Greece: 1960-1969
#PWHS #Results #Greece #Athens #ProWrestling #Wrestling #CatchAsCatchCan #CatchWrestling #CACC
1960
APRIL 1960
APRIL 12, 1960 (TUESDAY)
Anikos Gourmas Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Thanasis Kabaflis Vs. Abel Cestac (of Argentina),
Result Unknown
APRIL 1960
APRIL 12, 1960 (TUESDAY)
Anikos Gourmas Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Thanasis Kabaflis Vs. Abel Cestac (of Argentina),
Result Unknown
1961
JUNE 1961
JUNE 2, 1961 (FRIDAY)
Apostolos Niolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 10,000
1 - Tag Team
Yvar Martinson (of Latvia) & Felix Miquet (of France) def. Andreas Lambrakis & Kostas Papalazarou
JUNE ??, 1961 (????)
Apostolos Niolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Yvar Martinson & Felix Miquet def. Kostas Papalazarou & Kostas Nathaniel
JUNE 15, 1961 (THURSDAY)
Apostolos Niolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 8,000
1 - Yvar Martinson & Felix Miquet def. Andreas Lambrakis & Dimitris Karystinos
JUNE 22, 1961 (THURSDAY)
Apostolos Niolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 10,000
1 - Andreas Lambrakis & Kostas Papalazarou def. Yvar Martinson & Felix Miquet
JUNE 1961
JUNE 2, 1961 (FRIDAY)
Apostolos Niolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 10,000
1 - Tag Team
Yvar Martinson (of Latvia) & Felix Miquet (of France) def. Andreas Lambrakis & Kostas Papalazarou
JUNE ??, 1961 (????)
Apostolos Niolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Yvar Martinson & Felix Miquet def. Kostas Papalazarou & Kostas Nathaniel
JUNE 15, 1961 (THURSDAY)
Apostolos Niolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 8,000
1 - Yvar Martinson & Felix Miquet def. Andreas Lambrakis & Dimitris Karystinos
JUNE 22, 1961 (THURSDAY)
Apostolos Niolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 10,000
1 - Andreas Lambrakis & Kostas Papalazarou def. Yvar Martinson & Felix Miquet
JULY 1961
JULY ??, 1961 (????)
Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Andreas Lambrakis & Kostas Papalazarou def. Dimitris Karystinos & Georgios Alexiou
[Alexiou was another somewhat fresh face they had been pushing. He got his start in wrestling 1950 and became popular, but never quite reached the top level]
AUGUST 1961
AUGUST 3, 1961 (THURSDAY)
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 15,000
1 - Tag Team
Andreas Lambrakis & Kostas Papalazarou def. Nikolai Zigulinoff (of Bulgaria) & Abel Cestac
Notes:
It's reported that Zigulinoff and his antics were really over with the audience.
AUGUST ??, 1961 (????)
Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Andreas Lambrakis & Kostas Papalazarou def. Nikolai Zigulinoff & Ali Ahmet (of Turkey)
AUGUST ??, 1961 (????)
Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Andreas Lambrakis & Kostas Papalazarou def. Dimitris Karystinos & Guy Robin (of France)
Notes:
Also featured Gilbert Cesca, of France, he worked a couple of these stadium shows.
AUGUST ??, 1961 (????)
Athens, Greece
"After Zigulinoff's run ended there was talk of Theodoros Megaritis maineventing a stadium show in mid August against the Turk Ali Ahmet, but the match ended up taking place at a smaller venue instead. A few years down the line Megaritis would become a top name, but we'll get to that later on." - Phil Lions
AUGUST 1961
AUGUST 3, 1961 (THURSDAY)
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 15,000
1 - Tag Team
Andreas Lambrakis & Kostas Papalazarou def. Nikolai Zigulinoff (of Bulgaria) & Abel Cestac
Notes:
It's reported that Zigulinoff and his antics were really over with the audience.
AUGUST ??, 1961 (????)
Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Andreas Lambrakis & Kostas Papalazarou def. Nikolai Zigulinoff & Ali Ahmet (of Turkey)
AUGUST ??, 1961 (????)
Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Andreas Lambrakis & Kostas Papalazarou def. Dimitris Karystinos & Guy Robin (of France)
Notes:
Also featured Gilbert Cesca, of France, he worked a couple of these stadium shows.
AUGUST ??, 1961 (????)
Athens, Greece
"After Zigulinoff's run ended there was talk of Theodoros Megaritis maineventing a stadium show in mid August against the Turk Ali Ahmet, but the match ended up taking place at a smaller venue instead. A few years down the line Megaritis would become a top name, but we'll get to that later on." - Phil Lions
SEPTEMBER 1961
SEPTEMBER ??, 1961 (????)
????, Greece
Veteran Harry Karpozilos, who had been abroad, returned here
SEPTEMBER 14, 1961 (THURSDAY)
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: "Thousands"
1 - Giorgos Bouranis def. Hans Schnabel
2 - Tag Team
Elias Panagos & Georgios Alexiou def. Yvar Martinson & Felix Miquet
3 - Tag Team
Andreas Lambrakis & Dimitris Karystinos def. Axel Dieter & Achim Chall
SEPTEMBER 22, 1961 (FRIDAY)
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Twelve Man Battle Royal - 25,000 Greek Drachmas
Yvar Martinson def. 12 Wrestlers
SEPTEMBER 29, 1961 (FRIDAY)
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Tag Team
Andreas Lambrakis & Theodoros Megaritis def. Yvar Martinson & Felix Miquet
SEPTEMBER 1961
SEPTEMBER ??, 1961 (????)
????, Greece
Veteran Harry Karpozilos, who had been abroad, returned here
SEPTEMBER 14, 1961 (THURSDAY)
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: "Thousands"
1 - Giorgos Bouranis def. Hans Schnabel
2 - Tag Team
Elias Panagos & Georgios Alexiou def. Yvar Martinson & Felix Miquet
3 - Tag Team
Andreas Lambrakis & Dimitris Karystinos def. Axel Dieter & Achim Chall
SEPTEMBER 22, 1961 (FRIDAY)
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Twelve Man Battle Royal - 25,000 Greek Drachmas
Yvar Martinson def. 12 Wrestlers
SEPTEMBER 29, 1961 (FRIDAY)
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Tag Team
Andreas Lambrakis & Theodoros Megaritis def. Yvar Martinson & Felix Miquet
DECEMBER 1961
DECEMBER ??, 1961 (????)
????, Greece
1 - Harry Karpozilos Vs. Nilolaos Timonidis
["In early December Timonidis was in attendance for a football (soccer) match when a bad call by the referee pissed him off so he jumped the barricade and attacked the referee. Police escorted him out and that accident got him a bunch of publicity. A couple of weeks later he headlined his first stadium show in Athens, losing to Karpozilos via knock out. If you recall, a similar accident (i.e. him attacking a football referee) had ultimately lead Karpozilos to becoming a wrestler." - Phil Lions
1962
Greece
"1962 started with a series of smaller indoor shows, all headlined by various combinations of Karpozilos, Timonidis, Karystinos and Alexiou wrestling each other in singles matches. And now here would be a good point to do a quick sidenote about those type of shows. From this point forward, more or less, the main Greek sports newspaper I'm using for my research would no longer mention such smaller shows and would only write about the open-air stadium shows. In other words, usually there would be no wrestling coverage for more than half of the year because the stadium shows were typically in the summer months. Does this mean there were no longer any smaller indoor shows in Athens and Athens was now a summer only territory? Or was it just a case of the paper choosing not to report on smaller shows? I do not know. I would assume there were still indoor shows happening, but I don't know it for a fact.
1962 was a pivotal year for Athens pro wrestling and I would consider it to be the official start of the golden age of pro wrestling there. Certainly, there had been hot stretches of shows previously, there had been a few occasions where they had run several stadium shows per week and times when they had brought in several foreign wrestlers at once, but from 1962 onward all of these things became the norm and this became the way Athens pro wrestling operated for the next couple of decades." - Phil Lions
Greece
"1962 started with a series of smaller indoor shows, all headlined by various combinations of Karpozilos, Timonidis, Karystinos and Alexiou wrestling each other in singles matches. And now here would be a good point to do a quick sidenote about those type of shows. From this point forward, more or less, the main Greek sports newspaper I'm using for my research would no longer mention such smaller shows and would only write about the open-air stadium shows. In other words, usually there would be no wrestling coverage for more than half of the year because the stadium shows were typically in the summer months. Does this mean there were no longer any smaller indoor shows in Athens and Athens was now a summer only territory? Or was it just a case of the paper choosing not to report on smaller shows? I do not know. I would assume there were still indoor shows happening, but I don't know it for a fact.
1962 was a pivotal year for Athens pro wrestling and I would consider it to be the official start of the golden age of pro wrestling there. Certainly, there had been hot stretches of shows previously, there had been a few occasions where they had run several stadium shows per week and times when they had brought in several foreign wrestlers at once, but from 1962 onward all of these things became the norm and this became the way Athens pro wrestling operated for the next couple of decades." - Phil Lions
JUNE 1962
JUNE 1, 1962 (FRIDAY)
International Catch Show
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 12,000
1 - Tag Team
Andreas Lambrakis & Dimitris Karystinos Vs. Josef Kovacs & Alberto Amessa
Notes:
This is the first of 12 advertised stadium shows.
["Never had they advertised multiple dates like this in advance. Furthermore, they advertised a full list of 13 international wrestlers and 5 Greek ones who were going to be working those shows (that said, a few of the advertised foreigners ended up not coming and were replaced by other foreigners). In the newspaper adverts two names were positioned as the key ones. Firstly, Andreas Lambrakis, who at this point was without question the top star of Greek pro wrestling. Secondly, and more importantly, a masked wrestler. This masked wrestler was used as the main attraction in most of the advertisements. They called him simply the masked [wrestler] and also the masked giant. Originally, the photo used in the newspapers was a photo of Le Bourreau de Bethune (Jacques Ducrez).
I'm not sure exactly when this became a regular thing, but by 1958 pro wrestling, or catch as they would call it there, was airing weekly on national television in France or at least 1958 is when the TV footage that's still available today starts from (and there is a ton of French catch TV footage that still exists today). In 1959 two new wrestling characters appeared on French TV and became big sensations. You had the masked hero L'Ange Blanc (The White Angel) and the masked villain Le Bourreau de Bethune (The Executioner of Bethune). Going back to 1959 every once in a while the Greek sports press would write about both of them, especially about Le Bourreau and therefore he was already kind of known in Greece. However, the guy who ended up coming to Greece was not the original Executioner (Jacques Ducrez), but more about that in a minute.
Twelve shows had been advertised, but from June 1 through July 1 there ended up being 14 shows at the stadium. The foreign names who worked those shows were Abel Cestac, Josef Kovacs, Alberto Amessa, Hans-Richard Behrens, Rudi Saturski, Harry Wenzl, Rudi Marko-Schulz and couple of French wrestlers by the names of Pierre Rouanet* and Clement Magnier*. Lambrakis headlined a lot of the shows either in singles matches or in tag matches. Kabaflis headlined a couple of shows too. And as already mentioned, the main foreign headliner was the masked wrestler. His first match was on June 14. He had a winning streak, which included victories over Cestac, Amessa, Kovacs, Saturski, Lambrakis and Karystinos." - Phil Lions]
JUNE 14, 1962 (THURSDAY)
International Catch Show
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Masked Wrestler Vs. ????,
????
Notes:
This is the masked man's first show.
JUNE 18, 1962 (MONDAY)
International Catch Show
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 8,000
1 - Masked Wrestler Vs. Josef Kovacs
2 - Tag Team
Andreas Lambrakis & Georgios Alexiou Vs. Rudi Saturski & Harry Wenzl
JUNE 29, 1962 (FRIDAY)
International Catch Show
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
JUNE 1962
JUNE 1, 1962 (FRIDAY)
International Catch Show
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 12,000
1 - Tag Team
Andreas Lambrakis & Dimitris Karystinos Vs. Josef Kovacs & Alberto Amessa
Notes:
This is the first of 12 advertised stadium shows.
