Fabulous Kangaroos

This team is not to be mistaken for the similarly named team The Royal Kangaroos of Jonathan Boyd and Norman Frederick Charles III
Fabulous Kangaroos
Costello (left), Berry (middle) and Heffernan (right)
Tag team
MembersAl Costello
Roy Heffernan
Ray St. Clair
Don Kent
Tony Charles
Bruno Bekkar
Johnny Heffernan
Name(s)Fabulous Kangaroos
The Kangaroos
Kangaroo Men
Billed fromAustralia
Debut1957
Disbanded1983
Years active1957-1983

The Fabulous Kangaroos were a professional wrestling tag team who existed in various forms from 1957 until 1983. The first incarnation of The Fabulous Kangaroos was formed when Italian Australian Al Costello teamed with Australia native Roy Heffernan and adopted an "Ultra Australian" gimmick complete with boomerangs, bush hats, and the song "Waltzing Matilda" as their entrance music.[1] Costello and Heffernan are arguably the most famous version of The Kangaroos,[2] regarded as one of the top tag teams to ever compete in professional wrestling,[1][3] and are often credited with popularizing tag team wrestling in the late 1950s and 1960s.[2]

Later versions of The Kangaroos saw Al Costello team with Ray St. Clair in 1967, and then with Don Kent from 1968 until 1974. Don Kent went on to team with Bruno Bekkar, and later Johnny Heffernan (a storyline cousin of Roy Heffernan) to keep The Fabulous Kangaroos name alive until 1983.[1]

The Fabulous Kangaroos made their last appearance in 1983, but almost a decade later, the then 72-year-old Al Costello managed a team known as "The New Fabulous Kangaroos" in the American Independent circuit. The New Fabulous Kangaroos consisted of little known wrestlers Mickey Doyle, Denny Kass and Al Snow; of the three, only Snow went on to national and international recognition.[1]

Both Costello and Heffernan died before The Kangaroos were honored as the first tag team to be inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2003,[4] which started a tradition of inducting a new team every year.[5]

  1. ^ a b c d Greg Oliver and Steve Johnson (2005). "Top 20: #1 The Fabulous Kangaroos". The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Tag Teams. ECW Press. pp. 17–24. ISBN 978-1-5502-2683-6.
  2. ^ a b Greg Oliver and Steve Johnson (2005). "Introduction". The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Tag Teams. ECW Press. pp. 1–16. ISBN 978-1-5502-2683-6.
  3. ^ Conner, Floyd (12 February 2001). "Terrific Tag Teams". Wrestling's Most Wanted : The Top 10 Book of Pro Wrestling's Outrageous Performers, Punishing Piledrivers, and Other Oddities. Potomac Books. p. 166. ISBN 978-1574883084.
  4. ^ the Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame. "2003: The Fabulous Kangaroos". Archived from the original on 27 October 2005. Retrieved 1 August 2007.
  5. ^ the Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame. "About the Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: Ballot Formation and Voting Process for Induction Purposes". Archived from the original on 12 March 2005. Retrieved 1 August 2007. One winner from each of the following categories shall be inducted each year: LADY WRESTLER, TAG TEAM, and NON-PARTICIPANT. As many as two wrestlers, but at least one wrestler, shall be inducted each year in the category of INTERNATIONAL. Two wrestlers will be inducted annually from each of the following categories:PIONEER ERA and MODERN ERA