The Bolsheviks

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For the Russian revolutionaries, see Bolsheviks.
The Bolsheviks
The Soviet Union[1]
Debut1987[3]
Disbanded1990[4]
Years active1987–1990

The Bolsheviks were a

World Wrestling Federation (WWF) from late 1987 until the spring of 1990. The team was composed of Nikolai Volkoff and Boris Zhukov portraying a pair of Soviet-themed bad guys. Volkoff was born Josip Peruzovic on October 14, 1947. Although he portrayed a Russian as a wrestler, he was, in fact, from Croatia
. Zhukov was an American named Jim Harrel, who had spent the previous few years of his wrestling career portraying a Russian.

Team history

1987

Zhukov was brought in from the

The Young Stallions and had success against the young duo on house shows around the country, while also facing The British Bulldogs
later in the month.

1988

The Bolsheviks began the new year on NBC television, as they received a title opportunity against

Atlantic City.[9]

During the spring Zhukov and Volkoff began to sustain more losses than wins in continuing house show encounters with The Young Stallions and The Killer Bees. On July 3 they faced the latest signing from

The Powers of Pain at SummerSlam '88, and were defeated.[11]

The Bolsheviks began to slide down the card in the fall of 1988 and were winless in encounters with The Powers of Pain,

Prime Time Wrestling.[13] At the end of December 1988 they were programmed against the latest acquisition from Crockett, The Bushwhackers
.

1989

The duo continued their

Saturday Night's Main Event XXI. In Volkoff's absence Zukhov became an opening card singles wrestler mostly working as a jobber and faced much of the WWF roster as the year progressed. Finally on September 29, 1989, Nikolai returned, and he Zhukov reformed the Bolsheviks,[4] and began to face The Rockers and Young Stallions in losing efforts on house shows. On the October 30 edition of Prime Time Wrestling The Bolsheviks finally obtained their first victory of the year when they defeated Trent Knight and Reno Riggins. After several more victories against preliminary wrestlers in televised matches, Volkoff and Zhukov renewed their rivalry with The Bushwhackers in December, but went winless in all of their matches.[14]

1990

The Bolsheviks began the year with an encounter with The Hart Foundation on the January 1 edition of Prime Time Wrestling. Two weeks later they fell to Demolition on Prime Time Wrestling. On the house show circuit they continued their series with The Bushwhackers, but were winless throughout January and February. On the March 10, 1990 edition of Superstars of Wrestling a match between The Bolsheviks and The Hart Foundation was announced for WrestleMania VI. At the PPV event they were received music "lessons" from Steve Allen.[2] Later that night they were defeated by Hart and Neidhart in a mere 18 seconds.

Breakup and feud

On the April 21 edition of Superstars of Wrestling they received a match with new World Tag-Team champions Demolition and were again unsuccessful. On the May 6 edition of

Wrestling Challenge the Bolsheviks were again defeated, this time in a rematch with The Hart Foundation. This time frustrations boiled over and Boris Zhukov and Nikolai Volkoff began to fight each other after the match concluded. The re-united for the May 19 edition of Superstars of Wrestling, only to lose to The Rockers. After the match Volkoff attacked his partner. On the May 26 edition of the show Boris challenged Nikolai to a match, effectively ending The Bolsheviks partnership.[15]

On the June 2 edition of 'Superstars of Wrestling' the former partners faced off. Volkoff defeated Zhukov by disqualification when Boris hit him with his boot. Prior to the match Zhukov sang the Soviet national anthem as normal, while Nikolai stunned the audience by singing the American national anthem. Volkoff became a flag-waving American

The Orient Express and Zhukov. Santana was the sole survivor.[16]

Nikolai Volkoff died on July 29, 2018.

Championships and accomplishments

  • Wrestling Observer Newsletter
    • Worst Tag Team
      (1988)

See also

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 978-1492825975
    .
  2. ^
    ISBN 978-0-7566-4190-0
    .
  3. ISBN 978-0-7566-4190-0
    .
  4. ^
    ASIN B00RWUNSRS
    .
  5. ^ "1987". thehistoryofwwe.com. 16 January 2023.
  6. ^ "Survivor Series 1987 results". Wrestling Supercards and Tournaments. Retrieved 2008-05-27.
  7. ^ "Survivor Series 1987 review". Complete WWE. Retrieved 2008-05-27.
  8. ^ "Survivor Series 1987 results". Online World of Wrestling. Archived from the original on 2008-06-16. Retrieved 2008-05-27.
  9. ^ "WrestleMania IV official results". WWE. Retrieved 2014-08-06.
  10. ^ "1988". thehistoryofwwe.com. 16 January 2023.
  11. ^ "SummerSlam 1988 Full Event Results". WWE. Retrieved 2012-01-02.
  12. ^ "Survivor Series 1988 official results". WWE. Retrieved June 10, 2008.
  13. ^ Sam Houston & Young Stallions vs Akeem & Bolsheviks Prime Time Nov 29th, 1988, archived from the original on 2016-03-04, retrieved 2019-11-07
  14. ^ "1989". thehistoryofwwe.com. 16 January 2023.
  15. ^ "1990". thehistoryofwwe.com. 16 January 2023.
  16. ^ "Survivor Series 1990". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Bolsheviks&oldid=1195175801"