["Never had they advertised multiple dates like this in advance. Furthermore, they advertised a full list of 13 international wrestlers and 5 Greek ones who were going to be working those shows (that said, a few of the advertised foreigners ended up not coming and were replaced by other foreigners). In the newspaper adverts two names were positioned as the key ones. Firstly, Andreas Lambrakis, who at this point was without question the top star of Greek pro wrestling. Secondly, and more importantly, a masked wrestler. This masked wrestler was used as the main attraction in most of the advertisements. They called him simply the masked [wrestler] and also the masked giant. Originally, the photo used in the newspapers was a photo of Le Bourreau de Bethune (Jacques Ducrez).
I'm not sure exactly when this became a regular thing, but by 1958 pro wrestling, or catch as they would call it there, was airing weekly on national television in France or at least 1958 is when the TV footage that's still available today starts from (and there is a ton of French catch TV footage that still exists today). In 1959 two new wrestling characters appeared on French TV and became big sensations. You had the masked hero L'Ange Blanc (The White Angel) and the masked villain Le Bourreau de Bethune (The Executioner of Bethune). Going back to 1959 every once in a while the Greek sports press would write about both of them, especially about Le Bourreau and therefore he was already kind of known in Greece. However, the guy who ended up coming to Greece was not the original Executioner (Jacques Ducrez), but more about that in a minute.
Twelve shows had been advertised, but from June 1 through July 1 there ended up being 14 shows at the stadium. The foreign names who worked those shows were Abel Cestac, Josef Kovacs, Alberto Amessa, Hans-Richard Behrens, Rudi Saturski, Harry Wenzl, Rudi Marko-Schulz and couple of French wrestlers by the names of Pierre Rouanet* and Clement Magnier*. Lambrakis headlined a lot of the shows either in singles matches or in tag matches. Kabaflis headlined a couple of shows too. And as already mentioned, the main foreign headliner was the masked wrestler. His first match was on June 14. He had a winning streak, which included victories over Cestac, Amessa, Kovacs, Saturski, Lambrakis and Karystinos." - Phil Lions]
JUNE 14, 1962 (THURSDAY)
International Catch Show
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Masked Wrestler Vs. ????,
????
Notes:
This is the masked man's first show.
JUNE 18, 1962 (MONDAY)
International Catch Show
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 8,000
1 - Masked Wrestler Vs. Josef Kovacs
2 - Tag Team
Andreas Lambrakis & Georgios Alexiou Vs. Rudi Saturski & Harry Wenzl
JUNE 29, 1962 (FRIDAY)
International Catch Show
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
JULY 1962
JULY 1, 1962 (SUNDAY)
International Catch Show
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 20,000
1 - If Lambrakis Wins The Masked Man Will Unmask
Andreas Lambrakis def. Masked Wrestler
Notes:
The biggest non-Londos crowd in Athens up to this point.
He was revealed to be Freddy Robert.
["While not the original Le Bourreau de Bethune, Robert also had portrayed the character abroad.
This ended the advertised run of shows, but they were so successful that another run of 15 stadium shows took place between July 26 and September 9. The foreigners on those shows were Iska, Warnia de Zarzecki, Lou Marshall*, Elia Azria*, Fernando Escriva* and Eric van Boulem*. The main headliner among them was Iska Khan, who feuded with Lambrakis and the returning Papalazarou (Papalazarou hadn't been around for the June shows) in both singles and tag team matches." - Phil Lions]
JULY 26, 1962 (THURSDAY)
Catch Show
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: "Poor"
1 - Andreas Lambrakis & Kostas Papalazarou def. Harry Karpozilos & Dimitris Karystinos
Notes:
This is the first of the second run of stadium shows.
AUGUST 1962
AUGUST 3, 1962 (FRIDAY)
Catch Show
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 7,000
1 - Women's Wrestling
Olivia Manho Vs. Jeanine Sorhabil,
Result Unknown
Notes:
The women are part of a troupe with Lina Magnani and Maria Dolores.
AUGUST 9, 1962 (THURSDAY)
Catch Show
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Notes:
The women's wrestling was the headline attraction.
The women's wrestling featured a match from the troupe containing Lina Magnani and Maria Dolores, Olivia Manho & Jeanine Sorhabil.
AUGUST 10, 1962 (FRIDAY)
Catch Show
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Notes:
The women's wrestling was the headline attraction.
The women's wrestling featured a match from the troupe containing Lina Magnani and Maria Dolores, Olivia Manho & Jeanine Sorhabil.
AUGUST 12, 1962 (SUNDAY)
Catch Show
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
AttendancE: 8,000
1 - Iska Khan Vs. Dimitris Karystinos
2 - Tag Team
Andreas Lambrakis & Kostas Papalazarou Vs. Lou Marshall & Elia Azria
AUGUST 1962
AUGUST 3, 1962 (FRIDAY)
Catch Show
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 7,000
1 - Women's Wrestling
Olivia Manho Vs. Jeanine Sorhabil,
Result Unknown
Notes:
The women are part of a troupe with Lina Magnani and Maria Dolores.
AUGUST 9, 1962 (THURSDAY)
Catch Show
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Notes:
The women's wrestling was the headline attraction.
The women's wrestling featured a match from the troupe containing Lina Magnani and Maria Dolores, Olivia Manho & Jeanine Sorhabil.
AUGUST 10, 1962 (FRIDAY)
Catch Show
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Notes:
The women's wrestling was the headline attraction.
The women's wrestling featured a match from the troupe containing Lina Magnani and Maria Dolores, Olivia Manho & Jeanine Sorhabil.
AUGUST 12, 1962 (SUNDAY)
Catch Show
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
AttendancE: 8,000
1 - Iska Khan Vs. Dimitris Karystinos
2 - Tag Team
Andreas Lambrakis & Kostas Papalazarou Vs. Lou Marshall & Elia Azria
SEPTEMBER 1962
SEPTEMBER 9, 1962 (SUNDAY)
Catch Show
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: "Poor"
1 - Andreas Lambrakis & Kostas Papalazarou def. Harry Karpozilos & Dimitris Karystinos
Notes:
This is the last of the second run of stadium shows.
["This second run of shows in 1962 ended with a match that in a way signaled the end of era for Greek pro wrestling. Harry Karpozilos got his start in wrestling 1933 and by the late 1930s he had established himself as one of the more popular Greek wrestlers. Then in the 1940s and 1950s he was without question the top Greek star along with Andreas Lambrakis. Now in the early 1960s, however, he was old, not working regularly and usually working midcard matches. Towards the end of the second run of stadium shows they began teasing a re-visit of the Lambrakis vs. Karpozilos feud, which had been the top feud in Greek pro wrestling in the prior two decades and finally the match was booked.
...
According to the report the match drew poorly and it seems that the Athens audience, which in years prior had packed this same stadium on a few occasions for their bouts, no longer had any interest in watching the two of them wrestle each other. Truly the end of an era, but also the beginning of a new one. To the best of my knowledge, this was the last time Lambrakis and Karpozilos were ever in the same match. Karpozilos was around for a few more years, but mostly working midcard matches and of course promoting shows as well." - Phil Lions]
SEPTEMBER 1962
SEPTEMBER 9, 1962 (SUNDAY)
Catch Show
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: "Poor"
1 - Andreas Lambrakis & Kostas Papalazarou def. Harry Karpozilos & Dimitris Karystinos
Notes:
This is the last of the second run of stadium shows.
["This second run of shows in 1962 ended with a match that in a way signaled the end of era for Greek pro wrestling. Harry Karpozilos got his start in wrestling 1933 and by the late 1930s he had established himself as one of the more popular Greek wrestlers. Then in the 1940s and 1950s he was without question the top Greek star along with Andreas Lambrakis. Now in the early 1960s, however, he was old, not working regularly and usually working midcard matches. Towards the end of the second run of stadium shows they began teasing a re-visit of the Lambrakis vs. Karpozilos feud, which had been the top feud in Greek pro wrestling in the prior two decades and finally the match was booked.
...
According to the report the match drew poorly and it seems that the Athens audience, which in years prior had packed this same stadium on a few occasions for their bouts, no longer had any interest in watching the two of them wrestle each other. Truly the end of an era, but also the beginning of a new one. To the best of my knowledge, this was the last time Lambrakis and Karpozilos were ever in the same match. Karpozilos was around for a few more years, but mostly working midcard matches and of course promoting shows as well." - Phil Lions]
1963
Greece
"1963 seems to have been a big year for wrestling in Athens. Unfortunately though the main newspaper I'm using for my research is not available for this particular year so all I have is just the line-ups for the shows. No results or attendance estimates, sadly. Looking at the newspaper adverts, seeing how many shows they were running and seeing the names they brought in I have a feeling this was probably one of the most succesful runs of shows in the history of Greek pro wrestling.
