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Don Muraco
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Don Muraco | |
|---|---|
| Statistics | |
| Ring name(s) | Don Muraco Magnificent M Magnificent Muraco Aka Oni Don Morrow Don "The Rock" Muraco |
| Billed height | 6 ft 3 in (191 cm) |
| Billed weight | 270 lb (122 kg) |
| Born | September 10, 1949 Sunset Beach, Hawaii |
| Trained by | Ray Stevens Ivan Koloff |
| Debut | 1970 |
| Retired | 2003 |
Don Muraco (Born Don Morrow on September 10, 1949), also known as The Magnificent Muraco was a Hawaiian professional wrestler in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.
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Muraco wrestled in the American Wrestling Association (AWA), and several National Wrestling Alliance territories (including Vancouver-based NWA All-Star Wrestling, Georgia Championship Wrestling and Jim Crockett Promotions). In 1980 he first appeared in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), where he would have his greatest success. Between June 20, 1981 and February 11, 1984 he held the Intercontinental Championship twice for a combined period of almost 18 months. The hugely muscular and genuinely intimidating Don Muraco had bloody feuds with Pedro Morales, Bob Backlund, Rocky Johnson and Jimmy Snuka. Muraco's character was based on being an incredibly arrogant heel, and in one of his more famous moments, he brought a sandwich to the ring and ate it during the match as a show of disrespect to his opponent. Later, he would preface his matches by dedicating his impending piledriver (his finisher at the time) to either the heel commentator or the person with whom he was feuding with at that time.
During his tenure in the WWF, Muraco had several colorful managers (The Grand Wizard, Captain Lou Albano, Mr. Fuji, and Superstar Billy Graham). Fuji and Muraco debuted Fuji Vice, a soap opera starring them (and parodying Miami Vice) on Tuesday Night Titans in 1985 (Fuji General Hospital, a parody of the ABC soap General Hospital, followed soon after). Muraco would turn babyface in 1987 after a falling out with his then-tag team partner Cowboy Bob Orton. Shortly afterwards, he would come to the rescue of Superstar Billy Graham who would soon become his new manager, as Muraco would adopt his new mentor's tye-dye attire and change his name from Magnificent Muraco to Don "The Rock" Muraco. Muraco would replace Graham on the team led by his former rival Hulk Hogan at the 1987 Survivor Series and would reach the quarterfinals of the WWF World Title tournament at WrestleMania IV.
It is rumored that Muraco was fired from the WWF in late 1988 after supposedly "disrespecting" road agent Nick Bockwinkel; after that, Muraco split his time between Stampede Wrestling (where he defeated Makhan Singh to win the North American Heavyweight title), the AWA and Herb Abrams' UWF, where he feuded with a young Cactus Jack.
In the early '90s Muraco was one of the first to hold the ECW World Heavyweight Championship, before it became Extreme Championship Wrestling.
Although Muraco wrestled mostly as a heel, his intensity, charisma and cockiness won him many fans, especially in New York and Philadelphia. Along with Ric Flair, Jake Roberts, Roddy Piper and Randy Savage, Muraco was a precursor to the 90's Attitude Era, when lines were blurred between heels and faces. He was the first wrestler to be known as The Rock, originally simply as a play on his name and his finishing maneuver, a reverse piledriver which The Undertaker would later call the Tombstone Piledriver.
After retiring from the ring, Muraco returned to Hawaii. In 2003 he co-founded Hawai'i Championship Wrestling along with local Hawaii TV producer Linda Bade. He served as the Director of Operations and Commissioner of Hawaii Championship Wrestling until 2006 where due to a falling out with management obtained his release. In 2004, he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by Mick Foley, who, like others such as Tommy Dreamer, Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley, credits the famous 1983 Intercontinental Championship steel cage match between Muraco and Snuka he attended at Madison Square Garden as his inspiration for breaking into professional wrestling.
- National Wrestling Alliance
- National
- Regional
-
- NWA Florida Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- NWA Florida Television Championship (1 time)
-
- WWE Hall of Fame (Class of 2004)
- WWF Intercontinental Championship (2 times)
- King of the Ring (1985) (First)
- Muraco won the first King of the Ring tournament in 1985.
- The Grand Wizard is the godfather of Muraco's daughter.
- Muraco was and remains an avid surfer, to the point where fans would heckle him with chants of "Beach Bum".
- Known as one of the few wrestling legends with a move set that was constantly in flux, he continued adding new moves to his repertoire even into the 1990s.
- Currently managing his son Joe in the WXW.
- Was once a state champion in amateur wrestling in Hawaii in 1967.[1]