Sydney Mervin "Merv" Batt was a frequent opponent for many foreign wrestlers travelling overseas including NWA World Heavyweight Champions such as one who was called, "probably the greatest champion of the 20th century." by who?
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Steve Rickard Sydney Mervin "Merv" Batt (3 September 1929 – 5 April 2015), best known by his ring name Steve Rickard, was a New Zealand professional wrestler, trainer and promoter. As a wrestler, he travelled throughout the world during the 1960s and '70s, often visiting countries where professional wrestling was unknown such as southeast Asia, and was one of the top competitors to come from New Zealand during that era. Rickard was a frequent opponent for many foreign wrestlers travelling overseas including NWA World Heavyweight Champions such as Jack Brisco, Dory Funk, Jr., Harley Race and "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair. He also had high-profile matches with Karl Gotch, Killer Kowalski, The Destroyer, André the Giant, Abe Jacobs and King Kong as well.
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Jack Brisco Freddie Joe "Jack" Brisco (September 21, 1941 – February 1, 2010) was an American professional wrestler. He performed for various territories of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), becoming a two-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion, and multi-time NWA Tag Team Champion with his brother Gerald Brisco. Brisco is considered one of the top wrestlers of his era; in 2005, Don Leo Jonathan called him "probably the greatest champion of the 20th century."
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Professional wrestling in New Zealand Professional wrestling in New Zealand has been promoted in the country from the early 20th century. In 1919, Gisborne Katene became the first national heavyweight champion, though the title was not recognized by the National Wrestling Association until 1925, and promoter Walter Miller began running events under the Dominion Wrestling Union banner ten years later.
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Tully Blanchard Tully Arthur Blanchard (born January 22, 1954) is a Canadian-born American retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with Jim Crockett Promotions and the World Wrestling Federation in the mid to late 1980s as a member of The Four Horsemen and The Brain Busters. Championships held by Blanchard over his career include the NWA World Television Championship, NWA World Tag Team Championship, WWF World Tag Team Championship, and NWA United States Heavyweight Championship. He was inducted into the NWA Hall of Fame in 2009 and the WWE Hall of Fame in 2012.
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Jess Willard Jess Myron Willard (December 29, 1881 – December 15, 1968) was a world heavyweight boxing champion known as the Pottawatomie Giant who knocked out Jack Johnson in April 1915 for the heavyweight title. He was known for his great strength and ability to absorb tremendous punishment, although today he is also known for his title loss to Jack Dempsey.
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Mick McManus (wrestler) Mick McManus (born William George Matthews; 11 January 1920 – 22 May 2013) was an English professional wrestler. The role he played was noted as a heel European wrestler and often went by the nicknames "The Man You Love to Hate", "Rugged South London Tough Guy" and "The Dulwich Destroyer".
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Bert Ruby Bert Ruby (November 1910 - March 1968) was a professional wrestler, wrestling trainer, and wrestling promoter. During his athletic career in Detroit, Ruby earned the title of "Jewish sensational light heavyweight champion". He is recognized for hosting the TV program, Motor City Wrestling, as well as being a key player in the promotion of midget wrestling.
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Emile Czaja Emile Czaja (July 15, 1909 – 16 May 1970), better known by his ring name King Kong, was an Australian-Indian professional wrestler and actor born in Hungary in 1909. He was active from 1929 until 1970. He was a simple friendly character. His very presence filled any hall or stadium. For he was the favorite of Far East from 1937 till his death in 1970. He wrestled mostly in Japan, Singapore, Europe, New Zealand, and Australia. In professional wrestling his arch rivals were Aslam Pahalwan,Hamida Pahalwan, Sheik Ali and Dara Singh.
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Midget Wolgast Joseph Robert Loscalzo (July 18, 1910 – October 19, 1955), known professionally as Midget Wolgast, was a world flyweight boxing champion. Wolgast turned pro in 1925 and was considered one of the fastest boxers of his time. In 1930, he defeated Black Bill for the vacant New York State Athletic Commission world flyweight title. "The Ring Magazine" founder Nat Fleischer, Statistical boxing website BoxRec, and the International Boxing Research Organization all rate Wolgast as the 8th greatest flyweight of all-time. He has been elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame and the Helms Boxing Hall of Fame.
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Larry Zbyszko Lawrence Whistler (born December 5, 1951), better known by the ring name Larry Zbyszko, is an American semi-retired professional wrestler and author perhaps best known for his feud with his mentor, Bruno Sammartino, during the early 1980s. Among other accolades, he is a two-time AWA World Heavyweight Champion, and the final titleholder.
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Marc Mero Marc Mero (born July 9, 1960) is an American retired amateur boxer and professional wrestler, as well as a motivational speaker. He is best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) under his real name and with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) under the ring name Johnny B. Badd. Today, Marc Mero contributes much of his time to the nonprofit organization he founded in 2007, Champion of Choices.
