Red Bastien
| Red Bastien | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Rolland Bastien |
| Born |
January 27, 1931 Bottineau, North Dakota |
| Died | August 11, 2012 (aged 81) Minnetonka, Minnesota |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Flying Red Bastein Red Bastien Texas Red |
| Billed height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) |
| Debut | 1956 |
Rolland "Red" Bastien (January 27, 1931 – August 11, 2012) was an American professional wrestler.
He took part in football and swimming in high school and broke in on Midwest carnivals, fighting local toughs and learning wrestling the hard way. Turning professional, he began in Chicago and toured the United States with great success. Bastien was small for a wrestler at 185 pounds, but he was quick, vigorous, fast and employed a wide assortment of aerial moves. His teachers were Henry Kollan, Einar Olsen, Joe Pazandak and Verne Gagne, and his peak years were from 1959 to 1971. His favorite finishing moves were the dropkick, flying head scissors, atomic drop and abdominal stretch.
Bastien teamed up with Lou Klein to form the Bastien Brothers tag team and, in 1960, won the United States Tag Team Championship from Eddie and Jerry Graham in April 1960. They won the title twice more, from the Grahams and then from the Fabulous Kangaroos (Roy Heffernan and Al Costello). Bastien went on to win several more tag team championships.
Bastien was the frequent tag team partner of Billy Red Lyons. The duo unmasked wrestler Don Jardine in 1972.
Bastien was the booker in Dallas.
In 1964, Bastein appeared in the Worldwide Wrestling Federation, and teamed briefly with champion Bruno Sammartino. He returned for one match in Madison Square Garden in June 1970 (his last appearance there), being pinned by Professor Tanaka but, prior to that, putting on an amazing performance, dominating most of the match.
He had a hot main event run in Florida in the late 1960s, including memorable bouts with Johnny Valentine.
In his retirement, Bastien became a trainer and a promoter, and discovered future wrestlers Steve "Sting" Borden and Jim "The Ultimate Warrior" Hellwig at a Gold's Gym and convinced them to become professional wrestlers. Bastien and professional wrestling manager Rick Bassman formed an alliance of wrestlers called Powerteam USA, of which Borden and Hellwig were a part. The team debuted in November 1985, and after the other two members left the group, Borden and Hellwig continued to tag together.
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