Fred Blassie

Frederick Kenneth Blassman
Blassie with Hossein Khosrow Vaziri and Nikolai Volkoff
Data
Ring name	Freddie Blassie Fred McDaniels Fred Blassie
Additions to names	Sailor, Classy , The Hollywood Fashion Platem, The King Of Men, Vampire
height	178 cm
Fighting weight	100 kg
birth	February 8, 1918 St. Louis , Missouri
death	June 2, 2003 Hartsdale , New York
Trained by	Billy Longson Everett Marshall Warren Bockwinkel
debut	1935
retirement	1973

Frederick Kenneth Blassman (born February 8, 1918 in St. Louis , Missouri , † June 2, 2003 in Hartsdale , New York ), better known as "Classy Freddie Blassie" , was an American wrestler and wrestling manager.

He is a member of the WWE Hall of Fame and the Hall of Fame of the independent wrestling magazine Wrestling Observer Newsletter .

Career

Blassman comes from a German immigrant family who immigrated to the United States only a few years before he was born. According to his autobiography, his youth was marked by the violence of his alcoholic father, Frederick lived with his grandparents for a long period of time. Blassman dropped out of high school to work as a meat packer and support his family. He also started boxing , but was already interested in wrestling and played his first matches.

Navy time

At the beginning of the Second World War he enrolled in the Navy. Because of his German descent, he was deployed in the Pacific theater of war; he served a total of 42 months. It was at this time that Blassman first came into contact with wrestling in Los Angeles, where he performed under the ring name "Sailor Fred Blassie". Stationed in Port Hueneme, California, he won the Pacific Coast Title from Hans Schnabel. He also won wrestling and boxing titles within the Navy. In 1945 he was discharged from the Navy with the rank of Petty Officer Second Class .

1950s

Over the next few years he competed in the American Midwest , battling legends such as Steve Casey, Babe Sharkey, Bill Longson, Killer Kowalski , Buddy Rogers and Gorgeous George, gaining experience and popularity.

In February 1952 he went to Los Angeles, since the local league could be televised nationwide. The "Sailor Fred Blassie" gimmick was abolished and he became part of the Billy and Fred McDaniels team . At the side of his "brother" he learned from battles with veterans like Gorgeous George, Wild Red Berry, Baron Leone and his long-time rival Mr. Moto. At the same time he competed in the Midwest as Freddie Blassie or with his tag team partner as "Blassie Brothers".

On February 8, 1954, he won the NWA Southern Heavyweight Championship (Georgia Version) title from Don McIntyre, a title he was allowed to hold a total of sixteen times. The title was one of the most significant regional titles of the National Wrestling Alliance .

Blassie the rule breaker

In 1956, Blassman turned his image into a heel who used illegal means to victory. Blassie often bit opponents, which earned him the nickname " Vampire ". Blassie dominated wrestling in Georgia, his feuds against opponents like Don McIntyre, Haystacks Calhoun, Ray Gunkel and Dick Steinborn filled the halls.

1960s

In 1960 Blassman moved to the World Wrestling Association in California. Over the next year he was sold as invincible and had matches against the top crowd favorites in the sport of wrestling. On June 12, 1961 he won the WWA and NAWA world championships from Edouard Carpentier. On July 12, 1961, Lou Thesz was even brought to Los Angeles to let him lose to Freddie Blassie in a "2 out of 3 Falls" match.

In October 1961, league war broke out in Los Angeles when a group led by John J. Doyle came to LA to put on shows with wrestlers from San Francisco's Roy Shire and Ray Stevens. They rented a new arena for October 7th and put up a fight card that included the battles Stevens against Ray Stern, The Bruiser against Bob Ellis and Bobo Brazil against Don Leo Jonathan. In order not to have to stand idly by, Strongbow and his Los Angeles League scheduled a match between Blassman and Ricki Starr exactly one day before this show in the same building. The event with Blassman drew 12,138 spectators, the following day “only” 4,000. On October 27th, Blassman fought successfully against Argentina Rocca in front of a sold out house in the Olympic Auditorium. The following evening the competition only managed to draw 3,500 spectators for a Stevens vs. Brazil match. That ended the war in Los Angeles.

On March 28, 1962 Blassman lost the WWA world title to the Japanese wrestling legend Rikidozan in a "2 out of 3 Falls" match. Blassman followed Rikidozan to Japan and lost the rematch there as well. Blassman made a lasting impression in the matches in Japan, not least because of the teeth marks on his opponents' foreheads. He also took part in the 4th World League Tournament , where he lost to Lou Thesz on May 18, 1962. The third match against Rikidozan took place on July 25, 1962 again in Los Angeles, when Blassman was allowed to regain the WWA world title.

Blassman then lost the WWA world title in San Diego to "The Destroyer". He also won the rematch in the sold out Olympic Auditorium and Blassman spent the rest of the year in Atlanta, winning and losing the Georgia version of the world title to Eddie Graham and feuding with Ray Gunkel. In 1963 he returned to the Olympic Auditorium to receive the WWA world title again. Victories over Moto, Carpentier, Ernie Ladd , Don Manoukian and Hercules Cortez followed and in a team with Don Leo Jonathan he won the WWA Tag Team title.

On August 23, 1963, Blassman lost the WWA title to Bearcat Wright by scoring in the Olympic Auditorium. 1963 was the year of the “Black Pride” movement and civil rights were on everyone's lips. The colored Wright was the perfect champion as the crowd favorite at the time. Nevertheless, the promotion set for December 13, 1963 a rematch between Wright and Blassman, in which Wright should give up the title again. Wright refused, however, to give up the title, which is why the promotion Blassman put the stuntman, judoka and wrestler Gene LaBell aside. Wright refused to enter the ring and was stripped of the title. Blassman won the WWA title again on January 31, 1964, lost it on May 27, 1964 and shortly thereafter a Loser Leaves Town Deathmatch against Dick the Bruiser. Blassman had previously signed a contract with the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF).

