- published: 26 Mar 2016
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Nikita Koloff (born Nelson Scott Simpson on March 9, 1959) is an American retired professional wrestler, actor, and minister. Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, he wrestled as "The Russian Nightmare" Nikita Koloff, which was a play on the nickname of fan favorite "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes (in fact, it was Rhodes who gave him the nickname).
Nikita was brought into the National Wrestling Alliance by his "Uncle" Ivan to prove Soviet superiority. Their ultimate goal was to dethrone NWA World champion Ric Flair. A physical marvel, Koloff was also hailed as the Russian Road Warrior. He was billed from Moscow in the Soviet Union, and then from Lithuania after the fall of the Soviet Union.
Koloff, now a preacher, appears on the Lifetime Network series, Preachers' Daughters.
He grew up without knowing his father and aspired to play professional football. He started lifting weights in junior high school and built up a massive body, weighing 275 lb (125 kg) with a 6 ft 2 in (188 cm) frame.
Nikita may refer to:
Koloff may refer to:
James Mark "Jim" Cornette (born September 17, 1961) is an American professional wrestling manager, commentator, promoter, and booker.
As a manager and creative writer, he has worked for Jim Crockett Promotions, World Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment (now WWE), and from 1991 to 1995, was the owner of Smoky Mountain Wrestling. He has also worked as an on-screen character in an authoritative role; as "Commissioner" of Ring of Honor (in a previous stint with the company) and "Management Director" (and off-screen road agent) for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling.
Born in Louisville, Kentucky, Cornette always loved wrestling, reportedly installing a ten-foot antenna on top of his house as a youth so he could watch as much regional wrestling as possible. He began working at wrestling events at the age of 14, serving as a photographer, ring announcer, magazine correspondent, and public relations correspondent. In 1982, promoter Jerry Jarrett made the 21-year-old Cornette the manager of Sherri Martel and gave Cornette the gimmick of a rich kid turned inept manager whose clients kept firing him after one match. The most notable wrestlers in this angle were Dutch Mantell and Crusher Broomfield (who would later gain fame as The One Man Gang and Akeem, The African Dream).
Richard Morgan "Ric" Fliehr (born February 25, 1949), better known by his ring name Ric Flair, is an American professional wrestler currently signed to the WWE under a legends appearance contract. Also known as "The Nature Boy," Flair has cultivated a legacy as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, with a career that spans over 40 years. He is noted for his lengthy and highly decorated tenures with the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, later WWE), and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA).
Flair is officially recognized by WWE, TNA, and Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) as a 16-time world champion (eight-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion, six-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion, and two-time WWF Champion). The actual number of his world championship reigns varies by source, ranging from 16 to 25 titles. A major pay-per-view attraction throughout his career, he has main-evented WWE's premier annual event, WrestleMania, and participated in the closing singles match of the NWA/WCW equivalent, Starrcade, on nine occasions.PWI awarded Flair their Wrestler of the Year Award a record six times, while Wrestling Observer Newsletter named Flair as the Wrestler of the Year on nine occasions. A two-time inductee in the WWE Hall of Fame, first inducted in 2008 for his individual career and for a second time in 2012 as a member of the Four Horsemen, he is also an NWA Hall of Famer. In WCW, he also had two stints as a booker – from 1989–1990 and again in 1994.
