Greece: 1950-1959
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1950
Greece
This year "things in Athens continued to grow. While the previous three years there had been one stadium show per year, this year there were two and more foreign wrestlers than ever before worked in Greece during the year. The main arena in Athens at this point was Missouri Theater, which could hold up to 3,000 fans. A number of wrestlers headlined shows there throughout the year. One notable name among them being Evangelos Gribiris. He got his start in wrestling around 1947, but 1950 is when he became established as a star.
...
Paul Berger from Switzerland was brought in and took on top Greek names such as Harry Karpozilos and Nikolaos Iliopoulos, at least two of his three bouts at the venue being sell-outs. Berger finished off his run by losing to Iliopoulos." - Phil Lions
MARCH 1950
MARCH 12, 1950 (SUNDAY)
Missouri Theater, Athens, Greece
1 - Evangelos Gribiris def. Zibisko
APRIL 1950
APRIL 23, 1950 (SUNDAY)
Georgios Kamaras Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Sean Casi (of Italy) Vs. Jim Mexis,
Result Unknown
2 - Paul Leteurtrois (of France) Vs. Jim Pantobe,
Result Unknown
Notes:
Jim Mexis is the brother of Nicko Mexis.
APRIL 30, 1950 (SUNDAY)
Georgios Kamaras Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 6,000
1 - Rematch
Jim Pantobe def. Paul Leteurtrois,
2 - Harry Karpozilos def. Sean Casi
JUNE 1950
JUNE 3, 1950 (SATURDAY)
Sparta, Peloponnese, Greece
Featuring female wrestlers Rita Santorinaiou and Kouka; male wrestlers Nikolaos Iliopoulos and Theodoros Nikolarakos
JUNE 4, 1950 (SUNDAY)
Tripoli, Peloponnese, Greece
Featuring female wrestlers Rita Santorinaiou and Kouka; male wrestlers Nikolaos Iliopoulos and Theodoros Nikolarakos
NOVEMBER 1950
NOVEMBER 19, 1950 (SUNDAY)
Missouri Theater, Athens, Greece
1 - Evangelos Gribiris Vs. Paul Leteurtrois,
Result Unknown
NOVEMBER 26, 1950 (SUNDAY)
Missouri Theater, Athens, Greece
1 - Evangelos Gribiris def. Paul Leteurtrois
NOVEMBER 1950
NOVEMBER 19, 1950 (SUNDAY)
Missouri Theater, Athens, Greece
1 - Evangelos Gribiris Vs. Paul Leteurtrois,
Result Unknown
NOVEMBER 26, 1950 (SUNDAY)
Missouri Theater, Athens, Greece
1 - Evangelos Gribiris def. Paul Leteurtrois
1951
Greece
This "was a slow year for wrestling in Athens in a sense that it was all smaller theater shows and only one stadium show. Elias Panagos, Harry Karpozilos, Paraschos Boras and Evangelos Gribiris were the ones headlining the smaller shows. This was also the year when Kostas Nathaniel showed up on the scene. He would become a top star in the future.
...
The big story of 1951 was not so much what happened, but what didn't happen. Throughout the spring there was a bunch of talk in the Greek press that the former World Heavyweight champion Frank Sexton wanted to come to wrestle in Greece. He was exchanging letters back and forth with Harry Karpozilos about this. The Greek press even posted a photo of one of the letter envelopes as proof. Ultimately, Sexton never wrestled in Greece.
Another interesting story in 1951 was a reader poll that the biggest Greek sports newspaper ran in the summer of that year, basically asking their readers who they thought was the best Greek wrestler. Both pro and amateur wrestlers got votes. Karpozilos was far and away the number one guy in the poll. He got double the votes of the 2nd and 3rd guy (Lambrakis and Gribiris). The veteran Boras was 4th, but he got half the votes that the 2nd and 3rd guy had received." - Phil Lions
Greece
This "was a slow year for wrestling in Athens in a sense that it was all smaller theater shows and only one stadium show. Elias Panagos, Harry Karpozilos, Paraschos Boras and Evangelos Gribiris were the ones headlining the smaller shows. This was also the year when Kostas Nathaniel showed up on the scene. He would become a top star in the future.
...
The big story of 1951 was not so much what happened, but what didn't happen. Throughout the spring there was a bunch of talk in the Greek press that the former World Heavyweight champion Frank Sexton wanted to come to wrestle in Greece. He was exchanging letters back and forth with Harry Karpozilos about this. The Greek press even posted a photo of one of the letter envelopes as proof. Ultimately, Sexton never wrestled in Greece.
Another interesting story in 1951 was a reader poll that the biggest Greek sports newspaper ran in the summer of that year, basically asking their readers who they thought was the best Greek wrestler. Both pro and amateur wrestlers got votes. Karpozilos was far and away the number one guy in the poll. He got double the votes of the 2nd and 3rd guy (Lambrakis and Gribiris). The veteran Boras was 4th, but he got half the votes that the 2nd and 3rd guy had received." - Phil Lions
OCTOBER 1951
OCTOBER 7, 1951 (SUNDAY)
Gregoris Lambrakis Stadium, Kallithea, Attica, Greece
Attendance: 3,000
1 - Elias Panagos Vs. Kasim Aslan (of Turkey),
Result Unknown
OCTOBER 10, 1951 (WEDNESDAY)
Athens, Greece
1 - Harry Karpozilos def. Kasim Aslan
OCTOBER 14, 1951 (SUNDAY)
Chalcis, Central Greece, Greece
1 - Elias Panagos def. Kasim Aslan
1952
Greece
This year "was jam-packed with shows. More than any other year since 1939, at least based on my information. There was a show in Athens almost every Sunday, for nine months of the year. Karpozilos headlined most of these theater shows and wrestled various other Greek wrestlers. Not only that but he also headlined five, out of a total of seven, stadium shows that were held in Athens that year. Up to this point the most they had ever done in a calendar year was two stadium shows and now they were doing seven. In addition to this, it seems that wrestling made a return to PAOK Stadium in Thessaloniki as well, which was a big venue for them as well. Clearly, Karpozilos' popularity and wrestling as a whole was on the rise. 1952 was a year of two wrestlers - Karpozilos and Boras. There were other names who had some prominence during the year too, like Panagos and Kadas for example, but Karpozilos and Boras were the two guys everything revolved around. Let's start with Boras first."
