Ken Patera's first claim to fame was as a gold medal winner in superheavyweight weight lifting at the 1971 Pan American Games.  Patera also placed fourth in superheavyweight weight lifting at the 1972 summer Olympics where he was scouted by Verne Gagne.  Gagne signed Patera to his American Wrestling Association (AWA) and billed him as "The World's Strongest Man". 

Patera later turned heel and had memorable runs in the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) against Bruno Sammartino and Bob Backlund and defeated Pat Patterson for the Inter-Continental Championship.  "The World's Strongest Man" terrorized wrestlers in Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW), Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling (MACW), and Central States Wrestling (CSW) with his swinging neckbreaker before returning to the AWA where he won the AWA World Tag Team Titles with Jerry Blackwell as the duo known as "The Sheiks".

Patera was part of the exodus from the AWA during Vince McMahon's national expansion.  He teamed up with "Big" John Studd and was a member of the Bobby Heenan Family.  Studd and Patera were involved in an angle where they destroyed Andre the Giant and cut his hair, setting up a feud between the Bobby Heenan Family and Andre that led to the famous Body Slam Challenge Match between Studd and Andre at the inaugural Wrestlemania.

Patera was involved in a brush with the law involving him, fellow wrestler Mr. Saito and several members of Wisconsin's finest which led to both wrestlers doing time in prison. Upon his release, Patera returned to the WWF where he was turned into a babyface.  In an interesting series of vignettes, the WWF ran "The Ken Patera Story" which portrayed Patera as a changed man, and former manager Bobby Heenan as having abandoned him when times were tight.  This led to a confrontation between Patera and Heenan where Patera destroyed Heenan putting him into a neck brace.  Patera was then attacked by other members of the Bobby Heenan Family who whipped him with a weight belt, setting up a feud between Patera and the Bobby Heenan Family.

In 1989, Patera returned to the AWA and won the AWA Tag Team Titles with fellow Olympic athlete Brad Rheingans.  Patera would wrestle for smaller promotions before retiring.