Please note:
"Is That Wrestling Fake?" The Bear Facts is available directly from Crowbar Press.
Ivan has agreed to include a free, autographed photo at no extra charge with every copy of his book ordered through this website.
All books will be shipped via Media Mail (U.S.) or International Priority Mail (Canada/overseas).
I got mad one night when Dusty told us, "Nikita needs to get pinned tonight."
I thought that was the worst thing they could do. "Just a minute," I said. "If we need to lose tonight, then pin me. Don’t beat Nikita, because down the road, it will mean more if he’s unbeaten."
I was smart enough to know that after spending twenty years in the business, I could get the job done both in the ring and on interviews, so it wouldn’t hurt me to lose. If they beat Nikita when he was still relatively inexperienced, it would kill him. His mystique was that of a monster Russian who couldn’t be beaten. We would get a lot more mileage out of the Koloff team if we waited to beat him when he was over more.
For decades, professional wrestling fans have asked the question – "Is that wrestling fake?"
However, they wouldn't have dared ask that question directly to Ivan Koloff, whose work in the ring made believers out of the most cynical viewers.
Growing up on a farm in Ontario, Ivan learned the meaning of hard work and discipline. Unfortunately, he made wrong choices and wound up in prison for cattle rustling. Upon his release, he enrolled in a wrestling school and began a career in pro wrestling as Red McNulty, the Irish Rogue.
Five years later, on January 18, 1971, he appeared in Madison Square Garden under the name Ivan Koloff and did what had never been done before. He pinned Bruno Sammartino's shoulders to the mat and won the WWWF heavyweight title. When the referee called for the bell, you could have heard a pin drop as the more than 21,000 screaming fans were instantly moved to a stunned, disbelieving silence.
That accomplishment made Ivan Koloff one of wrestling's biggest superstars until his retirement from the ring in the mid-1990s. Competing in virtually every major promotion throughout the world, he feuded with every top name in the wrestling business, including Andre the Giant, Ric Flair, Dick the Bruiser, Bob Backlund, Billy Robinson, Dusty Rhodes, and Ivan Putski.
Here for the first time, Ivan tells the story of his life: the highs and the lows; his admission of alcohol and drug abuse; reflections of a life spent on the road, and the toll it took on his body and soul; the event in Kannapolis, North Carolina, that changed his life forever.
Ivan also talks about:
growing up on a farm in Canada
going to prison for cattle rustling
learning to wrestle at Jack Wentworth’s school in Hamilton, Ontario
getting blood for the first time
wrestling as Red McNulty, the (one-eyed) Irish Rogue
wrestling Bruno Sammartino (Ivan’s hero) for the first time
working as a Union steward at a steel company
becoming a full-time professional wrestler
working in preliminaries and doing job for two years
working as a bouncer in Vancouver with Dale Hey (the future Buddy Roberts)
going to Montreal as a main event wrestler
Tony Angelo, his first manager
how Lou Albano paved the way for his first run in New York
dealing with Vince McMahon Sr. and what he thinks of him as a businessman
his tour of Australia with Playboy Gary Hart and King Curtis
who, how, and when he was approached about winning the WWWF title from Bruno Sammartino (and you won’t believe who the New York office sent to talk to him about it)
how the New York wrestling office double-crossed Ivan after he won the title.
his first tour of Japan
working for Verne Gagne in the AWA
teaming with Superstar Billy Graham
wrestling a young Ric Flair
getting into a fight with Buck Ramstead in Japan
how wrestlers used alcohol and drugs to deal with their injuries and physical problems.
the part steroids played in the careers of many of his peers.
acting as referee for a fight in the dressing room between Don Jardine and Wahoo McDaniel
being blackballed for wrestling for the International Wrestling Alliance
attempting to promote wrestling in California with Superstar Billy Graham
trying to find work with promoters who didn’t agree with the policies of National Wrestling Alliance promoters
the promoters who thumbed their nose at the NWA and booked him
his opinion of Ole Anderson as the booker for Georgia Championship Wrestling
his time in the ring and on the road with Mad Dog Buzz Sawyer
why he and Alexis Smirnoff were stopped and interviewed by the FBI
his fight with the Iron Sheik on an airplane
turning down what he thinks was a second opportunity to win the WWWF title
the lifestyle of a professional wrestler and the price they pay
being assaulted by fans with knives, bent nails, pieces of wood, chairs, and even a woman’s handbag
Nikita Koloff’s introduction to the business
why and how Nikita was turned babyface without Ivan knowing it was going to happen
teaming with Krusher Kruschev (Barry Darsow)
teaming and traveling with Dick Murdoch
being forced out of Jim Crockett Promotions
wrestling for Carlos Colon in Puerto Rico
operating wrestling schools with Paul Jones and Bobby Fulton
network marketing with Nikita
his conversion experience and accepting Christ as his Savior and Lord
his fight to beat his addictions to drugs and alcohol
Erica Flair, the Nature Girl
working for Children’s Miracle Network
his life today and what he’s been doing since he quit full-time wrestling
Ivan tells stories about many of the personalities he worked with, including Bill Miller, Stu Hart, Mad Dog Vachon, Ernie Ladd, Andre the Giant, Johnny Rougeau, Jacques Rougeau, Bepo Mongol (the future Nicolai Volkoff), Bruno Sammartino, Pedro Morales, Gorilla Monsoon, Freddie Blassie, Bobby Heenan, Red Bastien, Bull Bullinski, Kevin von Erich, Kerry von Erich, Mr. Fuji, Johnny Valentine, Dick the Bruiser, Roddy Piper, Mr. Saito, Ray Stevens, Stan Hansen, and Abdullah the Butcher.
This is a revealing memoir that will take you into the mind of the Russian Bear, both in and out of the ring.
One extra bonus is the inclusion of over 205 photographs, most of which are from Ivan's personal collection.
A second bonus is a section called "Christian Facts Guidance," which is written by Blackjack Mulligan, shared here in print form for the first time.
