Stan Stasiak
George Emile Stipich was a Canadian professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Stan "the Man" Stasiak. He is best known for his appearances with the World Wide Wrestling Federation in the 1970s, where he won the WWWF Heavyweight Championship in 1973. He was inducted into the Legacy wing of the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2018.
Early life
George Stipich was born in the village of Arvida, Quebec. He became a fan of wrestling as a youth, attending shows in Chicoutimi. Stipich and his friends became known for throwing sucker punches at wrestlers; on one occasion, wrestler Don Leo Jonathan blocked Stipich's punch and knocked him unconscious. As a young man, Stipich worked in an aluminium mill while playing ice hockey in the Quebec Amateur Hockey Association but became known for his lack of discipline, with his final coach encouraging him to switch to professional wrestling.Professional wrestling career
Early career (1958–1965)
Stipich trained in Montreal, making his debut in 1958. He initially wrestled as "Emile Koverly" for the Calgary, Alberta–based Big Time Wrestling promotion. He also wrestled at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto which included a match with Gino Morella, who was later known as Gorilla Monsoon. in October 1960, he wrestled in the United States for the St. Louis Wrestling Club, where he adopted the ring name "Stan Stasiak", taking it from another wrestler named Stanley Stasiak who had died in 1931 from sepsis.By 1961, Stasiak was dividing his time between Canada and the St. Louis Wrestling Club. In June 1961, he won his first championship in the Maple Leaf Wrestling promotion, teaming with Man Mountain Campbell to win the NWA International Tag Team Championship. They held the titles until September 1961. Stasiak continued to wrestle in Canada and the United States throughout the early 1960s, including making a handful of appearances with the Minneapolis, Minnesota–based American Wrestling Association in May 1962. In late 1963, he had a stint with the Amarillo, Texas–based Western States Sports promotion, where he challenged NWA World Heavyweight Champion Lou Thesz.
Stampede Wrestling (1964–1968)
From 1964 to 1968, Stasiak appeared regularly with the Calgary, Alberta, Canada–based Stampede Wrestling promotion. He held the NWA Canadian Heavyweight Championship on four occasions between 1965 and 1967 and the Stampede Wrestling North American Heavyweight Championship on three occasions in 1968.Pacific Northwest Wrestling (1965–1971)
In 1965, Stasiak began appearing regularly with Pacific Northwest Wrestling, where he adopted the fictional "Buzzard Creek, Oregon" as his hometown. He won the promotion's flagship title, the NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Championship, five times in 1965, 1966, 1968, and 1971. He also won the NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Championship four times between 1965 and 1969, teaming with Haru Sasaki, the Mad Russian, Mighty Ursus, and Tony Marino.International Wrestling Enterprise (1969)
In April and May 1969, Stasiak toured Japan with the International Wrestling Enterprise promotion as part of its "World Selection Series". During the tour, he regularly teamed with Dory Dixon and Tank Morgan in tag team matches and six-man tag team matches. On April 12, 1969, a two-out-of-three-falls match pitting Stasiak and Morgan against Thunder Sugiyama and Toyonobori for the Trans-World Wrestling Alliance World Tag Team Championship ended in a controversial manner, resulting in the titles being vacated; on April 20, Sugiyama and Rusher Kimura defeated Morgan and Stasiak to win the vacant titles. On April 22, Stasiak unsuccessfully challenged Billy Robinson for the IWA World Heavyweight Championship. Stasiak wrestled his final match with IWE on May 5, 1969, teaming with Dixon and Morgan in a loss to Sugiyama, Toyonobori, and the Great Kusatsu.San Francisco (1969–1970)
In November 1969, Stasiak began wrestling for the San Francisco, California, United States–based Big Time Wrestling promotion. He quickly formed a tag team with The Gladiator and began feuding with Peter Maivia and Ray Stevens, repeatedly unsuccessfully challenging them for the NWA World Tag Team Championship. In August 1970, he formed a short-lived tag team with Pat Patterson. Stasiak left San Francisco in September 1970.World Championship Wrestling (1970)
