NWA Americas Heavyweight NWA Americas Tag Team NWA Southern Heavyweight (Florida) WWWF Tag Team Hall of Fame Inductions: World Wrestling Federation (1996) The Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum (2003) External Links: Official Site Cauliflower Alley Club Tribute WWE Hall of Fame SLAM! Wrestling Canadian Hall of Fame Canadian Pro Wrestling Page of Fame Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article Esquire interview

Known as "Killer", Wladek Kowalski wrestled for three decades between 1947 and 1977.

Trained by the legendary Lou Thesz, he was skilled as a pure wrestler. However, he is remembered mostly for the 1957 match in which he ripped Yukon Eric's ear. Though Eric never had a grudge against him, the incident helped his career as one of the biggest heels in the history of the sport.

After his retirement, he started a wrestling school in Massachussetts, where he trained the stars such as Big John Studd, Perry Saturn, John Kronus, Triple H, Chyna, Chris Nowinski, Giant Bernard, April Hunter, Frankie Kazarian, etc.