Ivan Koloff (1942-2017) Rare Shoot Interview

Ivan Koloff
Oreal Donald Perras (August 25, 1942 – February 18, 2017) was a Canadian https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_wrestler, better known by the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_name "the Russian Bear" Ivan Koloff. He was the third wrestler to hold the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWWF_Championship. Since first watching https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_wrestling on TV at the age of eight, he wanted to become a wrestler, and would often wrestle with his brothers growing up. At age 18, he left high school and joined Jack Wentworth's wrestling school in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamilton,_Ontario, where he would lift weights and learn wrestling holds. He stood 5 feet 10 inches (1.78 m) tall, and weighed approximately 270 pounds (120 kg). Towards the end of his career, he dropped a considerable amount of weight and was tipping the scale at 205 pounds (93 kg).
In 1967, Perras became "The Russian Bear" Ivan Koloff, a bearded villainous character billed from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukraine, and debuted with the International Wrestling Association in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal. He defeated https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Rougeau for the IWA International Heavyweight Championship the following year. Koloff debuted in the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWE in late 1969, managed by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lou_Albano. He soon started a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feud_(professional_wrestling) with then-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWE_World_Championship https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruno_Sammartino. On January 18, 1971, Koloff defeated Sammartino in Madison Square Garden for the WWWF World Heavyweight Championship by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_wrestling#Pinfall after a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_wrestling_aerial_techniques#Diving_knee_drop, ending Sammartino's seven and two-thirds years reign. Koloff lost the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_wrestling_championship 21 days later to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_Morales, essentially being used as a "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_professional_wrestling_terms#Transitional_champion" to move the title from Sammartino to Morales without the two fan favorites working against each other, much like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stan_Stasiak and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Iron_Sheik would be in later years. After the loss, Koloff remained a contender for the title but never reclaimed it, leaving the WWWF in 1971. During his time in the WWWF, Koloff weighing in at 310...