In front of 14,000 spectators Blassman defeated the reigning WWWF World Champion Bruno Sammartino in New Jersey on June 26, 1964 by disqualification after a low blow. Although everyone involved was aware that Blassman had lost his WWA title to The Bruiser , this fight was advertised as a unification fight. A series of rematches followed in the larger cities in front of sold-out houses. During his time at WWWF, Blassman worked with people like Pedro Morales , Bobo Brazil , Bill Watts and Killer Kowalski .

Diagnosis of hepatitis

In October 1964, he returned to Los Angeles to start a feud with Bob Ellis and Archie Moore , a member of the boxing fame. In late 1964, early 1965 Blassman played a series of fights with Lou Thesz in Florida for the NWA World Championship. In April 1965 he went back to Japan and took part in the 7th World League Tournament . Shortly afterwards, Blassie fell ill and had a blood transfusion in Honolulu . After he returned to Atlanta, he was diagnosed with hepatitis and had a kidney removed. His doctors told him that his wrestling career was over. Blassman made his living there in 1966 by selling cars in Decautur, Georgia .

comeback

On August 25, 1967, Blassman returned to Los Angeles and defeated Mark Lewin to become the new America Champion. Together with "Killer" Austin he also won the WWA Tag Team title. On November 22, 1967, he was even allowed to defeat the legend Karl Gotch . In April 1968 he fought as a team with Tarzan Tyler in Japan, where they lost an international tag team title match against Baba and Inoki. It was on this tour that he met his wife, a Japanese actress, and married her. On November 15, 1968, Blassie defeated his old tag team partner Buddy Austin in a stretcher match in the sold-out Olympic Auditorium. But not only that - 4000 fans had to leave without having achieved anything because they no longer received tickets.

1970s

At the end of 1969, Blassman was getting more and more audience support and so the promoters made a face out of him. A fight against Fred Tolos on August 27, 1971 at the Los Angeles Coliseum in front of 25,847 fans brought in $ 142,158.50 - both record results in California at the time.

At the end of 1971 Blassman successfully returned to the WWWF. The champion at the time was Pedro Morales. Once again, he ensured sold-out halls in title matches. Needing a break for an operation on his leg, he returned to Los Angeles and was " injured " by Killer Kowalski on February 11th . After the injury healed, Blassie returned to the ring on June 16.

Resignation as a wrestler

In December 1973, Blassman announced his retirement as a wrestler, since he could no longer get a license due to the California law due to his age, and began a new career as a manager in the WWWF. In the 1970s and 1980s he managed the most hated villains in the (W) WWF. In 1976 he even managed Muhammad Ali in his shootfight against Antonio Inoki in Japan. In the 1980s, he led Hulk Hogan through a worldwide feud with Andre the Giant . He also managed Iron Sheik when it won the title on January 23, 1984 from longtime champion Bob Backlund . Since 1986 Blassman was no longer active as a manager in the WWF, but was still available for appearances and promotional videos despite his old age. Due to his long association with the PhD and the Vince McMahons family , Blassie received a regular salary from the WWE until his death. Freddie Blassie died of heart and kidney failure at the age of eighty-five on June 2, 2003, a few weeks after his last appearance for the WWE.

Fred Blassie was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 1994, in 1996 he received the same honor from the wrestling magazine "Wrestling Observer Newsletter" and in 2004 from the "Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum".

successes

title

• Championship Wrestling from Florida
  • 1 × NWA Florida Southern Heavyweight Championship
  • 1 × NWA World Tag Team Championship (Florida version)
• Georgia Championship Wrestling
  • 1 × NWA Georgia Heavyweight Championship
  • 3 × NWA International Tag Team Championship (Georgia version)
  • 17 × NWA Southern Heavyweight Championship (Georgia version)
  • 2 × NWA World Tag Team Championship (Georgia version)
• NWA Hollywood Wrestling
  • 5 × NWA Americas Heavyweight Championship
  • 1 × NWA Americas Tag Team Championship
• NWA Mid-America
  • 1 × NWA Southern Junior Heavyweight Championship
  • 1 × NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship
• North American Wrestling Alliance
  • 1 × NAWA World Heavyweight Championship
  • 1 × WWA Americas Heavyweight Championship
  • 2 × WWA Americas Tag Team Championship
  • 3 × WWA International Television Tag Team Championship
  • 3 × WWA World Heavyweight Championship

Awards

• World Wrestling Federation
  • WWE Hall of Fame 1994
• Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame
  • Member since 2004

Others

• Shortly before his death, at the age of 85, he published his autobiography "Classy" Freddie Blassie. Listen, You Pencil Neck Geeks (Legends of Wrestling). WWE, New York 2003, ISBN 0-7434-6316-1 .

• Blassie is also mentioned in the rock band REM's song Man on the Moon , a tribute to Andy Kaufman .

• Blassman has made film appearances on The Dick Van Dyke Show , My Breakfast with Blassie and When Nature Calls .

• In 1983 Andy Kaufmann and Johnny Legend released the documentary My Breakfast with Blessie . Legend had already written and interpreted the song Pencil Neck Geek about Blessie in 1977 .

Web links

• WWE Hall of Fame Profile of Freddie Blassie
• bsww.de
• wwfstuff.de
• Hall of Fame broken neck
• Profile on Neckbruch.com

Individual evidence

1. ↑ My Breakfast with Blassie in the IMDb
2. ↑ Piledrivers and Power Ballads: Pro Wrestling's Musical Moments , Rolling Stone , July 30, 2014