From January through August, on and off, Boras feuded with a wrestler by the name of Christos Tsaker. Much like Kostas Nathaniel, who I mentioned earlier, he was always billed as a Macedonian, but what that meant was that he was a Greek born in the Macedonian region, not that he was an actual Macedonian." - Phil Lions
Greece
This year "was jam-packed with shows. More than any other year since 1939, at least based on my information. There was a show in Athens almost every Sunday, for nine months of the year. Karpozilos headlined most of these theater shows and wrestled various other Greek wrestlers. Not only that but he also headlined five, out of a total of seven, stadium shows that were held in Athens that year. Up to this point the most they had ever done in a calendar year was two stadium shows and now they were doing seven. In addition to this, it seems that wrestling made a return to PAOK Stadium in Thessaloniki as well, which was a big venue for them as well. Clearly, Karpozilos' popularity and wrestling as a whole was on the rise. 1952 was a year of two wrestlers - Karpozilos and Boras. There were other names who had some prominence during the year too, like Panagos and Kadas for example, but Karpozilos and Boras were the two guys everything revolved around. Let's start with Boras first."
From January through August, on and off, Boras feuded with a wrestler by the name of Christos Tsaker. Much like Kostas Nathaniel, who I mentioned earlier, he was always billed as a Macedonian, but what that meant was that he was a Greek born in the Macedonian region, not that he was an actual Macedonian." - Phil Lions
APRIL 1952
APRIL 6, 1952 (SUNDAY)
Nikaia Municipal Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 3,000
1 - Paraschos Boras Vs. Elias Panagos,
Result Unknown
MAY 1952
MAY 11, 1952 (SUNDAY)
Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece
1 - Harry Karpozilos Vs. Willi Hofstetter (of Germany),
Draw (01:00:00)
MAY 18, 1952 (SUNDAY)
Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece
1 - Kasim Aslan (of Turkey) Vs. Ivan Binder (of Austria),
Result Unknown
MAY 25, 1952 (SUNDAY)
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 5,000
1 - Willi Hofstetter def. Harry Karpozilos,
Forfeit
Notes:
Hofstetter threw Karpozilos outside of the ring.
Karpozilos then could not continue.
JUNE 1952
JUNE 1, 1952 (SUNDAY)
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 7,000
1 - Harry Karpozilos def. Willi Hofstetter
JUNE 19, 1952 (THURSDAY)
PAOK Stadium, Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece
1 - Paraschos Boras def. Christos Tsaker,
JUNE 22, 1952 (SATURDAY)
Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece
1 - Harry Karpozilos def. Willi Hofstetter
AUGUST 1952
AUGUST 3, 1952 (SUNDAY)
Nikaia Municipal Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Paraschos Boras Vs. Christos Tsaker,
Result Unknown
OCTOBER 1952
OCTOBER 12, 1952 (SUNDAY)
Aigaleo Football Club Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 5,000
1 - Harry Karpozilos def. Ali Ahmet (of Turkey)
[Ahmet is also known as Ali Chapraz]
OCTOBER 19, 1952 (SUNDAY)
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 5,000
1 - Harry Karpozilos def. Ali Ahmet (of Turkey)
DECEMBER 1952
DECEMBER 4, 1952 (THURSDAY)
Athens, Greece
1 - Harry Karpozilos def. Kasim Aslan
DECEMBER 7, 1952 (SUNDAY)
Athens, Greece
1 - Harry Karpozilos Vs. Kasim Aslan,
Result Unknown
DECEMBER 1952
DECEMBER 4, 1952 (THURSDAY)
Athens, Greece
1 - Harry Karpozilos def. Kasim Aslan
DECEMBER 7, 1952 (SUNDAY)
Athens, Greece
1 - Harry Karpozilos Vs. Kasim Aslan,
Result Unknown
1953
Greece
"Much like 1952, 1953 was a pretty consistent year schedule-wise as there were regular weekly shows in Athens all throughout the year. Also, there were once again seven stadium shows, all at Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium.
....
There was also talk of Ray Apollon (from Trinidad) coming in as well, but he didn't.
...
[Paraschos Boras] defeated his arch-nemesis from the 1930s Dimitrios Karydas in Karydas' first match that I have a record of since 1938.
And on a final note, 1953 was also the year when Kostas Papalazarou (later on known internationally as Con Papalazarou) first emerged on the scene. Years later he would become one of the biggest stars in Greek pro wrestling history." - Phil Lions
Greece
"Much like 1952, 1953 was a pretty consistent year schedule-wise as there were regular weekly shows in Athens all throughout the year. Also, there were once again seven stadium shows, all at Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium.
....
There was also talk of Ray Apollon (from Trinidad) coming in as well, but he didn't.
...
[Paraschos Boras] defeated his arch-nemesis from the 1930s Dimitrios Karydas in Karydas' first match that I have a record of since 1938.
