Alex Marvez's weekly look at professional wrestling

Walter "Killer" Kowalski's pro-wrestling accomplishments are an earful -- in more ways than one.One of grappling's most storied villains, Kowalski died last Friday following complications from a heart attack. He was 81.Kowalski wrestled roughly 8,000 matches in a 30-year career that ended with his 1977 retirement. Considered a behemoth for his time at 6-feet-6 and 280 pounds, Kowalski headlined World Wrestling Entertainment shows against Bruno Sammartino and even won the promotion's tag-team titles with partner "Big" John Studd (the late John Minton) under masks as The Executioners.Kowalski, though, might never have achieved such stardom were it not for an in-ring accident in 1954. He was wrestling in Montreal against Yukon Eric, a Canadian star who had a heavily cauliflowered ear. When a Kowalski knee drop went awry, Eric's ear was ripped from his head.In an era where pro wrestling was successfully portrayed by promoters as legitimate competition, the incident triggered a firestorm of publicity. Kowalski then added more fuel to the controversy.He visited the hospital to apologize, but was spotted by reporters in Eric's room. Not wanting to break from his grappling persona -- which was a cardinal sin in those days -- Kowalski chuckled upon seeing Eric's head wrapped in bandages."When I saw the newspaper the next day, the story read, 'Kowalski comes to the hospital and laughs at Yukon Eric,' " Kowalski said in a 2001 interview. "That's why they called me 'Killer.'"We wrestled in return matches all over the country. One time, I wrestled him in Illinois at an outdoor show. He walked out and said we had a lousy (crowd). I said, 'You know what then? We're gonna have to cut off your other ear.' "Kowalski was almost responsible for another disfigurement -- only this involved a wrestling bear and legendary strongman Ivan Putski.Putski (real name Joe Bednarski) and two other performers were set to face the bear during a "special attraction" match in Corpus Christi, Texas. Before the bout, Kowalski played a practical joke by smearing honey on the back of Putski's ring trunks."When he was going into the ring, the bear lunged straight out and grabbed him by the leg," a laughing Kowalski said. "He turned (Putski) on his stomach and started licking him. The other two guys were frightened to death because they thought the bear was tasting him before he ate him. They ran out of the building."Putski finally got away. The people were cheering for it all. Putski came back to the dressing room and said, '(The bear) loves me!' "Unlike many of his peers, Kowalski closely monitored his diet. Kowalski claims he was pro wrestling's first vegetarian, having quit eating meat during the 1960s."I had tremendous conditioning," Kowalski said. "I would have wrestlers time and time again walking around the ring pooped. They would say, 'That crazy Polack! He's going all the time!' "After retiring, Kowalski gained notoriety for his Boston-area pro-wrestling school that produced such future WWE stars as Joanie "Chyna" Laurer and Perry Saturn. Kowalski's most famous student is now the industry's most influential performer: Paul "Triple H" Levesque, the son-in-law of WWE owner Vince McMahon."He picked things up real quick," Kowalski said of Levesque. "With some guys, you have to do things over and over again when it comes to some moves. With him, I didn't have to do that one time."Kowalski was inducted into WWE's Hall of Fame in 1996. Kowalski, though, paid scant attention to a product that he felt had become too entertainment-oriented."In my day, it wasn't about talking," he said. "It was about your performance in the ring."Services for Kowalski were held this week in Massachusetts.(Alex Marvez writes a syndicated pro-wrestling column for Scripps Howard News Service. Contact him at alex1marv(at)aol.com.)