Andres Labrakis
| Spiros Arion | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Spiros Manousakis |
| Born | 1940 (age 76–77) Cairo, Egypt |
| Residence | Greece |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Spiros Arion |
| Billed height | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) |
| Billed weight | 285 lb (129 kg) |
| Trained by | Andre Bollet |
| Debut | 1961 |
| Retired | 1979 |
Spiros Arion born Spiros Manousakis (Greek: Σπύρος Μανουσάκης) (born 1940) is a Greek retired professional wrestler who had extensive and successful careers in both Australia and the United States. Known as The Golden Greek and The Iron Greek, he debuted in 1961 and retired in 1979.
Arion was trained by a French wrestler named Andre Bollet. He made his professional wrestling debut in 1961 in Paris. For over four years, he wrestled around Europe before settling in Australia.
In July 1964, he arrived on the Australian wrestling scene under the name "The Golden Greek" and quickly became a favorite among Greek wrestling fans. He joined World Championship Wrestling and wrestled there until its end in 1978. He also wrestled in IWA Australia. In 1965, he went on to win the IWA World Heavyweight Title and IWA Tag Team Championship.
Arion finished 1965 as IWA world champion. He dropped the belt to the legendary Killer Kowalski. He feuded with Kowalski over the IWA Title. He became a popular wrestler in Australia and Greece and was a fan favorite. In 1966, he defended the IWA Title successfully against the 400 pounder King Kong Czaja. He was a part of many storylines in IWA and WCW. In 1974, he was awarded the IWA Austra-Asian Heavyweight Championship, and he defended the title against the likes of Bobby Shane.
In 1966, he headed to America and debuted in the World Wide Wrestling Federation. Arion quickly became a major star, defeating top opponents, including Dr. Bill Miller, Cowboy Rocky Fitzpatrick (Bob Orton Sr.), Gorilla Monsoon, Johnny Valentine, Crazy Luke Graham, Bull Ortega, The Sheik, Kentucky Butcher (John Quinn), George Steele, etc. His finishing move was often "the hotseat", later renamed "the Greek backbreaker". In his second match in the U.S., he teamed with Tony Parisi to defeat Baron Mikel Scicluna and Smasher Sloan on Washington, DC television for the WWWF United States Tag Team Championship. Parisi and Arion won the titles, and were never defeated for the belts. In June 1967, Parisi gave his half to Arnold Skaaland marking his second US Tag Team Title Reign. On 10 July 1967, they lost the titles to the Sicilians (Lou Albano and Tony Altomare). He became a protégé of WWWF World Heavyweight Champion Bruno Sammartino and they both beat up the Sicilians, winning in 2 straight falls, on 24 July to become the final U.S. Tag Team Champions.
...
Wikipedia