Professional Wrestling Career
In 1941, Strode had dabbled for several months in professional wrestling. Following the end of his football career in 1949, he returned to wrestling part-time between acting jobs until 1962, wrestling the likes of Gorgeous George.
In 1952, Strode wrestled almost every week from August 12, 1952-December 10, 1952 in different cities in California. Among his numerous victories for that year were over Pat Fraley (8/27/52), Antone Leone (8/28/52),Jerry Gold (10/25/52) and Ted Christy (12/10/52). Also, in 1952, Strode fought draws with Mr. X (8/12/52), Brother Frank Jares(8/18/52,Long Beach, California), The Golden Terror (9/23/52) and Kubla Khan (10/11/52 in Los Angeles). Some of his defeats in 1952 were to Baron Michele Leone (9/15/52), Tom Renesto (9/18/52), Krippler Karl Davis (9/30/52), and Mystery Mike (10/28/52).
In 1956, Strode scored impressive wins over Nick Nickovich on June 28, 1956 in Long Beach,California, and Felipe Mendoza on September 13, 1956 in Los Angeles.
Strode was billed as the Pacific Coast Heavyweight Wresting Champion and the Pacific Coast Negro Heavyweight Wresting Champion in 1962 (source: Ring Magazine, May 1962, page 38).
In his 1962, debut in Buffalo, New York, Strode defeated Dominick Bravo in 37 seconds on February 16th.(source:Ring Magazine, May 1962, page 37). Next, Strode scored a victory over Ramon Lopez on February 10, 1962 in Akron, Ohio. Strode also defeated Eric Pomeroy on March 2, 1962 in Buffalo.
In a tag-team match also in Buffalo, Strode and Bobo Brazil lost to Karol and Ivan Kalmikoff. However, in a Cleveland, Ohio match, Strode and Bearcat Wright defeated the Kalmikoff brothers in a non-title match before a then record breaking crowd of 7,261.
Read more about this topic: Woody Strode
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