Nikolai Volkoff

Nikolai Volkoff
Volkoff in 2015
Birth nameJosip Hrvoje Peruzović
Born(1947-10-14)October 14, 1947[1]
Split, PR Croatia, FPR Yugoslavia[2]
DiedJuly 29, 2018(2018-07-29) (aged 70)
Glen Arm, Maryland, U.S.
Children2
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Nikolai Volkoff[3]
Bepo Mongol[2]
Boris Breznikoff
Executioner #3
Billed height6 ft 4 in (193 cm)[3]
Billed weight313 lb (142 kg)[3]
Billed fromMoscow, Russia
Soviet Union[2]
Mongolia (as Bepo Mongol)
Trained byStu Hart[3]
Newton Tattrie
Debut1967

Josip Hrvoje Peruzović (October 14, 1947 – July 29, 2018),[4][5] better known by his ring name Nikolai Volkoff, was a Croatian-American professional wrestler from Yugoslavia, best known for his time in the World Wrestling Federation where he usually played a Soviet heel.

In the 1970s, Peruzović was Bepo of the Mongols tag team, one of the masked Executioners and feuded with Bruno Sammartino over the WWWF World Heavyweight Championship as Volkoff. In the 1980s, he tag teamed with the Iron Sheik and won the WWF Tag Team Championship at the inaugural WrestleMania event, and then with Boris Zhukov as The Bolsheviks.

In 1990, Volkoff turned face and defected to America, briefly feuding with Zhukov and newly-heel Iraqi sympathizer Sgt. Slaughter. In 1994, after a hiatus, he returned as a destitute and desperate character, exploited by Ted DiBiase as the first member of his Million Dollar Corporation. He continued to wrestle in various promotions until his death in 2018.

  1. ^ Summer, Ben (July 30, 2018). "Nikolai Volkoff, professional wrestler who played a Soviet villain, dies at 70". Washington Post. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  2. ^ a b c "Nikolai Volkoff Profile". Online World Of Wrestling. Retrieved September 21, 2008.
  3. ^ a b c d "Nikolai Volkoff WWE Hall of Fame Profile". WWE. Retrieved March 30, 2011.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Death was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Born in 1946 per search of FamilyTreeNow.com