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JOHN TOLOS PASSES AWAY

By Mike Johnson on 2009-05-29 14:05:05

PWInsider.com is sorry to report that "The Golden Greek" John Tolos passed away yesterday in California at the age of 78. We haven't heard details of his passing at this time.

Tolos and his brother Chris worked a number of different territories as a team, including the WWWF, Toronto, Los Angeles, Detroit, Stampede and Championship Wrestling from Florida, holding countless Tag Team championships as heels.

After the team split, Tolos went on to become a top singles heel in Los Angeles and was considered one of the top talkers of that era. He and Freddie Blassie had what is now a legendary feud in the early 1970s, stemming from a jealous Tolos blinding Blassie and nearly "ending his career", a feud that Blassie discussed in detail in his autobiography several years back.

On a national level, Tolos was seen for a short period as Mr. Perfect Curt Hennig's manager, The Coach.  The character never really caught on, partially because Hennig took an extended period of time off after suffering a back injury.  He worked the corner for the Beverly Brothers for some time before leaving the company.

Tolos later worked for the Herb Abrams version of the UWF in the early 1990s as an announcer and heel manager for Bob Orton, Cactus Jack and The Power Twins.

On behalf of PWInsider.com, I'd like to express our deepest condolences to Tolos' friends, family and fans during this sad time.

Thanks to Georgiann Makropoulos for alerting us to Tolos' passing.

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