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George Gadaski


Title History

 

Career Highlights

 

  • George Gadaski was a jack of all trades in Verne Gagne’s American Wrestling Association..
  • He was a TV enhancement guy. He helped set up the ring at house shows. He drove the ring truck. He refereed..
  • George Gadaski’s longtime TV tag team partner was “Sodbuster” Kenny Jay..
  • George Gadaski once teamed with The Crusher against Lord Alfred Hayes and Super Destroyer..
  • George Gadaski wrestled Ric Flair in Flair’s debut match — they wrestled to a time limit draw..
  • December 13, 1982: George Gadaski passed away….

    Wrestling Monthly January 1972 Article (“Preliminary Stars of the AWA, The Backbone of the Sport”): George has been nicknamed “Iron Man” by fans and promoters alike who are amazed at his almost endless supply of strength and energy. George is a throwback to the old style of football players who used to play an entire game. Besides being a topnotch wrestler, George is also employed by the AWA to transport on of their wrestling rings from on area to the next in the Midwest. George got his nickname by not only wrestling or refereeing on a card but also taking down the ring afterwards and driving hundreds of miles to the next city with the ring. It is not unusual for George to be in Denver on Thursday, Winnipeg on Friday, and Milwaukee the next night. George in one of the top troubleshooting referees for the AWA. When George referees he is not one to take any abuse or back-talk from any of the participants of the match. During his long career he has wrestled virtuall every big name wrestling star. Some of the men George has faced in the ring are Verne Gagne, Wilbur Snyder, Ed Carpentier, Mad Dog and Butcher Vachon, The Crusher, Ray Stevens, Nick Bockwinkel, Johnny Valentine, and Killer Kowalski — George at one time was a ranked contender for the junior heavy weight title hild by Danny Hodge, When Hiro Matsuda won the title, George ventured to Florida, but was unsuccessful in gaining the belt. George proved to his followers recently that he can still hold his own with the best of them. He defeated Rodeo Jones in St. Paul, Mn. match in which Jones not only had youth and strength on his side, but outweighed him by 50 pounds.

 


Dale Pierce wrote: George Gadasky sometimes utilized his scrapiron or junkyard worker routine, wearing coveralls and a dirty shirt, when he did not wear his standard trunks and used this grunge gimmick long before other wrestlers tried. He developed an armpit rub/headlock long before Brian Knobbs was using this routine.


Douglas Riebe (Milwaukee, WI) wrote: I enjoyed reading all the profiles of my favorite AWA wrestlers of my youth. In particular was the one about George “Scrap Iron” Gadaski. You mentioned a bit about his teaming with Da Crusher against Super Destroyer and Lord Alfred Hayes. I was at a match at the Milwaukee Auditorium during this feud where they appeared on the card. At the time Scrap Iron’s gimmick was that he was supposed to be a sewer worker. It was a singles match between Crusher and Destroyer, but the twist was that Gadaski and Hayes were handcuffed together to prevent any interference by Hayes. Now Scrap Iron came dressed out in a pair of the dirtiest most foul looking coveralls I have ever seen. Grease, mud and I don’t know what else were all over it from top to bottom. Naturally, Hayes was dressed to the nines in his usual tuxedo. Every time he would try to interfere, Scrap Iron would yank on the cuffs and Hayes would fall into him and by the end of the match that tux was just as filthy as Scrap Iron’s coveralls. The crowd was eating out of their hands. One of the most entertaining matches I have ever personally seen.

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Debut

Birthday

April 25, 1930

Hometown

Great Falls, Montana

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