The first thing that caught my attention was the fact that in 1963 the shows were not at Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, but rather at Nikos Goumas Stadium, which was bigger. Also, the run of shows was longer. Between June 24 and September 8 there were a total of 28 shows at the stadium. The international names who wrestled on those shows were: George Gordienko (who was always billed with the surname Korienko in Greece), The Zebra Kid (George Bollas), Zando Zabo (Tony Olivas), Quadimodo (Victor Castilla), L'Ange Blanc (likely not Francisco Pino Farina, who was the original L'Ange Blanc), Carlos Rocha, Conde Maximiliano, Guiseppe Daidone, Adi Berber Jr., Warnia de Zarzecki, Inca Peruano, El Bulldog, Angel Grey, Ali Ahmet, Juan Botana, Luis Salazar, Manuel Quintana* and Zarba Karpakelian*. Plus two new Greek stars, Spiros Arion and Johnny Apollo, were brought in as well. Both had been wrestling abroad and this was their debut in Greece. Arion in particular would go on be very popular in Greece. This was his first run in his home country and as you can kind of see below he was positioned as the number two Greek star behind Lambrakis." - Phil Lions
JUNE 1963
JUNE 24, 1963 (MONDAY)
Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens, Greece
Featuring Andreas Lambrakis, Spiros Arion, Quasimodo & Conde Maximiliano
JUNE 26, 1963 (WEDNESDAY)
Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Spiros Arion Vs. Juan Botana,
Result Unknown
2 - Quasimodo Vs. Georgios Alexiou,
Result Unknown
3 - Andreas Lambrakis Vs. Carlos Rocha,
Result Unknown
JUNE 28, 1963 (FRIDAY)
Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Quasimodo Vs. Asimakis,
Result Unknown
2 - Spiros Arion Vs. Carlos Rocha,
Result Unknown
3 - Andreas Lambrakis Vs. Angel Grey,
Result Unknown
JUNE 30, 1963 (SUNDAY)
Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens, Greece,
Result Unknown
1 - Juan Botana Vs. Johnny Apollo,
Result Unknown
2 - Carlos Rocha Vs. Manuel Quintana,
Result Unknown
3 - Andreas Lambrakis Vs. Quasimodo,
Result Unknown
JUNE 1963
JUNE 24, 1963 (MONDAY)
Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens, Greece
Featuring Andreas Lambrakis, Spiros Arion, Quasimodo & Conde Maximiliano
JUNE 26, 1963 (WEDNESDAY)
Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Spiros Arion Vs. Juan Botana,
Result Unknown
2 - Quasimodo Vs. Georgios Alexiou,
Result Unknown
3 - Andreas Lambrakis Vs. Carlos Rocha,
Result Unknown
JUNE 28, 1963 (FRIDAY)
Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Quasimodo Vs. Asimakis,
Result Unknown
2 - Spiros Arion Vs. Carlos Rocha,
Result Unknown
3 - Andreas Lambrakis Vs. Angel Grey,
Result Unknown
JUNE 30, 1963 (SUNDAY)
Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens, Greece,
Result Unknown
1 - Juan Botana Vs. Johnny Apollo,
Result Unknown
2 - Carlos Rocha Vs. Manuel Quintana,
Result Unknown
3 - Andreas Lambrakis Vs. Quasimodo,
Result Unknown
JULY 1963
JULY 4, 1963 (THURSDAY)
Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Tag Team
Spiros Arion & Asimakis Vs. Conde Maximiliano & Carlos Rocha,
Result Unknown
2 - Andreas Lambrakis Vs. Zando Zabo,
Result Unknown
JULY 6, 1963 (SATURDAY)
Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Zando Zabo Vs. Carlos Rocha,
Result Unknown
2 - Tag Team
Andreas Lambrakis & Spiros Arion Vs. Inca Peruano & Luis Salazar,
Result Unknown
JULY 7, 1963 (SUNDAY)
Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Spiros Arion Vs. Zando Zabo,
Result Unknown
2 - Tag Team
Andreas Lambrakis & Johnny Apollo Vs. Carlos Rocha & Manuel Quintana,
Result Unknown
JULY 10, 1963 (WEDNESDAY)
Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Conde Maximiliano Vs. Inca Peruano,
Result Unknown
2 - Quasimodo Vs. Carlos Rocha,
Result Unknown
3 - Andreas Lambrakis Vs. Zando Zabo,
Result Unknown
JULY 11, 1963 (THURSDAY)
Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Theodoros Megaritis Vs. Guiseppe Daidone,
Result Unknown
2 - Andreas Lambrakis Vs. Quasimodo,
Result Unknown
3 - Zando Zabo Vs. Inca Peruano,
Result Unknown
JULY 13, 1963 (SATURDAY)
Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Carlos Rocha Vs. Manuel Quintana,
Result Unknown
2 - Theodoros Megaritis Vs. Luis Salazar,
Result Unknown
3 - Zando Zabo Vs. Quasimodo,
Result Unknown
JULY 17, 1963 (WEDNESDAY)
Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Spiros Arion Vs. Quasimodo,
Result Unknown
2 - L'Ange Blanc Vs. Inca Peruano,
Result Unknown
3 - George Korienko Vs. Andreas Lambrakis,
Result Unknown
JULY 19, 1963 (FRIDAY)
Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Angel Grey Vs. Dimitris Karystinos,
Result Unknown
2 - Andreas Lambrakis Vs. L'Ange Blanc,
Result Unknown
3 - George Korienko Vs. Spiros Arion,
Result Unknown
JULY 21, 1963 (SUNDAY)
Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Zando Zabo Vs. Carlos Rocha,
Result Unknown
2 - Tag Team
George Korienko & L'Ange Blanc Vs. Andreas Lambrakis & Spiros Arion,
Result Unknown
JULY 24, 1963 (WEDNESDAY)
Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Tag Team
George Korienko & L'Ange Blanc Vs. Zando Zabo & Carlos Rocha,
Result Unknown
2 - Andreas Lambrakis Vs. Adi Berber Jr.,
Result Unknown
JULY 26, 1963 (FRIDAY)
Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Zando Zabo Vs. Johnny Apollo,
Result Unknown
2 - L'Ange Blanc Vs. Inca Peruano,
Result Unknown
3 - George Korienko Vs. Andread Lambrakis,
Result Unknown
JULY 31, 1963 (WEDNESDAY)
Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Tag Team
George Korienko & Adi Berber Jr. Vs. Andreas Lambrakis & Spiros Arion,
Result Unknown
2 - Theodoros Megaritis Vs. Inca Peruano,
Result Unknown
JULY 1963
JULY 4, 1963 (THURSDAY)
Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Tag Team
Spiros Arion & Asimakis Vs. Conde Maximiliano & Carlos Rocha,
Result Unknown
2 - Andreas Lambrakis Vs. Zando Zabo,
Result Unknown
JULY 6, 1963 (SATURDAY)
Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Zando Zabo Vs. Carlos Rocha,
Result Unknown
2 - Tag Team
Andreas Lambrakis & Spiros Arion Vs. Inca Peruano & Luis Salazar,
Result Unknown
JULY 7, 1963 (SUNDAY)
Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Spiros Arion Vs. Zando Zabo,
Result Unknown
2 - Tag Team
Andreas Lambrakis & Johnny Apollo Vs. Carlos Rocha & Manuel Quintana,
Result Unknown
JULY 10, 1963 (WEDNESDAY)
Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Conde Maximiliano Vs. Inca Peruano,
Result Unknown
2 - Quasimodo Vs. Carlos Rocha,
Result Unknown
3 - Andreas Lambrakis Vs. Zando Zabo,
Result Unknown
JULY 11, 1963 (THURSDAY)
Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Theodoros Megaritis Vs. Guiseppe Daidone,
Result Unknown
2 - Andreas Lambrakis Vs. Quasimodo,
Result Unknown
3 - Zando Zabo Vs. Inca Peruano,
Result Unknown
JULY 13, 1963 (SATURDAY)
Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Carlos Rocha Vs. Manuel Quintana,
Result Unknown
2 - Theodoros Megaritis Vs. Luis Salazar,
Result Unknown
3 - Zando Zabo Vs. Quasimodo,
Result Unknown
JULY 17, 1963 (WEDNESDAY)
Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Spiros Arion Vs. Quasimodo,
Result Unknown
2 - L'Ange Blanc Vs. Inca Peruano,
Result Unknown
3 - George Korienko Vs. Andreas Lambrakis,
Result Unknown
JULY 19, 1963 (FRIDAY)
Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Angel Grey Vs. Dimitris Karystinos,
Result Unknown
2 - Andreas Lambrakis Vs. L'Ange Blanc,
Result Unknown
3 - George Korienko Vs. Spiros Arion,
Result Unknown
JULY 21, 1963 (SUNDAY)
Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Zando Zabo Vs. Carlos Rocha,
Result Unknown
2 - Tag Team
George Korienko & L'Ange Blanc Vs. Andreas Lambrakis & Spiros Arion,
Result Unknown
JULY 24, 1963 (WEDNESDAY)
Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Tag Team
George Korienko & L'Ange Blanc Vs. Zando Zabo & Carlos Rocha,
Result Unknown
2 - Andreas Lambrakis Vs. Adi Berber Jr.,
Result Unknown
JULY 26, 1963 (FRIDAY)
Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Zando Zabo Vs. Johnny Apollo,
Result Unknown
2 - L'Ange Blanc Vs. Inca Peruano,
Result Unknown
3 - George Korienko Vs. Andread Lambrakis,
Result Unknown
JULY 31, 1963 (WEDNESDAY)
Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Tag Team
George Korienko & Adi Berber Jr. Vs. Andreas Lambrakis & Spiros Arion,
Result Unknown
2 - Theodoros Megaritis Vs. Inca Peruano,
Result Unknown
AUGUST 1963
AUGUST 2, 1963 (FRIDAY)
Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - L'Ange Blanc Vs. Giorgos Bouranis,
Result Unknown
2 - Tag Team
George Korienko & Zando Zabo Vs. Andreas Lambrakis & Spiros Arion,
Result Unknown
AUGUST 4, 1963 (SUNDAY)
Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Six Man Tag Team
George Korienko, Conde Maximiliano & Adi Berber Jr. Vs. Andreas Lambrakis, Spiros Arion & Theodoros Megaritis,
Result Unknown
2 - L'Ange Blanc Vs. Inca Peruano,
Result Unknown
AUGUST 8, 1963 (THURSDAY)
Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Andreas Lambrakis Vs. Warnia de Zarzecki,
Result Unknown
2 - George Korienko Vs. Inca Peruano,
Result Unknown
AUGUST 11, 1963 (SUNDAY)
Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Warnia de Zarzecki Vs. Tsikrikas,
Result Unknown
2 - Andreas Lambrakis Vs. Inca Peruano,
Result Unknown
3 - The Zebra Kid Vs. George Korienko,
Result Unknown
AUGUST 15, 1963 (THURSDAY)
Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Warnia de Zarzecki Vs. Giorgos Bouranis,
Result Unknown
2 - Inca Peruano Vs. Asimakis,
Result Unknown
3 - The Zebra Kid Vs. George Korienko,
Result Unknown
AUGUST 18, 1963 (SUNDAY)
Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Inca Peruano Vs. Warnia de Zarzecki,
Result Unknown
2 - The Zebra Kid Vs. Spiros Arion,
Result Unknown
AUGUST 21, 1963 (WEDNESDAY)
Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Six Man Tag Team
Warnia de Zarzecki, Conde Maximiliano & Inca Peruano Vs. Andreas Lambrakis, Bournanis & Tsikrikas,
Result Unknown
2 - The Zebra Kid Vs. Spiros Arion,
Result Unknown
AUGUST 25, 1963 (SUNDAY)
Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Tag Team
Inca Peruano & Zarba Karpakelian Vs. Asimakis & Tsikrikas,
Result Unknown
2 - The Zebra Kid Vs. Andreas Lambrakis,
Result Unknown
AUGUST 30, 1963 (FRIDAY)
Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Johnny Apollo Vs. Theodoros Megaritis,
Result Unknown
2 - Spiros Arion Vs. Warnia de Zarzecki,
Result Unknown
3 - The Zebra Kid Vs. Andreas Lambrakis,
Result Unknown
AUGUST 1963
AUGUST 2, 1963 (FRIDAY)
Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - L'Ange Blanc Vs. Giorgos Bouranis,
Result Unknown
2 - Tag Team
George Korienko & Zando Zabo Vs. Andreas Lambrakis & Spiros Arion,
Result Unknown
AUGUST 4, 1963 (SUNDAY)
Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Six Man Tag Team
George Korienko, Conde Maximiliano & Adi Berber Jr. Vs. Andreas Lambrakis, Spiros Arion & Theodoros Megaritis,
Result Unknown
2 - L'Ange Blanc Vs. Inca Peruano,
Result Unknown
AUGUST 8, 1963 (THURSDAY)
Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Andreas Lambrakis Vs. Warnia de Zarzecki,
Result Unknown
2 - George Korienko Vs. Inca Peruano,
Result Unknown
AUGUST 11, 1963 (SUNDAY)
Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Warnia de Zarzecki Vs. Tsikrikas,
Result Unknown
2 - Andreas Lambrakis Vs. Inca Peruano,
Result Unknown
3 - The Zebra Kid Vs. George Korienko,
Result Unknown
AUGUST 15, 1963 (THURSDAY)
Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Warnia de Zarzecki Vs. Giorgos Bouranis,
Result Unknown
2 - Inca Peruano Vs. Asimakis,
Result Unknown
3 - The Zebra Kid Vs. George Korienko,
Result Unknown
AUGUST 18, 1963 (SUNDAY)
Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Inca Peruano Vs. Warnia de Zarzecki,
Result Unknown
2 - The Zebra Kid Vs. Spiros Arion,
Result Unknown
AUGUST 21, 1963 (WEDNESDAY)
Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Six Man Tag Team
Warnia de Zarzecki, Conde Maximiliano & Inca Peruano Vs. Andreas Lambrakis, Bournanis & Tsikrikas,
Result Unknown
2 - The Zebra Kid Vs. Spiros Arion,
Result Unknown
AUGUST 25, 1963 (SUNDAY)
Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Tag Team
Inca Peruano & Zarba Karpakelian Vs. Asimakis & Tsikrikas,
Result Unknown
2 - The Zebra Kid Vs. Andreas Lambrakis,
Result Unknown
AUGUST 30, 1963 (FRIDAY)
Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Johnny Apollo Vs. Theodoros Megaritis,
Result Unknown
2 - Spiros Arion Vs. Warnia de Zarzecki,
Result Unknown
3 - The Zebra Kid Vs. Andreas Lambrakis,
Result Unknown
SEPTEMBER 1963
SEPTEMBER 1, 1963 (SUNDAY)
Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Conde Maximiliano Vs. Andreas Lambrakis,
Result Unknown
2 - Warnia de Zarzecki Vs. Theodoros Megaritis,
Result Unknown
3 - The Zebra Kid Vs. Spiros Arion,
Result Unknown
SEPTEMBER 4, 1963 (WEDNESDAY)
Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Conde Maximiliano Vs. Asimakis,
Result Unknown
2 - Inca Peruano Vs. Tsalidis,
Result Unknown
3 - Spiros Arion Vs. Andreas Lambrakis,
Result Unknown
SEPTEMBER 8, 1963 (SUNDAY)
Nikos Goumas Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Conde Maximiliano Vs. Theodoros Megaritis,
Result Unknown
2 - Inca Peruano Vs. Tsikrikas,
Result Unknown
3 - Spiros Arion Vs. Andreas Lambrakis,
Result Unknown
1964
Greece
"In 1964 the run of shows at Nikos Goumas Stadium lasted from June 24 through September 27. It featured a total of 19 shows. This was the year when the summer run of shows got its branding that would stick for next couple of decades. From here on out they started calling what they were doing in the summer (i.e. multiple stadium shows within the span of a few months with a number of international wrestlers on the cards) "World Catch Festival". The 1964 catch festival featured foreign names such as Andre Drapp, Jimmy Dula, Warnia de Zarzecki, Marcel Manneveau, Inca Peruano, Baron Von Heczey (billed in Athens as Otto von Henz), Spike Dellis* and Selim Agioup*. There was also talk of Hercules Cortez returning to Athens, but that fell through. Like the year prior, two Greek wrestlers from abroad were brought in as well - Vassilios Mantopoulos (from France) and Tony Manousos (from the States).
