Tony Atlas

Atlas debuted for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1980. One of Atlas' earliest feuds in the WWF was with Jesse "The Body" Ventura, with both arguing over who had the better physique. In 1983, Tony teamed with Rocky Johnson under the team name "Soul Patrol" to defeat The Wild Samoans to win the WWF World Tag Team Title, becoming the first Afro-American team to hold the belts. After losing the titles to Adrian Adonis and Dick Murdoch, Johnson soon departed. His final match was on May 16, 1984 in Lacey Township, NJ.

Two months after departing the World Wrestling Federation, Atlas resurfaced in Verne Gagne's AWA. He made his debut on July 13 at a house show in Denver, Colorado and defeated Chris Markoff. He was undefeated against "Mr Electricity" Steve Regal, Larry Zbyszko, and Jake Milliman in July before finally being defeated by King Kong Bundy on August 11 in Indianapolis, Indiana. This and a disqualification loss to Nick Bockwinkel were Atlas' only defeats in singles competition. On October 10, 1984, he teamed with The Crusher and faced AWA Tag-Team Champions The Road Warriors for a shot at the titles and won by disqualification. Ten days later he teamed with Jim Brunzell for another shot at the Road Warriors, but this time was defeated. His final match with the promotion was a victory against Tom Scott on October 28, after which he returned to the World Wrestling Federation.

One day after departing the AWA, Atlas returned to the WWF at a TV taping for *All Star Wrestling* in Hamilton, Ontario and pinned Rene Goulet in a match that aired on November 17. Upon his return, Atlas was shunted to the mid card in the WWF and was undefeated against competition that included Mr. Fuji, The Spoiler, The Iron Sheik, and Moondog Rex. He scored a win against Bob Orton and a non-title victory over WWF Intercontinental Champion Greg Valentine in Hartford, Connecticut on November 23, 1984, but suffered his first defeat on his comeback when he lost to Dave Shultz. This would be his only loss for several months, as he would not be pinned again until losing to Paul Orndorff on *Prime Time Wrestling* on March 19, 1985. At this point Atlas began to transition to a mid-card performer and would lose several matches, including bouts with Bret Hart, Greg Valentine, Don Muraco, and Roddy Piper. The company also programmed him into several short-lived tag-teams with Ivan Putski, Lanny Poffo and George Wells.

Atlas made his pay-per-view debut in 1986 when he appeared in the battle royal at WrestleMania 2, being eliminated by William Perry. He was also used as a jobber to the stars, putting over newly arriving talent like King Kong Bundy and Harley Race, as well as a series of matches with other muscle bound strongmen such as Hercules and "The Worlds Strongest Man" Ted Arcidi. Atlas began to be shunted further down the card, losing to Big John Studd, Iron Sheik, Dory Funk Jr., and Harley Race. His final match was a loss to Adrian Adonis in a bout that took place in Madison Square Garden and which aired on September 8, 1986 on *Prime Time Wrestling*.

Tony made a one match return on August 28, 1987 when he teamed with The Junkyard Dog to defeat Kamala and Sika.

Two months later, Tony joined World Class Championship Wrestling where he adopted the moniker of "The Black Superman". He made his initial appearance on November 11, 1986 and defeated Tim Brooks in Fort Worth, Texas. On December 1, Atlas defeated Crusher Yorkoff to win the World Class World Television Championship. Atlas left the company in 1988.

In 1990, Atlas returned to the WWF where he wrestled as "**Saba Simba**" for the remainder of 1990 and into January 1991. He made his first appearance in his comeback on August 4, 1990 when he pinned Haku at a house show in Augusta, Georgia. He played a warrior of a Ugandan tribe and was intended to feud with Akeem, but the feud never took place after Akeem departed from the promotion. Atlas was kept at midcard status, losing to Dino Bravo and The Barbarian. His last appearance came at the 1991 Royal Rumble, where he was eliminated by Rick Martel.

Teaming with The Barbarian, Atlas made his debut as a heel for WCW on October 10, 1992 with a victory over Jeff Daniels and TA McCoy. They were immediately programmed into a feud with Barry Windham and Dustin Rhodes. He suffered his first pinfall when he was defeated by Tom Zenk in Chicago, Illinois on October 31, 1992. Atlas entered the King of Cable tournament but was defeated by Big Van Vader in the quarterfinals. On the house show circuit he continued his partnership with the Barbarian and received title matches against Ricky Steamboat and Shane Douglas, but were unsuccessful in obtaining the WCW Tag Team Championship.

On January 2, 1993, Atlas entered a tournament to crown a new United States Heavyweight Champion following the vacating of the title by an injured Rick Rude. Atlas pinned Van Hammer in the quarterfinals. In the semi-finals he fell to Dustin Rhodes. Atlas also became part of a storyline where a bounty had been placed on rookie Eric Watts head; Atlas entered a house show series in January 1993 with the young Watts but was winless. He made an appearance on *Clash of the Champions XXII* in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on January 13, 1993 and lost an arm wrestling contest to Vinnie Vegas. Following a match with Steve Regal on February 5, Atlas left the promotion.

Atlas made a surprise return to the WWF on the March 10, 1997 edition of *Monday Night Raw*. Following a victory by Intercontinental Champion Rocky Maivia over Tony Roy, Atlas came out of the crowd to congratulate the son of his former tag team partner. One week later he appeared on *Raw* again, this time holding Maivia back from attacking The Sultan. At WrestleMania 13, he was spotted in the crowd and cheering for Maivia. Atlas was shown on Raw once more, again cheering for Maivia on the March 31 edition when Maivia wrestled Bret Hart.

Atlas was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2006 by S.D. Jones.

Atlas appeared on the July 8, 2008, airing of *ECW*, where Theodore Long appointed him the special guest ring announcer for the main event featuring Tommy Dreamer with then-babyface, Colin Delaney in his corner against then-heel, ECW Champion Mark Henry. Atlas attacked Delaney, which in turn distracted Dreamer, allowing Henry to gain the victory. Atlas then announced Henry the winner of the bout, although the official result was a double countout. This is also the first time since his brief stint in WCW in 1992 that Atlas has worked as a heel, as he would then become Henry's manager.

Atlas helped Mark Henry retain his title at SummerSlam by disqualification, attacking Matt Hardy once a win by Hardy appeared to be imminent. Atlas also helped Henry retain his championship on the August 19, 2008 episode of *ECW* against Hardy. At Unforgiven, Henry lost the title to Hardy. On the December 9 edition of *ECW*, Atlas wrestled in a WWE ring for the first time in 17 years (along with Mark Henry) in a tag team match, where they defeated Finlay and Hornswoggle. He also wrestled Evan Bourne on the June 9, 2009 episode of *ECW* in a losing effort. Henry was then traded to the *Raw* brand on June 29, quietly ending their alliance. Atlas would continue to appear on *ECW* during *The Abraham Washington Show* as Abraham Washington's sidekick, until *ECW* went off air in February 2010.

Atlas was released from his WWE contract on April 30, 2010. However he still made sporadic appearances with the company; he made a brief appearance on the *Old School Raw* episode on November 15, 2010. On December 12, 2011, he made a brief appearance to co-present the Slammy Award for "Trending Superstar of the Year." On April 10, 2012, Atlas made an appearance on *WWE SmackDown: Blast from the Past*.

In 2014, Atlas was regular cast member on the WWE Network original reality show, *Legends' House*.