Product Code Database
Wladek Kowalski (born Edward Władysław Spulnik; October 13, 1926 – August 30, 2008) was a Canadian professional wrestler, known by his ring name Killer Kowalski.
Kowalski wrestled for numerous promotions during his career, including the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF, now WWE), and was a known heel. He held numerous championships including the WWWF World Tag Team Championship with Big John Studd billed as the Executioners and managed by Lou Albano.
After retiring in 1977, Kowalski started a professional wrestling school in Malden, Massachusetts and trained many professional wrestlers, including Studd, Triple H, Chyna, Eddie Edwards, Frankie Kazarian, Kofi Kingston, Damien Sandow, Fandango, Brittany Brown, April Hunter, John Kronus, Perry Saturn, and Tommaso Ciampa.
When he entered college, his major was electrical engineering. He worked part-time at the Ford Motor Company plant in Detroit to help pay his way.
When he first wrestled professionally, he was known as "Tarzan Kowalski", but was also called Hercules Kowalski, Killer Kowalski (this nickname is used as early as 1950) and even The Polish Apollo, according to newspaper reports from 1950 to 1951. During the Cold War his name was changed to Wladek Kowalski, which was supposed to sound more menacing.
Kowalski wrestled from 1947 to 1977 in a number of organizations, including the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and American Wrestling Association (AWA) as a heel.
Kowalski's rise in the business came quickly. His first recorded match occurred on May 6, 1948, and by November 29 of the same year, Kowalski was facing NWA champion Orville Brown in a heavyweight championship match. Kowalski stood out in his era for his larger-than-normal size, and for a faster-paced style in the ring. He wrestled as a demonstrative "heel," or villain, except when facing the even-more-hated Buddy Rogers. In his matches with Rogers, Kowalski would adopt a more serious "babyface" approach. Outside of the ring, however, Kowalski was considered so friendly and polite that some wrestling promoters complained about the way he would "drop character" in public.
In December 1972, Kowalski became the first wrestler to pin André the Giant in North America, in what was billed as a "Battle of the Giants." Photographs from the Quebec City match helped to establish André's reputation in American wrestling magazines, since they showed him towering over the better-known Kowalski. Kowalski had done much the same to boost Giant Baba's fame in Japan, with a televised 1963 match.
Kowalski also gained some notoriety in Boston for an incident in late June 1958 when he was wrestling Pat O'Connor. The guest referee was former boxing great Jack Dempsey, who suffered a kick to the diaphragm and had to be hospitalized. Dempsey did not blame Kowalski, and both said it was an accident, but this further cemented the Killer's reputation as a villain.
In 1967, the top-rated Australian television talk show host Don Lane irritated Kowalski during an apparently friendly interview and was attacked with the Kowalski claw hold.
Also in the late 1950s, Kowalski fought what was supposed to be a best two out of three match in Fall River, Massachusetts against Mr. Moto. Just before the bell starting the first fall, Kowalski had his back turned to Moto while doing some stretches in his corner. Moto raced across the ring and hit Kowalski over the head with one of the clogs with which he had walked into the ring. Of course, the referee did not see this happen. The bell rang and a seemingly dazed Kowalski staggered around the ring and was quickly pinned by Moto. Kowalski was billed as the heavyweight champion at that time (at least in eastern Massachusetts) and, as such, was not supposed to lose the match. Just after the second fall started, Kowalski was hit in the right eye with a pea or bean shot by someone in the audience using a pea shooter. Semi-blinded and genuinely stunned, Kowalski staggered around the ring covering his eye with his right hand. Moto did not know what to do. Finally, he approached Kowalski, bumped into him and fell to the mat. Kowalski reached down, applied the claw hold and Moto was not only counted out, but deemed by the referee too hurt to continue. The two raced out of the ring to a chorus of boos from the audience and dodged various objects being thrown at them. As a side note, the two had arrived 45 minutes late for the match. The Fall River Herald News reported in its next day morning edition that these two "mortal enemies" were late because the car in which they had ridden together to the match had broken down on the way.
Kowalski returned to wrestling on independent shows in 1982, and worked only sparingly after that. In 1992 he fought John Tolos to a no-contest for Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling in Japan. His last match took place in 1993, when Kowalski was 66 years old losing to Baron Von Raschke at the Maccabiah Mania fundraiser show in Livingston, New Jersey. Kowalski would remain a fixture on the Northeast independent wrestling scene taking autograph and personal appearances. His last appearance was on March 14, 2008, for Top Rope Promotions at an event in North Adams, Massachusetts, where he came to the ring and put the claw on local wrestler "Gorgeous" Gino Giovanni and was declared the winner of the segment.
He also made numerous post-retirement television appearances, including Late Night with David Letterman in 1982, and was featured in a comic role in Michael Burlingame's surrealism film To a Random in 1986. "Lost in the B-Zone", a music video for Birdsongs of the Mesozoic which was derived from this film, also prominently featured Kowalski.
On June 11, 2007, Kowalski was inducted into the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame.
He became a Vegetarianism after being influenced by middle-distance runners Roger Bannister and John Landy in 1953. "Vegetarian Travel Guide exclusive interview with the world-famous wrestler... Walter "Killer" Kowalski". Retrieved August 2, 2020. Kowalski did not eat meat, dairy or eggs.Puskar-Pasewicz, Margaret. (2010). Cultural Encyclopedia of Vegetarianism. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 244. "Wladek “Killer” Kowalski was a Polish professional wrestler who in the 1960s went vegetarian and claimed to be the only vegetarian in professional wrestling. In addition to avoiding meat, he abstained from dairy products and alcohol." He has been described as an "outspoken vegetarian" and Veganism.Wilson, Scott. (2016). Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed. McFarland. p. 415. Shoemaker, David. (2013). The Squared Circle: Life, Death, and Professional Wrestling. Gotham Books. p. 316. In the 1960s, Kowalski claimed to be the only Vegetarianism professional wrestler. One of his favorite to go to was the Kowloon Restaurant in Saugus, Massachusetts, where a signed picture of him can be found on their walls. Kowalski did not drink alcohol or smoke.Johnson, Steven; Oliver, Greg. (2007). The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Heels. ECW Press. p. 57.
He took interest in photography and had a book published in 2001.
|
|