And on a final note, 1953 was also the year when Kostas Papalazarou (later on known internationally as Con Papalazarou) first emerged on the scene. Years later he would become one of the biggest stars in Greek pro wrestling history." - Phil Lions
MAY 1953
MAY 3, 1953 (SUNDAY)
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 5,000
1 - Harry Karpozilos def. Nicko Mexis
MAY 10, 1953 (SUNDAY)
PAOK Stadium, Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece
1 - Harry Karpozilos def. Nicko Mexis
MAY 17, 1953 (SUNDAY)
Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece
1 - Paraschos Boras Vs. Harry Karpozilos,
Draw (01:00:00)
JUNE 1953
JUNE 24, 1953 (WEDNESDAY)
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Harry Karpozilos def. Theodoros Nikolarakos
JUNE 28, 1953 (MONDAY)
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 8,000
1 - Antonio Moralino (of Brazil) def. Kostas Nathaniel
2 - Harry Karpozilos def. Demis Lekkas (Greek from Germany)
JULY 1953
JULY 1, 1953 (WEDNESDAY)
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Demis Lekkas def. Theodoros Nikolarakos
2 - Antonio Moralino def. Jack Allen
JULY 5, 1953 (SUNDAY)
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 6,000
1 - Paraschos Boras def. Demis Lekkas
2 - Antonio Moralino def. Harry Karpozilos,
Forfeit
Notes:
Moralino wrestled dirty throughout the match.
Karpozilos got klnocked out, outside of the ring and could not continue.
JULY 12, 1953 (SUNDAY)
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 10,000
1 - Harry Karpozilos def. Antonio Moralino
JULY 19, 1953 (SUNDAY)
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Paraschos Boras def. Christos Tsaker
NOVEMBER 1953-DECEMBER 1953
NOVEMBER 15, 1953 (SUNDAY)-DECEMBER 13, 1953 (SUNDAY)
Athens, Greece
"Another interesting run of shows took place between November 15 and December 13. Each Sunday in that time frame there were three shows in Athens. The returning Moralino, Karpozilos and Gribiris were the main eventers for most of these shows, taking on various opponents. The shows were held at smaller venues, but still it's interesting to see three shows on the same day." - Phil Lions
1954
Greece
This year "things were scaled back mostly because the top star Harry Karpozilos wasn't around as he spent most of the year wrestling in the United States. Plus, the number two guy, Andreas Lambrakis, hadn't been around for a while either as he too was wrestling abroad. Shows were still being put on somewhat regularly in Athens, but interest in wrestling was clearly down as evidenced by the reduced press coverage of the events (i.e. some pre-show articles, but very few actual reports from shows) as well as the fact there was only one stadium show during the whole year. That said, there were still some noteworthy events taking place in Athens.
1954 was the year when a lot of younger wrestlers began headlining the Athens shows. Namely Kostas Papalazarou, Dimitris Karystinos and Kostas Nathaniel. It was also a year when a bigger emphasis was placed on the Greek championships. As I've mentioned before, there were championship belts in Greek pro wrestling, but they would pop up only once in a while and weren't being defended all that regularly up to this point. Then all of a sudden in 1954 there were a lot of mentions of champions and championship matches. I guess this was their way of drumming up some interest in the absence of Karpozilos." - Phil Lions
Greece
This year "things were scaled back mostly because the top star Harry Karpozilos wasn't around as he spent most of the year wrestling in the United States. Plus, the number two guy, Andreas Lambrakis, hadn't been around for a while either as he too was wrestling abroad. Shows were still being put on somewhat regularly in Athens, but interest in wrestling was clearly down as evidenced by the reduced press coverage of the events (i.e. some pre-show articles, but very few actual reports from shows) as well as the fact there was only one stadium show during the whole year. That said, there were still some noteworthy events taking place in Athens.
1954 was the year when a lot of younger wrestlers began headlining the Athens shows. Namely Kostas Papalazarou, Dimitris Karystinos and Kostas Nathaniel. It was also a year when a bigger emphasis was placed on the Greek championships. As I've mentioned before, there were championship belts in Greek pro wrestling, but they would pop up only once in a while and weren't being defended all that regularly up to this point. Then all of a sudden in 1954 there were a lot of mentions of champions and championship matches. I guess this was their way of drumming up some interest in the absence of Karpozilos." - Phil Lions
APRIL 1954
APRIL 11, 1954 (SUNDAY)
Athens, Greece
1 - Greek Heavyweight Championship
Kostas Papalazarou def. Evangelos Gribiris
NEW CHAMPION
Notes:
It's not clear if Gribiris was the champion going in or not.
APRIL 18, 1954 (SUNDAY)
Athens, Greece
1 - Greek Light Heavyweight Championship
Jim Maras Vs. Anastasios Ananiadis,
Result Unknown
MAY 1954
MAY 16, 1954 (SUNDAY)
Athens, Greece
1 - Greek Heavyweight Champion Vs. Greek Light Heavyweight Champion
Kostas Papalazarou def. Petrakis
MAY 23, 1954 (SUNDAY)
Athens, Greece
1 - Greek Light Heavyweight Championship
Petrakis (c) Vs. Paraschos Boras,
Result Unknown
[Later on in the year Boras is the champion.
Not clear if he won it hear or later]
JUNE 1954
JUNE 13, 1954 (SUNDAY)
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Kostas Nathaniel Vs. Jack Allen,
Result Unknown
2 - Evangelos Gribiris Vs. Petrakis,
Result Unknown
3 - Demis Lekkas Vs. Jim Poulous,
Result Unknown
JULY 1954
JULY 18, 1954 (SUNDAY)
Athens, Greece
1 - Kostas Papalazarou Vs. Dimitris Karystinos,
Result Unknown
Notes:
It's possible the Greek Heavyweight Championship was on the line.
