Posted on by bdamage1
Robert Segedy
His mantra at the time was “I am ordered to win! I must win! And I will win!”
Many wrestlers have utilized “the claw hold”: the Von Erich’s, Killer Kowalski, Blackjack Lanza, but none ever used the move like James Donald Raschke did. Born on July 30, 1940, in Omaha, Nebraska. Raschke was a three-year letter man with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Cornhuskers wrestling team in 1960, 1961 and 1962. He also played football for the Cornhuskers as a left tackle in 1959 and 1960. Following a successful amateur wrestling career Raschke had a short stint in the US Army. He was trained for the squared circle by Verne Gagne and Mad Dog Vachon; he debuted in 1966.
Raschke held numerous single and tag team titles throughout several NWA and AWA territories. He also wrestled for the WWWF where his claw hold was “censored” by a large red X on the television screen because it was deemed too violent. Raschke was managed by Fred Blassie; his highest profile match of the 1970’s WWWF run came in March 1977 where he wrestled the WWWF World Champion Bruno Sammartino for the title in Madison Square Garden. Raschke lost the match by disqualification when Sammartino was tied up in the ring ropes and the Baron attempted to apply the claw hold to Bruno; the Champ shoved the referee away and the ref called for a DQ. Bruno defeated the Baron a month later at Madison Square Garden, making this Sammartino’s last successful title defense prior to losing the title to Superstar Billy Graham. In 1978 Van Raschke was recognized as the first NWA television champion because the Mid-Atlantic Television title had been renamed.
In May 1984, Von Raschke and The Crusher defeated Jerry Blackwell and Ken Patera for the AWA World Tag Team Championship. They would lose the belts in August of that same year to The Road Warriors. In 1986, the Baron wrestled for the NWA’s Jim Crockett Promotions where he reunited with his former tag team partner Paul Jones as part of Paul Jones’s Army. He was substituting for the injured Krusher Khruschev and helped defend the NWA World Six-Man Tag Team Championship with Ivan and Nikita Koloff.
The Baron never really retired from wrestling and still makes the occasional personal appearance at local events. He is known for closing his interviews by saying “And that is all the people need to know!”