Ivan Putski
| Ivan Putski | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Józef Bednarski |
| Born |
January 21, 1941 Kraków, Poland |
| Residence | Austin, Texas, United States |
| Children | Scott Putski |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Ivan Putski Jim Bednarski |
| Billed height | 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) |
| Billed weight | 110 kg (240 lb) 129 kg (284 lb) |
| Billed from | Kraków, Poland |
| Debut | 1968 |
| Retired | 1987 |
Józef Bednarski (born January 21, 1941), best known by the ring name Ivan Putski, is a Polish-American former professional wrestler and bodybuilder. He was given the nicknames "The Polish Hammer" and "Polish Power".
Putski is a former WWF World Tag Team Champion with Tito Santana. He had a famous feud with Superstar Billy Graham over the WWF Championship, which led to many pose-downs, arm wrestling bouts, and long matches between the two. Other rivals included The Iron Sheik, Ivan Koloff, and Jesse Ventura, who would refer to Putski as "Puduski" when commentating for the WWF.
Putski was born in Kraków and migrated to the United States at a young age. He and his family arrived in Texas, where Putski began his professional wrestling career. He stood 5 ft 6 in and weighed around 225 lbs. In his earlier days, he was weighed in at the 250 lb mark.
Putski won the NWA Texas Tag Team Championship with Jose Lothario twice in 1973.
Putski was a fixture on the Dallas-Ft. Worth wrestling scene and was one of its most popular personalities. He was routinely the feature act at The Sportatorium, a wrestling-only arena in an industrial section near Downtown Dallas. Putski's act consisted of being a happy-go-lucky, often aloof buffoon, who would "miraculously" pin his opponent. Putski was often introduced as a former concentration camp survivor, only adding to his sympathetic appeal to audiences of all ages.
In mid-1974, Putski worked with the American Wrestling Association.
Prior to leaving the AWA, Ivan dropped most of his weight by getting into bodybuilding. Ivan kept himself fairly trim at the 215 - 220 pound mark.
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