Johnny Kostas

Johnny Kostas was an international star who wrestled throughout Europe, the Orient, Canada, Latin America and the USA. Coming from Greece, he was trained as a "master shooter" and could tie people in knots in a heartbeat.

More often than not, Kostas wrestled in his bare feet and dropkicked the hell out of his opponents.

Arizona became a place where he was seen regularly late in his career, as he decided to look to eventual retirement  there and buy a  house in Tucson.

From the late 1960s into the early 1970s, when he decided to call ti quits, he was a regular in Phoenix. One of his biggest feuds was with the then upcoming Jody Arnold. The two of them met in many savage bouts in Tucson, Phoenix and Casa Grande.

Other people he faced on a regular basis included Kurt & Karl Von Steiger, Chuck Karbo, Don Arnold, Don Kent, Kiko Torres and Spike Jones.

At one point when his feud with the Von Steigers became intense, he imported a "cousin" under a mask by the name of Edmundo Manuel to help him fend off the German invasion.

After retiring,. Kostas would live in Tucson for many years. When his health started to falter, he made a trip back to his native Greece. Upon his death, his cremated remains were scattered on the Greek coast.He was in his 80s.