In terms of the Greek headliners it's interesting to note that Lambrakis wasn't around for this run of shows. Therefore, for the first time the catch festival was headlined only by newer Greek stars such as Kostas Papalazarou and Kostas Nathaniel, and Dimitris Karystinos to a lesser extent. Papalazarou had already become perhaps the number two star in Greece, partly because of his tag team with the top star Lambrakis, and 1964 was the year when Nathaniel really emerged as a top star and the main focus of the shows was getting him over as one. He scored a few singles wins (including headlining his, at least based on my records, first show to draw 10,000 fans against Zarzecki) and also tagged with Papalazarou for a few matches (including a big win they had over Drapp and Dula in front of 5,000 fans). However, Nathaniel's 1964 would be best remembered for his encounters with the masked wrestlers.
First there was Freddy Robert as a masked wrestler in 1962 and then in 1963 there were L'Ange Blanc and The Zebra Kid. Clearly, masked gimmicks were very popular with the Greek fans at this point in time. So, in 1964 the Athens promotion decided to create masked gimmicks of its own and what they created was, let's just say, unique. They introduced not one, not two, not three, but four masked wrestlers during the course of the newly christened catch festival. We'll get to the other three in a second, but let's first start with Monster. Who, or rather, what was Monster? A tall heavyset guy in a full-body leopard-striped suit. As you'll see in the photos below he was like a character straight out of Argentina's Titanes en el Ring, which at the time would have been the only other promotion doing such cartoony gimmicks. Now, I say cartoony, and while he did look cartoony, he wasn't pushed as a cartoon. He was often billed as the bloodthirsty Monster and his in-ring style reflected that. He would choke his opponents, throw them around (sometimes even outside of the ring), kick them, etc. In the ring he was very much a typical heel monster. He made his debut on July 26 and went on to defeat notable names such as Karystinos, Papalazarou (in front of 10,000 fans), Drapp (5,000 fans), Megaritis, etc, until finally he was defeated by Nathaniel (in front of another crowd of 10,000). This cartoony monster was a hit with the Athens crowd and the gimmick would become the most enduring masked gimmick in Greek pro wrestling history. Versions of it would pop up in Greece all the way through the early 90s." - Phil Lions
Greece
"In 1964 the run of shows at Nikos Goumas Stadium lasted from June 24 through September 27. It featured a total of 19 shows. This was the year when the summer run of shows got its branding that would stick for next couple of decades. From here on out they started calling what they were doing in the summer (i.e. multiple stadium shows within the span of a few months with a number of international wrestlers on the cards) "World Catch Festival". The 1964 catch festival featured foreign names such as Andre Drapp, Jimmy Dula, Warnia de Zarzecki, Marcel Manneveau, Inca Peruano, Baron Von Heczey (billed in Athens as Otto von Henz), Spike Dellis* and Selim Agioup*. There was also talk of Hercules Cortez returning to Athens, but that fell through. Like the year prior, two Greek wrestlers from abroad were brought in as well - Vassilios Mantopoulos (from France) and Tony Manousos (from the States).
In terms of the Greek headliners it's interesting to note that Lambrakis wasn't around for this run of shows. Therefore, for the first time the catch festival was headlined only by newer Greek stars such as Kostas Papalazarou and Kostas Nathaniel, and Dimitris Karystinos to a lesser extent. Papalazarou had already become perhaps the number two star in Greece, partly because of his tag team with the top star Lambrakis, and 1964 was the year when Nathaniel really emerged as a top star and the main focus of the shows was getting him over as one. He scored a few singles wins (including headlining his, at least based on my records, first show to draw 10,000 fans against Zarzecki) and also tagged with Papalazarou for a few matches (including a big win they had over Drapp and Dula in front of 5,000 fans). However, Nathaniel's 1964 would be best remembered for his encounters with the masked wrestlers.
First there was Freddy Robert as a masked wrestler in 1962 and then in 1963 there were L'Ange Blanc and The Zebra Kid. Clearly, masked gimmicks were very popular with the Greek fans at this point in time. So, in 1964 the Athens promotion decided to create masked gimmicks of its own and what they created was, let's just say, unique. They introduced not one, not two, not three, but four masked wrestlers during the course of the newly christened catch festival. We'll get to the other three in a second, but let's first start with Monster. Who, or rather, what was Monster? A tall heavyset guy in a full-body leopard-striped suit. As you'll see in the photos below he was like a character straight out of Argentina's Titanes en el Ring, which at the time would have been the only other promotion doing such cartoony gimmicks. Now, I say cartoony, and while he did look cartoony, he wasn't pushed as a cartoon. He was often billed as the bloodthirsty Monster and his in-ring style reflected that. He would choke his opponents, throw them around (sometimes even outside of the ring), kick them, etc. In the ring he was very much a typical heel monster. He made his debut on July 26 and went on to defeat notable names such as Karystinos, Papalazarou (in front of 10,000 fans), Drapp (5,000 fans), Megaritis, etc, until finally he was defeated by Nathaniel (in front of another crowd of 10,000). This cartoony monster was a hit with the Athens crowd and the gimmick would become the most enduring masked gimmick in Greek pro wrestling history. Versions of it would pop up in Greece all the way through the early 90s." - Phil Lions
JUNE 1964
JUNE 24, 1964 (WEDNESDAY)
World Catch Festival
Nikos Gourmas Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 10,000
1 - Kostas Ppalazarou Vs. Andre Dapp,
Result Unknown
2 - Dimitris Karystinos Vs. Jimmy Dula,
Result Unknown
Notes:
This is the first in the run of World Catch Festival shows.
JUNE 28, 1964 (SUNDAY)
World Catch Festival
Nikos Gourmas Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 10,000
1 - Inca Peruano Vs. Vassilios Mantopoulos,
Result Unknown
2 - Kostas Nathaniel Vs. Warnia de Zarzecki,
Result Unknown
AUGUST 1964
AUGUST 9, 1964 (SUNDAY)
World Catch Festival
Nikos Gourmas Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 10,000
1 - Kostas Papalazarou Vs. Monster,
Result Unknown
AUGUST 30, 1964 (SUNDAY)
World Catch Festival
Nikos Gourmas Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 10,000
1 - Kostas Nathaniel def. Monster
AUGUST 1964
AUGUST 9, 1964 (SUNDAY)
World Catch Festival
Nikos Gourmas Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 10,000
1 - Kostas Papalazarou Vs. Monster,
Result Unknown
AUGUST 30, 1964 (SUNDAY)
World Catch Festival
Nikos Gourmas Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 10,000
1 - Kostas Nathaniel def. Monster
SEPTEMBER 1964
SEPTEMBER 6, 1964 (SUNDAY)
World Catch Festival
Nikos Gourmas Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Monster def. Red Demon
Notes:
Blind Robot debuted on the show.
[Robot was essentially another tall heavyset guy in a full-body suit, similar to Monster himself, but the difference was that Blind Robot was, you know, blind. Yes, blind! He would even have handlers walk him out to the ring]
SEPTEMBER 13, 1964 (SUNDAY)
World Catch Festival
Nikos Gourmas Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 6,000
1 - Dimitis Karystinos Vs. Blind Robot,
Result Unknown
2 - Theodoros Megaritis Vs. Red Demon,
Result Unknown
3 - Kostas Nathaniel Vs. Monster,
Result Unknown
Notes:
Nathaniel unmasked Monster, but his name was not mentioned.
SEPTEMBER 20, 1964 (SUNDAY)
World Catch Festival
Nikos Gourmas Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Kostas Papalazarou def. Monster
SEPTEMBER 27, 1964 (SUNDAY)
World Catch Festival
Nikos Gourmas Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Theodoros Megaritis def. Monster
2 - Kostas Nathaniel def. Blind Robot
Notes:
This is the last in the run of World Catch Festival shows.
1965
Greece
"1965 was a big year in Greek pro wrestling, for a number of reasons. It was probably one of the most successful ones too. I only have a handful of attendance estimates, but often the press is talking about big crowds being present for these shows I'm about to discuss. Throughout the course of the year a total of at least 39 stadium shows took place in Athens alone. I say at least because I have a feeling I could be missing a few events, because at a couple of points the coverage in the press seems spotty and therefore some shows may be missing. But what's even more interesting is that while in previous years it had been one group running the stadium shows in 1965 it seems like there were a few groups running shows in Athens.
The first stadium show of the year, headlined by Thanasis Kabaflis vs. Abel Cestac, was supposed to take place on April 18, but I wasn't able to find a report for it so I cannot confirm whether it actually took place or not. A couple of weeks prior to this adverts had already started running in the press advertising the upcoming annual catch festival and this is where things started to get really interesting. The previous few years the catch festivals had been promoted by one group, which had run all of the stadium shows over the summer months. This year, however, there were two groups running their own catch festival at the same time.
The first group to start advertising their upcoming shows was a group centered around Andreas Lambrakis. They called their shows "International Catch Festival" and the shows were to be held at Nea Smyrni Stadium. Lambrakis had missed the previous year's festival so this was his return to Athens after his last matches there in 1963 and, as far as I know, this run of shows ended up being his final matches in Greece. He had been a popular name in Greece for the past two decades and was without question the top Greek star in the previous few years. It would appear that for his final run of shows Lambrakis and a few Greek wrestlers splintered off and decided to run in opposition to the already established Athens promotion. Theodoros Megaritis, Giorgos Alexiou and Dimitris Sideris were the other popular Greek stars in this new Lambrakis group. Vassilios Mantopoulos was brought in from France as well. At this point neither one of them was a true headliner, but all four were popular.
Of course, you cannot have an "International Catch Festival" without having international names on the cards. Before I mention who ended up working the shows I'll first mention who was talked about in the newspapers as coming in, but did not: Hercules Cortez (European Heavyweight champion at the time, Spanish version), Andre Bollet (a top heel in France at the time), Kiyomigawa (a globe-trotting Japanese wrestler), Les Blousons Noirs (Marcel Manneveau and Claude Gessat), Karl von Kramer, Jose Aroyo, Joaquim la Barba, Inca Peruano, Inca Wiracocha, Eric Husberg and Cheri Bibi. A ton of names, really. I would imagine there must have been some disappointed fans because neither one of those guys, all of whom were popular names in Continental Europe, came to Athens, especially since the group of foreign talent that came to Athens for this catch festival wasn't as impressive. And yet, attendance estimates seem to suggest that it all worked out well in the end. The international names that actually wrestled on the Lambrakis cards were the following: Pat O'Connor (not the World champion Pat O'Connor, but rather a guy who also wrestled as Marius Servais) Gaby Calderon, Warnia de Zarzecki, Billy Catanzaro, Luc Straub, Vicente Lopez, Claude Monveau* and Roy Sizar*.
The "International Catch Festival" went on from May 15 to June 13 and featured 12 shows. Four of the first five shows were headlined by Lambrakis defeating Calderon (in front of 8,000 fans), Straub, O'Connor and Zarzecki, and someone else, or rather something else, headlined the rest of the shows. What was this new attraction? Another wacky masked gimmick, of course. First I should mention that Monster, the masked character from the previous year, returned and worked a few matches on the international festival cards. I don't know if it was the same guy as the year prior, but either way this time around he wasn't pushed as a big deal. He was just a guy supplementing the card. The big new masked attraction was called Hunchback. And yes, he was exactly what his name suggests - a hunchback wrestler. Well, not really a hunchback, but rather someone obviously stuffing something under his clothes to make himself appear as if he was a hunchback. And same as Monster the year before, while he was a cartoony-looking character he wasn't pushed as a cartoon. He was presented as a serious threat.
...
