Curly Moe

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Curly Moe
Birth nameDonald Chester Zalesky
Born(1962-04-03)April 3, 1962
Chicoutimi, Quebec, Canada[1][2]
DiedJuly 1, 2015(2015-07-01) (aged 53)
Belleville, New Jersey, U.S.
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Curly Moe[1][2]
Diesel Don[1][2]
Billed height6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)[1][2]
Billed weight394 lb (179 kg)[1][2]
Trained byJohnny Rodz
Debut1990
Retired1994

Donald Chester Zalesky (April 3, 1962 – July 1, 2015),

Canadian-American retired professional wrestler best known for his time in International World Class Championship Wrestling.[1][2] He was a popular "babyface" in the promotion during the early 1990s, whose gimmick was based on the character Curly Howard from the comedy team The Three Stooges. Bill Apter's 1Wrestling.com has called Curly Moe one of the "silliest characters" in pro wrestling history.[5]

Professional wrestling career

Zalesky trained under

Mondo Kleen while at the facility. He was also the first-ever opponent of Tommy Dreamer, a future Extreme Championship Wrestling star, who debuted on October 28, 1989.[7]

The derby-wearing behemoth would "Hulk Up" in much the same way Curly did in several of the short films and then unleash his power onto his victim. The Southern oddity didn't have an extended career but he was fun to watch while he Nyuk Nyuk'd his way around the ring.

—Jay Shannon, 1Wrestling.com (April 1, 2010)[5]

Zalesky made his pro wrestling debut the following year in

Curly Shuffle in the center of the ring.[9]

The promotion went so far as to claim he was the real-life nephew of Curly and Moe Howard attracting some attention from the media. Zalesky was largely used as a comedy act, who antagonized "Boston Bad Boy" Tony Rumble and other IWCCW "heels" with his zany antics, rather than as a serious competitor. In 1991, Zalesky was ranked #445 of the 500 best singles wrestlers in the country by Pro Wrestling Illustrated; he was also interviewed by PWI senior editor Bill Apter on PWI Conference.[10]

Post-retirement

Weighing in at around 600 lbs. during his career, Zalesky retired due to health problems shortly after IWCCW folded. Following his retirement, Zalesky began teaching

online forums of KayfabeMemories.com to dispel the internet rumors.[A] 1Wrestling.com later included Zalesky's "Curly Moe" gimmick as one of the "silliest characters in wrestling" for a special April Fools' Day column in 2010.[5]

Zalesky died to liver cancer on July 1, 2015.[3][4]

Championships and accomplishments

References

Notes

  1. ^ "Curly Moe is alive and well. I know because I am Curly. I check the net once in a while. I never wrestled as Gustav the Giant. I trained with Tazz - Pete a great guy. & Tommy Dreamer - His mom made me gym pants one time. Nice people. I am 44 years old and I am living in Northern NJ, in the Newark area where I teach English in the Portuguese and Brazilian community known as the Iron Bound. I have been married for 8 years. So please tell people Curly is alive and well."[12]

Citations

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Curly Moe Profile". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-07-13.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, Greg. "Mindbender's Wrestling Greats: "M"". Mindbenders.ca. Mindbenders Wrestling Greats. Archived from the original on 2018-10-20.
  3. ^ a b Apter, Bill (July 1, 2015). "DON "CURLY MOE" ZALESKY HAS DIED". 1Wrestling.com.
  4. ^ a b "DONALD ZALESKY Obituary". The Star-Ledger. July 2015.
  5. ^ a b c d Shannon, Jay (April 1, 2010). "April's Fools: The Silliest Characters in Wrestling". 1Wrestling.com.
  6. ISBN 1578060214
    .
  7. Canadian Online Explorer. Archived from the original on October 5, 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link
    )
  8. Carter, Madison. "Indys: Curly Moe". OldSchool-Wrestling.com. Weird World of Wrestling. Archived from the original
    on December 1, 2008.
  9. ISBN 0792455959
  10. ^ Moe, Curly (1992). "An Interview with Curly Moe". PWI Conference (Interview). Interviewed by Bill Apter. Boston.
  11. ^ Apter, Bill (December 7, 2006). "Newsline: Curly Moe". 1Wrestling.com. Archived from the original on October 5, 2014.
  12. ^ Zalesky, Don (November 16, 2006). "Curly Moe". KayfabeMemories.com. Retrieved November 12, 2014.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Curly_Moe&oldid=1214248302"