Mr. Wrestling II

John Walker
Data
Ring name	The Grappler Mr. Wrestling II
Additions to names	Rubberman
height	180 cm
Fighting weight	110 kg
birth	September 10, 1934 Charleston, South Carolina
Trained by	Tony Morelli Patrick John O'Connor
debut	1956
retirement	1989

John Walker (born September 10, 1934 in Charleston , South Carolina ; nickname: Johnny) is an American wrestler who fought under the name of Mr. Wrestling II .

Wrestling career

John Walker made his debut in Hawaii in 1956 and was nicknamed the Rubberman as a heel in the Territories in the southeastern United States. However, he had little success as a heel. In 1971 he appeared in Florida as The Grappler .

In the early 1970s, former National Wrestling Alliance promoter Ray Gunkel started his own promotion in Georgia and took some successful wrestlers from the NWA with him. To fill the gap, a number of new wrestlers were hired, including John Walker. He appeared under a mask as Mr. Wrestling II and was introduced as a partner to the original Mr. Wrestling George Burrell Woodin . The two formed a tag team in the South and Southeast Territories that was one of the most famous of the 1970s. In addition, both were also active as individual wrestlers.

Between 1974 and 1980 they held several titles in the Georgia area. Their main competitors were Gene and Ole Anderson , with whom they had a six-year feud that made the NWA very profitable. However, the tag team career ended in the early 1980s when Mr. Wrestling moved to WWWF . During this time, Walker was particularly successful as a lone fighter and won the Georgia Heavyweight title a total of 10 times. In 1979 he was named Heavyweight Champion of the Mid-South Wrestling Association . He was also successful in Florida and was able to secure several titles.

1983 Mr. Wrestling II formed a tag team with Magnum TA , which later switched to Jimmy Crockett's Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling . Mr. Wrestling II remained active as a lone wrestler and had feuds with Harley Race and Ric Flair . In 1987 he joined the Continental Wrestling Federation and won the championship there. After his competitor Mike Golden got the title back two months later, Walker withdrew from the wrestling business.

After the end of his career, he withdrew into private life. Occasionally he still appears at selected shows. Since 2006 he has worked as a coach for Hawai'i Championship Wrestling. He suffered a heart attack on an independent show in Charlotte in August 2010 . His condition was critical, but has improved again.

meaning

Under his ring name Mr. Wrestling II, John Walker was a big star in the southern United States, both as a tag team and as an individual wrestler. His successes were greater than those of his namesake. A 1982 match against Larry Zbyszko in which he risked his mask was the first wrestling match in the United States to draw more than a million viewers in front of the television. The match had a rating of 6.8. Former US President Jimmy Carter called him his favorite wrestler in an interview.

Wrestling title

• Championship Wrestling from Florida
  • NWA Florida Heavyweight Championship (2 ×)
  • NWA Florida Tag Team Championship (1 ×) - with Boris Malenko
  • NWA Southern Heavyweight Championship (Florida version) (1 ×)

• Continental Championship Wrestling
  • NWA Alabama Heavyweight Championship (1 ×)

• Deep South Wrestling
  • DSW American Championship (1 ×)

• Hawai'i Championship Wrestling
  • HCW Kekaulike Heritage Tag Team Championship (1 ×) - with Mr. Wrestling III

• Mid-South Sports / Georgia Championship Wrestling
  • NWA Georgia Heavyweight Championship (10 ×)
  • NWA Georgia Tag Team Championship] (5 ×) - with Bob Orton, Jr. (1 ×), Mr. Wrestling (3 ×) and Tony Atlas (1)
  • NWA Macon Tag Team Championship (3 ×) - with Mr. Wrestling (2 ×) and Jerry Lawler (1 ×)
  • NWA Southeastern Tag Team Championship (Georgia version) (1 ×) - with Bill Dromo

• NWA Tri-State / Mid-South Wrestling Association
  • Mid-South Mississippi Heavyweight Championship (1 ×)
  • Mid-South North American Championship (1 ×)
  • Mid-South Tag Team Championship (2 ×) - with Tiger Conway, Jr. (1 ×) and Magnum TA (1 ×)
  • NWA North American Heavyweight Championship (1 ×)

• NWA Big Time Wrestling
  • NWA Texas Tag Team Championship (1 ×) - with Amazing Zuma

• NWA Mid-America
  • NWA Southern Tag Team Championship (Mid-America version) (9 ×) - with Ken Lucas (2 ×), Bob Ramstead (1 ×), Sundown Kid (1 ×), Dennis Hall (3 ×), Tojo Yamamoto (1 × ) and Bearcat Brown (1 ×)
  • NWA United States Junior Heavyweight Championship (4 ×)
  • NWA United States Tag Team Championship (Mid-America version) (1 ×) - with Oni Maiva
  • NWA World Tag Team Championship (Mid-America version) (4 ×) - with Len Rossi (2 ×) and Bearcat Brown (2 ×)

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • PWI Wrestler of the Year (1975)
  • PWI Most Popular Wrestler of the Year (1980)

• World Championship Wrestling
  • WCW Hall of Fame (1993)

Web links

• Official website ( Memento of November 5, 2010 in the Internet Archive )

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} biography of Johnny Walker. Georgia Wrestling History, accessed December 27, 2010 . 
2. ↑ ^{a b c d} Steve Slage: Hall of Fame Inductee: Mr. Wrestling II. The Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame, accessed December 27, 2010 . 
3. ^ Wrestler Profiles. (No longer available online.) Obsessedwithwrestling.com, archived from the original on Aug. 20, 2011 ; Retrieved December 27, 2010 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ↑ Steve Gerweck: Mr. Wrestling II suffers a heart attack. Wrestleview.com, accessed December 27, 2010 . 
5. ^ Mike Johnson: Mr Wrestling II Released from Hospital. PWInsider.com, September 3, 2010, accessed December 27, 2010 . 
6. ↑ Top 100 Most Influential Wrestlers - # 97: Mr. Wrestling I & II. Neckbruch.com, accessed December 27, 2010 .