St. Louis, Missouri, USA | 1934-12-06 | 2015-11-14

Nicholas Warren Francis "Nick" Bockwinkel was an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with the American Wrestling Association (AWA) in the '70s and '80s. The son of wrestler Warren Bockwinkel, Nick had a lengthy professional wrestling career with matches in 34 consecutive years (1954-1987). Debuting in 1954, Bockwinkel spent the first half of his career as a journeyman, playing the babyface (good guy), wrestling primarily in territories based in California and Hawaii with stints in Texas, Georgia, and the Pacific Northwest as well as Canada and Australia. In 1970, he joined the Minneapolis, Minnesota-based AWA, where he would be based for the remainder of his career. Bockwinkel held the AWA World Tag Team Championship three times (with partner Ray "The Crippler" Stevens and managed by Bobby Heenan) then the AWA World Heavyweight Championship four times before retiring in 1987. In 1986, before retirement, Bockwinkel had a classic 1-hour draw against Curt Hennig on ESPN's AWA Championship Wrestling. He worked briefly for WWE in 1987 as a color commentator and with WCW as commissioner. Bockwinkel was recognized for his exceptional technical wrestling ability, mastery of in-ring psychology, and even-toned, articulate promos. Professional wrestling historian Tim Hornbaker described him as "the definitive heavyweight champion heel of the 1970s", while historian Scott Beekman described him as "the most successful heel champion in wrestling history". Bockwinkel was inducted into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame in 1996, the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum in 2003, the WWE Hall of Fame in 2007, the George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2009, and the National Wrestling Alliance Hall of Fame in 2016!