1. Oleg Aleksandrovich Prudius was born on April 27,1969 and better known by his ring name Vladimir Kozlov, is a Ukrainian-American actor and professional wrestler signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling under his real name.
23 Facts About Vladimir Kozlov
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Vladimir Kozlov is best known for his time in WWE, where he won the WWE Tag Team Championship once with Santino Marella.
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Vladimir Kozlov is trained in freestyle wrestling, rugby, football, sambo, kickboxing, judo, jujutsu, Brazilian jiu-jitsu and mixed martial arts.
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Vladimir Kozlov made his debut on SmackDown as Vladimir Kozlov on April 4,2008.
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Vladimir Kozlov was given a big push during his first few months on SmackDown, including a clean victory over The Undertaker.
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At Survivor Series 2008, Kozlov faced Triple H and Edge for the WWE Championship in a losing effort.
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However, in the awards voting for the independent Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Vladimir Kozlov was voted as the Most Overrated Wrestler of the year, and his match at Survivor Series match was voted as the Worst Match of the Year.
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In 2009, Vladimir Kozlov was assigned to WWE's third brand, ECW, where he teamed with William Regal and Ezekiel Jackson.
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Vladimir Kozlov played American football as an offensive lineman for the Ukraine national team and Santa Barbara City College.
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Vladimir Kozlov then was taken off television for over a year while working in the developmental system Ohio Valley Wrestling and participating in a number of dark matches against Val Venis, Eugene Dinsmore, Super Crazy, including defeating Scotty 2 Hotty at Armageddon 2006, all of which he won.
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On July 28,2007, in Louisville, Kentucky, Kozlov won the OVW Heavyweight Championship by defeating Paul Burchill, but gave the championship the same night to Michael W Kruel due to an agreement they made before.
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Vladimir Kozlov continued working in house show for WWE in fall of 2007.
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Vladimir Kozlov stayed with OVW until February 2008 when WWE parted ways with Ohio Valley Wrestling.
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Vladimir Kozlov defeated Matt Bentley in his first match, and over the following weeks, Kozlov would go on to easily win several matches, first against local talent and then established names including Colin Delaney, Funaki, Nunzio, Shannon Moore, Jimmy Wang Yang, Jamie Noble, and Domino.
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Vladimir Kozlov competed in the 2009 Royal Rumble match, entering as the sixth participant, but was eliminated by Triple H after eliminating The Great Khali, Carlito, and Montel Vontavious Porter.
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Vladimir Kozlov won his first match on the brand when he easily defeated a local competitor.
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Vladimir Kozlov would make his debut for the Raw brand on March 8,2010, in a handicap gauntlet match with John Cena competing against Vladimir Kozlov, Mr McMahon, Batista, Mark Henry, Drew McIntyre and Jack Swagger.
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However, Vladimir Kozlov refused to join, stating that "he always loses".
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Vladimir Kozlov won with Regal interfering after the match, Kozlov stopped Regal with a big boot to the chest and then carried Marella backstage.
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Vladimir Kozlov was supposed to be a part of an eight-man tag match at WrestleMania XXVII.
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Vladimir Kozlov made an on screen cameo on March 17,2023, where he reunited with Santino Marella.
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Vladimir Kozlov appeared in the second season of the HBO drama series The Wire, as well as Roksalana and It's Not To Easy on Ukrainian TV.
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Vladimir Kozlov appeared in the Russian military theatre play Victory Day and a Ukraine University play Three Musketeers.