It's also possible Karystinos won the title.
Karystinos is also working as a strongman.
JULY 25, 1954 (SUNDAY)
Athens, Greece
1 - Kostas Papalazarou Vs. Dimitris Karystinos,
Result Unknown
Notes:
It's possible the Greek Heavyweight Championship was on the line.
It's also possible Karystinos won the title.
[Karystinos is the main headliner in Greece for the rest of the year]
AUGUST 1954
AUGUST 1, 1954 (SUNDAY)
Athens, Greece
1 - Greek Heavyweight Champion Vs. Greek Light Heavyweight Champion
Dimitris Karystinos Vs. Paraschos Boras,
Result Unknown
1955
Greece
"For 1955 I have a record of about only 20 or so shows. I'm not sure whether the newspaper I was using for my research simply did not cover the smaller shows or there really weren't any shows beyond those 20 shows. Even so, this was a big year for Greek pro wrestling as it saw the two top Greek stars return to headline a number of big events.
Firstly, Andreas Lambrakis finally returned to Greece after being away since 1949. He was coming off a run in Argentina, which was regularly being written about in the Greek press and therefore in addition to already having an established reputation in Greece itself now Lambrakis was seen as someone who had had success internationally as well and this boosted his popularity in his home country even further." - Phil Lions
Greece
"For 1955 I have a record of about only 20 or so shows. I'm not sure whether the newspaper I was using for my research simply did not cover the smaller shows or there really weren't any shows beyond those 20 shows. Even so, this was a big year for Greek pro wrestling as it saw the two top Greek stars return to headline a number of big events.
Firstly, Andreas Lambrakis finally returned to Greece after being away since 1949. He was coming off a run in Argentina, which was regularly being written about in the Greek press and therefore in addition to already having an established reputation in Greece itself now Lambrakis was seen as someone who had had success internationally as well and this boosted his popularity in his home country even further." - Phil Lions
JANUARY 1955
JANUARY 12, 1955 (WEDNESDAY)
Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece
Attendance: 6,000
1 - Andreas Lambrakis def. Ali Ahmet (of Turkey)
JANUARY 19, 1955 (WEDNESDAY)
Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece
Attendance: 12,000
1 - Andreas Lambrakis def. Ali Ahmet (of Turkey)
JANUARY 1955
JANUARY 12, 1955 (WEDNESDAY)
Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece
Attendance: 6,000
1 - Andreas Lambrakis def. Ali Ahmet (of Turkey)
JANUARY 19, 1955 (WEDNESDAY)
Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece
Attendance: 12,000
1 - Andreas Lambrakis def. Ali Ahmet (of Turkey)
MAY 1955
MAY 4, 1955 (WEDNESDAY)
Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece
1 - Vasileiadis def. Josef Kamaras (of Hungary),
2 - Elias Panagos def. Andreas Lambrakis
MAY 22, 1955 (SUNDAY)
Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece
1 - Elias Panagos def. Andreas Lambrakis
[Josef Kamaras, of Hungary, possibly appeared here]
JUNE 1955
JUNE 1, 1955 (WEDNESDAY)
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 10,000
1 - Georgios Papadakis def. Evangelos Gribiris
2 - Andreas Lambrakis def. King Badu
JUNE 4, 1955 (SUNDAY)
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 8,000
1 - Jack Morley (of Canada) [Fritz Muller, of Germany] df. Jack Allen
2 - Harry Karpozilos def. Nico Selenkowitsch (of Yugoslavia)
JUNE 15, 1955 (WEDNESDAY)
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 8,000
1 - Nico Selenkowitsch def. King Badu
2 - Andreas Lambrakis def. Jack Morley (of Canada)
JUNE 22, 1955 (WEDNESDAY)
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 10,000
1 - Andreas Lambrakis def Nick Selenkowitsch
2 - Harry Karpozilos def. Jack Morley
JUNE 29, 1955 (WEDNESDAY)
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 18,000
1 - Jack Morley def. Nico Selenkowitsch
2 - Andread Lambrakis def. Harry Karpozilos
["In the eyes of the Greek fans the two [Lambrakis & Karpozilos] of them were the best Greek wrestlers (obviously, outside of Jim Londos who was on a level all by himself) and they had been feuding over the top spot for years now. Not only that, both were coming off of international runs that further established them as stars in the eyes of the Greek public. Their match on June 29 was a big deal. One of the biggest matches in Greek pro wrestling history, in fact." - Phil Lions]
JULY 1955
JULY 27, 1955 (WEDNESDAY)
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Notes:
This is the first of six stadium shows ran here.
[Harry Karpozilos and/or Andreas Lambrakis headlined all of these shows.
Their foreign opponents this time were Pablo Bernaus, from Spain and Giovanni Carmelo, from Italy.
The newspaper mentions thousands of fans being in attendance for some of those shows]
AUGUST 1955
AUGUST 10, 1955 (WEDNESDAY)
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 5,000
1 - Harry Karpozilos def. Pablo Bernaus
2 - Andreas Lambrakis def. Giovanni Carmelo
[The second match was a rematch, Lambrakis had lost the first bout]
SEPTEMBER 1955
SEPTEMBER 4, 1955 (SUNDAY)
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Andreas Lambrakis def. Harry Karpozilos,
Forfeit
Notes:
Lambrakis threw Karpozilos outside of the ring and the latter could not continue.
