NAME: "The Russian Bear" Ivan Koloff aka Red McNulty aka Jim Parris REAL NAME: Oreal Parras HOMETOWN: FINISHING MOVE: BEARHUG

When Ivan Koloff defeated Bruno Sammartino to win the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) Heavyweight Championship fans were shocked.  Sammartino had defended the title successfully for nearly eight years against some of the toughest men in professional wrestling and many fans felt he was unbeatable.  Unfortunately, Koloff did not share this sentiment and the tough as nails Russian used his knee drop to do what no one had done before- pin Sammartino for the WWWF Championship.      While Ivan Koloff debuted in the squared circle in 1967, his journey into wrestling had begun years earlier and under a different name.   Born in 1942, Oreal Parras grew up on a dairy farm in Canada and dreamed about becoming a professional wrestler after watching the sport on television.  The dream became a reality when at the age of 18, he studied under Jack Wentworth in Hamilton, Ontario, training with weights and learning the moves to enter the squared circle.  When his training was finished, Oreal was transformed into  Red McNulty, an one eyed heel from Ireland who terrorized the squared circle in Toronto, Ontario.   After moving to the Northwest, Oreal underwent another change and became known as "The Russian Bear" Ivan Koloff, claiming to be the nephew of wrestler Dan Koloff.  Koloff began a reign of terror throughout Canada, winning the Canadian Heavyweight Championship.  His winning ways were just beginning.     Koloff wrestled around the world, traveling to Europe, Asia, Australia, and the Caribbean.   After defeating Sammartino, Koloff held the WWWF Title for about a month before losing it to Pedro Morales.  Koloff left the WWWF and wrestled in many different promotions such as the American Wrestling Association (AWA)and the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) terrorizing babyfaces with his brutal style and non-stop violence.     While Koloff wrestled around the world, some of his greatest successes  were had in the southern United States, including Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF), Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW) and Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling (MACW).  Koloff held the Florida Tag Team Championship with Pat Patterson, Mr. Saito, and Nikolai Volkoff as well as CWF's Southern Heavyweight Championship.   In GCW, Koloff held the Georgia Tag Team Championship on numerous occasions with partners such as Ole Anderson, Mr. Saito, and fellow Russian Alexi Smirnoff.     After a stint in MACW in 1974, (where he had won the MACW Television Title from Paul Jones), Koloff returned to the legendary promotion in 1981.   In MACW, Koloff won the NWA World Tag Team Championship with Ray "The Crippler" Stevens after defeating Paul Jones and the Masked Superstar.  Koloff next turned to singles competition when he won the MACW Heavyweight Championship from Ricky Steamboat in April 1981.  Koloff held the belt for six months before losing it to Steamboat in October of that year.      It didn't take Koloff long to grab another singles belt.  On November 3, 1981, Koloff defeated Ron Bass for the MACW Television Title.  Koloff then began a lengthy and bloody feud with Jimmy "Boogie Woogie Man" Valiant.  Valiant's happy go lucky nature did not go over well with Koloff and he did vowed to rid the wrestling world of Valiant after being embarassed by Valiant on several occasions.  Nothing would stop him whether it meant hiring the wrestler known as Ninja to blind Valiant with his green fog, using a shovel to bludgeon Valiant, or even fighting the Boogie Woogie Man in every type of specialty match ranging from New York Street Fights to the Russian Salt Miner's Glove Match.  From November 1981 to October 1982, Koloff and Valiant fought over the Mid-Atlantic Television Title with the belt changing hands several times between both men.     In December 1983, Koloff received a Christmas present from fellow heel Dick Slater.  Since a wrestler could not hold two singles titles at the same time in MACW, Slater gave the MACW Heavyweight Title to Koloff after winning the United States Heavyweight Championship  Koloff soon found himself being challenged by the rookie wrestler Angelo Mosca Jr. for his title.  While Mosca was young, he was a tough competitior and he surprised Koloff by defeating him for the MACW Title.  The two began feuding over the belt for the first few months of 1984 and Mosca's father Angelo Mosca became involved after Koloff injured Mosca Jr.     After feuding with Mosca, Koloff returned to tag team action with Sgt. Slaughter's protege Don Kernodle.  The two won the NWA World Tag Team Titles from Wahoo McDaniel and Mark Youngblood on May 8, 1984.    Around this time, Ivan's nephew Nikita appeared on the scene.  Nikita looked even more powerful than his uncle and he cast a shadow over the team of Kernodle and Koloff.     After Kernodle and Koloff lost the belts to Manny Fernandez and Dusty Rhodes, Nikita helped Ivan destroy Kernodle in the ring and draped a Soviet flag over Kernodle's near lifeless body.  Ivan and Nikita then battled Kernodle and his brother Rocky Kernodle (aka Keith Larson) before moving on to the hunt for the NWA World tag titles.     Ivan and his nephew  became a seemingly unstoppable tag team as Ivan continued to train Nikita in the art of professional wrestling.  Nikita's clothesline (known as the Russian Sickle) was one of the most devastating moves in professional wrestling and he had few peers when it came to raw power.  