Remembering Adrian Adonis

Joe King

Adrian Adonis was born Keith Adonis Franke in Buffalo, New York in 1954. From a very young age, he was known by his peers as the toughest guy in his neighborhood. His reputation followed him through his teenage years into adulthood. He eventually became so well-known for his heavy fists and toughness that he soon landed a role as a hitman in the criminal underworld. If you needed something done that could be handled with scare tactics or a swift beat down.

After being trained to be a professional wrestler he quickly rose up the ranks as a character not too far different from his real life persona. A New York native tough guy clad in leather named Adrian Adonis. While wrestling in the Pacific Northwest, he became best friends with “Rowdy” Roddy Piper. He became a top star in the AWA as a World Tag Team Champion with his partner Jesse “The Body” Ventura as the “East-West Connection”. Both would eventually be signed by the World Wrestling Federation. After Ventura retired due to numerous injuries, Adonis formed a tag-team with Dick Murdoch. Together they were known as the “North-South Connection” and would win the WWF World Tag Team Championship belts from the team of Tony Atlas & Rocky Johnson.

With Vince McMahon’s takeover of the WWF and making it a worldwide phenomenon, he wanted more outlandish characters. With Adrian’s weight gain getting out of control, he was given the gimmick of a gay character complete with make-up, wigs, dresses, and pink trunks. To help get the new character over, he was given “Mouth of The South” Jimmy Hart and his own talk show segment called “The Flower Shop”, which were given to the biggest stars at the time. This would eventually lead up to the biggest match-up of his career against “Rowdy” Roddy Piper in one of the headlining matches at Wrestlemania III in front of 93,000 fans at the Pontiac Silverdome. 

His tough guy reputation was put to test after taking liberties in a match with “Dangerous” Dan Spivey. Spivey kept it professional in the ring but when they got to the locker room, he proceeded to absolutely annihilate Adonis. This really hurt Adrian’s ego and reputation with the boys in the back. He was reportedly never the same afterwards. 

After being fired from the WWF for failing a drug test and a dress code violation, he went back to the AWA and eventually to Japan. But the big money wasn’t there anymore. He found himself unable to continue to live the life he was so used to living. He took a stand and not only thought about his well-being, but he also had a family to care for. Unfortunately, in July of 1988 while preparing for a comeback with the World Wrestling Federation working the independent circuit after getting himself off of the cocaine and working hard getting back into shape, he was killed while traveling in Newfoundland, Canada.

According to reports, the minivan he was traveling in swerved to hit a moose and went off the road down an embankment into a creek below. Adrian died upon impact. He was then robbed by the ring crew who was traveling right behind them. A very sad end to the life and career of one of the greats that still had plenty to offer the world of wrestling. Adrian Adonis was only 34 years old. “Rowdy” Roddy Piper would wear a leather jacket given to him by Adrian as a tribute to his fallen friend throughout his legendary career.