A legendary figure during an era where managers were actually important, Blassie was the manager of the heel team of Nikolai Volkoff and the Iron Sheik at WrestleMania I. He was instrumental in their victory, as Sheik used his signature cane to attack Barry Windham to win the match. This was but one of the many successful charges he had as a manager over the decades. Over the years, Blassie would manage multiple high-profile performers, including Peter Maivia, George The Animal Steele, Hulk Hogan, as well as Muhammed Ali in his infamous match against Antonio Inoki. Over the years Blassie became very close to the McMahon family. Blassie was such an important manager that he managed to stay employed with WWE until the day he died, June 2, 2003, at age 85, almost nine years after his 1994 WWE Hall of Fame induction. His final appearance for WWE was on May 12th, 2003; during which 3 Minute Warning was going to assault him until Steve Austin and the Dudley Boyz saved him, after which he spoke the words D-Von, Get the Tables! to a monstrous ovation.
Alexander Podgorski is a writer for WhatCulture that has been a fan of professional wrestling since he was 8 years old. He loves all kinds of wrestling, from WWE and sports entertainment, to puroresu in Japan.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Queen's University in Political Studies and French, and a Master's Degree in Public Administration. He speaks English, French, Polish, a bit of German, and knows some odd words and phrases in half a dozen other languages.
