RIP Nikolai Volkoff

[Richeyedwards]

https://www.pwinsider.com/ViewArticle.php?id=119222

 

[Al]

Freddie Blassie in his book tells a story of Volkoff tipping him after an interview.

Volkoff fled communism and made a name for himself as a professional wrestler here. He's a bit maligned, not really ranked as a worker by modern, casual fans. But he was a good hand and main evented in many places. And everything I've heard about him indicates he was a better person than a wrestler.

[Richeyedwards]

Every story I have Heard about the man makes him out to be a wonderful person which is sadly not something you can say about a lot of wrestlers.

[El-P]

The very first angle I saw on TV was the break-up between Nikolai & Boris. So I guess Nikolai was the first heel turned babyface that I liked.

Over the years, you never heard anything creepy, bad or even negative about Nikolai as far as real life went. Probably tells a lot about him as a human being considering his generation.

[SirEdger]

Nikolai was my first exposure to Russians in pro wrestling, a bit before I saw Nikita Koloff with Jim Crockett. I've never heard anyone speaking ill will of Nikolai Volkoff, so that says a lot about how he was truly loved and respected in the business.

Apparently, he recently had a heart attack and refused to have surgery to fix what was wrong.

[C.S.]

Sadly, my main exposure to Nikolai was when he came back in I think '94 with hair to essentially play the new Virgil in Ted DiBiase's crappy Million Dollar Corporation. What the hell was that about?! Even then, despite the misguided gimmick and presentation, I liked Nikolai. 

[sek69]

Watching his Mid South work on the Network really opened my eyes to what an agile big man he was in an era where that really wasn't a thing.  Plus everyone will always think of him when they hear the Soviet national anthem. 

[SPS]

RIP to Nikolai, always enjoyed whenever he sat down and did a shoot interview as he always just seemed like a really decent man. He had such an interesting background as a strapping guy from the Ukraine who was trained by Stu Hart and eventually turned into probably the most famous evil Russian character ever due to him facing Hogan on MTV during the ascent of the WWF boom.

While I never considered him one of my favorite workers I respected his background and who he was behind the character and I did always pop for that spinning back kick he threw.

[Mad Dog]

4 hours ago, El-P said:

The very first angle I saw on TV was the break-up between Nikolai & Boris. So I guess Nikolai was the first heel turned babyface that I liked.

Over the years, you never heard anything creepy, bad or even negative about Nikolai as far as real life went. Probably tells a lot about him as a human being considering his generation.

He was a guy that was big into philosophy and stuff like that. Seemed like he was just a normal guy doing a job.

I mailed him a picture a couple of years ago and he was nice enough to sign it and mail it back to me.

[CarpetCrawler]

I know people who aren't really wrestling fans that have spoken to him and spent time with him who told me how much of a sweetheart he was.  He was a great, honorable man and always one of my favorites as a kid so I always had a major soft spot for him as an adult too.  I just spent today watching the "This is Your Life, Nikolai Volkoff" episode of Tuesday Night Titans and it was a riot.  This death really bums me out.

One Nikolai match I've always enjoyed was his match with Hulk Hogan on Saturday Night's Main Event.  Nice, fast paced match that's one of Hogan's best from the early years of the show.