Actors: Jim Ross (actor), Dusty Rhodes (actor), Ric Flair (actor), Larry Pfohl (actor), Joe Laurinaitis (actor), Mike Hegstrand (actor), Teddy Long (actor), Arn Anderson (actor), Earl Hebner (actor), James E. Cornette (actor), Steve Borden (actor), Bobby Eaton (actor), Mike Kimmel (actor), Tony Schiavone (actor), Mike Rotunda (actor),
Plot: This video features highlights of some of the matches from the Third Annual Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup tag team tournament. The tournament took place from April 22-April 23, 1988. Most of the matches of this large tournament are left out, and a lot of the matches are edited pretty short to fit on a two hour tape. Teams included on the tape are The Road Warriors (Hawk and Animal), The Midnight Express (Eaton and Lane), The Four Horsemen (Anderson and Blanchard), The Fantastics (Rogers and Fulton), Lex Luger and Sting, The Jive Tones (Whatley and Conway), Ivan Koloff and Dick Murdoch, Larry Zbyszko and Al Perez, The Varsity Club (Rotunda and Steiner), The Powers of Pain (Warlord and Barbarian), Jimmy Valiant and Mighty Wilbur, The Sheepherders (Miller and Williams), Kendall Windham and The Italian Stallion, and Ron Simmons and Steve Williams. I won't tell the matches as that will give away the winners (since this was a single elimination tournament). Other matches on the card are NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Nikita Koloff, The Midnight Rider (Dusty Rhodes) vs J.J. Dillon in a bloody Texas Bullrope Match, and Jimmy Garvin vs Kevin Sullivan in a Prince of Darkness Death Match (both wrestlers had hoods over their heads and couldn't see). Finally, the tape goes back to January 24, 1988 for the finals of the Third Annual Bunkhouse Stampede. Battle royales had been held at several house shows in the weeks leading up to this event, and the winners of each battle royale entered this battle royale final, held inside a steel cage. The match is joined in progress on the tape, so I don't know if some wrestlers had already been eliminated. The wrestlers on the tape are Arn Anderson, Road Warrior Animal, The Barbarian, Tully Blanchard, Ivan Koloff, Lex Luger, The Warlord, and the winner of the first two Bunkhouse Stampedes, Dusty Rhodes.
Keywords: pro-wrestling, wrestling
All Jim Cornette Experience & Drive-Thru podcast clips used with kind permission from Jim Cornette and Brian Last. Keep it with Jim Cornette's Talking Sense for the very best shoot interview clips, old and new, from the Experience and Drive-Thru.
Nikita Koloff on NWA World Championship Wrestling
Sting battles Nikita Koloff in a Russian Chain Match at The Great American Bash 1991: Courtesy of the award-winning WWE Network. More ACTION on WWE NETWORK : http://bit.ly/MobQRl
Ric Flair and Jim Cornette shoot interview where Nikita Koloff is buried!
The "Russian Nightmare" Nikita Koloff battles big Magnum TA in hard hitting action from NWA World Wide Wrestling (9/13/86). #WWEClassics
November 18, 1989. Rochester, Minnesota. Larry Zbyszko defends the AWA World Heavyweight Title against challenger Nikita Koloff. Pre match and post match interviews included
Title Match Wrestling presents the Andre Corbeil show episode 100 starring the Russian nightmare Nikita Koloff. #AndreCorbeilShow interviews Nikita Koloff NWA Hall of Famer, Nikita Koloff WCW Television Champion,Nikita Koloff United States heavyweight champion,Nikita Koloff NWA six man tag team champion,Dusty Rhodes & Nikita Koloff NWA Jim Crockett Sr Memorial Cup winners,Pro wrestling Legend Nikita Koloff sits down with Andre Corbeil. ON episode 100 Of the #AndreCorbeilShow discussing everything from #ProWrestling #WCW #WWF #WWE #WCCW #MIDATLANTICCHAMPIONSHIPWRESTLING #GEORGIACHAMPIONSHIPWRESTLING #CONTINENTALCHAMPIONSHIPWRESTLING #RICFLAIR #IVANKOLOFF #WCWHALLOFFAME #NWAHALLOFFAME #PROWRESTLINGHALLOFFAME #CWEWRESTLING #CWECANADATOUR #WRESTLING #GREATEST #USCHAMPIONS #NWATELEVISIONCHAMPIO...
Watch this real knock out clothesline , sucker punch by wrestler Nikita Koloff that was so vicious that it almost forced World Wide Wrestling commentator David Crockett into retirement.!
In this 1Wrestling.com exclusive, Nikita Koloff talks about Ric Flair's retirement