Herbert Alan Gerwig (April 26, 1931 – November 10, 2011) was an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Killer Karl Kox. Kox competed in the National Wrestling Alliance as well as international promotions such as All Japan Pro Wrestling, the International Wrestling Alliance and World Championship Wrestling during the 1960s and 1970s.
Killer Karl Kox
Personal information
Born
Herbert Alan Gerwig
April 26, 1931
Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Died
November 10, 2011 (aged 80)
UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, U.S.
Cause of death
Heart attack
Professional wrestling career
Ring names
Durwood Gerwig[1]
Herb Gerwig[1]
Karl Kox[1]
Killer Carl Cox[1]
Killer Karl Kox[1]
Killer Kox[1]
Masked Gaucho #2[1]
Masked Menace[1]
The Spirit[1]
Spoiler #1[1]
Spoiler #2[1]
Tony Gerwig[2]
Billed height
6 ft 1 in (185 cm)[2]
Billed weight
260 lb (118 kg)[2]
Billed from
Amarillo, Texas
Trained by
Fred Bozack[3]
Ralph "Ruffy" Silverstein[3]
Debut
1954[2]
Retired
1983[2]
Military service
Allegiance
United States
Branch
United States Marine Corps
Service years
1944–1946
Conflicts
Korean War (Battle of Chosin Reservoir)
Early life
edit
Gerwig was born in Baltimore, Maryland, where his father worked for The Baltimore Sun. He attended Forest Park High School. After graduating, Gerwig enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. He took part in the Korean War, fighting in the Battle of Chosin Reservoir, where he loaded frozen corpses onto a jeep. Gerwig rarely discussed his wartime experience.[3] After leaving the Marine Corps, Gerwig relocated to Cleveland, Ohio, where he worked in construction and moonlighted as a softball player.[3]
Professional wrestling career
edit
Gerwig was trained as a professional wrestler by Fred Bozack and Ralph "Ruffy" Silverstein, debuting in 1954.[3][2]
Gerwig reportedly earned the name, Killer, when he performed his famous finishing move, the brainbuster, on his opponent by holding him upside down for a period of time and allowing the blood to rush to the brain.[4] As a singles heel through the sixties, he was a top-of-card fixture battling well-established crowd favorites such as Mark Lewin, Spiros Arion, Tex McKenzie, Dominic DeNucci, and Mario Milano. Enormous numbers from Australia's nascent ethnic community turned out to support Arion, Denucci, and Milano, and Kox risked riots at every appearance.
On February 21, 1967, he and "Iron" Mike DiBiase defeated Pedro Morales and Ricky Romero to win the Worldwide Wrestling Associates' WWA World Tag Team Championship.[5] He defeated Buddy Rogers to win the MWCW North American Championship in March 1968. Fans longed to see the brainbuster deployed on the side of good, and this boon was granted in 1971 when the Killer turned into a babyface in a nationally televised mea culpa - he pledged to change his ways on a solemn promise to his dying mother.
This created much heat in the already booming Australian wrestling promotion, where the fixture was an ongoing television "war" between the good guys referred to as the "People's Army" (Lewin, Curtis, Arion, Milano and visiting faces from overseas) and the "mercenary soldiers" managed by Kentucky biker / preacher Big Bad John. The turning of the tables saw the erstwhile Killer create great excitement in tag matches against his former heel comrades Abdullah the Butcher, Brute Bernard, Dick "The Bulldog" Brower, Tiger Jeet Singh, Waldo Von Erich and Japanese heels like Mr. Fuji and the Tojo Brothers (Hiro "The Great" Tojo and Hito Tojo).
He lost to Johnny Weaver on May 4, 1973, in a hair vs mask match while working as the "Masked Menace". He won the Florida Brass Knuckles Championship by winning a tournament, and also defended the title against Rocky Johnson and Steve Keirn. In February 1978, he defeated Dusty Rhodes to win the NWA Florida Heavyweight Championship.
At a wrestling show later that year, Kox was wrestling a match when a fan started to repeatedly hit him with an umbrella. Security got involved and detained the fan, but instead of kicking the fan out of the show, Kox requested that they bring him into a backroom with the door locked. He allegedly requested that security not let him out until it was alright doing so. Security took the fan to a back room and locked the door. After Kox's match ended, he told security to open the door and he went in. Five minutes later, Kox walked out of the room and the fan was found lying on the floor, covered in blood and was knocked out unconscious.
Информация по комментариям в разработке