Although the film Rocky would not debut in nationwide cinemas until 1976, the underdog spirit surrounded the City of Brotherly Love in 1973. Leading into the WWWF show that took place on December 1st, Stan "The Man" Stasiak was in the midst of a touring feud with World Champion Pedro Morales. The two would square off at least a dozen times, even headlining events at Madison Square Garden during the weeks leading up to the December 1st show, with each time Stasiak doing the job for Morales, who was as massive a baby face as even Bruno Sammartino was at the time.
Before the show began, the road agent entered the locker room to go over the details of the match with Stasiak. This was a conversation he was already familiar with. At least the part about the finish. But this would not be the same conservation he had had in the past. Stasiak was not only in for a surprise but would be put down the path to his own pocket of history in the WWWF.
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Born in Quebec in 1937, George Stipich (real name) grew up a hockey player. In fact, with his large frame, he made quite a name for himself as an enforcer in the Quebec Amateur Hockey Association. But it was not only his frame that garnered Stipich notoriety but his aggressive attitude and hot temper. A quote from Stasiak lifted from Roberta Morgan's book, Main Event: The World of Professional Wrestling explains how this disposition led to his eventual career change:
On one particular night, the last hockey coach I had told me I had so many penalties that it just seemed like there was trouble every time I got on the ice. He said 'You know what you should do--become a professional wrestler, then you can really let all this steam out.' So that's what I did, and that's how it happened." (Credit to Slam! Wrestling's page about Stan Stasiak)
Stipich began his wrestling career in 1958. Already with the look of a natural, grizzled heel, he adopted the wrestling handle of Stan Stasiak, which was the name of a well known heel in Toronto during the late 1920's, who sadly passed away in 1931 due to blood poisoning suffered from a broken arm during a match.
Adding the nickname "Crusher," (later "the Man") the renamed Stasiak utilized the bear hug as a finisher and quickly drew attention in Canadian wrestling. Promoter Don Owens took a particular liking to Stasiak and brought him to his wrestling territory in the Pacific Northwest. Now billed as being from Buzzard Creek, Oregon, Stasiak adopted the infamous heart punch as his finisher and became a six time NWA Northwest Heavyweight Champion, all the while feuding with the likes of Maddog Vachon and Pepper Martin among others.
With appearances with Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling in the late 60's (where he garnered the North American Heavyweight Championship as well as the Calgary version of the NWA Canadian Heavyweight Championship), Stasiak moved back east to work with Vincent J. McMahon and the WWWF.
As the WWWF World Heavyweight Champion, Pedro Morales was (as previously stated) thunderously popular in the northeast, especially in New York. A hero to the Latin American fan base, Morales was into his second full year as champion after defeating Ivan Koloff in 1971 when he began his feud with Stasiak.
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The road agent began to run down the particulars of the December 1st match with Stasiak, who was very nonchalant in his responses about the spots leading up to the finish. The turn in the conversation came with the agent remarked that when Morales would land his belly to back suplex, Stasiak would kick out at two. This caught Stasiak off guard. After another spot, Morales would stay on the mat for the three count. Stasiak sat in silence for a moment and finally asked if the title was on the line. The agent, not thinking this was anything of significance, responded rather impatiently 'yes.' (Frank Dusek gives an amazing retelling of this where he actually gives the back and forth between Stasiak and the road agent.)
Without any prior indication until that conversation, Stasiak would, in fact, upset the reigning champion Morales to become only the fifth WWWF champion in its history. The former hockey player from Quebec was the top guy in the company.
Well, at least for nine days…
On December 10, Stasiak dropped the belt to Bruno Sammartino at Madison Square Garden, which would begin a four year reign for Sammartino as champion. (This on top of his near eight year reign from 1963 until the beginning of 1971) In the end, the decision on the booking end was to have Stasiak act as a transitional champion between the Morales and Sammartino eras. The company did not want Sammartino to go over on Morales with both men so over as baby faces at the time. (The two did, in fact, have one of the most memorable matches in wrestling history the year before at Shea Stadium, which we will look at next week, that ended in a time limit draw.)
Although his reign as champion was barely over a week, Stasiak remained in the main event picture, feuding with Sammartino in rematches for the WWWF Title, but never again ascended to the level of champion. His career would continue throughout the 70's with another notable feud with WWWF Champion "Superstar" BIlly Graham as well as with The Sheik. He was even featured in tag team programs with The Gladiator against Ray Stevens and Peter Maivia.
By 1984, Stasiak had retired from wrestling and moved back to Toronto where he worked as a security guard for many years before ultimately journeying back to the west coast. Sadly, in 1997, having already suffered from heart problems, Stasiak passed away due to heart failure.
His legacy was carried on by his son Shawn, who was signed by the WWF in 1999 and began the character of "Meat" alongside Terri Runnels and Jacqueline. His first run with the company was uneventful as he never climbed above jobber status. He had a decent run in WCW, most notably feuding with Curt Hennig before the company was bought out by the WWF. He retired from wrestling in 2002. (Ironically, his father feuded with Larry Hennig during their careers.)
In the years since Stan Stasiak's unlikely, short lived WWWF title run, the concept of the transitional champion has been used before. (Ivan Koloff was actually a transitional champion before Stasiak as well.) Mick Foley provided that role during 1999 as a buffer between the Austin-Rock feud and the eventual transition between Austin and Triple H.
The career of Stan Stasiak is the career of the consummate professional. As a heel in the classic wrestling days, he was on the downside of many feuds but was well respected and beloved in the ring as well as out of the ring. Although his reign as WWWF Champion was less than ten days, it served a point that sometimes when you go the matches, you really don't know what you're going to get.
I just finished Vern's study of Steven Seagal films entitled Seagalogy, which is one of the funniest, most critically expounding companion pieces to an actor's anthology. One of the final lines displays a humorous look at every day life. "I figure no matter how down in the dumps you are, try to always live your life as if you might shake Steven Seagal's hand later that night. Because who knows, you might." I can't help but think it would have been pretty cool to shake the hand of Stan Stasiak and ask him what those nine days were like, knowing he was (no offense Punk or Jericho) the best in the world.
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