Let's now talk about the group they were running in opposition to. That group ran its shows mostly at Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium. The shows lasted from May 16 to June 27 and were billed as "World Catch Festival". Actually, strike that. A lot of the newspaper adverts billed them as the "Official World Catch Festival", which seems to suggest they were trying to portray the "International Catch Festival", ran by the Lambrakis group, as something lesser. These guys ran at least 16 shows in Athens as I believe I may be missing a show or two. In addition to that I found ads that confirm they also had a number of shows in Patras (the third largest Greek city after Athens and Thessaloniki) and it's possible they may have had shows elsewhere too.
When I say "they" who does that mean? Same as with the Lambrakis group let's first start with the names they advertised, but did not deliver: Ricki Starr, Josef Zaranoff, Bert Royal, Vic Faulkner, El Greco, Petro Cabiello* and Lion Aras*. What they ended up delivering though was still a very strong line-up of talent. Among them: George Bollas, George Gordienko, Ski Hi Lee, Billy Two Rivers, Prince Kumali, Kangaroo Kennedy, Rudi Saturski, Harry Wenzel, Bill Verna, Arn Saari, John Cox, Eduardo Don Juan*, Sonny Oford*, Sebastiano Cassio* and Passalaro*. Plus, they brought back the Greeks Spiros Arion and Johnny Apollo, and also brought in Mike Paidousis from the States. On top of that they also had other popular Greek stars such as Kostas Papalazarou and Dimitris Karystinos. He hadn't been advertised in the initial ads, but the popular veteran Thanasis Kabaflis joined them as well. In addition to Bollas, they also had a second masked character, but he was just called the masked wrestler and was just a regular masked guy. In short, overall this group definitely had a stronger talent line-up than the Lambrakis group.
Bollas, Gordienko, Lee, Kabaflis and Rivers were the main headliners for the festival with Kumali, Arion and Papalazarou right after them.
...
Kostas Nathaniel, the top headliner from the year prior, had spent the first part of the year wrestling in Lebanon. Originally he had been advertised for the World Festival, but ultimately he did not work for that group. Later on he was advertised for a show at the International Festival, but didn't work that one either. It would appear both groups wanted him, but instead he decided to do his own thing." - Phil Lions
Greece
"1965 was a big year in Greek pro wrestling, for a number of reasons. It was probably one of the most successful ones too. I only have a handful of attendance estimates, but often the press is talking about big crowds being present for these shows I'm about to discuss. Throughout the course of the year a total of at least 39 stadium shows took place in Athens alone. I say at least because I have a feeling I could be missing a few events, because at a couple of points the coverage in the press seems spotty and therefore some shows may be missing. But what's even more interesting is that while in previous years it had been one group running the stadium shows in 1965 it seems like there were a few groups running shows in Athens.
The first stadium show of the year, headlined by Thanasis Kabaflis vs. Abel Cestac, was supposed to take place on April 18, but I wasn't able to find a report for it so I cannot confirm whether it actually took place or not. A couple of weeks prior to this adverts had already started running in the press advertising the upcoming annual catch festival and this is where things started to get really interesting. The previous few years the catch festivals had been promoted by one group, which had run all of the stadium shows over the summer months. This year, however, there were two groups running their own catch festival at the same time.
The first group to start advertising their upcoming shows was a group centered around Andreas Lambrakis. They called their shows "International Catch Festival" and the shows were to be held at Nea Smyrni Stadium. Lambrakis had missed the previous year's festival so this was his return to Athens after his last matches there in 1963 and, as far as I know, this run of shows ended up being his final matches in Greece. He had been a popular name in Greece for the past two decades and was without question the top Greek star in the previous few years. It would appear that for his final run of shows Lambrakis and a few Greek wrestlers splintered off and decided to run in opposition to the already established Athens promotion. Theodoros Megaritis, Giorgos Alexiou and Dimitris Sideris were the other popular Greek stars in this new Lambrakis group. Vassilios Mantopoulos was brought in from France as well. At this point neither one of them was a true headliner, but all four were popular.
Of course, you cannot have an "International Catch Festival" without having international names on the cards. Before I mention who ended up working the shows I'll first mention who was talked about in the newspapers as coming in, but did not: Hercules Cortez (European Heavyweight champion at the time, Spanish version), Andre Bollet (a top heel in France at the time), Kiyomigawa (a globe-trotting Japanese wrestler), Les Blousons Noirs (Marcel Manneveau and Claude Gessat), Karl von Kramer, Jose Aroyo, Joaquim la Barba, Inca Peruano, Inca Wiracocha, Eric Husberg and Cheri Bibi. A ton of names, really. I would imagine there must have been some disappointed fans because neither one of those guys, all of whom were popular names in Continental Europe, came to Athens, especially since the group of foreign talent that came to Athens for this catch festival wasn't as impressive. And yet, attendance estimates seem to suggest that it all worked out well in the end. The international names that actually wrestled on the Lambrakis cards were the following: Pat O'Connor (not the World champion Pat O'Connor, but rather a guy who also wrestled as Marius Servais) Gaby Calderon, Warnia de Zarzecki, Billy Catanzaro, Luc Straub, Vicente Lopez, Claude Monveau* and Roy Sizar*.
The "International Catch Festival" went on from May 15 to June 13 and featured 12 shows. Four of the first five shows were headlined by Lambrakis defeating Calderon (in front of 8,000 fans), Straub, O'Connor and Zarzecki, and someone else, or rather something else, headlined the rest of the shows. What was this new attraction? Another wacky masked gimmick, of course. First I should mention that Monster, the masked character from the previous year, returned and worked a few matches on the international festival cards. I don't know if it was the same guy as the year prior, but either way this time around he wasn't pushed as a big deal. He was just a guy supplementing the card. The big new masked attraction was called Hunchback. And yes, he was exactly what his name suggests - a hunchback wrestler. Well, not really a hunchback, but rather someone obviously stuffing something under his clothes to make himself appear as if he was a hunchback. And same as Monster the year before, while he was a cartoony-looking character he wasn't pushed as a cartoon. He was presented as a serious threat.
...
Let's now talk about the group they were running in opposition to. That group ran its shows mostly at Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium. The shows lasted from May 16 to June 27 and were billed as "World Catch Festival". Actually, strike that. A lot of the newspaper adverts billed them as the "Official World Catch Festival", which seems to suggest they were trying to portray the "International Catch Festival", ran by the Lambrakis group, as something lesser. These guys ran at least 16 shows in Athens as I believe I may be missing a show or two. In addition to that I found ads that confirm they also had a number of shows in Patras (the third largest Greek city after Athens and Thessaloniki) and it's possible they may have had shows elsewhere too.
When I say "they" who does that mean? Same as with the Lambrakis group let's first start with the names they advertised, but did not deliver: Ricki Starr, Josef Zaranoff, Bert Royal, Vic Faulkner, El Greco, Petro Cabiello* and Lion Aras*. What they ended up delivering though was still a very strong line-up of talent. Among them: George Bollas, George Gordienko, Ski Hi Lee, Billy Two Rivers, Prince Kumali, Kangaroo Kennedy, Rudi Saturski, Harry Wenzel, Bill Verna, Arn Saari, John Cox, Eduardo Don Juan*, Sonny Oford*, Sebastiano Cassio* and Passalaro*. Plus, they brought back the Greeks Spiros Arion and Johnny Apollo, and also brought in Mike Paidousis from the States. On top of that they also had other popular Greek stars such as Kostas Papalazarou and Dimitris Karystinos. He hadn't been advertised in the initial ads, but the popular veteran Thanasis Kabaflis joined them as well. In addition to Bollas, they also had a second masked character, but he was just called the masked wrestler and was just a regular masked guy. In short, overall this group definitely had a stronger talent line-up than the Lambrakis group.
Bollas, Gordienko, Lee, Kabaflis and Rivers were the main headliners for the festival with Kumali, Arion and Papalazarou right after them.
...
Kostas Nathaniel, the top headliner from the year prior, had spent the first part of the year wrestling in Lebanon. Originally he had been advertised for the World Festival, but ultimately he did not work for that group. Later on he was advertised for a show at the International Festival, but didn't work that one either. It would appear both groups wanted him, but instead he decided to do his own thing." - Phil Lions
MAY 1965
MAY 15, 1965 (SATURDAY)
International Catch Festival
Nea Smyrni Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 8,000
1 - Andreas Lambrakis Vs. Gaby Calderon,
Result Unknown
Notes:
This is the last in the run of International Catch Festival Shows.
MAY 16, 1965 (SUNDAY)
World Catch Festival
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 10,000
1 - Spiros Arion Vs. Kangaroo Kennedy,
Result Unknown
2 - George Korienko Vs. The Zebra Kid,
Result Unknown
Notes:
Some newspapers called this and the subsequent shows the "Official World Catch Festival."
This is the first in the run of World Catch Festival Shows.
MAY 19, 1965 (WEDNESDAY)
International Catch Festival
Nea Smyrni Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Hunchback def. Andreas Lamabrakis
Notes:
This is Hunchback's debut.
MAY 23, 1965 (SUNDAY)
International Catch Festival
Nea Smyrni Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Hunchback def. Andreas Lambrakis
Notes:
Lambrakis lost due to interference by Pat O'Connor.
MAY 26, 1965 (WEDNESDAY)
International Catch Festival
Nea Smyrni Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 15,000
1 - Andreas Lambrakis Vs. Hunchback,
No Contest
MAY 30, 1965 (SUNDAY)
World Catch Festival
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 15,000
1 - Spiros Arion Vs. Ski Hi Lee,
Result Unknown
2 - George Korienko Vs. Dimitris Karystinos & Stefanidis,
Result Unknown
International Catch Festival
Nea Smyrni Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Andreas Lambrakis Vs. Pat O'Connor,
Result Unknown
Notes:
In the build for this, newspapers refer to Lambrakis as the successor of Jim Londos and the King of Catch.
It's said Lambrakis is an idol to thousands of Greek fans.
[This is the last known match Lambrakis ever had]
MAY 1965
MAY 15, 1965 (SATURDAY)
International Catch Festival
Nea Smyrni Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 8,000
1 - Andreas Lambrakis Vs. Gaby Calderon,
Result Unknown
Notes:
This is the last in the run of International Catch Festival Shows.
MAY 16, 1965 (SUNDAY)
World Catch Festival
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 10,000
1 - Spiros Arion Vs. Kangaroo Kennedy,
Result Unknown
2 - George Korienko Vs. The Zebra Kid,
Result Unknown
Notes:
Some newspapers called this and the subsequent shows the "Official World Catch Festival."
This is the first in the run of World Catch Festival Shows.
MAY 19, 1965 (WEDNESDAY)
International Catch Festival
Nea Smyrni Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Hunchback def. Andreas Lamabrakis
Notes:
This is Hunchback's debut.
MAY 23, 1965 (SUNDAY)
International Catch Festival
Nea Smyrni Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Hunchback def. Andreas Lambrakis
Notes:
Lambrakis lost due to interference by Pat O'Connor.
MAY 26, 1965 (WEDNESDAY)
International Catch Festival
Nea Smyrni Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 15,000
1 - Andreas Lambrakis Vs. Hunchback,
No Contest
MAY 30, 1965 (SUNDAY)
World Catch Festival
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 15,000
1 - Spiros Arion Vs. Ski Hi Lee,
Result Unknown
2 - George Korienko Vs. Dimitris Karystinos & Stefanidis,
Result Unknown
International Catch Festival
Nea Smyrni Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Andreas Lambrakis Vs. Pat O'Connor,
Result Unknown
Notes:
In the build for this, newspapers refer to Lambrakis as the successor of Jim Londos and the King of Catch.
It's said Lambrakis is an idol to thousands of Greek fans.
[This is the last known match Lambrakis ever had]
JUNE 1965
JUNE 6, 1965 (SUNDAY)
World Catch Festival
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 15,000
1 - George Korienko Vs. The Zebra Kid,
Result Unknown
2 - Thanasis Kabaflis Vs. Sky Hi Lee,
Result Unknown
JUNE 13, 1965 (SUNDAY)
International Catch Festival
Nea Smyrni Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Thanasis Kabaflis def. Hunchback
Notes:
Kabaflis was a substitute for Andreas Lambrakis.
