Ivan Koloff

[Grimmas]

Discuss here.

[goodhelmet]

I am curious if any of the 70s guys have Ivan on their list.I dont think he has a strong enough case with his 80s tag work but is there enough high end 70s singles stuff to give him a spot?

[JerryvonKramer]

The best Ivan I've seen outside of the tag stuff in Crockett is on GCW TV 80-3 demolishing jobbers and having nice ten minute TV matches. From the 70s, he crops up all over the place, but it's hard to get a measure of him, and I'd need to see a lot more. Ivan has admittedly not really been on my to do list for 70s guys.

 

One thing that he does have in his favour is that he is one of very few workers I can think of who went from working as a monster heel in the 60s and early 70s (see Bruno match) to working as a much smaller and lighter guy in the 80s when he was practically a bump machine as anyone who has seen him in Russians matches can attest.

 

There seems to be a bunch of random stuff from IWA out there, and a smattering of stuff on the garbage tapes, and he's on some of those old Florida comps, but the main look we're going to have of him is in the alternative timeline on Titans and then again for his 83 WWF run if and when we ever get there (good chance GWE will be over by then).

 

I think it's easier to make a case for him for the Observer Hall of Fame than I do for a top 100, but I need to see his Backlund matches and how he is in the rest of the 70s footage to make a call. He WAS a very good worker, that much is not in doubt, but there's not many great matches outside of JCP tag stuff that I could point to.

[goc]

Having seen some of the same stuff from Ivan in 83 Georgia, there is enough there to make you think he might have a case if there is more footage. He's clearly past his physical prime in 83 but he works so smart and has such good matches on TV that you really wish you had more arena footage of him and from earlier in his prime.

 

In the current era it doesn't mean as much to say a guy has good matches on TV, but when you are watching early 80s footage it makes a guy stand out a lot more. Especially in a place like Georgia where even the squash matches could have a tendency to drag and get dull.

[JerryvonKramer]

Just watched this match completely randomly. I was looking through something and it jumped out at me for looking so weird.

 

Ivan Koloff vs. Genichiro Tenryu (1/3/90)

 

This was just a short match, about 8 minutes, but it was really interesting to watch. Koloff was working as monster heel here, back to his early 70s version: bigger and slower than his JCP Uncle Ivan incarnation. And he fucking brought it here, the first 4 minutes are him kicking Tenryu's ass. Tenryu makes a bit of a comeback in the middle, but then Ivan takes it outside and gives him a couple of chair shots, before coming back in for the finish (obviously Tenryu wins).

 

On a side note, I thought Tenryu looked really really sloppy in this match, like his timing was off, his execution was off, his selling was weird. One of the worst Tenryu performances I can remember seeing. But this was a great showcase for Ivan's versatility: he was 48 here, a good decade or more from his prime, a long time after he was last working as a "monster", and he could still go. I don't know if it really adds to his case, but it's interesting to check out. Terrible off-night for Tenryu though.

[Guest si oem]

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[JazeUSA]

if voting was now Ivan makes my list somewhere on the bottom half, but that could change

[Parties]

I love him, but as of now he feels more like a top 200 guy. Would want to see more of his Montreal, Georgia, Florida, and Mid-Atlantic runs to fairly judge. Meltzer always credits him as being one of the hottest heels of the 70s, drawing nuclear reactions for the gimmick and his great portrayal of it. The Bruno win is legendary, but I just don't know what his great matches are outside of the JCP tag stuff.

[Beast]

In lieu of a better place to post this, can anyone point me towards some of his most entertaining work? I know he went all over the place, but I'm looking for a solid section of months to explore.

[JerryvonKramer]

I can't point to anything specific but the TV run in GCW around 1983 is good for competitive squash matches.

 

But if you want a fun half hour or so:

 

Vs. Pat Patterson in Nov 1983 Spectrum, on YouTube.

 

Vs. Dusty, 1980 Coffin match, on dailymotion.

 

Vs. Buzz Sawyer, think this is from GCW, dailymotion.

 

Vs. Bob Backlund, this is the one where he has Capt Lou as a manager. On YouTube.

[Beast]

Perfect, thanks Parv.

[Jingus]

Koloff's someone I wish I'd seen a lot more of. Even way past his prime and in the anti-workrate ghetto of Herb Abrahms' UWF, he was putting on some fun performances with neat matwork. It's a shame most of his big run against Bruno et al never made tape.

[Ricky Jackson]

I'll bump Ivan because he's been great in almost everything I've seen of him in the last decade or so. Be it a random TV squash, mid card MSG match vs Jules Strongbow from 83, or in major matches from the 70s, the guy was always awesome and seemingly unable to have a bad or dull match. Super underrated worker imo