Nikolai Volkoff

Nikolai Volkoff (born Josip Peruzović in October 14 1947) is a professional wrestler who is best known for his performances for the World Wrestling Federation. Although he portrayed a Russian as a wrestler, he originated from Croatia when in Yugoslavia, and had a mixed background which was not entirely Russian.

Career
Peruzović grew up in Croatia, which was then part of the former Yugoslavia, which in turn was a Communist country. His mother is Russian and his father was Croat and Italian. He was on the Yugoslavian weightlifting team until 1968, when he defected to Canada while at a weightlifting tournament in Vienna, Austria. He received training in Calgary from the legendary Stu Hart, followed by his arrival in the United States in 1970.

As soon as he arrived, he began wrestling in the WWWF. Wrestling as Bepo Mongol, managed by Captain Lou Albano and partnered with Geto Mongol, he captured the WWWF International Tag Team Titles from Tony Marino and Victor Rivera on June 15, 1970. After losing the titles to Luke Graham and Tarzan Tyler in a match that unified the WWWF International and WWWF World Tag Team Titles, Peruzovic went on to singles competition under the name Nikolai Volkoff.

In 1974, he had what he considers to be the most memorable match of his life when he sold out Madison Square Garden wrestling against Bruno Sammartino. Volkoff chased the WWWF title for the majority of his early career and was always given a considerable amount of title shots from whoever was the current WWWF Champion.

Late in 1974, Volkoff moved to the AWA where he wrestled under the name of Boris Breznikoff, managed by Bobby Heenan, using the same gimmick with a different ring name. He reverted back to the Volkoff name in his WWWF return in 1976.

In the early 1980's Volkoff wrestled for Cowboy Bill Watts in the Mid South region. In 1984, Volkoff returned to the now WWF and teamed with The Iron Sheik. They captured the WWF Tag Team Championship from The US Express (Mike Rotundo and Barry Windham) at WrestleMania I, on March 31, 1985. After losing the titles back to Rotundo and Windham three months later, Volkoff began to wrestle more in singles competition, most notably feuding with Corporal Kirschner. According to the Sheik, their friendship ended over $2.

In late 1987, Volkoff was teamed with Boris Zukhov, another alleged Russian (actually an American), to form The Bolsheviks. The Bolsheviks never held any titles together, and are perhaps best remembered for being defeated in 19 seconds by The Hart Foundation at WrestleMania VI.

During the Cold War period, Volkoff played a communist villain who was one of the most hated men in professional wrestling. His act included angering fans by insulting America and singing a mock "Russian National Anthem" before each match. Although Peruzovic had originally sought to be the "good guy," he had a stellar career as one of the top "bad guys" in the business. With the Cold War ending, Peruzovic finally got his wish and was allowed to transform himself into the "good guy" he always wanted to be. Stated Peruzovic to his managers, "I told them, communism is over. I did my job. No more bad guy."

In 1990, when The Bolsheviks split up, Volkoff became a fan favourite for the first time in his career. His gimmick was now that of a proud naturalized American citizen, which led to a feud with Sgt. Slaughter, who had recently began an Iraqi sympathizer gimmick. After this feud was over, Volkoff's popularity declined, and he left WWF in 1992.

In 1994, Volkoff again returned to the WWF and became a sympathetic heel by playing the whipping-boy of Ted DiBiase's Million Dollar Corporation. Volkoff had (kayfabe) fallen on hard times and was forced to take a job working for Ted DiBiase and his new Corporation. As low man in the group he was forced to wrestle matches no one else wanted to or sent out to "soften up" opponents for other members of the stable as the sacrificial lamb of the group. The disrespect even extended to renaming him "Nickel & Dime" Volkoff and DiBiase forcing him to place a ¢ on his trunks where the Russian Sickle once was along with a sign on his ring attire that read "Property Of The Million Dollar Man". Following this last run in the WWF Volkoff entered a semi-retirement.

On February 3, 2005, Volkoff was announced as one of the inductees for the Class of 2005 into the WWE Hall of Fame and was inducted on April 2, 2005 by Jim Ross in the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles, California.

In 2006 Volkoff took part in the World Wrestling Legends pay-per-view 6:05 The Reunion. Managed by The Iron Sheik, he wrestled a match against "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan. Before the match he once again sang the Russian National Anthem and riled up the crowd.

Personal life
Peruzovic is working as a code enforcement officer in Baltimore County, Maryland. He still wrestles independent shows occasionally.

Peruzovic has been married for 35 years and has two daughters.

Speaks 5 languages fluently and a few others proficiently.

Political Involvement
He ran unsuccessfully in the 2006 Maryland Republican Primary for State Delegate in District 7 (representing parts of Baltimore & Harford County) in Maryland.

Finishing and signature maneuvers

 * Russian Bearhug
 * Russian Backbreaker

Managers

 * Slick
 * Bobby Heenan
 * Ted DiBiase
 * Tony Angelo
 * Lou Albano
 * Freddie Blassie
 * Iron Sheik
 * Nikita Breznikov

Championships and accomplishments

 * Mid-South Wrestling
 * Mid-South North American Championship (1 time)


 * National Wrestling Alliance
 * Regional
 * NWA Georgia Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
 * NWA Florida Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Ivan Koloff
 * NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Chris Markoff
 * NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
 * NWA World Tag Team Championship (Detroit version) (1 time) - with Boris Volkoff


 * World Wide Wrestling Alliance
 * WWWA Heavyweight Championship (2 times)


 * World Wrestling Association
 * WWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
 * WWA Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Angelo Poffo (1) and Boris Volkoff (1)


 * World Wrestling Federation | World Wrestling Entertainment
 * WWE Hall of Fame (Class of 2005)
 * WWF World Tag Team Championship (3 times) - with Gito Mongol (2) and Iron Sheik (1)

Other Titles
 * NWF Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Gito Mongol


 * Pro Wrestling Illustrated
 * PWI ranked him # 136 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the "PWI Years" in 2003.
 * PWI ranked him # 96 of the best tag teams of the "PWI Years" with Iron Sheik