This is the last of the six stadium shows held here.
1956
Greece
This "was a year of two stories: the return of Jim Londos and there being a total of 21 shows at Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium in Athens (which was a big step up from the 12 the year before).
...
The Athens pro wrestling scene of 1956 seemed to be thriving with there being a total of 21 stadium shows in the city during the course of the year. There may have been a few more actually, because there are no newspapers available for me to research the first two months of the year with. Karpozilos and Lambrakis took turns headlining all but two of the stadium shows. The two shows in question had Panagos in the main event, which is notable because at this point it was still very rare for there to be a stadium show in Athens not headlined by Karpozilos or Lambrakis. A number of foreign wrestlers worked the stadium shows during the course of the year. First up was Jimmy Dula, who defeated Karpozilos and likely Lambrakis as well (report for the show is missing, but I believe that was the result) only to be defeated himself later on by Lambakis. Germany's Richard Gruppe was on at least one of those cards as well. Willy Hofstetter and King Badu returned to Athens for some new matches and there were also newcomers such as a Suleyman (from Egypt), someone called Morgan (from Mexico) and Karim Mohamet. Also, a young Hercules Cortez of Spain had a month-long run taking on the likes of Papalazarou, Lambrakis, Panagos until finally wrestling (and losing) two headline matches against Karpozilos.
...
The foreigner who got the most attention and who got over the most, however, was Abel Cestac from Argentina. Before he became a pro wrestler Cestac had been a pro boxer. He was discovered by Luis Angel Firpo, who brought him to the States in 1945, where Firpo and Jack Dempsey managed Cestac's boxing career. They had high hopes for him and while he did have a solid boxing career (38-14-3 record, according to boxrec) he never quite reached the potential they saw in him. In the early 1950s Cestac retired from boxing. At some point he married a woman from Crete and they re-located to the Crete capital of Heraklion, where it's said Cestac wrestled many a matches and was quite popular, but sadly I don't have any records of his matches there. Before he gained popularity as a wrestler in Greece he had a small role in the critically acclaimed 1964 movie "Zorba the Greek". Cestac first arrived in Athens in May 1956 and was given a big push. Cestac (or Sestak as he was known in Greece) had an athletic style, somewhat similar to that of Antonino Rocca, and was an instant hit with the Athens fans." - Phil Lions
Greece
This "was a year of two stories: the return of Jim Londos and there being a total of 21 shows at Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium in Athens (which was a big step up from the 12 the year before).
...
The Athens pro wrestling scene of 1956 seemed to be thriving with there being a total of 21 stadium shows in the city during the course of the year. There may have been a few more actually, because there are no newspapers available for me to research the first two months of the year with. Karpozilos and Lambrakis took turns headlining all but two of the stadium shows. The two shows in question had Panagos in the main event, which is notable because at this point it was still very rare for there to be a stadium show in Athens not headlined by Karpozilos or Lambrakis. A number of foreign wrestlers worked the stadium shows during the course of the year. First up was Jimmy Dula, who defeated Karpozilos and likely Lambrakis as well (report for the show is missing, but I believe that was the result) only to be defeated himself later on by Lambakis. Germany's Richard Gruppe was on at least one of those cards as well. Willy Hofstetter and King Badu returned to Athens for some new matches and there were also newcomers such as a Suleyman (from Egypt), someone called Morgan (from Mexico) and Karim Mohamet. Also, a young Hercules Cortez of Spain had a month-long run taking on the likes of Papalazarou, Lambrakis, Panagos until finally wrestling (and losing) two headline matches against Karpozilos.
...
The foreigner who got the most attention and who got over the most, however, was Abel Cestac from Argentina. Before he became a pro wrestler Cestac had been a pro boxer. He was discovered by Luis Angel Firpo, who brought him to the States in 1945, where Firpo and Jack Dempsey managed Cestac's boxing career. They had high hopes for him and while he did have a solid boxing career (38-14-3 record, according to boxrec) he never quite reached the potential they saw in him. In the early 1950s Cestac retired from boxing. At some point he married a woman from Crete and they re-located to the Crete capital of Heraklion, where it's said Cestac wrestled many a matches and was quite popular, but sadly I don't have any records of his matches there. Before he gained popularity as a wrestler in Greece he had a small role in the critically acclaimed 1964 movie "Zorba the Greek". Cestac first arrived in Athens in May 1956 and was given a big push. Cestac (or Sestak as he was known in Greece) had an athletic style, somewhat similar to that of Antonino Rocca, and was an instant hit with the Athens fans." - Phil Lions
MAY 1956
MAY 7, 1956 (MONDAY)
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 6,000
1 - Abel Cestac (of Argentina) def. Harry Karpozilos,
2 - Andreas Lambrakis def. Willi Hofstetter (of Germany)
MAY 16, 1956 (WEDNESDAY)
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 10,000
1 - Kostas Papalzarou Vs. Willi Hostetter (of Germany),
Result Unknown
2 - Abel Cestac def. Andreas Lambrakis
MAY 24, 1956 (THURSDAY)
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 12,000
1 - Harry Karpozilos def. Willi Hofstetter (of Germany),
2 - Rematch
Abel Cestac Vs. Andread Lambrakis,
Double Knockout
Notes:
Both wrestlers fell out of the ring and could not continue.