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Angelo Dundee Angelo Dundee (born Angelo Mirena; August 30, 1921February 1, 2012) was an American boxing trainer and cornerman. Best known for his work with Muhammad Ali (1960–1981), he also worked with 15 other world boxing champions, including Sugar Ray Leonard, José Nápoles, George Foreman, George Scott, Jimmy Ellis, Carmen Basilio, Luis Manuel Rodríguez and Willie Pastrano.
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Billy Miske Billy Miske, alias "The Saint Paul Thunderbolt" (April 12, 1894 – January 1, 1924), was a professional boxer from Saint Paul, Minnesota. During his tenure as a pugilist he had multiple-bout series with a plethora of all-time greats including Harry Greb, Jack Dempsey, Jack Dillon, Tommy Gibbons, Bill Brennan and Battling Levinsky, among others. Despite a career shortened by illness and an early death, statistical website BoxRec still lists Miske as the No. 26 ranked heavyweight of all-time.
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Bat Masterson Bartholemew William Barclay "Bat" Masterson (November 26, 1853 – October 25, 1921) spent the first half of his life in what is remembered as the "Wild West". During that period, he distinguished himself as a buffalo hunter, Indian fighter during the celebrated Second Battle of Adobe Walls, civilian scout for the U.S. Army, and gunfighter and lawman in Dodge City, Kansas and elsewhere. The "Wild West" phase of Masterson's life was essentially over by the mid-1880s when he was still in his early 30s. Masterson moved to Denver and established himself as a leading "sporting man," or gambler. He took an interest in prizefighting and became a leading authority on the sport. He attended almost every important match and title fight in the United States from the 1880s until his death in 1921. He knew, and was known by, all of the heavyweight champions from John L. Sullivan and James J. "Gentleman Jim" Corbett to Jack Johnson and Jack Dempsey. He moved to New York City in 1902 and spent the rest of his life there as a reporter and columnist for the "New York Morning Telegraph". Masterson's column not only covered boxing and other sports, but also gave his frequent opinions on crime, war, politics, and other topics. He became a close friend of President Theodore Roosevelt and became one of the "White House Gunfighters" (along with Pat Garrett and Ben Daniels), who received federal appointments from Roosevelt. He was known throughout the country as a leading sports writer and celebrity at the time of his death in 1921.
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Mildred Burke Mildred Bliss (August 5, 1915 – February 18, 1989), better known by the ring name Mildred Burke, was an American professional wrestler.
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Bob Backlund Robert Louis Backlund (born August 14, 1949) is an American professional wrestler with an in-ring career spanning over 30 years, best known for his tenures in the World Wide Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Federation (WWWF/WWF, later known as World Wrestling Entertainment and currently simply known as WWE), where he is a two-time WWWF/WWF Heavyweight Champion/WWF World Heavyweight Champion (Backlund's first reign is the second longest reign in the title history, behind Bruno Sammartino's first), as well as being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2013.
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Kerry Von Erich Kerry Gene Adkisson (February 3, 1960 – February 18, 1993) was an American professional wrestler under the ring names Kerry Von Erich, The Modern Day Warrior and The Texas Tornado. He was part of the Von Erich family of professional wrestlers. He is best known for his time with his father's promotion World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW), where he spent eleven years of his career, and his time in World Wrestling Federation (WWF). Adkisson held forty championships in various promotions during his career. Among other accolades, he was a five-time world champion (a four-time WCWA World Heavyweight Champion and one-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion), and a one-time WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion.
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John Anson John Anson (born April 7, 1949) is a Canadian retired professional wrestler, known by his ring name "Handsome" John Anson, who competed in North American and Japanese promotions from the mid-1960s until the early-1980s, including International Wrestling, Maple Leaf Wrestling, NWA All-Star Wrestling, Pacific Northwest Wrestling and Stampede Wrestling.
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Jess McMahon Roderick James "Jess" McMahon Sr. (May 26, 1882 – November 22, 1954) was an American professional wrestling and professional boxing promoter, and the patriarch of the McMahon family. He founded the Capitol Wrestling Corporation with Toots Mondt in 1952. McMahon's son, Vince Sr., later took over and founded the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) (today known as WWE).
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Bud Taylor Charles Bernard "Bud" Taylor (July 22, 1903 - March 6, 1962) was an American boxer from Terre Haute, Indiana. Nicknamed the ""Blonde Terror of Terre Haute"", he held the NBA World Bantamweight Championship during his career in 1927. "The Ring Magazine" founder Nat Fleischer rated him as the #5 best bantamweight of all-time. Taylor was inducted into the Ring Magazine Hall of Fame in 1986 and the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2005. Taylor was trained for much of his career by former Black lightweight boxer, Jack Blackburn.
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NWA Mountain State Heavyweight Championship The NWA Mountain State Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling championship that serves as a championship for the National Wrestling Alliance, under the promotion Mountain State Wrestling.
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Mr. Wrestling II John Francis Walker (born September 10, 1934) is an American retired professional wrestler, better known by the ring name Mr. Wrestling II He is best known for his appearances with Championship Wrestling from Florida and Georgia Championship Wrestling in the 1970s and early 1980s.