Warren Bockwinkel
{{Short description|American professional wrestler}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2012}}
{{Infobox professional wrestler
|name=Warren Bockwinkel
|image= Warren Bockwinkel.jpg
|image_size =4_85
|caption= A promotional photograph of Bockwinkel from the 1950s.
|names=Warren Bockwinkel"Ernie Dusek, Bockwinkle Rassle Tonight". Washington Post. December 5, 1946
|height=
|children = Nick Bockwinkel
|weight= {{convert|220|lb|kg|abbr=on}}"Bockwinkle Battles Olson On Londos-Cox Mat Card". Washington Post. April 3, 1940
|birth_date = {{Birth date|1911|5|21}}
|death_date = {{death date and age|1986|3|25|1911|5|21}}
|birth_place =
|death_place = St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
|resides=
|billed=St. Louis, Missouri"Bockwinkle Engages Golden Terror on Mat Thursday Night". Washington Post. August 4, 1940
|trainer=
|debut= 1934
|retired= 1957
|}}
Warren Bockwinkel (often misspelled Bockwinkle, May 21, 1911 – March 25, 1986) was an American professional wrestler.
Career
Bockwinkel was working as a truck driver for International Shoe Company in St. Louis, Missouri when he was introduced to professional wrestling by a small man he met in a bar who subsequently took him to a gym run by an individual named "Tregas". This Tregas was an experienced European wrestler who seemingly operated a wrestling training gym in St. Louis.{{cite AV media |date=2025-05-02 |title=Nick Bockwinkel on growing up with a LEGENDARY Father - My Life with Warren Bockwinkel |medium=YouTube |language=en |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSBFfP0JxTA&t=1037s |access-date=2025-05-13}}
Bockwinkel competed in the National Wrestling Alliance and North American regional promotions during the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. He was a "shoot-style" wrestler who started in St. Louis and who often played an “excellent middle of the card” role, wrestling primarily in preliminary matches, although he occasionally appeared in main events.{{cite AV media |date=2025-05-02 |title=Nick Bockwinkel on growing up with a LEGENDARY Father - My Life with Warren Bockwinkel |medium=YouTube |language=en |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSBFfP0JxTA&t=1037s |access-date=2025-05-13}} One of the earliest wrestlers to appear on television, he teamed with many of the top wrestlers of the day including Ray Vilmer, Killer Kowalski and "Classy" Freddie Blassie. Although he never won a world title during his career, he was involved in many high-profile feuds including against Ernie Dusek, Paul Boesch,{{cite web |url=http://www.wrestling-titles.com/personalities/boesch_paul/career.html |title=The Career of Paul Boesch – One Man, One Sport, One Lifetime – 53 Years on the Mat |accessdate=April 5, 2007 |author=Boesch, Paul |year=1981 |publisher=The Wrestling News |quote= }} Sandor Szabo, George Zaharias"'Glamour Boy' Wrestles Tonight". Washington Post. October 24, 1940"Torrid Mat Foes to Meet In Rematch". Washington Post. October 27, 1940 and NWA World Heavyweight Champion Lou Thesz.{{cite web |url=http://www.comics101.com/kentuckyfriedrasslin//?mode=project&action=view&project=Kentucky%20Fried%20Rasslin&chapter=28 |title=Kentucky Fried Rasslin': The Beverly Hills Blonde Bomber |accessdate=April 5, 2007 |author=Bowden, Scott |date=December 7, 2006 |publisher=Comics101.com |quote= |archive-date=July 31, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120731082054/http://www.comics101.com/kentuckyfriedrasslin//?mode=project&action=view&project=Kentucky%20Fried%20Rasslin&chapter=28 |url-status=dead }}
He was also the trainer of several wrestlers of the "Golden Age of Wrestling"-era including Wilbur Snyder and, along with Lou Thesz, his son Nick Bockwinkel who would eventually become a major star in the American Wrestling Association winning the AWA World Heavyweight Championship six times during the 1970s and 1980s.
By 1955, he had retired, only coming out of retirement for a match with Hans Schmidt on October 2, 1957. Bockwinkel was inducted into the George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2010.{{cite web|url=http://nwhof.org/blog/dg-inductees/warren-bockwinkel/|title=Warren Bockwinkel|accessdate=November 16, 2015|work=National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum}}
It is said that Bockwinkel wrestled a match in 1983 at 72 years old but this is unverified.
Personal life
A personal friend of promoter Lord James Blears, he convinced Blears to allow Nick Bockwinkel to compete in his NWA Hawaii territory{{cite web |url=http://www.wrestlingfigs.com/inner2.php?id=438&page_id=1 |title=Iaukea reminisces about 50th-state wrestling |accessdate=April 5, 2007 |author=Ohira, Rod |date=July 24, 2005 |publisher=The Honolulu Advertiser |archive-date=March 3, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303175701/http://www.wrestlingfigs.com/inner2.php?id=438&page_id=1 |url-status=dead }} and later teamed with his son during the early 1950s.{{cite web |url=http://www.kayfabememories.com/Regions/awa/awa26.htm |title=Regional Territories: AWA |accessdate=April 5, 2007 |author=Zordani, Jim|year=2004 |publisher=KayfabeMemories.com}} His son, Nick, later acknowledged his father in his induction speeches for the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum in 2003 and the WWE Hall of Fame in 2007.{{cite web|url=http://www.pwhf.org/halloffamers/bios/bockwinkel.asp|title=Nick Bockwinkel|accessdate=November 16, 2015|work=Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum|archive-date=November 17, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117015102/http://www.pwhf.org/halloffamers/bios/bockwinkel.asp|url-status=dead}}
{{cite web|url=http://www.tmz.com/2015/11/15/nick-bockwinkel-dead-dies-wwe-hall-of-fame/|title=NICK BOCKWINKELWWE Legend Dead at 80|work=TMZ|publisher=Time Warner|accessdate=November 16, 2015|date=November 15, 2015|author=TMZ Staff}}{{cite web|url=http://www.wwe.com/superstars/nickbockwinkel/|title=NICK BOCKWINKEL|work=WWE.com|publisher=WWE|accessdate=November 16, 2015}}
Death
Further reading
- Conner, Floyd. Wrestlings Most Wanted: The Top 10 Book of Pro Wrestling's Outrageous Performers, Punishing Piledrivers and Other Oddities. Dulles, Virginia: Brassey's, 2001. {{ISBN|1-57488-308-9}}
- Thesz, Lou. Hooker: An Authentic Wrestler's Adventures Inside the Bizarre World of Professional Wrestling. Wrestling Channel Press, 2001. {{ISBN|0-9706516-0-0}}
References
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}
External links
- {{usurped|1=[https://archive.today/20130115191750/http://www.canoe.ca/SlamWrestlingFeatures/fathersday1.html SLAM! Wrestling: 2nd-gen grapplers reflect on their Dads]}} by Greg Oliver
- {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20041213095758/http://www.bodyslamming.com/deceased/wbockwinkel.html Deceased Superstars – Warren Bockwinkel]}}
- [http://www.wrestlingclassics.com/wawli/Nos.051-060.html The WAWLI Papers #051-060]
- [http://www.garywill.com/wrestling/decwres.htm Gary Will: Deceased Pro Wrestlers – A Tribute to Mat Stars of the Past]
- {{professional wrestling profiles}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bockwinkel, Warren}}
Category:20th-century American male actors
Category:American male professional wrestlers
Category:Professional wrestlers from Missouri
Category:Stampede Wrestling alumni