The widow of pro-wrestling villain "Classy" Freddie Blassie got thrown for a fall by a supermarket floor mat. After Blassie lost the WWA World Heavyweight Championship to Rikidzan in Los Angeles, the two had a rematch on live Japanese television. Freddie Blassie - Online World of Wrestling Poffo, at first, played it small and declined. Keith Elliot Greenberg coauthored Legends of Wrestling: Freddie Blassie -- Listen, You Pencil Neck Geeks with wrestling icon "Classy" Freddie Blassie shortly before his death in 2003. Frederick Kenneth Blassie (Classy Freddy Blassie, The Vampire, Sailor Fred Blassie, The Hollywood Fashion Plate, The Fashion Plate of Professional Wrestling), Miyako Morozumi (30 September1968 - 2 June2003)( his death), ? At an early age, Blassie was enamored with pro wrestling, particularly the shooters of the early era of pro wrestling in the 1930s, and would often sneak into a local gym to watch the technical masters stretch and submit their opponents. The suit, filed in federal court in White Plains, accuses the supermarket chain of negligence and recklessness and seeks more than $1 million in damages from corporate parent A&P and mat supplier G&K Services. [6] One of his most famous feuds took place in southern California in 1971, against Tolos. In one memorable instance, Blassie, playing up the heel character, would berate Brunos followers backstage with promos, calling them derogatory names such as "grease ball" and "spaghetti bender." Who Is Freddie Blassie's Wife? Keith Elliot Greenberg has been doing his part to preserve professional wrestling history for the past few decades. As Greenberg shares it, Bruno used to have many people follow him around in the back, many of which were purported to be in the mob. Blassie originally wrestled mainly in the Southeast and West Coast, winning many titles in both. World Wrestling Entertainment WWE)). In 1961, he defeated Eduoard Carpentier for the WWA World Heavyweight Championship, a title that held prominence in the pro-wrestling world, since WWA was an outlaw territory outside the realm of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). [6] On July 7, Blassie successfully defended his title against the former NWA World Heavyweight Champion Lou Thesz. Notable Title Wins Include: NWA Southern Heavyweight title (14); WWA (Los Angeles) World Heavyweight title (4); WWA World Tag Team title (2 times w/Mr. Using his newfound skills, Blassie became a wrestler starting in the carnival circuit, debuting in 1935 but taking a break in the 1940s to fight in World War II. Even more important than that, Blassie would make a change that would make him an icon. It was also during this period of his career when he dropped his babyface gimmick and became a full-fledged heel. He felt this was his chance to tell his life story before moving on. The two spoke the same dialect of German, their parents had mutual friends, and . In addition to his pro wrestling notoriety, Classy Freddie Blassie also has some amusing notability in wider pop culture. Vince McMahon interviews "Classy" Freddie Blassie & Nikolai Volkoff first tried to make his mark as a boxer, despite warnings that his arms Blassie continued to manage Sheik and Volkoff even after they lost the tag team titles. In 1964, the legendary "Classy" Freddie Blassie was still an in-ring competitor when he took on local hero Bruno Sammartino in front of a hostile New Jersey crowd, where he cheated for a cheap countout victory over the champ. At an early age, Blassie was enamored with pro wrestling, particularly the "shooters" of the early era of pro wrestling in the 1930s, and would often sneak into a local gym to watch the technical masters stretch and submit their opponents. Miyako Blassie, 68, says in court papers that she was shopping for groceries. [2] During that same title reign, in a match against Lord James Blears a fan threw acid on his back, and he had to return immediately to the locker room to wash it off; over the course of his career, he was also stabbed 21 times and lost vision in his right eye after being struck by a thrown hard-boiled egg. After four decades, trainer Ed Moger gets his first Triple Crown starter, An exclusive look at details of Chip Kellys two-year contract extension from UCLA, His shoe game is pretty tight. Why Dodgers hope Miguel Rojas play matches his swag, Rats in the laundry? Discover today's celebrity birthdays and explore famous people who share your birthday. He has written several wrestling biographies including Freddie Blassies The Legends of Wrestling, Ric Flairs To Be The Man, "Superstar" Billy Grahams Tangled Ropes,and the unreleased biography of The Iron Sheik which, despite being chockful of stories that would be sure to make your jaw drop, will never see the light of day. Blassie