Stan Stasiak is best known for his appearances with the World Wide Wrestling Federation in the 1970s, where he won the WWWF Heavyweight Championship in 1973.
49 Facts About Stan Stasiak
2.
Stan Stasiak was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2018.
3.
Stan Stasiak became a fan of wrestling as a youth, attending shows in Chicoutimi.
4.
Stan Stasiak initially wrestled as "Emile Koverly" for the Calgary, Alberta-based Big Time Wrestling promotion.
5.
Stan Stasiak wrestled at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto which included a match with Gino Morella, who was later known as Gorilla Monsoon.
6.
Stan Stasiak continued to wrestle in Canada and the United States throughout the early 1960s, including making a handful of appearances with the Minneapolis, Minnesota-based American Wrestling Association in May 1962.
7.
From 1964 to 1968, Stan Stasiak appeared regularly with the Calgary, Alberta, Canada-based Stampede Wrestling promotion.
8.
Stan Stasiak held the NWA Canadian Heavyweight Championship on four occasions between 1965 and 1967 and the Stampede Wrestling North American Heavyweight Championship on three occasions in 1968.
9.
In 1965, Stan Stasiak began appearing regularly with Pacific Northwest Wrestling, where he adopted the fictional "Buzzard Creek, Oregon" as his hometown.
10.
Stan Stasiak won the promotion's flagship title, the NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Championship, five times in 1965,1966,1968, and 1971.
11.
Stan Stasiak won the NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Championship four times between 1965 and 1969, teaming with Haru Sasak, the Mad Russian, Mighty Ursus, and Tony Marino.
12.
Stan Stasiak wrestled his final match with IWE on May 5,1969, teaming with Dixon and Morgan in a loss to Sugiyama, Toyonobori, and the Great Kusatsu.
13.
In November 1969, Stan Stasiak began wrestling for the San Francisco, California, United States-based Big Time Wrestling promotion.
14.
Stan Stasiak quickly formed a tag team with The Gladiator and began feuding with Peter Maivia and Ray Stevens, repeatedly unsuccessfully challenging them for the NWA World Tag Team Championship.
15.
In October 1970, Stan Stasiak wrestled in Australia for the World Championship Wrestling promotion.
16.
Stan Stasiak lost the title back to Iaukea the following month.
17.
Stan Stasiak went on to unsuccessfully challenge Morales on a number of further occasions.
18.
In March 1972, Stan Stasiak began appearing with the Texas, United States-based Big Time Wrestling and Houston Wrestling promotions, facing opponents such as Bull Curry, Johnny Valentine, and Toru Tanaka.
19.
In June 1972, Stan Stasiak defeated Red Bastien to win the NWA Texas Heavyweight Championship at the Big Time Wrestling Parade of Champions event in the Texas Stadium.
20.
Stan Stasiak's reign lasted until October 1972 when he lost to Jose Lothario in a cage match in the San Antonio Municipal Auditorium.
21.
Stan Stasiak left Texas in December 1972, with his final appearance being a loss to Fritz Von Erich in a Texas death cage match in the Dallas Sportatorium on Boxing Day.
22.
In February 1973, Stan Stasiak appeared in Japan with the recently founded All Japan Pro Wrestling promotion.
23.
Stan Stasiak's opponents included Motoshi Okuma, Munenori Higo, and Thunder Sugiyama.
24.
Stan Stasiak returned to the WWF in August 1973, adopting the Grand Wizard as his manager.
25.
On December 1,1973 in the Philadelphia Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, Stan Stasiak defeated Morales for the WWWF Heavyweight Championship, ending Morales' nearly three-year long reign.
26.
The match ended when Stan Stasiak applied a full nelson to Morales and both wrestlers fell backwards in a position where they both had their shoulders on the mat, only for Stan Stasiak to lift his shoulder as the referee made the count.
27.
Stan Stasiak was given little notice that he would be winning the title.
28.
Stan Stasiak considered this a formality as he had been having the same discussion, nearly verbatim, in every major city on the Eastern Seaboard for the past two months.
29.
Stan Stasiak was used as a transitional champion, holding the WWWF Heavyweight Championship for just nine days before losing it to Sammartino on December 10,1973 in Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York, United States.
30.
Stan Stasiak described his title reign as "the happiest nine days of [my] life".
31.
Stan Stasiak faced Sammartino in a rematch in January 1974, but failed to regain the title.
32.
In March 1974, Stan Stasiak teamed with Larry Hennig to unsuccessfully challenge Dean Ho and Tony Garea for the WWWF Tag Team Championship.
33.
Stan Stasiak continued regularly appearing with the WWF until October 1974.
34.
Stan Stasiak scored 5.5 points in the first round of the tournament, but did not progress past the second round.
35.
In February 1975, Stan Stasiak began wrestling for the St Louis, Missouri, United States-based St Louis Wrestling Club, where he regularly appeared on its television show Wrestling at the Chase.
36.
In October 1975, Stan Stasiak unsuccessfully challenged visiting WWWF Heavyweight Champion Bruno Sammartino.
37.
Stan Stasiak left St Louis in December 1975, with his final match being a loss to Terry Funk in the Kiel Auditorium.
38.
Stan Stasiak's popularity rose as fans discovered that he was indeed a Canadian.
39.
In January 1976, Stan Stasiak began wrestling for the Atlanta, Georgia, United States-based Georgia Championship Wrestling promotion.
40.
Stan Stasiak lost the title to Mr Wrestling II the following month.
41.
On September 13,1975, Stan Stasiak wrestled Bruno Sammartino who was WWWF Heavyweight Champion to a double disqualification in Steubenville, Ohio.
42.
In November 1976, Stan Stasiak began regularly wrestling for the WWWF once more.
43.
In early-1977, Stan Stasiak repeatedly challenged Billy White Wolf and Chief Jay Strongbow for the WWWF Tag Team Championship, with his partners including Baron Mikel Scicluna, Baron von Raschke, and Tor Kamata.
44.
Stan Stasiak toured Japan with New Japan Pro-Wrestling from February to April 1979 as part of its "Big Fight Series".
45.
In spring 1979, Stan Stasiak returned to Pacific Northwest Wrestling, where he became a mainstay.
46.
Stan Stasiak won the NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Championship twice more in 1979 and the NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Championship four more times.
47.
In mid-1980, Stan Stasiak appeared with the Louisiana, United States-based Mid-South Wrestling promotion.
48.
Stan Stasiak was inducted into the Stampede Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1995, and into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2018.
49.
For most of his career, Stan Stasiak portrayed a "menacing" heel known for his "rulebreaking tactics".