Freddie Blassie is regarded as one of the greatest wrestling heels, or villains, of all time.
54 Facts About Freddie Blassie
2.
Freddie Blassie's father was an abusive alcoholic, prompting Frederick to stay with his grandparents whenever Jacob beat Anna.
3.
Freddie Blassie graduated from McKinley High School and began work at a meatpacking plant.
4.
Freddie Blassie began boxing at a local community center and won a heavyweight championship title.
5.
Freddie Blassie's first public wrestling match was a shoot fight which he accepted hoping to impress a girl he brought to the show.
6.
Freddie Blassie described this performer as "having a neck like a stack of dimes and a real pencil-neck geek".
7.
Freddie Blassie's career continued as he was hired by more established promoters, including Tom Packs in St Louis and George Simpson in Kansas City.
8.
Freddie Blassie married a girl in California while on shore leave.
9.
Freddie Blassie achieved the rank of Petty Officer before he was discharged.
10.
Freddie Blassie worked for Jack Pfefer, who he claimed would only employ people who looked like sideshow freaks at his shows, and whose wrestlers included Tor Johnson, who made movies with director Ed Wood, and Lillian Ellison, the Fabulous Moolah.
11.
In 1952, Freddie Blassie moved to Los Angeles to work for Jules Strongbow.
12.
Freddie Blassie teamed with Billy McDaniel as the McDaniel Brothers, but when they went east, they were known as the Blassie Brothers.
13.
Freddie Blassie was often billed as "The Vampire" during this time for biting his opponents and filing his teeth during interviews and promos.
14.
In 1960, Freddie Blassie returned to Strongbow's promotion in Los Angeles, where he was a big star for Worldwide Wrestling Associates of southern California, drawing many fans to the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles.
15.
Freddie Blassie was so hated there that uniformed police officers were regularly brought in to protect him as he made his way to and from the ring.
16.
Freddie Blassie had main event-level feuds against stars such as The Destroyer.
17.
On June 12,1961, Freddie Blassie defeated the "Flying Frenchman" Edouard Carpentier in a best-of-three-falls match for his first WWA World Heavyweight Championship.
18.
Freddie Blassie lost the title to Rikidozan on March 28,1962.
19.
In later years, Freddie Blassie appeared on The Mike Douglas Show when Philbin was a guest host.
20.
Freddie Blassie returned to WWA in 1968 just as promoter Mike LeBell decided to rejoin the NWA.
21.
In 1962, Freddie Blassie had a feud with Japanese wrestling icon Rikidozan that established his reputation in Japan.
22.
One of Freddie Blassie's gimmicks was to file his teeth, and draw blood from his opponents by biting their foreheads.
23.
However, later that year Freddie Blassie suffered from kidney stones and had surgery to remove them.
24.
In 1968, Freddie Blassie returned to Japan and was reunited with Miyako.
25.
In 1964, Freddie Blassie feuded with Bruno Sammartino and Bobo Brazil.
26.
Freddie Blassie came into the WWWF with his own world title belt, claiming to be the Pacific World Champion, and was coming to Sammartino's "back yard" to unify the world title.
27.
The series began at Roosevelt Stadium, Jersey City, New Jersey in 1964, with Freddie Blassie winning on a technicality, but not a pin.
28.
Freddie Blassie returned to the company in 1971, reaching the final of a tournament in January for the vacant WWWF United States Heavyweight Championship before losing to Pedro Morales.
29.
Freddie Blassie later challenged Morales for the WWWF Championship, but came up short.
30.
Freddie Blassie retired from active wrestling in 1974, due to a California law that prohibited anyone over 55 from getting a wrestling license.
31.
Freddie Blassie's knees were in terrible condition, which contributed to his retirement.
32.
Freddie Blassie performed for that promotion until his full retirement from professional wrestling in 1986.
33.
Freddie Blassie managed Muhammad Ali in his boxer vs wrestler match in 1976 against Antonio Inoki.
34.
Freddie Blassie publicly represented Ali for media events and interviews for a period in the mid-1970s.
35.
Freddie Blassie led Shiek to the WWF World Heavyweight Championship over Bob Backlund on December 26,1983, in Madison Square Garden.
36.
Freddie Blassie got involved when he threw his cane into the ring, with Sheik and Volkoff using it to their advantage to gain the victory.
37.
Freddie Blassie continued to manage Sheik and Volkoff even after they lost the tag team titles.
38.
Freddie Blassie unsuccessfully campaigned along with the other managers to manage "Macho Man" Randy Savage when Savage first entered the WWF in June 1985.
39.
Freddie Blassie continued to interfere from ringside in matches, especially during Volkoff's feud with Corporal Kirchner.
40.
Freddie Blassie appeared alongside Slick to co-manage Sheik and Volkoff for a few television appearances before finally bowing out in November 1986, with Albano, the final member of the Three Wise Men, retiring a few weeks later.
41.
Freddie Blassie sporadically returned to make brief appearances following his retirement in 1986, mostly in produced video packages hyping the "new generation" of wrestling.
42.
Freddie Blassie was given a commentary tryout in 1986 and 1987 for WWF Wrestling Challenge, calling a few matches with Gorilla Monsoon.
43.
Freddie Blassie briefly turned face in 1989, making an appearance on Prime Time Wrestling angry with Bobby Heenan over money Heenan hadn't paid him back.
44.
Freddie Blassie returned again in 1990 briefly to do color commentary for Prime Time in April with Vince McMahon, as an emergency fill-in after Tony Schiavone quit, playing a heel .
45.
Freddie Blassie was inducted into the WWF Hall of Fame in 1994 by Shane McMahon.
46.
In 1998, Freddie Blassie was the winner at the fourth annual Cauliflower Alley Club East Coast Banquet.
47.
In 2000, Freddie Blassie made an appearance at the Royal Rumble as a judge in the Miss Rumble 2000 Swimsuit contest, which was won by Mae Young.
48.
Freddie Blassie appeared in a segment at the Vengeance pay-per-view event in December 2001, where an "undisputed" champion would be crowned.
49.
Freddie Blassie's final wrestling appearance was May 12,2003 in Philadelphia on Raw, three weeks before his death.
50.
Freddie Blassie's book, Listen You Pencil Neck Geeks, was released on May 13,2003.
51.
On June 2,2003, Freddie Blassie died of heart and kidney failure at the age of 85.
52.
Freddie Blassie's death was announced by Jim Ross, 20 minutes into that same day's episode of Raw.
53.
In 1975, Freddie Blassie recorded voiceovers for the songs "Freddie Blassie, King of Men" and "Pencil Neck Geek", which were performed by Johnny Legend, featuring Billy Zoom on guitar, Jay Phillips on guitar, Lon Osgood on bass and Steve Clark on drums.
54.
In 1983, Rhino Records released a 14-track album by Freddie Blassie, titled I Bite the Songs.