Lou Thesz
From Freepedia
Lou Thesz was the stage name of Aloysius Martin Thesz, (April 24, 1916 – April 28, 2002) who was a champion wrestler for 58 years.
Contents |
Career
Born in Banat, Michigan, Thesz moved to St. Louis when he was a young boy. It was in St. Louis where Thesz started wrestling. His parents, immigrants, hailed from the former Austro-Hungarian Empire.
A well-known catch wrestler or "hooker", Thesz wrestled professionally from 1932 to 1990. During the 1940s and 1950s, it was not uncommon for Thesz to put on 250 exhibitions a year, and while the outcome of most pro wrestling matches were "fixed" even then, Lou Thesz was the "real deal", a supremely talented freestyle wrestler with tremendous "legit" talent who could handle himself in a real contest (and did on several occasions). Lou Thesz was by far the greatest wrestler of the 40s and 50s, and it appears that he was never beaten in a legitimate contest from 1936 onward. His arsenal of "hooks" (or submission holds) could literally cripple a man in seconds, and his autobiography, Hooker, is perhaps one of the best books written on the subject of professional wrestling. (Privately published, the book is currently out-of-print.)
Thesz was also a champion, winning various world titles seven times and remaining rarely beaten from 1948 to 1956. He was also recognized, by a ceremony at a WWE pay-per-view, as being the youngest and oldest World Heavyweight Champion at ages 21 and 50 (Vince McMahon would later win the WWF World Heavyweight Championship on September 14, 1999 at the age of 54). He finished his career in 1990 at the age of 73, wrestling a special match against his protege, Masahiro Chono, in Japan.
Thesz died on April 28, 2002 in Orlando.
Profile
- Birthday: April 26, 1916
- Town of birth: St. Louis, Missouri
- Height: 6' 2"
- Weight: 225 lb
- Trained by: George Tragos, Ad Santel
Finishing and signature moves
- Greco-Roman backdrop (belly to back suplex)
- Double wrist lock
- STF - Stepover Toehold Facelock
- Lou Thesz Press
Championships and accomplishments
National Wrestling Alliance
- 6-Time NWA World Heavyweight Champion
- 1-Time NWA Texas Heavyweight Champion
- 1-Time NWA International Champion
- 1-Time NWA Vancouver Pacific Coast Tag Team Champion with Dory Funk
Universal Wrestling Association
- 1-Time UWA Heavyweight Champion
World Wrestling Association
- 1-Time WWA World Heavyweight Champion
Mid-Southern Wrestling
Other
- Member of WCW Hall of Fame (inducted in 1993)
| NWA World Heavyweight Championship | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Pre-NWA foundation | ||||||||||||||
| Preceded by: Billy Watson | First reign | Followed by: Bill Longson | ||||||||||||
| Preceded by: Bill Longson | Second reign | Followed by: Abandoned | ||||||||||||
| Official NWA reigns | ||
| Preceded by: Awarded | Third reign | Followed by: Billy Watson |
| Preceded by: Billy Watson | Fourth reign | Followed by: Édouard Carpentier |
| Preceded by: Édouard Carpentier | Fifth reign | Followed by: Dick Hutton |
| Preceded by: Buddy Rogers | Sixth reign | Followed by: Gene Kiniski |
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