JUNE 1956
JUNE 7, 1956 (THURSDAY)
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Kostas Papalazarou Vs. Petrakis,
Result Uknown
2 - Harry Karpozilos def. Abel Cestac,
Disqualification
JUNE 20, 1956 (WEDNESDAY)
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 10,000
1 - Dimitris Karystinos Vs. Meintanis,
Result Unknown
2 - Kostas Nathaniel Vs. Petrakis,
Result Unknown
3. Andreas Lambrakis def. Harry Karpozilos
JUNE 29, 1956 (FRIDAY)
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 5,000
1 - Abel Cestac def. Elias Panagos
JULY 1956
JULY 5, 1956 (THURSDAY)
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Harry Karpozilos def. Kostas Nathaniel,
2 - Andreas Lambrakis def. Abel Cestac
SEPTEMBER 1956
SEPTEMBER 6, 1956 (THURSDAY)
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Elias Panagos def. Suleyman (of Turkey),
2 - Harry Karpozilos def. Hercules Cortez (of Spain)
Disqualification
SEPTEMBER 12, 1956 (WEDNESDAY)
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Andreas Lambrakis def. Suleyman (of Turkey),
2 - Harry Karpozilos def. Hercules Cortez (of Spain)
SEPTEMBER 19, 1956 (WEDNESDAY)
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Andreas Lambrakis def. Haralambos "Harry" Karpozilos
Notes:
Jim Londos attends this match.
SEPTEMBER 26, 1956 (WEDNESDAY)
Athens, Greece
Attendance: 3,000
Jim Londos Holds a Public Workout
SEPTEMBER 30, 1956 (SUNDAY)
Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece
Attendance: "Thousands"
1 - Elias Panagos Vs. Papadakis,
Result Unknown
1 - Jim Londos def. Arabet Said
(00:32:00)
Notes:
Thanasios Kabaflis [Thanasis Kabaflis] was also on the card.
OCTOBER 1956
OCTOBER 3, 1956 (WEDNESDAY)
Panathenaic Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 40,000
1 - Athanasios Kabaflis [Thanasis Kabaflis] Vs. Suleyman (of Turkey),
Result Unknown
1 - Jim Londos def. Jim Wright (of America)
(00:43:00)
Notes:
Also featured Panagos and others.
OCTOBER 7, 1956 (SUNDAY)
Argos, Peloponnese, Greece
Attendance: 18,000
1 - Jim Londos def. Elias Panagos
(00:12:00)
1957
Greece
"It seems 1957 started off with a series of smaller shows from March onward, almost all headlined by Karpozilos. The reason I say it seems is because by now very rarely would there be reports of anything but the stadium shows in Athens. There had been a pretty active smaller show scene up to just three years prior to this, but now you would hardly ever see mentions of such shows. I'm not sure whether this meant there just weren't any theater hall shows like there had been in the past or that the press just wasn't reporting on them anymore since the stadium shows were bigger events. Anyway, the year kicked off with Karpozilos headlined some smaller shows. His two main rivals on those shows were the up-and-coming stars Karystinos and Nathaniel. Those feuds carried over to the first two stadium shows of the year." - Phil Lions
Greece
"It seems 1957 started off with a series of smaller shows from March onward, almost all headlined by Karpozilos. The reason I say it seems is because by now very rarely would there be reports of anything but the stadium shows in Athens. There had been a pretty active smaller show scene up to just three years prior to this, but now you would hardly ever see mentions of such shows. I'm not sure whether this meant there just weren't any theater hall shows like there had been in the past or that the press just wasn't reporting on them anymore since the stadium shows were bigger events. Anyway, the year kicked off with Karpozilos headlined some smaller shows. His two main rivals on those shows were the up-and-coming stars Karystinos and Nathaniel. Those feuds carried over to the first two stadium shows of the year." - Phil Lions
JUNE 1957
JUNE 5, 1957 (WEDNESDAY)
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 3,000
1 - Harry Karpozilos def. Kostas Nathaniel
JUNE 9, 1957 (SUNDAY)
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Kostas Nathaniel vs. Jack Allen,
Result Unknown
2 - Harry Karpozilos def. Dimitris Karystinos
JUNE 23, 1957 (SUNDAY)
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 3,000
1 - Athanasios Kabaflis [Thanasis Kabaflis] def. Harry Karpozilos
(00:23:00)
Notes:
It's billed as Kabaflis' professional debut.
["I say debut because they billed it as such, but in reality Kabaflis had wrestled his first pro bouts on the undercard of the Londos shows the previous year (at least, those are the first ones that I have a record of). Kabaflis had been a prominent Greek amateur wrestler since the 1930s and wrestled Greco-Roman at the 1948 Olympics. In 1957 he was 42 years old, but because of his strong reputation as an amateur wrestler he got a big push right off the bat and was presented as someone on the level of Karpozilos and Lambrakis, the two top Greek stars at the time. Throughout his life Kabaflis was also a football player (soccer), singer, self-defense instructor, author, actor and Greek TV personality, but in 1957 he was best known as a wrestler. It's also worth noting that he was friends with Jim Londos and in 1956 Londos had became the godfather of Kabaflis' son.
...
As popular as Karpozilos had been it would seem that unless he was facing Lambrakis, at this point in time the Athens fans weren't very interested in seeing him taking on other Greek wrestlers.
...
