Klondike Bill
William Soloweyko (December 1, 1931 – October 3, 2000), better known by his ring name Klondike Bill, was a Canadian professional wrestler. Trained by Stu Hart in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, he wrestled in various National Wrestling Alliance territories throughout the 1960s and 1970s, before moving onto World Championship Wrestling.
| Klondike Bill | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | William Soloweyko |
| Born | December 1, 1931 Calgary, Alberta, Canada |
| Died | October 3, 2000 (aged 68) Pineville, North Carolina, United States |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Bill Soloweyko Klondike Bill[1] Kodiak Bear |
| Billed height | 6 ft 0 in (183 cm)[1] |
| Billed weight | 365 lb (166 kg)[1] |
| Billed from | Kodiak Island, Alaska, United States[1] |
| Trained by | Stu Hart[1] |
| Debut | 1958 |
| Retired | 1987 |
Professional wrestling career
Bill was trained by Stu Hart in the famous Dungeon in Calgary. He began his career wrestling as Bill "The Brute" Soloweyko in Hart's local promotion, Stampede Wrestling before moving on to other territories. During his career he formed various tag teams with wrestlers such as Whipper Billy Watson and Skull Murphy. He performed in WWWF in 1964.
Under the name Klondike Bill, he was hired by Jim Crockett during the 1970s to build guard rails and rings for Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling, and was also a road agent for World Championship Wrestling. During the late 1990s, Bill was involved in a storyline that saw Eric Bischoff demoted as president and forced to set up a ring under Bill's supervision.
Bill was also known for being the only person to consume two 72-ounce steaks at the Big Texan Steak Ranch in the one-hour time limit back in the 1960s.[2]
Death
Soloweyko died on October 3, 2000 from a neuromuscular disorder.
Championships and accomplishments
- 50th State Big Time Wrestling
- NWA Hawaii Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- Championship Wrestling from Florida
- Georgia Championship Wrestling
- NWA National Television Championship (1 time)
- Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance
- All Asia Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Skull Murphy
- NWA Central States
- NWA North American Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Ron Etchison
- NWA Toronto
- NWA International Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Whipper Billy Watson[3]
- NWA Tri-State
References
- ^ a b c d e Shields, Brian; Sullivan, Kevin (2009). WWE Encyclopedia. Dorling Kindersley. p. 176. ISBN 978-0-7566-4190-0.
- ^ . Archived from the original on 2010-10-05. Retrieved 2010-08-05.
- ^ Hoops, Brian (January 18, 2019). "Pro wrestling history (01/18): Ivan Koloff defeats Bruno Sammartino for WWWF title". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved January 18, 2019.
Further reading
- SLAM! Wrestling Canadian Hall of Fame: Klondike Bill
- SLAM! Wrestling: Rallying around an ailing Klondike Bill
- SLAM! Wrestling Guest Column: What Klondike Bill means to me
- SLAM! Wrestling: Klondike Bill passes away
External links
- Klondike Bill's profile at Cagematch.net, Wrestlingdata.com, Internet Wrestling Database