Just four days later Kabaflis had been wrestling for the rival group of wrestlers.
This is the last in the run of International Catch Festival Shows.
JUNE 27, 1965 (SUNDAY)
World Catch Festival
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Notes:
This is the last of the run of stadium shows.
JULY 1965
JULY 4, 1965 (SUNDAY)
Peristeri Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - World Festival Vs. International Festival
Johny Apollo Vs. Dimitris Sideris,
Result Unknown
JULY 18, 1965 (SUNDAY)
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - World Festival Vs. International Festival
The Zebra Kid Vs. Dimitris Sideris,
Result Unknown
JULY 1965
JULY 4, 1965 (SUNDAY)
Peristeri Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - World Festival Vs. International Festival
Johny Apollo Vs. Dimitris Sideris,
Result Unknown
JULY 18, 1965 (SUNDAY)
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - World Festival Vs. International Festival
The Zebra Kid Vs. Dimitris Sideris,
Result Unknown
AUGUST 1965
AUGUST 1, 1965 (SUNDAY)
Georgios Kamaras Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Kostas Nathaniel def. Nick Nicholson (of Greece)
AUGUST 8, 1965 (SUNDAY)
Georgios Kamaras Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Kostas Nathaniel def. Atilio (of Bulgaria)
AUGUST 15, 1965 (SUNDAY)
Georgios Kamaras Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Kostas Nathaniel def. Gorilla
Notes:
Gorilla wore a mask.
["Greek wrestlers from both festivals worked those cards [August 1, 8 & 15] - Karystinos, Megaritis, Alexiou, etc. Nathaniel's most hyped opponent for these shows was the one who he faced on the second show. This particular guy would end up coming back to Athens on several other occasions through the years and was probably the top foreign star in the history of Greek pro wrestling. His name was Atilio (sometimes also spelled Attilio). For his first matches in Athens he was billed as Atilio Daof (Daov as well). They said he was a Bulgarian so that they can set up a Greek (Nathaniel) vs. Bulgarian (Atilio) match for what they said was the Balkan Championship. The Greek won, of course. Atilio wasn't a Bulgarian though. He was somewhere from the Middle East, but I don't know exactly where from. Other than a short tour of Germany a few years later, I don't think he worked anywhere else in Europe, but in Greece he was a big heel star" - Phil Lions]
AUGUST 1965
AUGUST 1, 1965 (SUNDAY)
Georgios Kamaras Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Kostas Nathaniel def. Nick Nicholson (of Greece)
AUGUST 8, 1965 (SUNDAY)
Georgios Kamaras Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Kostas Nathaniel def. Atilio (of Bulgaria)
AUGUST 15, 1965 (SUNDAY)
Georgios Kamaras Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Kostas Nathaniel def. Gorilla
Notes:
Gorilla wore a mask.
["Greek wrestlers from both festivals worked those cards [August 1, 8 & 15] - Karystinos, Megaritis, Alexiou, etc. Nathaniel's most hyped opponent for these shows was the one who he faced on the second show. This particular guy would end up coming back to Athens on several other occasions through the years and was probably the top foreign star in the history of Greek pro wrestling. His name was Atilio (sometimes also spelled Attilio). For his first matches in Athens he was billed as Atilio Daof (Daov as well). They said he was a Bulgarian so that they can set up a Greek (Nathaniel) vs. Bulgarian (Atilio) match for what they said was the Balkan Championship. The Greek won, of course. Atilio wasn't a Bulgarian though. He was somewhere from the Middle East, but I don't know exactly where from. Other than a short tour of Germany a few years later, I don't think he worked anywhere else in Europe, but in Greece he was a big heel star" - Phil Lions]
DECEMBER 1965-JANUARY 1966
DECEMBER 5, 1965 (SUNDAY)-JANUARY 2, 1966 (SUNDAY)
Athens, Greece
"Running several open-air stadium shows in December hadn't been done in Athens since 1959 when Carnera came in for three shows, but in 1965 they did it again. The brought back the Bulgarian Nikolai Zigulinoff for a run of seven shows at Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, which lasted from December 5 to January 2. Zigulinoff had wrestled in Athens back in 1961 and by all accounts had been a big attraction and so they brought him back for a second run. His previous run was all tag team matches, and now it was all singles bouts. His main opponent was Alexiou, but in the mean time Zigulinoff scored wins over Asimakis, Karystinos, Karpozilos and Bouranis. The first Zigulinoff vs. Alexiou match ended without a winner. Zigulinoff won the second one. Then for the third one they did an angle where Zigulinoff was refusing to wrestle Alexiou unless he put up 100,000 Greek drachmas. Alexiou did so and in their final encounter Alexiou finally managed to defeat the Bulgarian villain." - Phil Lions
1966
Greece
"The "World Catch Festival" returned to Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium in 1966. I would imagine this was the case before too, but this year in particular the newspapers identify Harry Karpozilos as the promoter. This time around the festival was 13 shows from June 1 to July 17. The two main foreign headliners that were brought in were John Da Silva (from New Zealand) and Ivan Strogoff (a Belgian doing a Russian gimmick), with Charro Ventura and Charles Verhulst also working some main events. Other foreign names who worked the festival were someone called Rousefky*, Bolton* (from France), the Armenian Aram Dorletian* and towards the end of the festival Nick David* (who may have been Bernard Vignal) and Otto Horvat* came in too. Rudo Martin, Ricky Ferrari* and Ventura Rodrigues* were advertised, but did not appear.
The two main Greek headliners were Kostas Papalazarou and especially Spiros Arion, with Alexiou and Dourvetakis right behind them in the Greek wrestler hierarchy for the shows. Arion had been a main event name in previous years too, but in 1966 is when he was positioned as the top Greek star for the festival, headlining 10 of the 13 shows they ran either in singles competition or teaming with Papalazarou. His main rival during the course of the festival was Da Silva. I have attendance estimates for 8 of the 13 shows and the reported crowds range from 5,000 to 8,000 so, while it would seem the 1966 festival perhaps wasn't as successful as the previous few festivals, business was still pretty good.
The final two shows of the festival went head to head with the shows of another group that began running events. This series of events was called the "European Cup" and all shows were held at Nikos Goumas Stadium. A total of 8 shows, all headlined by Kostas Nathaniel. The shows basically consisted of Nathaniel defeating a number of international wrestlers until he was declared the winner of the cup. Those international names were Carlos Rocha, Gran Caruso, Miguel Galarza and El Romano. At one point The Great Togo (Harold Sakata) was advertised as coming in as well, but didn't. It's also interesting to note that the Greeks Karystinos and Asimakis ended up working shows for both the Karpozilos and Nathaniel groups, the only two wrestlers to do so in 1966.
It's also worth mentioning that Jim Londos came back to Greece in June, but I wasn't able to find any mentions of him wrestling while there." - Phil Lions
Greece
"The "World Catch Festival" returned to Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium in 1966. I would imagine this was the case before too, but this year in particular the newspapers identify Harry Karpozilos as the promoter. This time around the festival was 13 shows from June 1 to July 17. The two main foreign headliners that were brought in were John Da Silva (from New Zealand) and Ivan Strogoff (a Belgian doing a Russian gimmick), with Charro Ventura and Charles Verhulst also working some main events. Other foreign names who worked the festival were someone called Rousefky*, Bolton* (from France), the Armenian Aram Dorletian* and towards the end of the festival Nick David* (who may have been Bernard Vignal) and Otto Horvat* came in too. Rudo Martin, Ricky Ferrari* and Ventura Rodrigues* were advertised, but did not appear.
The two main Greek headliners were Kostas Papalazarou and especially Spiros Arion, with Alexiou and Dourvetakis right behind them in the Greek wrestler hierarchy for the shows. Arion had been a main event name in previous years too, but in 1966 is when he was positioned as the top Greek star for the festival, headlining 10 of the 13 shows they ran either in singles competition or teaming with Papalazarou. His main rival during the course of the festival was Da Silva. I have attendance estimates for 8 of the 13 shows and the reported crowds range from 5,000 to 8,000 so, while it would seem the 1966 festival perhaps wasn't as successful as the previous few festivals, business was still pretty good.
The final two shows of the festival went head to head with the shows of another group that began running events. This series of events was called the "European Cup" and all shows were held at Nikos Goumas Stadium. A total of 8 shows, all headlined by Kostas Nathaniel. The shows basically consisted of Nathaniel defeating a number of international wrestlers until he was declared the winner of the cup. Those international names were Carlos Rocha, Gran Caruso, Miguel Galarza and El Romano. At one point The Great Togo (Harold Sakata) was advertised as coming in as well, but didn't. It's also interesting to note that the Greeks Karystinos and Asimakis ended up working shows for both the Karpozilos and Nathaniel groups, the only two wrestlers to do so in 1966.
It's also worth mentioning that Jim Londos came back to Greece in June, but I wasn't able to find any mentions of him wrestling while there." - Phil Lions
JUNE 1966
JUNE 1, 1966 (WEDNESDAY)
World Catch Festival
Promoter: Harry Karpozilos
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Notes:
This is the first in the run of stadium shows.
JUNE 5, 1966 (SUNDAY)
World Catch Festival
Promoter: Harry Karpozilos
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 8,000
1 - John Da Silva Vs. Dimitris Karystinos,
Result Unknown
2 - Tag Team
Kostas Papalazarou & Spiros Arion Vs. Charro Ventura & Rousefsky,
Result Unknown
JUNE 12, 1966 (SUNDAY)
World Catch Festival
Promoter: Harry Karpozilos
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 8,000
1 - Tag Team
Kosta Papalazarou & Spiros Arion Vs. Ivan Strogoff & Charro Ventura,
Result Unknown
JUNE 19, 1966 (SUNDAY)
World Catch Festival
Promoter: Harry Karpozilos
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 8,000
1 - Six Man Tag Team
Kostas Papalazarou, Spiros Arion & Yannis Dourvetakis Vs. John Da Silva, Ivan Strogoff & Charro Ventura,
Result Unknown
JULY 1966
JULY 17, 1966 (SUNDAY)
World Catch Festival
Promoter: Harry Karpozilos
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Notes:
This is the last in the run of stadium shows.
JULY 1966
JULY 17, 1966 (SUNDAY)
World Catch Festival
Promoter: Harry Karpozilos
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Notes:
This is the last in the run of stadium shows.
1967
Greece
"1967 kicked off with something there hadn't been in a few years, or at the very least something that hadn't been reported on in a few years. From January through May there was a series of indoor shows at Olympia Theater in Athens. Initially Kostas Nathaniel was the headliner, defending some sort of Greek Title claim. Eventually Asimakis, Bouranis and Karpozilos headlined as well.
As usual the annual catch festival made its return to Athens. Unfortunately, I don't have any reports since the issues of the main newspaper I'm using for this research are missing. Therefore, all I can go by are the adverts for the shows from other newspapers. Initially the 1967 festival was advertised as "Mega World Catch Festival", but eventually they dropped the mega part. The festival featured a total of 19 shows. All were held at Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium between August 6 and October 11. On the Greek side of things Papalazarou was the top star, but other names such as Karystinos, Alexiou, Bournanis, Tsikrikas and the returning Timonidis were in the mix as well. It's also worth pointing out Grigoris Karpozilos made his debut. He was the son of Harry Karpozilos. Despite being the son of the promoter, Grigoris was never pushed as a headliner and would continue wrestling through the 1980s.
The main foreign headliner for the 1967 festival was the returning Atilio. For his Athens debut in 1965 he had been billed as Atilio Daof, a Bulgarian. Now he was Atilio Daou, an Arab, but the surname would end up being dropped from his name and he would be best remembered as just Atilio. The adverts called him "The Arabian Goliath" and also "Man Mountain". He feuded with the top Greek star Papalazarou, facing him in both singles and tag team matches. There are photos of both guys with some sort of Greek Heavyweight Title so it would appear one must've been champion and the other guy must've beaten him for it. Other foreign headliners in 1967 were Joussef Tannous (from Lebanon) and the Nabulsi* brothers (Halil and Ata). Other foreign names who were there for the 1967 festival were Timi Kao*, Mustafa Elkous* (from somewhere in the Middle East) and Nikolai Sagia (from Lebanon). Mustafa and Sagia would come back to Athens multiple times in the future." - Phil Lions
Greece
"1967 kicked off with something there hadn't been in a few years, or at the very least something that hadn't been reported on in a few years. From January through May there was a series of indoor shows at Olympia Theater in Athens. Initially Kostas Nathaniel was the headliner, defending some sort of Greek Title claim. Eventually Asimakis, Bouranis and Karpozilos headlined as well.
