Koslovin' It

Back in the day, wrestling fans had this perception that a Russian wrestler should be a huge, dominating, barrel-chested heel, hence the likes of Ivan Koloff*, Krusher Kruschev, Nikita Koloff and Nikolai Volkoff. Well, times have changed and although the stereotypical image of a Russian wrestler hasn't completely disappeared -- see WWE's Vladimir Koslov -- we now get to see another type of Russian wrestler, one who's younger, leaner, more agile and better looking. Yes, I'm talking about Alex Koslov, an indie wrestler who before being hired and released by FCW, was a staple in the indie circuit as well as the lucha scene in Mexico (he was also one of the hot young wrestlers featured in CyberWrestling...remember that?). One of this blog's readers informed me via email that Alex, post-FCW (he was called Peter Orlov there), is back in the indie scene, this time wrestling for Pacific Northwest Wrestling. Here are pics from one of Alex's most recent matches. (Photos by R.P. Strickland) (*Interestingly, Koloff aka The Russian Bear was born Oreal Perras in Canada and made his pro wrestling debut as Red McNulty, an Irish rogue heel.)