Don Kent (wrestler)

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This article is about The professional wrestler Don Kent. For the record executive, see Don Kent.
Leo Joseph Smith Jr. United States
File:KangarooKent.jpg
Born(1933-06-24)June 24, 1933
Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana
DiedJune 14, 1993(1993-06-14) (aged 59)
Battle Creek, Michigan
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Don Kent
The Black Dragon
Doug Kent
Joe Smith
Ray Kent
"Bulldog" Kent
Billed height5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)[1]
Billed weight[undue weight? – discuss][1]
Billed fromAustralia
Indiana
Trained byLarry Chene
Debut1956
Retired1986

Leo Joseph "Joe" Smith Jr. (June 24, 1933 – June 14, 1993) was a retired American professional wrestler who is most famous for working under the name Don Kent but also wrestled as The Black Dragon, Doug Kent, Joe Smith and Super Medico III during his 20 years in professional wrestling. [2] Don Kent is best known as one half of the Fabulous Kangaroos alongside partners Al Costello, Bruno Bekkar or Johnny Heffernan. Despite being born in America Kent was billed as Australian when he competed as a Kangaroo using the Kangaroos "Ultra Australian" gimmick complete with boomerangs, bush hats and "Waltzing Matilda" as their entrance music.[2] When Kent was not one half of the Kangaroos he mainly worked as "Bulldog" Don Kent in NWA Mid-America and NWA Detroit where he was a mainstay both in the singles and the tag team division until his retirement in 1986. [2] Don Kent died on June 14, 1993 after suffering from Leukemia for a long period of time.[3]

Career

Kent was a natural athlete, something which he showed while still attending St. Philip Catholic High School in Battle Creek, Michigan. In fact he was so talented that the Boston Red Sox wanted to recruit him as a catcher right out of high school. Kent’s father thought that Kent was too young to play professional baseball and instead insisted that he went to St. Benedict’s College in Kansas. After graduating Kent would work as a Veterans Administration Medical Center in his hometown of Battle Creek while being trained by Leapin’ Larry Chene for a professional wrestling career.[2]

Starting out

Kent made his professional wrestling debut in 1956 working under various names such as "Don Kent", "Joe Smith" and "The Black Dragon", generally working as a heel (bad guy) in the Michigan area. [2] In the first half of the 1960s Don Kent came to Arizona and worked in the local wrestling promotion where he was booked as a sadistic heel. In Arizona Kent would work a storyline that drew full houses every week at the Phoenix Madison Square Garden against local face (good guy) Tito Montez. The two would face off week after week in a variety of speciality matches such as a chain match, "Arizona death match" and falls count anywhere match and each time the fans packed the building in the hopes of seeing Montez finally get the better of Kent. The angle ended with a Steel cage match that saw Montez win after overcoming Kent’s cheating ways. The week after the storyline ended the attendance dropped by half and soon after Don Kent left the area.[4]

Fabulous Kangaroos

The Fabulous Kangaroos in full Aussie gear
(Costello & Heffernan pictured)
Main article: The Fabulous Kangaroos: Costello and Kent

In 1967 Al Costello had reformed the tag team The Fabulous Kangaroos with Ray St. Clair, but after six months St. Clair had to retire due to knee problems. A few months after St. Clair retired Costello found a new man to don the bush hat: Don Kent. Kent who was from Michigan adopted the Ultra-Australian gimmick (but retained his American accent) and the seconds most known version of the Fabulous Kangaroos was formed. Costello and Kent teamed together on a regular basis from 1968 until 1974, approximately the same amount of time that Costello spent teaming with his original partner Roy Heffernan.[2] The Kangaroos won their tag team championship only months after teaming up, during a tour of Japan for “International Wrestling Enterprise". Over the years many more title reigns would come in various promotions all over the globe. In Canada they were the first Eastern Sports Association International Tag Team Champions, in the World Wrestling Association they would hold the WWA World Tag Team Championship twice.[5] In addition to winning titles all over North America they also made appearances for the World Wide Wrestling Federation (now known as World Wrestling Entertainment.[2]

