Killer Kowalski

Killer Kowalski
Kowalski training John Quinlan and The Boston Brawler in 2000
Birth name	Edward Władysław Spulnik
Born	(1926-10-13)October 13, 1926 Windsor, Ontario, Canada
Died	August 30, 2008(2008-08-30) (aged 81) Malden, Massachusetts, United States
Spouse(s)	Theresa Ferrioli (m. 2006; his death 2008)
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	Hercules Kowalski Killer Kowalski The Masked Destroyer The Masked Executioner Tarzan Kowalski
Billed height	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)
Billed weight	290 lb (130 kg)
Trained by	Lou Thesz
Debut	1947
Retired	1993

Walter "Killer" Kowalski (born Edward Władysław Spulnik; October 13, 1926 – August 30, 2008) was a Polish-Canadian professional wrestler.

Kowalski wrestled for numerous promotions during his career, including the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF, now WWE), and was a known villain professional wrestler. He held numerous championships including the WWWF World Tag Team Championship with Big John Studd billed as The Executioners and managed by Lou Albano.

After retiring in 1977, Kowalski started a professional wrestling school in Malden, Massachusetts and trained many professional wrestlers, including Triple H, Chyna, Eddie Edwards, Kofi Kingston, Damien Sandow, Fandango, Brittany Brown, April Hunter, John Kronus, and Perry Saturn.

The man later known as "Killer Kowalski" (he legally changed his name in 1963) was the son of Polish immigrants Antoni Spulnik and Maria Borowska; he, his older sister Wanda, and his younger brother Stanley were raised in Windsor, Ontario. Years later, he told interviewers that he never expected to be a wrestler – by the age of 14, he was already 6 feet 4 inches (193 cm), and because he was thin for his height, he began working out at the local YMCA, but he had no plan to go into athletics at that time. When he entered college, his major was electrical engineering. He worked part-time at the Ford plant in Detroit to help pay his wage.