Ivan Koloff
Oreal Donald Perras (August 25, 1942 – February 18, 2017) was a Canadian https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_wrestler, better known by the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_name "the Russian Bear" Ivan Koloff. He was the third wrestler to hold the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWWF_Championship. Since first watching https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_wrestling on TV at the age of eight, he wanted to become a wrestler, and would often wrestle with his brothers growing up. At age 18, he left high school and joined Jack Wentworth's wrestling school in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamilton,_Ontario, where he would lift weights and learn wrestling holds. He stood 5 feet 10 inches (1.78 m) tall, and weighed approximately 270 pounds (120 kg). Towards the end of his career, he dropped a considerable amount of weight and was tipping the scale at 205 pounds (93 kg).
In 1967, Perras became "The Russian Bear" Ivan Koloff, a bearded villainous character billed from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukraine, and debuted with the International Wrestling Association in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal. He defeated https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Rougeau for the IWA International Heavyweight Championship the following year. Koloff debuted in the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWE in late 1969, managed by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lou_Albano. He soon started a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feud_(professional_wrestling) with then-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWE_World_Championship https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruno_Sammartino. On January 18, 1971, Koloff defeated Sammartino in Madison Square Garden for the WWWF World Heavyweight Championship by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_wrestling#Pinfall after a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_wrestling_aerial_techniques#Diving_knee_drop, ending Sammartino's seven and two-thirds years reign. Koloff lost the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_wrestling_championship 21 days later to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_Morales, essentially being used as a "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_professional_wrestling_terms#Transitional_champion" to move the title from Sammartino to Morales without the two fan favorites working against each other, much like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stan_Stasiak and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Iron_Sheik would be in later years. After the loss, Koloff remained a contender for the title but never reclaimed it, leaving the WWWF in 1971. During his time in the WWWF, Koloff weighing in at 310 pounds (140 kg) wrestled WWWF World Heavyweight Championship title matches against Sammartino, Morales, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superstar_Billy_Graham and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Backlund, holding the distinction, with fellow villain Stan Stasiak, as one of only two men to challenge all four of these champions. Koloff would also be the first opponent to ever challenge for the WWWF World Heavyweight Championship in a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_wrestling_match_types#Steel_Cages in a rematch loss against Sammartino. He fought in the WWWF from 1975 to 1976, 1978–1979 and 1983.
During the 1970s and 1980s, Koloff found success in the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Wrestling_Alliance, winning many regional https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_tag_team_championship and singles titles in the Georgia, Florida, and Mid-Atlantic territories. In February 1981, he https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tag_team with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Stevens_(wrestler) to defeat https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Jones_(wrestler) and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Eadie to capture the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NWA_World_Tag_Team_Championship. This would be the first of his four reigns as NWA World Tag Team Champion, later winning the belts with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Kernodle and twice with his "nephew" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kayfabe), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikita_Koloff as https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Russian_Team. The Russians (which also included https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Darsow) were a top villainous https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_professional_wrestling_terms#Stable from 1984 to 1986, and Nikita, under Perras' training and mentoring, and by association, became a hated villain in his own right, and would go on to have a successful singles career of his own. After Nikita https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_professional_wrestling_terms#Turn on Ivan to join their enemy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dusty_Rhodes in 1986, the latter teamed with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Petrov_(wrestler) and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Murdoch to get revenge. Koloff's biggest NWA feuds were against Rhodes, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Road_Warriors, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rock_%27n%27_Roll_Express (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricky_Morton and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Gibson_(wrestler)) and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnum_T._A. In 1988, Koloff spent time in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Jones_(wrestler)' faction, The Paul Jones Army, where he was a "coach" of sorts for https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Powers_of_Pain, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Barbarian_(wrestler) and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Warlord_(wrestler). He later split with Jones, reunited with Nikita, and feuded with Jones' team, The Russian Assassins, before leaving https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Crockett_Promotions in January 1989. In 1992, Koloff also wrestled in the first television main event of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Cornette's https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoky_Mountain_Wrestling, beating https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Fulton. He lost to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Garvin at Tim Horner's National Championship Wrestling on July 22, 1994. He retired afterwards.
Perras wrote a book titled Is That Wrestling Fake? The Bear Facts that was released on January 1, 2007. He became a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Born_again_(Christianity) in 1995https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Koloff#cite_note-17 and traveled to churches to share his testimony as an ordained minister. Koloff spoke openly and candidly of his conversion to Christianity and struggles with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_(drug) and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recreational_drug_use and the crazy days of wrestling in his 2014 book, Life in the Trenches. Perras died at his home in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winterville,_North_Carolina, on February 18, 2017, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liver_cancer.