Ivan Koloff

The Russian Bear" Ivan Koloff (born Oreall Perras on August 25, 1942), is a former Canadian professional wrestler who is a former WWF World Heavyweight Champion. Professional wrestling career [edit] Early career He then debuted as an Irish rogue heel character named Red McNulty, claiming to be from Dublin, Ireland, with a patch over one eye. For the next three years, Parris wrestled around the Toronto area, eventually quitting his regular job to wrestle in the Northwest area. It was there Parris acquired his wrestling experience and afterwards made his first trip to Japan. [edit] The Russian Bear is born In 1967, "The Russian Bear" Ivan Koloff was born and debuted with the International Wrestling Association in Montreal, Québec, becoming the International Heavyweight Champion. The next 31 years consisted of traveling to Europe, Japan, Australia, West Indies, and Puerto Rico, as well as the United States. He soon got his debut match against Bruno Sammartino on TV in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1971 Parris, wrestling as "The Russian Bear" Ivan Koloff, defeated Sammartino for the WWWF Heavyweight Championship with a kneedrop from the top rope, ending Sammartino's seven year reign. He would lose the title a short time later to Pedro Morales, essentially being used as a "transitional" champion, much like Stan Stasiak and the Iron Sheik would be in later years. Ivan Koloff received WWWF title shots against Bruno Sammartino, Pedro Morales, Superstar Billy Graham and Bob Backlund. Ivan holds this distinction with fellow villain Stan Stasiak to be the only two men to challenge the above 4 champions. On July 2, 1977 Ivan Koloff faced WWWF Champion Superstar Billy Graham. [1] In the 1980s, Ivan had great success in the NWA and Jim Crockett Promotions. He won the NWA World Tag Team Championship and the NWA World Six-Man Tag Team Championship while there. He was also instrumental in the success of his "nephew" Nikita Koloff, helping to train him and make him a star. His regular partners during his NWA stay were Ray Stevens, Don Kernodle, Nikita Koloff and Krusher Khruschev. When Nikita turned on him to join his enemy Dusty Rhodes in 1986, he teamed with Vladimir Petrov and Dick Murdoch to get revenge. His biggest feuds were against Rhodes, the Road Warriors, the Rock 'n' Roll Express (Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson) and Magnum T.A.. Parris spent time in Paul Jones' Army in 1988 and he was a "coach" of sorts for the Powers of Pain, The Barbarian and The Warlord. He later split with Jones, reuniting with nephew Nikita, and feuded with Jones' team of the Russian Assassins before leaving Jim Crockett Promotions in January 1989. He also spent time in Eastern Championship Wrestling, appearing on the very first ECW card in 1992. On the independent circuit, in which he is still very active to this day, he had notable feuds with Chief Wahoo McDaniel and Jimmy Valiant. "The Russian Bear" was immortalized in the Ramones song "The Crusher" from their last album, "Adios Amigos." In the second season of the anime Code Geass, the name of Ivan Koloff was spotted in episode 19, amongst the millions killed by the weapon F.L.E.I.J.A., though whether or not this is simply a coincidence remains to be seen, or if this was indeed a nod by Sunrise to the Russian Bear himself. [edit] Retirement Currently, Parris lives in Winterville, North Carolina with his wife, Renae and has four adult children. He remains active in various charities (he was known away from the ring as a nice easygoing person despite his vicious bad guy image). His book, titled Is That Wrestling Fake? The Bare Facts, has been recently released. Parris became a born again Christian in 1995. He travels to churches to share his testimony.