With the tough as nails Ivan Koloff sharing his decades of experience with his nephew, it was only a matter of time before Nikita had championship gold.      On March 18, 1985, Nikita and Ivan defeated Manny Fernandez and Dusty Rhodes for the NWA World Tag Team Championship.  They soon added Krusher Krushchev (a traitorous American wrestler turned Russian sympathizer) to their team and were allowed to defend the NWA tag titles with any combination of the three.  Ivan could team with Nikita or Krusher or any other combination of the three when defending the belts.  The Russians seemed unstoppable.     During their tag team title reign, Nikita and Ivan began appearing at the matches of NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric "Nature Boy" Flair.  It was obvious that Ivan had his Nikita's sight trained on the world champion.  Just as Ivan had won the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) Heavyweight Championship from Bruno Sammartino, Nikita would win a World Championship for mother Russia and bring the belt to the USSR for good.     After weeks of stalking Flair, Ivan and Nikita appeared on television with Ivan asking JCP announcer David Crockett why Flair had not given Nikita a title shot.  Crockett pointed out that Nikita had to earn his title shot like any other contender and soon found himself on the receiving end of a Russian Sickle from Nikita.  Later on during the program, Ric Flair attacked Nikita during his match.  Flair had been close friends with David Crockett for many years and put his title up against Nikita so he could avenge his fallen friend.    The wrestling world waited for July 6, 1985, the date for the Great American Bash, the wrestling event at which Flair would defend his world championship against Nikita Koloff. Nikita used his tremendous power to wear down Flair but in the end, Flair's incredible stamina and tremendous experience allowed him to defeat Nikita.  After the match, Ivan and Nikita attacked Flair.     Perhaps distracted by the hunt for Flair's title, the Russians lost the tag titles to the Rock and Roll Express on July 9, 1985.  Nikita did not participate in the match and so it was Ivan and Krusher versus the team of Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson.  Despite being outsized and outpowered by the Russians, Morton and Gibson triumphed over the Russians, using their speed and tag team manuveurs.   On October 13, 1985 Nikita teamed with his uncle to defeat Morton and Gibson for the tag team titles.  The Rock-n-Roll Express had the Russians' number though and regained the titles on November 28, 1985 at Starcade. During their run as a tag team, Ivan and Nikita, fans compared their power to that of the Road Warriors. This was a dream match for the fans as the Koloffs were unquestionably the toughest team in WCW and the Road Warriors seemed like natural opponents.  Although the Warriors wrestled in the same brutal power-based style they had employed as heels, fans cheered them wildly against the much hated Koloffs.  The battles between the Road Warriors and the Koloffs was brutal.  At one point, Paul Ellering sustained a neck injury at the hands of the Koloffs and the Road Warriors injured the Koloffs' partner Krusher Krushchev  After losing the tag titles, Ivan helped his nephew train for a run at the United States Heavyweight Championship held by Magnum T.A.  A win by Nikita would be a tremendous propaganda victory for the U.S.S.R. much as Ivan's win over Bruno Sammartino had been years earlier.   Magnum accepted Nikita's challenge and brought his mother with him to the contract signing.  Things got ugly when Ivan and Nikita insulted Magnum's mother.  Magnum went to attack the Koloffs and NWA President Bob Giegal was struck during the melee.  As a result, Magnum was stripped of his title and a best of seven series was scheduled between Magnum and Nikita to determine the new U.S. champion.  Nikita dominated the series, winning the first three matches of the series.  However Magnum rallied back and managed to tie the series at three wins apiece.  In the seventh match, Nikita scored the deciding win when he wrapped a chain around his arm and clotheslined T.A. while the referee was unconscious.  On August 17, 1986, Nikita became the new U.S. Champion.    After Magnum T.A. was crippled in a car accident, Nikita filled Magnum's spot in a tag team match with Dusty Rhodes. While the fans were delighted with Nikita's change of heart, Uncle Ivan felt otherwise.  Feeling betrayed, Ivan Koloff brought in Vladimir Petrov and Dick Murdoch to end Nikita's career.  Murdoch nearly ended Nikita's career when he piledrived Koloff on the cement but Koloff escaped with just a neck injury. Ivan later on joined forces with the tag team of the Russian Assassins.  However when Ivan lost a match for the Assassins, the Assassins turned on him, brutally beating him in the ring.  Fortunately for Ivan, his nephew let bygones be bygones and teamed with his uncle to help him earn revenge.    Eventually, Ivan Koloff left WCW and he wrestled in several regional promotions such as the World Wrestling Council (WWC), Herb Abrams' Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF), and the Eastern Championship Wrestling (ECW).  Ivan returned to WCW in 1993 for its Slamboree pay-per-view where he teamed with Baron Von Raschke.     Ivan continues to wrestle and recently battled Dominic DeNucci at Wrestlereunion 2 in a Russian Chain Match.