Posted on by bdamage1
Robert Segedy
I can clearly recall the time that I had met the legendary Killer Kowalski. My friend Bill and I had traveled to the town of Springfield to attend a meet and greet of various wrestlers. This was the first time that I had attended one of these events and I didn’t exactly know what was in store. We pulled up to the parking lot of a local motel where the greats and near greats had gathered to hawk their wares. Upon entering the room, we could see a wrestling ring set up near the back with various athletes practicing their moves and towering over all of them was a tall individual who turned out to be the one and only Killer Kowalski.
After walking around the room, we finally came to the ring. Kowalski was somebody that I had watched growing up and his legacy preceded him. I can recall being in awe of finally meeting the master of the iron claw. “Hey fellows” he growled, “why don’t you get in the ring, and I’ll show you a couple of moves?” I recall how I literally froze with terror. I immediately acted like I was in pain and told him that I couldn’t because I had a bad back. He grinned at me savagely. “Is it true that you took off Yukon Eric’s ear?” I asked sheepishly. Kowalski responded with a big smile and said Yes. “Come on” I told my friend, “I’m not going to get stretched by him.” We humbly exited the building.
Killer Kowalski was born as Edward Wladslaw Spulnik on October 13, 1926, in Ontario. He debuted on May 6, 1948, but he was then known by the name “Tarzan Kowalski.” Growing up Kowalski had no plans to be a pro wrestler, however he was 6 feet, 4 inches by the time he was 14. Although he was naturally thin, he started lifting weights at the local YMCA. Kowalski had started working at the Ford Motor Company to help pay his way through college. His major was electrical engineering, but fate interfered with that plan. In mere months Kowalski was facing the NWA world champion Orville Brown in a heavyweight match. Kowalski usually wrestled as a heel, except when he faced the more hated Buddy Rogers; then he wrestled as a babyface. Outside of the ring, Kowalski was known for being considerate and friendly.
On October 15, 1952, in a match in Montreal, Kowalski was facing Yukon Eric. Kowalski accidentally ripped off a part of Eric’s ear while performing a knee drop from the top rope. Years of headlocks had cauliflowered Eric’s ear and the injury was purely an accident. Kowalski received major heat in the papers for laughing at Yukon Eric thus cementing his role as a major heel. In the 60’s and 70’s Kowalski became a major antagonist of champion Bruno Sammartino in the WWWF. He later formed a tag team with Gorilla Monsoon with Red Berry as their manager. Monsoon and Kowalski held the WWWF United States tag team championship after defeating the team of Skull Murphy and Brute Bernard in Washington, DC. He wore the regionally prestigious IWA World Championship eight different times between 1952-1962. Returning to the WWWF he donned a mask and teamed up with Big John Studd as The Masked Executioners with Lou Albano serving as their manager. On May 11, 1976, they defeated Tony Parisi and Louis Cerdan in Philadelphia; they held the belts for over five months.
Kowalski later established the Killer Kowalski School of Professional Wrestling in 1977 in Malden, Massachusetts, and trained many successful wrestlers including Big John Studd, Triple H, Chyna, The Eliminators (Kronus and Saturn). Kowalski was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 1996, as well as the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame. He also was honored with the Cauliflower Alley Club’s prestigious “Iron” Mike Mazurki award in 2002. On August 30, 2008, Kowalski suffered a heart attack and died at the age of 81. His is the likes of which we will never see again.