As usual the annual catch festival made its return to Athens. Unfortunately, I don't have any reports since the issues of the main newspaper I'm using for this research are missing. Therefore, all I can go by are the adverts for the shows from other newspapers. Initially the 1967 festival was advertised as "Mega World Catch Festival", but eventually they dropped the mega part. The festival featured a total of 19 shows. All were held at Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium between August 6 and October 11. On the Greek side of things Papalazarou was the top star, but other names such as Karystinos, Alexiou, Bournanis, Tsikrikas and the returning Timonidis were in the mix as well. It's also worth pointing out Grigoris Karpozilos made his debut. He was the son of Harry Karpozilos. Despite being the son of the promoter, Grigoris was never pushed as a headliner and would continue wrestling through the 1980s.
The main foreign headliner for the 1967 festival was the returning Atilio. For his Athens debut in 1965 he had been billed as Atilio Daof, a Bulgarian. Now he was Atilio Daou, an Arab, but the surname would end up being dropped from his name and he would be best remembered as just Atilio. The adverts called him "The Arabian Goliath" and also "Man Mountain". He feuded with the top Greek star Papalazarou, facing him in both singles and tag team matches. There are photos of both guys with some sort of Greek Heavyweight Title so it would appear one must've been champion and the other guy must've beaten him for it. Other foreign headliners in 1967 were Joussef Tannous (from Lebanon) and the Nabulsi* brothers (Halil and Ata). Other foreign names who were there for the 1967 festival were Timi Kao*, Mustafa Elkous* (from somewhere in the Middle East) and Nikolai Sagia (from Lebanon). Mustafa and Sagia would come back to Athens multiple times in the future." - Phil Lions
AUGUST 1967
AUGUST 6, 1967 (SUNDAY)
Mega World Catch Festival
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Notes:
This is the first in the run of Mega World Catch Festival, which is later called the World Catch Festival.
OCTOBER 1967
OCTOBER 11, 1967 (WEDNESDAY)
World Catch Festival
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Notes:
This is the last in the run of the World Catch Festival, which was previously called the Mega World Catch Festival.
1968
Greece
"The 1968 "World Catch Festival" took place between June 2 and October 6. It consisted of 28 shows and it happened in two phases, each with a different group of foreign wrestlers. As had happened a few times before, a few international names had been mentioned as coming to participate in the festival, but ultimately they did not. Those names were Dr. Bill Miller, Hans Mortier, Al Fontayne, Vega Dingo and Lucas Valiente. In the 1968 festival Papalazarou was still the top Greek star, but Theodoros Megaritis emerged as just as big a star, if not bigger, and Giorgos Bouranis was elevated a bit during the course of the festival as well.
The first phase of the festival, from June 2 to June 30, had 9 shows. Initially it featured international names such as Bill Martinez (a.k.a. Tigre Columbiano), Ivan Strogoff, El Bulldog, Giuseppe Daidone, Fred Baouil* (supposedly from Canada) and Modrou* (supposedly from Belgium), and a little bit later on they were joined by Dragon Chino, Jimmy Dula and someone going by the name Abdullah Ali Baba or just Ali Baba. As soon as he came in the masked Dragon Chino (an infamous heel from South America) was positioned as the top heel. He went on to defeat Bulldog, Stefanidis, Dula, lost via disqualification to Bouranis and finally the veteran Harry Karpozilos, in his final singles main event match ever in Athens, managed to defeat the rulebreaking South American.
The second phase of the festival lasted from July 7 through October 6. It had 19 shows altogether and all 19 of them had the returning Atilio in the main event. But before we get to him let's mention the other foreigners on those shows: Digran Nazarian* (Armenian), Mustafa Elkous*, Nabis Mizhayr* (from Egypt), Nikolai Sagia, Power Mike (from Nigeria, who would go on to be a big star there) and Timi Kao*.
Atilio started his 1968 run with quick wins over Asimakis and Stefanidis. And when I say quick I mean really quick. He beat Asimakis, for example, in just two minutes. Atilio then took on Papalazarou and their match ended without a winner when Mustafa interfered. What followed were more wins for Atilio over the likes of Spiropoulos, Karystinos and Bouranis. Then, on August 4 in front of 15,000 fans, Atilio once again faced off with the top Greek star Papalazarou.
...
The next show saw Atilio teaming with the Armenian Nazarian, who would become Atilio's regular tag team partner. The biggest match of the year in Athens happened on the show after that when Atilio took on Megaritis.
Theodoros Megaritis started as a wrestler in the late 1950s/early 1960s and quickly gained popularity. In addition to wrestling he was also doing bodybuilding and won the first ever Mr. Greece competition in 1965 (which he was also the promoter of). He was also doing a little bit of acting on the side. However, he was perhaps best known as a martial arts instructor since he was one of the pioneers of karate in Greece. In 1967 he published a book on karate and judo, explaining some of the core philosophies of those martial arts as well as outlining his own conditioning and self-defense systems. On top of that, he had a well-known school where he would teach karate, judo and jiu-jitsu. Martial arts were part of his in-ring style and gimmick too as in his matches he would utilize various throws and kicks. As of 1968 Megaritis was probably the most popular Greek wrestler in Greece along with Papalazarou and Arion, but he was wrestling sporadically. Megaritis had missed the 1966 festival, had only match in 1967 (against Atilio) and now he was back for another match with Atilio. The story going in was that the promoter Karpozilos was going to give Megaritis 100,000 Greek drachmas if he could defeat the undefeated Atilio (well, undefeated in 1968 at least).
...
One final note about 1968. By the looks of it Kostas Nathaniel did not work any big shows in 1967 or 1968. In 1968 he did, however, throw out challenges to Atilio, Megaritis and Kabaflis, but those went nowhere." - Phil Lions
Greece
"The 1968 "World Catch Festival" took place between June 2 and October 6. It consisted of 28 shows and it happened in two phases, each with a different group of foreign wrestlers. As had happened a few times before, a few international names had been mentioned as coming to participate in the festival, but ultimately they did not. Those names were Dr. Bill Miller, Hans Mortier, Al Fontayne, Vega Dingo and Lucas Valiente. In the 1968 festival Papalazarou was still the top Greek star, but Theodoros Megaritis emerged as just as big a star, if not bigger, and Giorgos Bouranis was elevated a bit during the course of the festival as well.
The first phase of the festival, from June 2 to June 30, had 9 shows. Initially it featured international names such as Bill Martinez (a.k.a. Tigre Columbiano), Ivan Strogoff, El Bulldog, Giuseppe Daidone, Fred Baouil* (supposedly from Canada) and Modrou* (supposedly from Belgium), and a little bit later on they were joined by Dragon Chino, Jimmy Dula and someone going by the name Abdullah Ali Baba or just Ali Baba. As soon as he came in the masked Dragon Chino (an infamous heel from South America) was positioned as the top heel. He went on to defeat Bulldog, Stefanidis, Dula, lost via disqualification to Bouranis and finally the veteran Harry Karpozilos, in his final singles main event match ever in Athens, managed to defeat the rulebreaking South American.
The second phase of the festival lasted from July 7 through October 6. It had 19 shows altogether and all 19 of them had the returning Atilio in the main event. But before we get to him let's mention the other foreigners on those shows: Digran Nazarian* (Armenian), Mustafa Elkous*, Nabis Mizhayr* (from Egypt), Nikolai Sagia, Power Mike (from Nigeria, who would go on to be a big star there) and Timi Kao*.
Atilio started his 1968 run with quick wins over Asimakis and Stefanidis. And when I say quick I mean really quick. He beat Asimakis, for example, in just two minutes. Atilio then took on Papalazarou and their match ended without a winner when Mustafa interfered. What followed were more wins for Atilio over the likes of Spiropoulos, Karystinos and Bouranis. Then, on August 4 in front of 15,000 fans, Atilio once again faced off with the top Greek star Papalazarou.
...
The next show saw Atilio teaming with the Armenian Nazarian, who would become Atilio's regular tag team partner. The biggest match of the year in Athens happened on the show after that when Atilio took on Megaritis.
Theodoros Megaritis started as a wrestler in the late 1950s/early 1960s and quickly gained popularity. In addition to wrestling he was also doing bodybuilding and won the first ever Mr. Greece competition in 1965 (which he was also the promoter of). He was also doing a little bit of acting on the side. However, he was perhaps best known as a martial arts instructor since he was one of the pioneers of karate in Greece. In 1967 he published a book on karate and judo, explaining some of the core philosophies of those martial arts as well as outlining his own conditioning and self-defense systems. On top of that, he had a well-known school where he would teach karate, judo and jiu-jitsu. Martial arts were part of his in-ring style and gimmick too as in his matches he would utilize various throws and kicks. As of 1968 Megaritis was probably the most popular Greek wrestler in Greece along with Papalazarou and Arion, but he was wrestling sporadically. Megaritis had missed the 1966 festival, had only match in 1967 (against Atilio) and now he was back for another match with Atilio. The story going in was that the promoter Karpozilos was going to give Megaritis 100,000 Greek drachmas if he could defeat the undefeated Atilio (well, undefeated in 1968 at least).
...
One final note about 1968. By the looks of it Kostas Nathaniel did not work any big shows in 1967 or 1968. In 1968 he did, however, throw out challenges to Atilio, Megaritis and Kabaflis, but those went nowhere." - Phil Lions
JUNE 1968
JUNE 2, 1968 (SUNDAY)
World Catch Festival
Promoter: Harry Karpozilos
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Notes:
This is the first of the run shows which comprise the first phase of the World Catch Festival.
JUNE 30, 1968 (SUNDAY)
World Catch Festival
Promoter: Harry Karpozilos
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Notes:
This is the last of the run shows which comprise the first phase of the World Catch Festival.
JULY 1968
JULY 7, 1968 (MONDAY)
World Catch Festival
Promoter: Harry Karpozilos
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Notes:
This is the first of the run shows which comprise the second phase of the World Catch Festival.
JULY 1968
JULY 7, 1968 (MONDAY)
World Catch Festival
Promoter: Harry Karpozilos
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Notes:
This is the first of the run shows which comprise the second phase of the World Catch Festival.
AUGUST 1968
AUGUST 4, 1968 (SUNDAY)
World Catch Festival
Promoter: Harry Karpozilos
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 15,000
1 - Kostas Papalazarou Vs. Atilio,
Result Unknown
Notes:
After being busted open by Atilio, Papalazarou lost to the dominant foreigner.
AUGUST 11, 1968 (SUNDAY)
World Catch Festival
Promoter: Harry Karpozilos
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 20,000
1 - Theodoros Megaritis Vs. Atilio,
No Contest
AUGUST ??, 1968 (????)
World Catch Festival
Promoter: Harry Karpozilos
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Atilio def. Asimakis & Stefanidis
AUGUST 18, 1968 (SUNDAY)
World Catch Festival
Promoter: Harry Karpozilos
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 10,000
1 - Kostas Papalazarou Vs. Digran Nazarian,
Result Unknown
2 - Atilio def. Giorgos Bouranis
[Atilio's "next match was an interesting one. The team of Atilio, Nazarian and Mustafa went over Karpozilos, Karystinos and the returning veteran Christos Kadas, who hadn't worked a stadium show in 4 years and hadn't been in a main event match in Athens since 1952 (of course, this is all based on my records, which may not be complete). A few days after the 6-man tag Atilio took on Karpozilos' son in Grigoris' first singles main event ever in Athens. The match ended without a winner." - Phil Lions]
SEPTEMBER 1968
SEPTEMBER 2, 1968 (MONDAY)
World Catch Festival
Promoter: Harry Karpozilos
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 10,000
1 - Kostas Papalazarou def. Atilio
["What followed were a few more losses for [Atilio]: a tag team loss with Nazarian to Papalazarou & Megaritis, a tag team loss with Nazarian to Papalazarou & Alexiou, a singles loss to Megaritis and a second singles loss to Papalazarou." - Phil Lions]
OCTOBER 1968
OCTOBER 6, 1968 (SUNDAY)
World Catch Festival
Promoter: Harry Karpozilos
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Kostas Papalazarou & Dimitris Karystinos def. Atilio & Abel Cestac (of Argentina)
Notes:
This is the last of the run shows which comprise the second phase of the World Catch Festival.