would show Greenberg dozens of notebooks with "beautiful cursive handwriting." One of the men was Jilly Rizzo, Frank Sinatras number one sidekick and the owner of his own saloon. Blassie died in Hartsdale, N.Y., Jeff Walton, a former wrestling publicist, told The Los Angeles Times. the time, get up, stand up and fight. My Breakfast with Blassie (1983) - IMDb This post may contain affiliate links, which means we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. From there, he moved on to become a regular writer, contributor, and reporter for WWE. Ironically, during his WWWF stint, he was managed by another former wrestler who had recently become a manager, in the form of Captain Lou Albano. Fred Blassie was born and raised in the St. Louis, Missouri, area. RELATED: 10 Managers With The Best Claim To Be On A Wrestling Mount Rushmore. A wildly popular villain in the 1950s, 60s and 70s, he later managed other wrestlers, including then-bad guy Hulk Hogan and the ever-evil Iron Sheik. Frederick Kenneth Blassie (Classy Freddy Blassie, The Vampire, Sailor Fred Blassie, The Hollywood Fashion Plate, The Fashion Plate of Professional Wrestling) was born on 8 February, 1918 in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, is an Actor. Occasionally, he would get too close to the action and get beaten up himself, much to the crowd's delight. "CLASSY" FRED BLASSIE on Twitter: "Your trad wife, sir. https://t.co One that stands out was his rivalry with Bruno Sammartino in the early 1960s. The terminology would follow him for the rest of his career. After a 39-year in-ring career in the sport, Blassie retired as a wrestler as a 4x WWA World Heavyweight Champion, a 17x NWA Georgia Southern Heavyweight Champion, NWA Junior Heavyweight Champion, as well as dozens more regional titles in multiple NWA territories. If they refused to drop a title, it didnt matter what the bookers thought. On a mid-July 2001 episode of Raw, the Invasion storyline was in full swing, and Blassie was brought in to motivate the WWE in the face of their ongoing war with the WCW/ECW Alliance. In the segment he is interviewed by "Mean" Gene Okerlund when the two are interrupted by a little old lady in a housekeeper outfit that Blassie claims to be his own mother. Blassie also was seen with the comedian Andy Kaufman in ''My Breakfast With Blassie,'' a 1983 spoof of ''My Dinner With Andre.''. Pro Wrestling Stories - Your daily source of nostalgia and a peek behind the curtain wall of wrestlings past! In order to impress a girl, he entered a carnival show match in a shoot fight and won. Inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2004. is 6'(1.83m) . Many of the viewers were horrified by Blassie's treatment of their hero. Born Fred Blassman in St. Louis, Blassie played baseball and football in high school. He had been in poor health for quite a while, and it was as if he wanted to wait to get his story out before he passed on. "I want you to get four Orange Juliuses for me, the girls, and you.". When the wife of WWEs Chairman and CEOhad heard about this, she accosted Blassie saying, "I didnt even realize you had any kids!". Blassie claims that he made Regis Philbin into the celebrity he is today. Take Linda McMahon, for instance. [8], In 1975, Blassie recorded voiceovers for the songs "Blassie, King of Men" and "Pencil Neck Geek", which were performed by Johnny Legend, featuring Billy Zoom on guitar, Jay Phillips on guitar, Lon Osgood on bass and Steve Clark on drums. By doing this, he saved Freddie Blassies life. A child of two German immigrants, Freddie Blassie was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1918. [21] His final words on WWE television were "D-Von, get the table! He was 85.Mr. Before The Client List is an extension of our ongoing series, Before They Were Famous, which looks at wrestlers before they became internationally famous. Comedian Andy Kaufman & professional wrestler Classy Freddie Blassie eat breakfast & discuss life. (Use code PWS for a nice surprise). Jamie Greer joined LWOPW in 2015 and was the site's Managing Editor from 2016 through 2020. [6] In later years, Blassie also appeared on The Mike Douglas Show when Philbin was a guest host. 'The Destroyer' Dick Beyer story archive | Slam Wrestling Freddie Blassie | WWE Fred Blassie was born and raised in the St. Louis, Missouri, area. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. [3][8] In 1983, Rhino Records released a 14-track album by Blassie, titled I Bite the Songs. She . Professional wrestler Freddie Blassie, who became a cult figure for fans by playing the villain inside the ring during the 1950s and 1960s, has died. We have estimated Fred Blassie was born and raised in the St. Louis, Missouri, area. The nastier he was in the ring, the more popular he became to fans. [22], Filmed in 1982, My Breakfast with Blassie featured Andy Kaufman and Freddie Blassie eating at a Sambo's in Los Angeles. )[8] The movies title and premise are parodies of the 1981 art-house classic My Dinner with Andre.