| Ivan Koloff | |
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| Ring name(s) | Ivan Koloff Jim Parris Orwell Paris Red McNulty The Russian Bear |
| Billed height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) |
| Billed weight | 248 lb (112 kg) - 295 lb (134 kg) |
| Born | August 25, 1942 Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
| Resides | Winterville, North Carolina |
| Billed from | Russia |
| Trained by | Jack Wentworth Dan Koloff |
| Debut | February 1965 |
| Retired | September 1994 |
"The Russian Bear" Ivan Koloff (born Jim Perras on August 25, 1942) is a former Canadian professional wrestler who once held the WWWF World Heavyweight Championship.
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Perras was raised on a dairy farm in the rural community of Crysler, Ontario, Canada, along with his six brothers and three sisters.
Since first watching 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 Hamilton, Ontario, where he would lift weights and learn wrestling holds.
Perras debuted as an Irish rogue heel character named Red McNulty, billed from Dublin, Ireland and wrestling with an eyepatch. For the next three years, he wrestled around the Toronto area, eventually quitting his regular job to wrestle in the north-western area of Canada. There, Parris acquired much wrestling experience, and from there he made his first trip to Japan.In all honesty, Ivan was only 5'9" tall and weighed probably 275 pounds at his heaviest.
In 1967, Jim Perras became "The Russian Bear" Ivan Koloff, a bearded villainous character billed from Moscow, and debuted with the International Wrestling Association in Montreal, Québec. He defeated Johnny Rougeau for the IWA International Heavyweight Title the following year. Ivan Koloff debuted in the World Wide Wrestling Federation in 1970, managed by Capt. Lou Albano He soon started a feud with then-WWWF World Heavyweight Champion Bruno Sammartino. On January 18, 1971, "The Russian Bear" Ivan Koloff defeated Sammartino in Madison Square Garden for the WWWF World Heavyweight Championship by pinfall after a kneedrop from the top rope, ending Sammartino's seven and two-third years reign on top. Koloff lost the title only 21 days later to Pedro Morales, essentially being used as a "transitional" champion (as he was used to move the title from Sammartino to Morales without having the two faces work against each other), much like Stan Stasiak and the Iron Sheik would be in later years. After the loss, Koloff remained a contender for the title, but never reclaimed it, and left the WWWF in 1972.
During his time in the WWWF, Ivan Koloff wrestled WWWF title matches against Bruno Sammartino, Pedro Morales, Superstar Billy Graham and Bob Backlund, holding the distinction, with fellow villain Stan Stasiak, as one of only two men to challenge all four of these popular champions.
During the 1970s and 80s, Koloff found success in the NWA, winning many regional tag and singles titles in the Georgia, Florida, and Mid-Atlantic territories. In February 1981, he teamed with Ray Stevens to defeat Paul Jones and Masked Superstar and capture the NWA World Tag Team Championship. This would be the first of his four reigns as a World Tag Team champion, later winning the belts with Don Kernodle and twice with his "nephew" (kayfabe), Nikita Koloff as The Russians.
The Russians (which also included Krusher Kruschev) were a top heel stable from 1984 to 1986, and Nikita, under Perras' training and mentoring, and by association, became a hated heel in his own right, and would go on to have a successful singles career of his own. After Nikita turned face on Ivan to join their enemy Dusty Rhodes in 1986, Ivan teamed with Vladimir Petrov and Dick Murdoch to get revenge. Ivan Koloff's biggest NWA feuds were against Rhodes, the Road Warriors, the Rock 'n' Roll Express (Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson) and Magnum T.A..
Koloff spent time in Paul Jones' stable, the Paul Jones Army in 1988, where he was a "coach" of sorts for the Powers of Pain, The Barbarian and The Warlord. He later split with Jones, reunited with Nikita, and feuded with Jones' team, the Russian Assassins, before leaving Jim Crockett Promotions in January 1989. He also spent time in Eastern Championship Wrestling, appearing on the very first ECW card in 1992.
Currently, Parris lives in Winterville, North Carolina with his wife, Renae and has four adult children. He remains active in various charities. He has written a book, titled Is That Wrestling Fake? The Bare Facts.
Parris became a born again Christian in 1995. He travels to churches to share his testimony.
"The Russian Bear" was mentioned in the lyrics of the Ramones' song "The Crusher", from their final album, "Adios Amigos."
In the second season of the anime Code Geass, the name "Ivan Koloff" was spotted in episode 19, amongst the millions killed by the weapon F.L.E.I.J.A.
Ivan Koloff was mentiond in the lyrics of the song "The Chase" by RZA
Koloff is featured in:
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   | IvanKoloff.com (Official Website) - Home of the Russian Bear Ivan Koloff |
| | Profile at OWW - Online World of Wrestling |
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