John Tolos

**John L. Tolos** (April 5, 1931 – May 28, 2009) was a Canadian professional wrestler and manager. Nicknamed **"The Golden Greek"**, he found success both teaming with his brother Chris and feuding with "Classy" Freddie Blassie in Los Angeles.

## Early life

John Tolos was born in Hamilton, Ontario to Greek parents, Nicolaos and Evangelia (Evangeline) Tolos. He grew up with his brother Chris and they played football, hockey, lacrosse and track, also learning how to wrestle at their local YMCA.

## Professional wrestling career

John was a part of The Canadian Wrecking Crew with his brother Chris early in his career. On October 27, 1953, they won their first documented tag team belts, the San Francisco version of the Pacific Coast Tag Team Championship by defeating Enrique and Ramón Torres.

On December 28, 1963, John and Chris Tolos captured the WWWF United States Tag Team Championship in Teaneck, New Jersey in two straight falls from Gorilla Monsoon and Killer Kowalski. While both teams were heels at the time, they did a television interview prior to the title match, "looking forward" to seeing all of their fans in Teaneck. Vittorio Apollo and Don McClarity beat them for the titles in February 1964. John and Chris Tolos were jeered by fans due to their stiff style, earning John the Cauliflower Alley Club's Golden Potato Award in 2004.

After they finished a match, John would say "Isn't that right, brother Chris?" and Chris would reply, "That's right, brother." They capped off their statement with their trademark mantra: "There's only one way to spell wrestling, and it's T-O-L-O-S!". They won a plethora of tag team belts across many places and faced some of the best tag teams during their era, which has been described as the golden age of tag team wrestling, including Bill and Dan Miller, George and Sandy Scott, and Antonino Rocca and Miguel Perez. John also faced WWWF Champion Pedro Morales in a couple of matches at Madison Square Garden.

When the brothers split, John became a vicious singles heel known as the "Golden Greek" in Los Angeles. On May 7, 1971, Tolos defeated Freddie Blassie to win the NWA Americas Heavyweight Championship, which served as the catalyst for a legendary feud between the two. During an award ceremony the next day, in which Blassie won a "Wrestler of The Year" award supposedy voted for by the fans, John threw Monsel's Powder (used by boxing trainers to staunch cuts) into Blassie's eyes, with announcer Dick Lane exclaiming that he had been blinded. A doctor recommended that Blassie should retire, which he did for a few months to have knee surgery and tour Japan.

On August 27, Blassie came back for his awaited rematch with Tolos at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, where a reported 25,847 fans saw Blassie exact his revenge, biting Tolos and hitting him with a steel chair on the head to win their bout; the crowd was the biggest to ever witness a wrestling event in California at that time. Tolos and Blassie would also appear during this feud on *The Steve Allen Show* with Blassie attacking Tolos on the air; this was eventually replicated years later during Jerry Lawler's feud with Andy Kaufman, as they appeared on David Letterman's show.

Tolos continued to win singles and tag team championships but retired from in-ring competition during the mid-80s. He had a run in Herb Abrams' Universal Wrestling Federation from 1990 to mid-1991, managing Cowboy Bob Orton, Cactus Jack and The Power Twins as well as serving as color commentator on the UWF's *Fury Hour* program. Tolos also worked as a security guard at Universal Studios in Hollywood and tried his hand at working at NBC and as a car salesman.

Tolos joined the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) for a brief stint in mid-1991 as Coach (a classic coach, complete with a whistle), managing The Beverly Brothers and "Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig, replacing Hennig's former manager Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, who was then moving into a full-time broadcaster's role. When a back injury sidelined Hennig for more than a year, Tolos was replaced by The Genius as The Beverly Brothers' manager and departed the WWF.

On September 19, 1992, Tolos wrestled his final match at the Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) 3rd Anniversary Show in Yokohama, Japan, battling Killer Kowalski to a draw. That same year, Tolos returned to the UWF as a color commentator until the promotion's final show in 1994. His brother Chris died from cancer in 2005.

## Death

Following a series of heart attacks and strokes, John isolated himself from all except his family. On May 28, 2009, John died of kidney failure at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Center aged 78.