With pro wrestling/sports entertainment playing to empty arenas, anxiously awaiting a green light to reconnect with a live audience, it’s an ideal time to take a look back at some of some of the greats of yesteryear who helped paved the way for those who followed.

Many of pro wrestling’s top “good guys” were multi-layered characters who could adapt to different styles and change from territory to territory. Dick Garza, though, employed a gimmick that was simple yet successful.

Pro wrestling’s Mighty Igor created beloved character

A former Mr. Michigan who parlayed his bodybuilding background into a successful career in which he was billed as the world’s strongest grappler, Garza hit wrestling paydirt when he created the beloved character of The Mighty Igor.

Igor, initially known as Igor Vodik, was the ultimate good guy – a symbol of an innocent era in pro wrestling. The name alone conjures up an enduring image of the friendly, bearded, shaggy-haired Polish strongman, wearing cutoffs, a tattered tank top and a black beret, chewing on a kielbasa (Polish sausage) and waiving to fans with a childlike naiveté.

Portraying a kind but simple-minded wrestler whose shoulders resembled oversized grapefruits, Garza knew what it took to connect to his audience, even if it meant dancing the polka, waltz or a rousing Watusi. Sometimes he would bring a stuffed animal or a children’s toy to the ring, and along the way would plant a kiss on the foreheads of fans and ring personnel. And after a few weeks in a territory, he would amaze audiences with his feats of superhuman strength.

A star in every territory he appeared, Igor was best known in the Carolinas for his mid-’70s feud with The Masked Superstar (Bill Eadie) and manager Boris Maximilianovich Malenko (Larry Simon). A memorable angle in which The Superstar smashed Malenko’s lit cigar into Igor’s eye not only spurred one of the top money-making programs in the territory, but it also led to a long, lucrative run in Japan for Eadie.

“That angle was so successful that I took it to Japan and got a 14-year career out of (Antonio) Inoki from it,” Eadie said. “I was the first guy to ever do anything like that to Inoki. We were supposed to have a blowoff match after about the first six weeks at the Tokyo Dome, and there was so much heat they had to send me home. They finally brought me back, and I rode 14 years out of that thing.” Eadie, as The Superstar, rode the same angle with the late Dino Bravo in the Montreal territory into a five-year run.

Eadie recalls originally coming up with the idea as a rib.

“We needed some kind of victory celebration. Boris didn’t smoke. We got these big, stinky cigars, and every time we got a victory, Boris would have to light up a cigar. Boris would actually almost throw up every time. In this case a rib turned out to be a good thing. Once fans saw him light up that cigar, they thought the match was over. And then when I had the best of Igor at the Park Center in Charlotte, Boris jumped the gun and lit the cigar, stood up on the apron and turned around with a big smile, and there I was. I just grabbed the cigar and stuck it right in Igor’s eye. It did get him a little bit in the eyebrow, but he sold the heck out of it.”

Garza sold it so well that his vision suffered as a result. “Even when it got better, he went and got sandpaper and scarred up his eye,” says Eadie. “He wore this big patch to the extent that it almost cost him his vision. He wore it for almost six months. But people sure remember that angle.”

Career Highlights

• Dick Garza competed in weightlifting & bodybuilding contests prior to becoming a professional wrestler..
• ~~~Dick Garza once earned the title of “Mr. Michigan” by winning a body-building competition in Michigan..
• June 1967: Dick Garza debuted against Mr. X (Mike Loren) in Dayton, Ohio..
• Dick Garza got the “Mighty Igor” gimmick from Verne Gagne, and originally worked the AWA under that name..
• Mighty Igor spent most of his career working for The Sheik in Detriot managed by Ivan Kalmikoff..
• Mighty Igor (managed by Miguel Perez Sr.) defeating Al Perez for the WWC Puerto Rican title and lost it to Kareem Mohammed.
• Dick Garza owned a farm north of Detroit that he spent a lot of time at during his time off from wrestling..
• January 7, 2002: Dick Garza died of a heart attack at the age of 70 in Detroit, Michigan..

Title History

• Wolverine Wrestling Mid- West Heavyweight title (as Dick Garza) defeating ????????? (February 14, 1957);
• WWA (L.A.) International TV Tag Team titles (as Dick Garza) w/Eric Rommel defeating Maro LaPaentero & Billy Varga (July 4, 1962);
• Wolverine Wrestling Michigan Heavyweight title (as Dick Garza) defeating Jim Bernard (February 11, 1964);
• AWA World Heavyweight title defeating Mad Dog Vachon (May 15, 1965);
• Nebraska Heavyweight title defeating ????????? (October ??, 1965);
• Nebraska Heavyweight title defeating Don Jardine (February 16, 1966);
• AWA Midwest Heavyweight title defeating Bob Orton Sr. (December 9, 1967);
• Wolverine Wrestling Michigan Heavyweight title (as Dick Garza) defeating Ricky Cortez (June 17, 1970);
• Wolverine Wrestling Michigan Heavyweight title (as Dick Garza) defeating Ricky Cortez (March 12, 1974);
• NWA (Detroit) World Tag Team titles w/Hank James defeating Lanny & Angelo Poffo (????, 1975);
• MCW Michigan Heavyweight title defeating Juan Sebastian (May 23, 1979);
• WWC (World Wrestling Council) Puerto Rican Heavyweight title defeating Al Perez (November 29, 1986);

Garza, who battled heart problems at the end of his life, died of a heart attack at the age of 70 on Jan. 7, 2002, in a Detroit hospital, leaving behind a wife and a son.