The Kangaroos frequented NWA Detroit where they held the Detroit version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship. for most of 1971.[5] By the end of 1972 the Kangaroos began working for Nick Gulas’ NWA Mid-America. In Mid-America they would hold the local version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship, the Mid-America version on three occations.[5]

After a match in the Cincinnati Gardens an enraged fan took a fire extinguisher off the wall and threw it at Costello and Kent from the balcony of the Gardens. The extinguisher hit Costello in the hip, damaging it so much that Costello would need hip replacement surgery later that year. The fan was arrested, served 15 days in jail, and fined fifty dollars for damaging the fire extinguisher. The hip injury meant that Costello was unable to compete and the Fabulous Kanagroos split up.[6] Don Kent returned to NWA Mid-America while Costello had to have a full hip replacement and was forced to retire from active competition.[2]

Working alone

When Costello retired Kent remained with Mid-America where he over the next couple of years would develop into one of the main heels of the company as the "Dog Collar" wearing, barking "Bulldog" Don Kent. Kent would team with Chris Gallagher and win the NWA Mid-America Tag Team Championship on two occasions beating the teams of Frank Monte and Nick DeCarlo as well as Steve Kovac and Ricky Gibson for the titles. In late 1974 Kent would team up with Count Drummer to win the Mid America Tag Team titles once more, defeating Jackie Fargo and George Gulas on November 6, 1974 but lose them back to Fargo and Gulas three weeks later.[5] Kent would also win the NWA Mid-America Heavyweight Championship, which was the main title of the promotion in October of 1974 defeating Tony Charles. Kent lost his first Mid-America title to Jackie Fargo but would win it twice more in 1975, first from Fargo and then later on from "Crazy" Luke Graham. Graham be the man to defeat Kent on May 7, 1975 to end his third and final reign with the title. [5]

In late 1975 Kent would move closer to home and work for The Sheik’s "NWA Detroit" (also known as "Big Time Wrestling") using his "Bulldog" Don Kent persona. On November 1, 1975 Kent defeated Mark Levin to win the Detroit version of the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship, which was the main title of the Detroit promotion. Levin would win it back in December but the victory helped cement Don Kent as one of the top heels of the promotion[5] On October 16, 1976 Kent would regain the title in a bloody brawl against Pampero Firpo and hold on to it until January 8, 1977 where he lost it to Gino Hernandez. [5] Kent would develop into a long running enemy of the Sheik, who was the most popular guy in the promotion, with the two clashing many times in wild and bloody brawls.[2]

In 1977 after having recovered from hip surgery Al Costello once again asked Kent to team up with him as the Fabulous Kangaroos for a tour of Puerto Rico with the WWC. In Puerto Rico the Kangaroos arrived billed as the WWC World Tag Team Champions, once more to give a new title legitimacy. The Kangaroos dropped the titles to Carlos Colon and Jose Rivera on March 12, 1977. The Kangaroos would remain in WWC through out 1977 and into 1978, chasing but never quite regaining the WWC World Tag Team Championship.[5] After their tour in Puerto Rico ended Don Kent returned to singles wrestling and Costello focused more on managing due to his bad hip.[2]

After his brief run as a Kangaroo Kent returned to the Alabama area to work in NWA Mid-America once more. Kent would defeat Lanny Poffo to win his forth Mid-America Heavyweight title in December of 1977 but lose it to Poffo’s brother Randy Savage on January 3, 1978.[5] In 1979 Kent would wrestle in Puerto Rico as a singles wrestler, winning the WWC Caribbean Heavyweight Championship from Chief War Cloud on January 6, 1979 and hold it for over 6 months until he lost it to Hurricane Castillo on July 21, 1979. Shortly after losing the Caribbean title Kent moved up a level and defeated Puerto Rican legend Carlos Colón on August 3, 1979 only to lose the title to Invader I 3 weeks later in Ponce, Puerto Rico. [5]