By all accounts, by the end of year Kabaflis was firmly established as a top guy since he was the only Greek wrestler in recent memory to have scored wins over both Karpozilos and Lambrakis. Speaking of Lambrakis, he was missing from Athens for most of the year. I think partly because he was a tour throughout the country." - Phil Lions
JULY 1957
JULY 26, 1957 (FRIDAY)
Athens, Greece
1 - Athanasios Kabaflis def. Karl van Gram
AUGUST 1957
AUGUST 18, 1957 (SUNDAY)
Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Athanasios Kabaflis Vs. Abel Cestac,
Result Unknown
OCTOBER 1957
OCTOBER 23, 1957 (WEDNESDAY)
Athens, Greece
1 - Athanasios Kabaflis def. Andreas Lambrakis
NOVEMBER 1957
NOVEMBER 10, 1957 (SUNDAY)
Athens, Greece
1 - Rematch
Athanasios Kabaflis Vs. Andreas Lambrakis,
Result Unknown
1958
Greece
"I have a record of 19 stadium shows, which took place from early April through late October at Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium. All shows were headlined by either Karpozilos, Kabaflis or Lambrakis. Much like the previous year, business didn't seem to be all that great, but at least shows were somewhat regular. I have attendance estimates for about half of the shows and the crowds range from 2,000 to about 4,000 or 5,000. With two exceptions.
Karpozilos, who just a few years prior had been without question the most popular Greek star, was now still among the top three, but was getting up there in age and was now doing more jobs than usual. During the course of the year he lost to Adi Berber Jr. (from Austria), Papalazarou via disqualification, Antonio Kotsik (billed as being from Brazil), Lambrakis and Kabaflis. He also had draws with Nathaniel and Panagos. He did score some wins over younger Greek wrestlers like Kostas Papalazarou, Yannis Dourvetakis and Bill Tuney, but perhaps his most notable wins were over a wrestler by the name of Fred Wells (supposedly, an Australian).
The top star in Athens for most of the year was Kabaflis. According to one report, he hadn't been defeated in pro wrestling just yet and that continued through the year. He scored wins over Papadakis, the Argentinian Cestac, Savvidis (a Greek who had come over from Egypt), the aforementioned Kotsik and Karpozilos.
...
Andreas Lambrakis had spent the first half of the year wrestling in Australia. He returned to Athens in late August and got in the mix straight away." - Phil Lions
Greece
"I have a record of 19 stadium shows, which took place from early April through late October at Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium. All shows were headlined by either Karpozilos, Kabaflis or Lambrakis. Much like the previous year, business didn't seem to be all that great, but at least shows were somewhat regular. I have attendance estimates for about half of the shows and the crowds range from 2,000 to about 4,000 or 5,000. With two exceptions.
Karpozilos, who just a few years prior had been without question the most popular Greek star, was now still among the top three, but was getting up there in age and was now doing more jobs than usual. During the course of the year he lost to Adi Berber Jr. (from Austria), Papalazarou via disqualification, Antonio Kotsik (billed as being from Brazil), Lambrakis and Kabaflis. He also had draws with Nathaniel and Panagos. He did score some wins over younger Greek wrestlers like Kostas Papalazarou, Yannis Dourvetakis and Bill Tuney, but perhaps his most notable wins were over a wrestler by the name of Fred Wells (supposedly, an Australian).
The top star in Athens for most of the year was Kabaflis. According to one report, he hadn't been defeated in pro wrestling just yet and that continued through the year. He scored wins over Papadakis, the Argentinian Cestac, Savvidis (a Greek who had come over from Egypt), the aforementioned Kotsik and Karpozilos.
...
Andreas Lambrakis had spent the first half of the year wrestling in Australia. He returned to Athens in late August and got in the mix straight away." - Phil Lions
JUNE 1958
JUNE 18, 1958 (WEDNESDAY)
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Prince Joe Beltze [Adi Berber Jr., of Austria] def. Harry Karpozilos
JUNE 27, 1958 (FRIDAY)
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Kostas Papalazarou def. Prince Joe Beltze,
Disqualification
JULY 1958
JULY 2, 1958 (WEDNESDAY)
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 6,000
1 - Harry Karpozilos def. Petrakis,
2 - Athanasios Kabaflis def. Prince Joe Beltze
[The second biggest (known) attendance figure of the year]
AUGUST 1958
AUGUST 31, 1958 (SUNDAY)
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 3,000
1 - Andreas Lambrakis def. Yannis Dourvetakis,
2 - Antonio Kotsik (of Brazil) def. Harry Karpozilos
SEPTEMBER 1958
SEPTEMBER 3, 1958 (WEDNESDAY)
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 5,000
1 - Harry Karpozilos def. Yannis Dourvetakis,
2 - Andreas Lambrakis def. Antonio Kotsik (of Brazil)
SEPTEMBER 7, 1958 (SUNDAY)
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 3,000
1 - Thanasis Kabaflis def. Antonio Kotsik (of Brazil)
OCTOBER 1958
OCTOBER 3, 1958 (FRIDAY)
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 4,000
1 - Andreas Lambrakis def. Harry Karpozilos
OCTOBER 19, 1958 (SUNDAY)
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 8,000
1 - Athanasios Kabaflis Vs. Andreas Lambrakis,
Draw (01:00:00)
Notes:
It poured down with rain while they wrestled.
Kabaflis was billed as the undefeated amateur-turned-pro.
Lambrakis as the Globetrotter.
1959
Greece
"In 1959 there were 19 stadium shows, as well as some smaller theater hall shows. In January and February the Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium shows were headlined by various combinations of Karpozilos, Lambrakis, Papalazarou and Nathaniel. It's quite obvious they were trying to establish Papalazarou and Nathaniel as legitimate main event stars as both were given wins over Lambrakis and based on my records the only other Greek wrestler Lambrakis had lost a big Athens stadium match to was Kabaflis. Plus, Nathaniel had a draw with Karpozilos and Papalazarou vs. Nathaniel headlined a stadium show of its own. In addition to those two guys Karystinos got a win over Karpozilos later on in the year and Karpozilos himself was working a program with Dourvetakis, who was being somewhat pushed as well. So, in short, there was clearly effort being put in elevating new stars to go along with the already established names such as Karpozilos, Lambrakis and Kabaflis.
