Walter Paul Sieber was a Canadian professional wrestler under the ring name Waldo Von Erich. He was billed as the brother of Fritz Von Erich, but was not actually related to Fritz or the rest of the Von Erich family.
Career[]
Walter Paul Sieber was born in Toronto on October 2, 1933, where he trained as a professional wrestler with Red Garner at a local YMCA. He also was into bodybuilding, swimming, and weight training. Sieber became a professional wrestler at the age of 17.
He began his career in Calgary, wrestling for Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling. He later met Jack Adkisson (known as Fritz Von Erich, his kayfabe brother), and they held the NWA American Tag Team Championship in 1967. As a von Erich, Sieber's gimmick was that of a German heel. The height of his success was in the 1960s and 1970s.
Sieber, now using the ringname Waldo Von Erich, also had success as a singles wrestler. He worked in singles matches for the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF). As a part of the WWWF, he wrestled Bruno Sammartino for the WWWF Championship in both the 1960s and the 1970s. He was also co-holder of the U.S. Tag Team Championship with Gene Kiniski. After his WWWF run, he continued to have success as a singles and tag team wrestler, holding championships in various promotions. He also had a memorable feud with Tony Atlas in Georgia in the late 1970s.
After attempting a retirement in 1973, Sieber retired in 1979. After his retirement from in-ring action, Sieber became the president of the Ontario-based promotion, ICW, where he trained young professional wrestlers. Two of his star pupils included Tyson Dux and Brian Cannon, who became known as the masked wrestler Kijimuna in Okinawa Pro Wrestling and New Japan Pro Wrestling.
He toured Australia in 1966, 1969, 1973 and 1974.
Family[]
Sieber was the only child of Paul Sieber Sr. an immigrant from Germany, and his wife, the former Romanian Anna Yost.
He was married for 29 years before divorcing; he has three daughters from that marriage.
Death[]
Sieber died on July 5, 2009, aged 75, in hospital in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada after falling earlier that day.
Wrestling facts[]
- Finishing and signature moves
- Blitzkrieg Dive
- Iron Claw
- Managers
- Wrestlers trained
Championships and accomplishments[]
- Big Bear Promotions
- North American Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- National Wrestling Alliance
- Jim Crockett Promotions
- NWA Mid-Atlantic Southern Tag Team Championship (1 time) with Fritz Von Erich
- NWA Big Time Wrestling
- NWA Tri-State
- NWA Tri-State Mississippi Championship (1 time)
- NWA Tri-State North American Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- NWA Tri-State Tag Team Championship (1 time) with Karl Von Brauner
- Southwest Sports
- Stampede Wrestling
- Jim Crockett Promotions
- National Wrestling Federation
- NWF North American Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- NWF World Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
- NWF World Tag Team Championship (1 time) with Luke Graham
- World Championship Wrestling
- Austra-Asian Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- Austra-Asian Tag Team Championship (1 time) with Ron Miller
- IWA World Tag Team Championship (3 times) with The Spoiler (2) and Mario Milano (1)
- World Wide Wrestling Federation