[23]. Freddie Blassies income source is mostly from being a successful Actor. Learn How rich is He in this year and how He spends money? After a move to the West Coast, he tried a different promotional scheme -- that of a villain. [8] In 2001, Blassie appeared in a special July 16, 2001 Raw is War segment for the Invasion storyline, wherein he exhorted a gathering of WWF wrestlers to stand tall against The Alliance and later got mocked by Alliance leaders Shane and Stephanie McMahon. Between matches, he gave loud and boastful interviews, making him a favorite of talk shows and reportedly influencing a fellow egomaniac then known as Cassius Clay. John Tolos: Wrestler celebrated as one of the finest ring villains For a brief period of time after World War Two, he was billed as "Sailor" Freddie Blassie in matches, a gimmick that did not prove successful. . You hit a guy in the neck. Freddie Blassie. The widow of pro-wrestling villain Classy Freddie Blassie got thrown for a fall by a supermarket floor mat. Outside of being an award-winning television producer, the New York Times best-selling author began writing about professional wrestling for several newspapers and magazines in the 90s. My Breakfast with Blassie was conceived of by Linda Lautrec and Johnny Legend as a satire on My Dinner with Andre. This benefactor was later revealed to be Slick. In 1964, Blassie once again captured the WWA World title for the third time (again from Carpentier), but upon losing to Dick The Bruiser in April, he headed to the newly minted World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF). That revolution -- making the villain the hero -- put fans in the seats and money in Blassies pocket. By this time, Blassie has acquired a cult following, leading to appearances in several feature films. Still a motormouth, he gave interviews in which he bragged about himself and his protgs and denounced anybody he didn't like as a "pencil necked geek". He did an advice segment on the ''Tuesday Night Titans'' TV program, made personal appearances and did radio interviews. [16] In 1999, he was shown making the opening narration of WrestleMania XV. In 1972, ten years after his last match in Japan with Rikidozans JWA, he returned to Japan and began working for Giant Babas All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW). Blassie also wanted to clarify through his final memoir that he was an absentee father as he was on the road for most of his sons life growing up. He retired from competition in the late 1970's to manage a new generation of wrestlers, including Hulk Hogan and Jesse Ventura, the future governor of Minnesota. His penchant for biting opponents earned him the nickname "The Vampire". Sadly, the gimmick was a bomb, and Blassie jumped around territories, including working in New York City for Jess McMahon (grandfather of Vince McMahon Jr.). The Rock for the WWF Title)", "TJR Retro: WWE Royal Rumble 2000 Review (The Rock wins Rumble, Triple H vs. Cactus Jack)", "Freddie Blassie - Dick Van Dyke Show - 1962", "My Breakfast with Blassie: An appreciation", NWA North American Heavyweight Title (Hawaii version) history, NWA Southern Heavyweight Title (Florida) history, NWA World Tag Team Title (Florida) history, NWA International Tag Team Title (Georgia) history, NWA Southern Heavyweight Title (Georgia) history, NWA World Tag Team Title (Georgia) history, "NWA Hall of Fame Class for 2011 announced", WWA International Television Tag Team Title history, NWA Southern Junior Heavyweight Title history, Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum Inductees, 1853 Shepherd Circle SW, Blassie's Atlanta home (1960), 1950 Campbellton Road SW, Blassies Atlanta home (1966), WWE Hall of Fame Profile of Freddie Blassie, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Freddie_Blassie&oldid=1142698000, NWA World Tag Team Champions (Florida version), Professional wrestling managers and valets, United States Navy personnel of World War II, Short description is different from Wikidata, All Wikipedia articles written in American English, Pages using infobox military person with embed, Articles with disputed statements from February 2023, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, The Mysterious Medics (Mysterious Medic #1 and Mysterious Medic #2), This page was last edited on 3 March 2023, at 22:16. Blassie, well-known for exaggerating a story or two, stated that when he was wrestling Rikidozan in Japan, 100 Japanese wrestling fans dropped dead of heart attacks because the matches were so gory. Still