And speaking of the established Greek names, there was a second run of stadium shows from late July through early September, which centered around the renewal of the Karpozilos vs. Lambrakis rivalry.
...
After that another established Greek name in Panagos got in the mix as well and wrestled Lambrakis and Karpozilos in matches for the rest of that stadium run.
In-between those two series of shows two foreign wrestlers came to Athens - Osman Matar (an Arab wrestler) and Tupac Amaru (a wrestler from South America who did a Native American gimmick). Matar lost to Papalazarou and drew with Karpozilos, while Amaru did jobs to Karpozilos and Lambrakis.
The biggest story of the year, however, was Primo Carnera coming over to Athens for a about week to wrestle three matches. A few years later them running three shows at Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium within the span of eight days was a regular occurrence, but at this point it was a first. I don't know exactly when he became the promoter of the Athens shows, but at this point Karpozilos is identified in the press as the promoter of the Carnera shows. I know at one point later on Karpozilos also claimed he was the one who had brought Londos back to Greece in 1956 so he likely was the promoter then too. The point is, Karpozilos was the Athens promoter as of 1959 and likely had been for a while. He was still wrestling on a lot of the cards, but had taken a bit of a backseat to other guys and was doing jobs to younger wrestlers, which is good to see since promoters who are also top stars tend to have a tendency to put themselves over everyone else." - Phil Lions
Greece
"In 1959 there were 19 stadium shows, as well as some smaller theater hall shows. In January and February the Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium shows were headlined by various combinations of Karpozilos, Lambrakis, Papalazarou and Nathaniel. It's quite obvious they were trying to establish Papalazarou and Nathaniel as legitimate main event stars as both were given wins over Lambrakis and based on my records the only other Greek wrestler Lambrakis had lost a big Athens stadium match to was Kabaflis. Plus, Nathaniel had a draw with Karpozilos and Papalazarou vs. Nathaniel headlined a stadium show of its own. In addition to those two guys Karystinos got a win over Karpozilos later on in the year and Karpozilos himself was working a program with Dourvetakis, who was being somewhat pushed as well. So, in short, there was clearly effort being put in elevating new stars to go along with the already established names such as Karpozilos, Lambrakis and Kabaflis.
And speaking of the established Greek names, there was a second run of stadium shows from late July through early September, which centered around the renewal of the Karpozilos vs. Lambrakis rivalry.
...
After that another established Greek name in Panagos got in the mix as well and wrestled Lambrakis and Karpozilos in matches for the rest of that stadium run.
In-between those two series of shows two foreign wrestlers came to Athens - Osman Matar (an Arab wrestler) and Tupac Amaru (a wrestler from South America who did a Native American gimmick). Matar lost to Papalazarou and drew with Karpozilos, while Amaru did jobs to Karpozilos and Lambrakis.
The biggest story of the year, however, was Primo Carnera coming over to Athens for a about week to wrestle three matches. A few years later them running three shows at Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium within the span of eight days was a regular occurrence, but at this point it was a first. I don't know exactly when he became the promoter of the Athens shows, but at this point Karpozilos is identified in the press as the promoter of the Carnera shows. I know at one point later on Karpozilos also claimed he was the one who had brought Londos back to Greece in 1956 so he likely was the promoter then too. The point is, Karpozilos was the Athens promoter as of 1959 and likely had been for a while. He was still wrestling on a lot of the cards, but had taken a bit of a backseat to other guys and was doing jobs to younger wrestlers, which is good to see since promoters who are also top stars tend to have a tendency to put themselves over everyone else." - Phil Lions
JULY 1959
JULY 22, 1959 (WEDNESDAY)
Athens, Greece
Attendance: 5,000
1 - Andreas Lambrakis def. Harry Karpozilos
JULY 1959
JULY 22, 1959 (WEDNESDAY)
Athens, Greece
Attendance: 5,000
1 - Andreas Lambrakis def. Harry Karpozilos
AUGUST 1959
AUGUST 9, 1959 (SUNDAY)
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 10,000
1 - Andreas Lambrakis Vs. Harry Karpozilos,
Draw
AUGUST 1959
AUGUST 9, 1959 (SUNDAY)
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 10,000
1 - Andreas Lambrakis Vs. Harry Karpozilos,
Draw
DECEMBER 1959
DECEMBER 13, 1959 (SUNDAY)
Athens, Greece
Attendance: 3,000
1 - Primo Carnera def. Elias Panagos
(00:15:00)
DECEMBER 16, 1959 (WEDNESDAY)
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 6,000
1 - Primo Carnera def. Abel Cestac
(00:22:00)
DECEMBER 20, 1959 (SUNDAY)
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 8,000
1 - Athanasios Kabaflis def. Primo Carnera
(00:24:00)
Notes:
Kabaflis was still billed as undefeated.
Kabaflis used an arm-hold to win.
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Unique content strictly for the Professional Wrestling Historical Society.
All research has been completed by #PWHS or by a trusted contributor.
Information came from contemporary newspapers unless otherwise stated.
Results from Greece: 1950-1959.
Updated: July 7, 2019.
Editor: Jimmy Wheeler.
Unique content strictly for the Professional Wrestling Historical Society.
All research has been completed by #PWHS or by a trusted contributor.
Information came from contemporary newspapers unless otherwise stated.
Results from Greece: 1950-1959.
Updated: July 7, 2019.
Editor: Jimmy Wheeler.
