Born | 1938 Chatham Islands, New Zealand |
---|---|
Residence | Charlotte, North Carolina, United States |
Professional wrestling career | |
Ring name(s) |
Abe Jacobs Red Pimpernel |
Billed height | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) |
Billed weight | 230 lb (100 kg) |
Billed from | Wellington, New Zealand |
Trained by | The Zebra Kid |
Debut | 1958 |
Retired | 1981 |
Abe Jacobs (born 1938) is a retired New Zealand professional wrestler. He was one of the first men to follow fellow New Zealander Pat O'Connor to the United States where, like O'Connor, Jacobs became a major star in the National Wrestling Alliance during the "Golden Age of Wrestling". One of the most recognisable "babyfaces" during this period, he was billed as the "Jewish Heavyweight Champion" and wrestled in a number of high-profile matches with many stars of the era including numerous bouts against NWA World Heavyweight Champions Lou Thesz, Gene Kiniski, Buddy Rogers, Dick Hutton and Pat O'Connor. His bout against O'Connor in 1961, which aired on Capitol Wrestling's weekly television show, was the first time two New Zealanders wrestled for a championship title on foreign soil.
Jacobs was also an established journeyman wrestler, touring Europe and Japan on several occasions, travelling around the world 4 times and wrestling over 8,000 matches in his 30-year career. Although never reaching the heights of O'Connor as a singles wrestler, he was very successful as a "tag team specialist" winning the NWA Florida-version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship with Don Curtis, the NWA Los Angeles International Television Tag Team Championship with Haystacks Calhoun, and the NWA Western States Tag Team Championship with Pez Whatley. Other partners included George Becker, Antonino Rocca, Sailor Art Thomas, Klondike Bill, Man Mountain Mike and "Coloured Heavyweight Champion" Luther Lindsay.