Nikolai Volkoff brought joy to millions of US television viewers as the red-flag draped Soviet of the mad and colourful world that was the American pro wrestling scene of the 1980s,
Only he was not actually Russian – he was born Josip Hrvoje Peruzović in the former Yugoslavia, in what is now Croatia, in 1940.
Volkoff endeared himself to the public as the archetypal Soviet athlete, belting out the Soviet national anthem before matches against Hulk Hogan and other Cold War-era national heroes of America’s World Wrestling Entertainment stable.
Volkoff, who has died aged 70, was one of the most notorious “heels” – or bad guys – in American professional wrestling, known for entering the ring wearing an ushanka, Russia’s iconic ear-covering hat – and a red-and-gold turtleneck emblazoned with “USSR”.
The burly 21-stone sportsman made his biggest mark in 1985, partnering with the Iron Sheik – Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri, the Iranian supervillain wrestler. To the dismay of more than 19,000 fans at New York’s Madison Square Garden, at America’s first WresteMania event, the duo won the tag team championship against Barry Windham and Mike Rotunda, the red-white-and-blue team known as the US Express
While Volkoff portrayed a staunch anti-American in his matches, in reality he had fled communist Yugoslavia. At the suggestion of his manager, he took on the Volkoff persona as a way of making fun of communism.
Wrestling fans greeted him with jeers and even violence, tossing Russian at him while he insisted they stand for his performance of the Soviet anthem. As tensions with fans escalated in the mid-1980s, Volkoff asked that his matches take place earlier in the show, rather than serving as the main event, so he could leave stadiums before the crowds. He said he sometimes wore a wig while dining with his family, to avoid public attention.
In a 2016 interview, Volkoff said “the first time and only time I got scared in the ring” was while singing the Soviet anthem at the Superdome in New Orleans in 1984. “I thought the whole building was going to come down,” he said.
After the fall of the Soviet Union – which he claimed to have hastened by fomenting anti-Soviet sentiment in the West – Volkoff decided he had had enough of the communist gimmick. He took on various roles of good guys and even sympathetic bad guys before retiring from wrestling in 1997.
Settling near Baltimore, he worked as a code-inspector – a local government warden. As a Republican, he ran an unsuccessful 2006 campaign for a seat in the Maryland general assembly. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005.
Josip Nikolai Peruzovic was born in Split to a Russian mother and Croatian father. He started out as a weightlifter, becoming a European junior champion before taking after his grandfather, who had also been a wrestler.
Volkoff defected from Yugoslavia in 1968 while at a weightlifting tournament in Vienna. He made his way to Calgary, Alberta, where he met up with wrestling trainer Stu Hart, who showed him the ropes of entertainment wrestling. During his career at WWE and other companies, he wrestled the biggest names in the business, including Bruno Sammartino and Sgt. Slaughter.
Peruzovic and his wife, Lynn Peruzovic, had two daughters.
Asked how he viewed his legacy, he told the Hannibal TV: “I escaped from communism, I come here to this country, and I live American Dream. And I'm happy I'm here.”
© The Washington Post
Nikolai Volkoff (Josip Nikolai Peruzovic), wrestler, born 14 October 1947, died 29 July 2018