claiming to be the West Coast Champion, entered into a feud with Bruno Sammartino to unify the titles. He also bleached his hair at this time, as many of the other stars of the era did, such as Gorgeous George, Johnny Valentine, and "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers. [8] The fans consistently booed him because he was considered a "Yankee". He spent his time in the Missouri territory, working mainly in St. Louis and Kansas City, but when the U.S. entered the Second World War, he enlisted in 1942 and joined the U.S. Navy, where he spent four years (42 months) in combat in the U.S. battles in the Pacific. Blassies father was a heavy alcoholic and was abusive towards his beloved mother. JP Zarka created Pro Wrestling Stories in May 2015. 3 Saving Freddie Blassie Thanks To Kayfabe. "The Fashion Plate of Wrestling" Freddie Blassie calls his interviewer and the fans "pencil neck geeks" and shows why he will always be remembered as one of the greatest managers in WWE history. Freddie Blassie, 85, died of heart failure on June 2, 2003. June 8, 2003 The professional wrestler Freddie Blassie, who became a cult figure to fans by playing the villain inside the ring during the 1950's and 1960's, died Monday. him a favorite of talk shows and reportedly influencing a fellow One of Blassies most notable clients during his run with WWE, however, was Hulk Hogan, who he managed as soon as Hogan debuted in the company in 1979. Back in the dressing room, Blassie realized he was in the wrong one. "Classy" Freddie Blassie lead an interesting life as one of . Blassie would continue to make his titles make history in 1963, he lost to Bearcat Wright, making Wright the first African-American to hold a World title in the United States. [11], On June 12, 1961, Blassie defeated the "Flying Frenchman" douard Carpentier in a best-of-three-falls match for his first WWA World Heavyweight Championship. Stats: 6' 0" 220 lbs. He continued to outrage crowds by distracting referees so that his men could cheat and by getting in his own cheap shots when the refs weren't looking. [1] It is a mostly improvised parody of the art film My Dinner with Andre and is set in a Sambo's restaurant where Kaufman and Blassie have a discussion over breakfast. Freddie never held a true world title but he was still one of the greatest of the 50s through the 60s". He also reportedly excelled as a boxer. Blassie began portraying himself as a villain, and it worked. For the first installment, we look at one of the most iconic villains in pro wrestling history as both a wrestler and a manager in Classy Freddie Blassie. Blassie came into the WWWF with his own world title belt, claiming to be the Pacific World Champion, and was coming to Sammartino's "back yard" to unify the world title. He was 85. Frederick Kenneth Blassie (February 8, 1918 - June 2, 2003), better known as "Classy" Freddie Blassie, was an American professional wrestling villain and manager born in St. Louis, Missouri. (and of course, Bubba Ray and D-Von take care of Bischoff and his cronies). He claimed to file his teeth to draw blood from opponents, and among his nicknames was the Vampire. According to Dave Meltzer, "legitimately there were three [deaths] in Japan from elderly men watching a match with Togo in Japan, and it became this myth that [Freddie Blassie] exaggerated.". One of Blassie's gimmicks was to file his teeth, and draw blood from his opponents by biting their foreheads. We recommend you to check the complete list of Famous People born on 8 February. Blassie was more than willing to let the talented Bearcat Wright take the gold and make history. His ex-manager would turn out to be an enemy, representing The Iron Sheik in the match where Hulk Hogan won the WWE Championship and held it for a shade over four years. Andy Kaufman on Letterman w/ "Classy" Freddie Blassie 02/23/1983 ROH Best in the World (7/11/21) Preview and Predictions, Preview: Ice Ribbon 1133 in 176Box (7/11/21), first African-American to hold a World title. Frederick was an only child. Anyone can read what you share. Blassie was a regular on the WWWF's "All-Star Wrestling" and "Championship Wrestling" weekly TV shows that were videotaped at small arenas in Pennsylvania and aired throughout the Northeast. The World's Most Entertaining Car Website. After being pounded by a longer-limbed opponent, he [6] His knees were also in terrible condition, which also contributed to his retirement. He held his WWA World title for 289 days and thanks to WWAs alliance with Japan, in particular the Japan Wrestling Alliance (JWA) headed by puroresu icon Rikidozan, Blassie would not only help introduce Japanese pro wrestling to the U.S. market but help validate it in Japan as well. The Life and Times of Classy Freddie Blassie Quiz