Tony Kontellis
Tony Kontellis | |
---|---|
Birth name | Antonios Kontellis |
Born | 1935[1] Lesbos, North Aegean, Greece[1] |
Professional wrestling career | |
Ring name(s) | Tony Kontellis |
Billed height | 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) |
Debut | c. 1960 |
Retired | c. 1975 |
Antonios "Tony" Kontellis (
Career
Kontellis participated in the Greek team for the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia but a training injury forced him to withdraw. Travelling to South Australia to visit relatives, he was convinced to enter professional wrestling by a local wrestler. He was training in a gym when he was noticed by a visiting American wrestler, Lou Newman, who served as a mentor during Kontellis's early career.[1] In 1957, Kontellis teamed with Norm Ryan to compete for the vacant Australian Tag Team Championship. They faced Jon and Frank Morro to determine the new champions but were unable to win the title belts.[2]
In 1960, he travelled to
In 1972, while in the WWWF, Kontellis wrestled opponents such as
In 2003, Kontellis became a trainer for the World Wrestling Alliance wrestling school in Cabramatta, Sydney along with his son Paul and Libnan Ayoub. In 2007, Kontellis discontinued the school, and now resides in Sydney.[citation needed]
In 1996, Kontellis represented Greece at the
During the summer of 2001, Kontellis formed a successful tag-team partnership with crowd favourite Rikishi. Kontellis and Rikishi famously claimed the Tag-Team championship in an epic TLC match with the Dudley Boyz.[citation needed] The pair held the title for 6 months and successfully defended the belts on 8 separate occasions before Rikishi famously turned on Kontellis at Summerslam, hitting him with the infamous ‘Stink Face’ finisher.[citation needed]
Kontellis came out of retirement in 2008 and re-ignited his feud with King Kong Czaja in front out a capacity crowd at Acer Arena. Kontellis won 2 of the 3 encounters with Czaja that year, finally putting an end to a rivalry that spanned over half a century. Kontellis was forced to medically retire aged 73 after being chokeslammed through a commentary table by the Big Show. [1][4]
Championships and accomplishments
- World Championship Wrestling (Australia)
- NWA Austra-Asian Tag Team Championship - with Pat Barrett[3]
- Oriental Heavyweight Championship
References
- ^ a b c d e f g "Wrestler Profiles: Tony Kontellis". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 16 December 2009.
- ^ "Australian Tag Team Title". Puroreso Dojo. Retrieved 16 December 2009.
- ^ a b "Austra-Asian Tag Team Title". Puroresu Dojo. Retrieved 16 December 2009.
- ^ https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/wrestling-made-me-a-household-name-in-australia-i-still-get-recognised-today/l8ctb37ni
External links
- Tony Kontellis's profile at Cagematch.net