| Ion Croitoru | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Birth name | Ion William Croitoru |
| Born | December 7, 1963[1] Hamilton, Ontario, Canada[1] |
| Died | February 21, 2017 (aged 53) Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Children | 3[2] |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Bruiser Bedlam[1] Johnny K-9[1] K-9 Dog Of War[3] Taras Bulba[1] Orhan Turgedan, The Terrible Turk[1] The Mysterian[1] |
| Billed height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)[1] |
| Billed weight | 300 lb (140 kg)[1] |
| Billed from | Hamilton, Ontario[4] Romania (WWF) |
| Trained by | Nick DeCarlo[5] Vic Rosettani[5] |
| Debut | 1984[5] |
| Retired | 1998 |
Ion William Croitoru (December 7, 1963 – February 21, 2017)[1] was a Canadian professional wrestler and outlaw biker, known to wrestling fans by his ring names Johnny K-9, Taras Bulba and Bruiser Bedlam. Croitoru worked in several Canadian wrestling promotions, including Stampede Wrestling, and later wrestled for New Japan Pro-Wrestling, Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW) and the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). He wrestled as a jobber in the WWF but was booked to win titles in several other promotions.
Croitoru was notorious for his long history of legal problems. As a member of the Satan's Choice Motorcycle Club (SCMC), an outlaw biker gang, he was convicted of assault, trafficking cocaine and bombing a police station. In 2005, Croitoru was arrested for the murder of lawyer Lynn Gilbank and her husband Fred; the charges were eventually dropped due to insufficient evidence. Croitoru was then arrested in May 2009 for conspiracy to murder the Bacon Brothers, resulting in the killing of Jonathan Barber. He pleaded guilty in July 2013 to conspiracy in exchange for a stay of proceedings on the murder charge.
Croitoru was the focus for episode 11 of the third season of the Vice TV documentary series Dark Side of the Ring.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oliver, Greg. "SLAM! Wrestling Canadian Hall of Fame: Bruiser Bedlam". SLAM! Wrestling. Archived from the original on January 15, 2013. Retrieved February 18, 2008.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ Cite error: The named reference
Deadwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ WrestlingData.com: Bruiser Bedlam, General Information
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
owwwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b c "Profil von Bruiser Bedlam". Cagematch: The Internet Wrestling Database (in German). Retrieved February 18, 2008.