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PWInsider.com is saddened to report the passing of Larry Johnson who in the ring was known as Sonny King and who held the WWWF Tag Team Championship with Chief Jay Strongbow. King would have likely been the first Black wrestler to hold a title for the promotion. His title run with Strongbow would predate the heralded Rocky Johnson and Tony Atlas WWF Tag Team Championship win by years.
A former professional boxer who grew up in North Carolina, shifting to professional wrestling after becoming friends with WWE Hall of Famer Ernie Ladd and seeing the paydays wrestlers received while visiting Ladd at a show. After training under Lou Klein and Jack Britton, Johnson started out working territories in Houston, Dallas, Ohio and Championship Wrestling from Florida. In Florida, in 1971, he challenged Dory Funk Jr. for the NWA World Championship. In Ohio, King won his first title, the NWF International Championship in a tournament final, beating Hans Schmidt.
From time to time in different territories, King would also do worked “boxing” matches as attractions against local heels, playing off of his legitimate toughness and boxing background. He was known as someone who could hold his own physically and had the reputation of being a legitimate shooter in the ring that you didn’t want to test.
King debuted as an underneath babyface for the WWWF in 1971, getting a regular series of wins on television. He debuted in Madison Square Garden teaming with Gorilla Monsoon to beat Ernie Ladd and Jimmy Valiant. He and Jay Strongbow were put together as a team, working a program with then-WWWF Tag Team Champs Baron Mikel Scicluna & King Curtis. They won the belts in May 1972 in MSG, which at the time was very much the center of the universe for the promotion. Strongbow and King beat The Spoiler & Captain Lou Albano at the first-ever WWWF event in Shea Stadium.
Once winning the titles, King was pushed harder, beating names like Jimmy Valiant, Toru Tanaka and The Black Demon. Combinations of those three became regular challengers for the titles across the WWWF territory. Tanaka eventually teamed with Mr. Fuji to win the belts in June 1972 in Philadelphia. Strongbow and King would challenge for the belts a number of times that summer. On other occasions, King would challenge for the belts with Gorilla Monsoon. By 1973, King was putting over heels the promotion was pushing at the time, including Fred Blassie, Fuji and Tanaka. He finished up in MSG, losing to Ray Stevens.
King moved on to The LeBells' NWA Hollywood, which ran the legendary Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles. He was given a series of early wins before going into a program with John Tolos. King would team with Victor Rivera and Tony Rocco in the territory. He shifted back to NWA Big Time in Dallas, where he was given a push teaming with Fritz Von Erich and defeating names like Ric Flair and Blackjack Mulligan.
King bounced around in Houston as well before heading up to Canada for Johnny Powers’ NWF, where he challenged Powers for the North American Championship. He had a short program with Ox Baker in the territory as well.
In 1974, he moved to The Crockett Family’s Mid-Atlantic Wrestling, where he teamed with names like Wahoo McDaniel, Swede Hansen, Paul Jones and even Andre the Giant. He challenged Johnny Valentine for the Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship. The Valentine feud was a big deal for King, including one bout where boxing great Joe Louis served as the special guest referee. With Jones, King was a regular challenger for the Andersons’ NWA Tag Team Titles and he again challenged for the NWA World title in June 1975, this time facing Jack Brisco.
King toured New Japan in 1977, wrestling Riki Choshu, Seiji Sakaguchi, Haruka Eigen and Strong Kobayashi and others. He often teamed with Stan Hansen during the stay.
When he returned to the States, Johnson debuted for Memphis Wrestling (known at the time as the CWA), teaming with David Schultz and getting wins over Terry Gordy, Robert Gibson and others. King was aligned with Jos Leduc and John Louie, feuding with Memphis mainstays Jerry Lawler, Bill Dundee and Jimmy Valiant.
After putting over Lawler, it was off to Georgia Championship Wrestling, where King was pushed as a NWA title contender. After another run in Florida where he battled Killer Karl Kox over the Brass Knuckles championship, King would be back in Memphis.
As part of this second run in the CWA, King teamed with a young Ricky Morton, working against The Fabulous Freebirds and The Blonde Bombers (Larry Latham & Wayne Ferris), who they feuded with over the CWA Tag Team belts . He and Lawler would face each other again, including a strap on a pole match in The Mid-South Coliseum. King would also challenge Nick Bockwinkel for the AWA World title in Memphis. King would later turn heel and feud with Morton and was a regular for the territory until 1983, working in the ring as a manager, cutting very calm and collected promos while sucking on a lollipop as his trademark.
In 1982, King was almost killed by fans outside The Charlotte Coliseum. He had been visiting at the show and when leaving, came across a fan who had been ejected from the venue due to his behavior and when he went after a security guard outside, King stepped in and told him to stop. The fan disrespected King by using the N-word. There was a physical confrontation. Others who were with the fan attacked King, who was stabbed multiple times in different parts of his body. He was rushed into surgery and almost died. King spent 5-6 weeks in intensive care with Jim Crockett Jr. assisting him financially. When King returned to wrestling, it would be in Memphis.
King’s last major run as a regular in a tournament was for Bill Watt’s Mid-South Wrestling and was actually used as a substitute for The Junkyard Dog when he bolted from Watts to the WWF without notice, teaming with Dusty Rhodes against The Midnight Express of Dennis Condrey and Bobby Eaton in the New Orleans Superdome. While he was never in a main event position, King was always in a strong underneath match for major shows during that run.
After making the decision to retire, King owned and operated a junkyard in Florida, focusing on used auto parts. He stayed away from the business, rarely spoke about his time in it and to the best of my knowledge, never appeared at any fan conventions or signings.
In recent years, King was dealing with the onset of Alzheimer's disease and dementia, based on social media posts made by family members. He was 79 at the time of his passing.
PWInsider.com sends our deepest condolences to the family, friends and fans of Larry “Sonny King" Johnson.
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