In October 1970, Stasiak wrestled in Australia for the World Championship Wrestling promotion. In his debut match, he defeated King Curtis Iaukea in the Festival Hall in Melbourne to win the IWA World Heavyweight Championship - his first world heavyweight championship. He lost the title back to Iaukea the following month.World Wide Wrestling Federation (1971–1972)
In August 1971, Stasiak debuted in the northeastern United States–based World Wide Wrestling Federation. In his debut match, he challenged WWWF Heavyweight Champion Pedro Morales in Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York. Over the following months, he faced opponents such as Gorilla Monsoon, Arnold Skaaland, Víctor Rivera, and Chief Jay Strongbow throughout the northeastern United States. In September 1971, he unsuccessfully challenged Bobo Brazil for the WWWF United States Heavyweight Championship. He went on to unsuccessfully challenge Morales for the WWWF Heavyweight Championship on a number of further occasions. In February 1972, he formed a short-lived alliance with Jimmy Valiant. Valiant left the WWWF later that month.Texas (1972)
In March 1972, Stasiak began appearing with the Texas-based Big Time Wrestling and Houston Wrestling promotions, facing opponents such as Bull Curry, Johnny Valentine, and Toru Tanaka. In June 1972, Stasiak defeated Red Bastien to win the NWA Texas Heavyweight Championship at the Big Time Wrestling Parade of Champions event in the Texas Stadium. His reign lasted until October 1972 when he lost to José Lothario in a cage match in the San Antonio Municipal Auditorium. He also briefly held the NWA Brass Knuckles Championship. Stasiak left Texas in December 1972, with his final appearance being a loss to Fritz Von Erich in a Texas death cage match in the Dallas Sportatorium on Boxing Day.All Japan Pro Wrestling (1973)
In February 1973, Stasiak appeared in Japan with the recently founded All Japan Pro Wrestling promotion. Wrestling as "Crusher Stasiak", he participated in the "Giant Series Total War" tour. His opponents included Motoshi Okuma, Munenori Higo, and Thunder Sugiyama. During the tour, he occasionally teamed with American wrestler Harley Race. In his final match, he and Race defeated Giant Baba and Samson Kutsuwada in a two-out-of-three-falls match.World Wide Wrestling Federation (1973–1974)
Stasiak returned to the WWF in August 1973, adopting the Grand Wizard as his manager. In his first match, he unsuccessfully challenged WWWF Heavyweight Champion Pedro Morales; he went on to challenge Morales in multiple subsequent matches. In November 1973, he faced André the Giant in a series of six-man tag team matches.On December 1, 1973, in the Philadelphia Arena, Stasiak defeated Morales for the WWWF Heavyweight Championship, ending Morales' nearly three-year long reign. The match ended when Stasiak applied a full nelson to Morales and both wrestlers fell backwards in a position where they both had their shoulders on the mat, only for Stasiak to lift his shoulder as the referee made the count. Following the match, ring announcer Buddy Wagner did not announce Stasiak as the new champion, instead asking the audience to applaud Morales; journalist Dave Meltzer suggested that this was intended to prevent the audience from rioting. Stasiak was given little notice that he would be winning the title. According to him, he was sitting in the dressing room in Philadelphia Arena when a road agent came to discuss the match. Stasiak considered this a formality as he had been having the same discussion, nearly verbatim, in every major city on the Eastern Seaboard for the past two months. However, this time it was different, as the agent told Stasiak that he was to win the championship. According to fellow wrestler Frank Dusek, the WWWF wanted to make Bruno Sammartino champion again, but did not want Sammartino to defeat Morales in the process, so they needed a heel wrestler to win it. Stasiak was used as a transitional champion, holding the WWWF Heavyweight Championship for just nine days before losing it to Sammartino on December 10, 1973, in Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York, United States. Stasiak described his title reign as "the happiest nine days of life". During his brief reign, Stasiak had a single successful title defense, wrestling Chief Jay Strongbow to a no contest on December 7, 1973.
Stasiak faced Sammartino in a rematch in January 1974, but failed to regain the title. In March 1974, Stasiak teamed with Larry Hennig to unsuccessfully challenge Dean Ho and Tony Garea for the WWWF Tag Team Championship. Stasiak continued regularly appearing with the WWF until October 1974.