Stan Stasiak

Stan Stasiak
Stan Stasiak
Ring name(s)	Stan Stasiak
Billed height	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Billed weight	272 lb (123 kg)
Born	April 13, 1937; Quebec, Canada
Died	June 19, 1997 (aged 60)
Billed from	Buzzard Creek, Oregon
Debut	1958
Retired	1984

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George Stipich (April 13, 1937 - June 19, 1997), better known by his ring name Stan Stasiak, was a Canadian professional wrestler and fifth World Wide Wrestling Federation Champion. He is the father of professional wrestler Shawn Stasiak.

[edit] Career

Born George Stipich, Stasiak made his wrestling debut in Quebec, Canada. He used the nickname "Crusher" early in his career and used a bear hug as a finisher. Later on in his career, he adopted the heart punch as his finishing move.

During his third stay with World Wide Wrestling Federation, he would get one of the biggest opportunities of his career. Stan "The Man" Stasiak won the WWWF World Heavyweight Championship on December 1, 1973, defeating Pedro Morales. Unlike wrestlers today, Stasiak was given little notice about winning the title before it took place. According to him, he was sitting in the dressing room in Philadelphia and the road agent came to discuss the match. Stan considered this a formality as he had been having the same discussion, nearly verbatim, in every major city on the Eastern seaboard for the last two months. However this time, it was different. The agent told Stasiak that Morales was to give him a belly to back suplex and as the ref makes the count, Stan raises his shoulder up after two, while Morales' shoulder stays down, thus the title changes hands. According to friend and fellow wrestler Frank Dusek, the company wanted to make Bruno Sammartino its champion again but did not want Sammartino to defeat current champion Pedro Morales in the process. Stasiak was used as a transition champion, defeating Morales for the belt and holding it for just nine days before losing it to Sammartino on December 10, 1973.

For several years he was the tag team partner of The Gladiator and wrestled primarily out of the Cow Palace in San Francisco. Stasiak and The Gladiator maintained a fairly long term rivalry with the team of Ray Stevens and Peter Maivia.

Stan Stasiak also had a WWWF title shot against "Superstar" Billy Graham in 1977, and an AWA title shot against Nick Bockwinkel in 1978. In 1984, Stasiak retired from the ring and became a security guard for a shopping center. In 1997, he died of heart failure.