Fred Blassie

Though he was known as a rulebreaker who liked to bite open the heads of those he faced in most places, Blassie was popular  with the people during his Arizona run in the 1950s. In fact, one of the period magazines of the time stated he was second in popularity only to the famed Count Billy Varga in the Pheonix area.

Facing the likes of Jim Wright, Gorgeous George and Don Arnold surely added to the reason why fans loved him,

By the 1960s, Blassie just stopped coming to Arizona, having found a far better living for himself by going  between Japan and Los Angeles..

In California he wrestled first  as a villain, then went to become one of the most cheered stars of all time, following a major feud with John Tolos.

In his WWF stints, however, he was back to villainy, first in an unsuccessful bid to wrestle the World title from Pedro Morales and then or a far longer run as a manager. 

When with the WWF, Blassie made various appearances in Arizona in the manager role and also did some work as a public relations man, speaking at business conventions and seminars for cable TV.

He wrote his autobiography shortly before his death. An outstanding last feat for a man who lived to be in his 80s.