Kanagaroo return

Main article: The Fabulous Kangaroos: Kent and Bekkar, Kent and Heffernan

In 1981 Costello convinced Kent to once again don the bush hat and pick up the boomerang once more. Costello had Kent team up with Bruno Bekkar, who was mostly known from working in his native New Zealand and Australia, and work a tour for the WWC with Costello serving as their manager.[2] Kent and Bekkar would win the WWC North American Tag Team title from the team of Jack and Jerry Brisco on October 22, 1981. This version of the Kangaroos would first lose to, then quickly regain the titles from Invader I and Super Gladiador before dropping them for good on January 26, 1982 to Invader and Gladiador once more.[5] The Kent and Bekkar team only lasted for one tour of the Caribbean after which Bruno Bekkar returned to Australia and New Zealand to work for the local promotions there.[2]

Instead Kent was replaced with "Johnny Heffernan" (Canadian Bob Della Serra) a storyline cousin of Roy Heffernan for what would be the final Kangaroo version to compete.[2] The team ended Terry and Dory Funk, Jr.’s year and a half long run with the WWC World Tag Team championship when they defeated them on May 1, 1982. The team would hold the gold for less than 2 months before losing them again.[5] After ending their tour in Puerto Rico Kent and Heffernan returned to mainland USA to work for Championship Wrestling from Florida, a promotion the Kangaroos last worked for in 1962. In Florida the Kangaroos won the NWA Florida Global Tag Team Championship 4 times.[5] The final storyline involving the Fabulous Kangaroos saw Al Costello bring in J.J. Dillon to act as his short term replacement as he "took care of business". When Costello returned from his business trip Dillon refused to give up the Kangaroos contracts and was backed up by both Kent and Costello (in storyline terms). This storyline was designed to write Al Costello out of the Fabulous Kangaroos storyline and allow him to retire from wrestling all together.[6] Not long after Costello retired Kent and Della Serra went their separate ways.[2]

After the Kangaroos

Kent started to wind down after the Kangaroos split up for the last time, working mainly in Michigan with tours of Puerto Rico. In Puerto Rico Don Kent donned a mask and worked under the name "Super Médico III" alongside Super Médico I. Kent was brought in as a storyline replacement for the real Super Médico III, who was played by Jose Estrada, Jr.. Médicos I & III won the WWC World Tag Team Championship on August 4, 1984 from King Tonga and Gran Apollo. [5] When Super Médico III is unmasked on in October and revealed to NOT be Jose Estrada, Jr. The team is stripped of their titles because of the use of an illegal man.[7] Kent would continue to wrestle until 1986 where he would go into semi-retirement wrestling only on special occasions as late as 1992.[2]

Death

Don Kent died on June 14, 1993 after suffering from Leukemia for a long period of time.[3]

In Wrestling

  • Finishing Moves
  • Signature Moves
  • Managers
  • George "Crybaby" Cannon
  • Sir Dudley Clement
  • Al Costello

Championships and accomplishments

  • International Wrestling Enterprise (Japan)
  • Trans-World Wrestling Alliance World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Al Costello[5]
  • WWA World Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Al Costello[5]

References

  1. ^ a b "Big Time Wrestling Hall of Honor: Bulldog Don Kent". bigtimewrestling.org. Retrieved 2007-08-05.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Greg Oliver and Steve Johnson (2005). "Top 20: #1 The Fabulous Kangaroos". The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Tag Teams. ECW Press. pp. 17–24. ISBN 978-1-5502-2683-6.
  3. ^ a b Greg Oliver. "Don Kent profile". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-08-03. June 14, 1993: Don Kent passes away as a result of Leukemia at the age of 61
  4. ^ Arizona Wrestling Legends.com. "Legend Profile: Don Kent". Retrieved 2007-08-05.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Royal Duncan & Gary Will (4th Edition 2006). Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)
  6. ^ a b Siler, Bob. "Al Costello, "THE" Fabulous Kangaroos". 1Wrestlinglegends.com. Retrieved 2007-08-05.
  7. ^ "Bodyslammin' WWC Tag Team Title". bodyslammin.com. Retrieved 2007-08-05. Titles vacated on on October 8, 1984 in Bayamon, Puerto Rico when Medico III (Don Kent) loses his mask.

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