Friday, August 23, 2024

Cleaning out the Inbox: Passings

    It's a pro wrestling-heavy version of tributes and we begin with two brothers, who starred as a tag team and passed away less than two months apart.

Goodbye to the Wild Samoans, Afa, and Sika at the ages of 81 and 79.

The three-time WWF tag team champions managed by Captain Lou Albano, also held tag team titles in several territories, most notably Georgia and Mid-South but had their most success in the WWF.

The Samoans were a sensation in 1979-80, winning the titles from Ivan Putski and Tito Santana before losing them to Bob Backlund and Pedro Morales at the famous 1980 Shea Stadium show.

Backlund couldn't hold two titles at the same time, so the titles were vacated with the Samoans winning a tournament for their second reign which ended with a loss to Tony Garea and Rick Martel.

After the loss, the Samoans wrestled in various promotions before a return in 1983 that would see them defeat the Strongbow Brothers for their third reign before dropping them to Tony Atlas and Rocky Johnson.

Both Afa and Sika received title shots against WWF champion Bob Backlund in their first WWF run and after the WWF national expansion, Sika was managed by Mr.Fuji in several title opportunities against Hulk Hogan in 1985.

Goodbye to Pete Sanchez at the age of 81.

Sanchez wrestled as one of the better preliminary wrestlers in the WWF from 1963 to 1992, usually losing on television to the top stars but enjoyed a high enough status to enable him to give those stars a tougher time than they would usually have in those matches.

Sanchez would often win on the house shows on the circuit against opponents of his level and if you didn't live in the WWF territory, Sanchez might be best remembered as the opponent for Ric Flair in 1976 as Flair made his first appearance in the federation as a "special attraction" on the undercard.

Goodbye to Vladimir Petrov at the age of 66.

Al Blake was another trainee off the Minnesota assembly line in the mid-1980s and when another Minnesota grappler John Nord changed his mind after accepting the spot, stepped in to become "Vladimir Petrov".

When Magnum TA suffered his career-ending auto accident in 1986, feared Russian heel Nikita Koloff was turned to the good side to dedicate his career to his fallen rival, creating a need for someone to face Nikita under the guidance of "Uncle" Ivan Koloff.

That man was Petrov, the supposed Russian amateur rival of Nikita but his matches with Nikita saw him lose those matches and within a year, was gone from the territory other than a brief trip to the UWF against champion Steve "Dr.Death" Williams.

Goodbye to Mark Wells at the age of 66.

Wells was a member of the 1980 Miracle on Ice team that won the Olympic gold medal in hockey but never played in the NHL.

Wells played three seasons in the minor leagues before retiring in 1982 after hockey was diagnosed with a rare degenerative spinal disease which often left him bedridden and unable to work.

The hospital bills would force Wells to sell his gold medal in 2010 for $40,000 to pay medical expenses and keep his home.

Goodbye to War Chant at the age of 27.

The 2000 Breeders Cup Mile winner on the grass, War Chant won five of his seven career starts and won both of his starts on turf.

War Chant finished ninth in the 2000 Kentucky Derby before taking five months off to prepare for the final two races of his career, including his exciting Breeders Cup Mile triumph.

War Chant stood at stud in America until 2011 when he moved to Australia for the remainder of his life.



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