1969
Greece
"1969 was a wild year in Athens pro wrestling history as a total of 51 stadium shows were held there between June 1 and September 8, with a final show taking place a couple of weeks later on September 28. That said, it's possible I may be missing a few shows so that number could be even higher. Not only that, but at one point there were three different groups running head to head stadium shows on the same nights. Pro wrestling was clearly booming in Athens.
Let's first start with the established group, i.e the Harry Karpozilos group. Karpozilos once again promoted a "World Catch Festival". The shows ran from June 1 through September 8, and then there was a final show on September 28. In total Karpozilos promoted 24 shows and all 24 were held at Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium. At the peak of the run he was putting on three shows at the stadium in the span of a week. This run of shows would end up feauturing Karpozilos' final in-ring appearances in Athens as he wrestled several singles matches and also a few tag team bouts teaming with his son Grigoris. His in-ring career lasted a total of 36 years (1933-1969) and he was without question one of the biggest stars in the history of Greek pro wrestling. Plus, a successful promoter too.
Initially the big superstar attraction on the catch festival shows was the returning George Gordienko. A lot of the shows were built around him defeating various Greek wrestlers until he finally met his match in the returning Spiros Arion. The previous two years Kostas Papalazarou had been the Greek hero slaying the foreign menace and he was still around in a high profile role, but this time Arion was the conquering hero. Arion and Gordienko faced off three times, two of their matches drawing 10,000 and their second bout drawing 12,000 fans.
Apart from Gordienko other international names who were brought in for the festival were the Brits Johnny Kincaid and Mel Stuart, El Bizeni* (from Lebanon), the masked Golden Falcons from South America (billed in Athens as the Golden Eagles), the returning Joussef Tannous, John Tolios, the returning Nikolai Sagia, the returning Mustafa Elkous* and someone called Salim Aoun* (who based on the photos seems to be the same guy as the Selim Agioup that worked in Athens in 1964). Later on during the run Quasimodo (Victor Castilla from Spain), Bill Martinez, Guiseppe Daidone, Marc Anthony, Diran Mahmout* (also billed as Mahmout Ali Baba), and Manuel Yohones*.
The festival started with Gordienko dominating on top, then Arion vs. Gordienko was the big program and as soon as that ended Gordienko also did a job to Theodoros Megaritis. Megaritis had joined the festival midway through and was working either main event or semi-main event, racking up three handicap wins before he finally took on Gordienko. He was very popular and was advertised as the Greek Heavyweight champion. Once Gordienko left Athens a masked tag team called the Black Demons became the headline heel attraction, winning their first match, but losing the second one to Arion and Papalazarou. And then finally Quasimodo was positioned as the main heel. He first scored a couple of wins over Grigoris Karpozilos and Karystinos, and then he lost to Papalazarou, Arion and Harry Karpozilos to finish off his run.
The second group to run shows in Athens that summer was headed by the wrestler-turned-promoter Theodoros Nikolarakos. His shows were billed as "Pan-European Championship in Wrestling". 25 shows from June 1 to August 24. Initially the shows were held at Nikos Goumas Stadium, but then they were moved to Stavros Mavrothalassitis Stadium. They may have not been the established group, but they were by no means the lesser group as they too had a good line-up of talent on their cards.
For most of the first two months of their run the top heel of the Nikolarakos group was the returning Atilio. The ferocious Atilio, as he was billed now, had been very dominant in his previous stays in Athens and this time was no different. He was almost always in the headline match and winning in dominant fashion. This time he was mostly working tag team matches with his tag team partner the Armenian Digran Nazarian*. Their opponents were usually various teams featuring popular Greek names such as Sideris, Dourvetakis and Bouranis. The former amateur wrestler Dimitris Sideris was an interesting one in a sense that he was a somewhat popular name, but apart from one tag team match with Nathaniel in 1966, he hadn't really wrestled in Athens since 1965 when he worked for the Lambrakis group. Before Atilio was brought in 1969, Sideris was the main headliner of the Nikolarakos shows. The other interesting name to single out here is Giorgos Bouranis. He had been a popular babyface wrestler in the Karpozilos group for the past few years, but always on that level right below the true top stars. He started 1969 off by still working for the Karpozilos group, but after a few weeks he jumped ship to the Nikolarakos group and was immediately put in the main event against Atilio and Nazarian. Panagiotis Asimakis did a similar thing, came from the Karpozilos to the Nikolarakos group, but ultimately he ended up back with Karpozilos. The final notable Greek name I have to mention here is the popular veteran Thanasis Kabaflis who also did a few matches for the Nikolarakos group, wrestling various foreign wrestlers. Speaking of foreign wrestlers, other than Atilio and Nazarian, the rest of the foreigners working for the Nikolarakos group in 1969 were L'Ange Blanc (not the original one), Bobo Ziba* (from Africa), Georgi Yusif* (initially billed as Bulgarian and then as Lebanese), John Foster*, Petit Louis* (from Belgium), El Greco and Ali Bek*. At one point Mustafa Elkous left the Karpozilos group and came over to this group. There were also two masked characters - Superman and the Masked Wrestler from the East (who worked only one show).
As mentioned, most of the main events for the Nikolarakos group had been tag team matches with Atilio and Nazarian, but that changed in late July. That's when the imposing Scot Frank Hoy (Wild Angus) came in as Rasputin and got over big. Rasputin went on a major tear through various opponents. He started off by beating Greek wrestlers and then moved onto to a feud with Atilio (and Nazarian) in a battle of the dominant heels. They wrestled twice, each man winning a bout, and on both occasions about 10,000 fans showed up to watch the evil foreigners fight it out.
The third group to run shows in Athens in 1969 was the group with Kostas Nathaniel, who as usual was doing his own thing. The shows were billed as being for the "European Cup" and were held at Nikos Goumas Stadium. Their run was the shortest - only three shows, which took place between August 3 and August 24. Carlos Rocha and someone called Perreira were the main foreign names on them, and there was also someone called Tony Rain*. There was talk of Mario Milano, Antonio Morlans* and Ferraro* coming in too, but they didn't. The shows are also notable for Ioannis Kostoglakis and Dimitris Darlas wrestling on them. Kostoglakis was a bodybuilder and had the best physique of all the Greek wrestlers back then, which made him stand out. Those shows were his first higher profile wrestling matches. He would become a popular name later on. Dimitris Darlas, who was a young up-and-coming babyface at the time, is worth mentioning too because in 1969 he somehow worked shows for all three groups. He was the only wrestler to do so.
All in all 1969 was a major year for pro wrestling in Athens. Probably one of the biggest ones in the history of Greek pro wrestling. Initially the Karpozilos and Nikolarakos groups were running head to head shows on the same days, but things got even more interesting once the Nathaniel group got in the mix as well and all of a sudden there were three stadium shows on the same night. So, who came out on top? It's hard to pick a winning side, especially since attendance estimates were not provided regularly by the Greek press." - Phil Lions
JUNE 1969
JUNE 1, 1969 (SUNDAY)
World Catch Festival
Promoter: Harry Karpozilos
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 15,000
1 - Tag Team
George Korienko & El Bizeni Vs. Kostas Papalazarou & Stefanidis,
Result Unknown
Notes:
This is the first of Karpizilos' run of stadium shows.
Pan-European Championship in Wrestling
Promoter: Theodoros Nikolarakos
Nikos Gourmas Stadium, Athens, Greece
Notes:
This is the first of Nikolarakos' run of stadium shows, which concludes at Stavros Mavrothalassitis Stadium.
JULY 1969
JULY 20, 1969 (SUNDAY)
World Catch Festival
Promoter: Harry Karpozilos
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 10,000
1 - Spiros Arion Vs. George Korienko,
Result Unknown
JULY 27, 1969 (SUNDAY)
World Catch Festival
Promoter: Harry Karpozilos
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 10,000
1 - George Korienko Vs. Kostas Papalazarou,
Result Unknown
2 - Theodoros Megaritis Vs. Golden Falcons,
Result Unknown
AUGUST 1969
AUGUST 3, 1969 (SUNDAY)
World Catch Festival
Promoter: Harry Karpozilos
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 12,000
1 - Tag Team
Theodoros Megaritis & Stefanidis Vs. Golden Falcons & Mustafa Elkous,
Result Unknown
2 - Spiros Arion Vs. George Korienko,
Result Unknown
Pan-European Championship in Wrestling
Promoter: Theodoros Nikolarakos
Stavros Mavrothalassitis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 8,000
1 - Atilio Vs. Giorgos Veloudos & John Foster,
Result Unknown
2 - Rasputin Vs. Yannis Dourvetakis,
Result Unknown
European Cup
Attendance: 5,000
Nikos Gourmas Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Dimitris Darlas Vs. Tony Rain,
Result Unknown
2 - Kostas Nathaniel Vs. Carlos Rocha,
Result Unknown
Notes:
This is the first of the European Cup shows, it is separate to the other two stadium shows being run.
AUGUST 10, 1969 (SUNDAY)
World Catch Festival
Promoter: Harry Karpozilos
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 10,000
1 - Cage Match
Spiros Arion def. George Korienko,
Notes:
This is a blood match.
It's the first known cage match in Greek pro-wrestling history.
Pan-European Championship in Wrestling
Promoter: Theodoros Nikolarakos
Stavros Mavrothalassitis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 10,000
1 - Tag Team
Atilio & Digran Nazarian Vs. Dimitris Sideris & Soulis Tsikrikas,
Result Unknown
2 - Rasputin Vs. Giorgos Bouranis,
Result Unknown
European Cup
Nikos Gourmas Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Kostas Nathaniel Vs. Carlos Rocha,
ResultUnknown
AUGUST 17, 1969 (SUNDAY)
Pan-European Championship in Wrestling
Promoter: Theodoros Nikolarakos
Stavros Mavrothalassitis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 10,000
1 - Rasputin Vs. Atilio,
Result Unknown
AUGUST 24, 1969 (SUNDAY)
World Catch Festival
Promoter: Harry Karpozilos
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Spiros Arion & Kostas Papalazarou def. The Black Demons
Pan-European Championship in Wrestling
Promoter: Theodoros Nikolarakos
Stavros Mavrothalassitis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 10,000
1 - Rasputin Vs. Atilio,
Result Unknown
Notes:
This is the last of Nikolarakos' run of stadium shows, which began at Nikos Gourmas Stadium.
European Cup
Nikos Gourmas Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - Kostas Nathaniel Vs. Carlos Rocha,
Result Unknown
Notes:
This is the last of the three European Cup shows, it is separate to the other two stadium shows being run.
SEPTEMBER 1969
SEPTEMBER 8, 1969 (MONDAY)
World Catch Festival
Promoter: Harry Karpozilos
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
Notes:
This is the last of Karpozilos' run of stadium shows.
SEPTEMBER 28, 1969 (SUNDAY)
Promoter: Harry Karpozilos
Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece
1 - European Heavyweight Championship
Kostas Papalazarou Vs. Atilio,
Double Disqualification
Unique content strictly for the Professional Wrestling Historical Society.
All research has been completed by the Professional Wrestling Historical Society or by a trusted contributor.
Information came from contemporary newspapers unless otherwise stated.
Results from Greece: 1960-1969.
Updated: July 7, 2019.
Editor: Jimmy Wheeler.
Unique content strictly for the Professional Wrestling Historical Society.
All research has been completed by the Professional Wrestling Historical Society or by a trusted contributor.
Information came from contemporary newspapers unless otherwise stated.
Results from Greece: 1960-1969.
Updated: July 7, 2019.
Editor: Jimmy Wheeler.
Click Here for Pre-1900.
Click Here for 1906.
Click Here for 1928.
Click Here for 1931-1939.
Click Here for 1940-1949.
Click Here for 1950-1959.
Click Here for 1970-1979.
Click Here for 1980-1989.
Click Here for 1990-1991.
