Don Muraco

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Don Muraco
Statistics
Ring name(s)	Don Muraco The Rock 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 (1949-09-10) (age 58) Sunset Beach, Hawaii, U.S.
Billed from	Hawaii
Trained by	Ray Stevens Ivan Koloff
Debut	1970
Retired	2003

Don Muraco (born Don Morrow on September 10, 1949)^{[citation needed]}, also known as Don "The Rock" Muraco and The Magnificent Muraco is an retired American professional wrestler in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. Muraco is a former two time WWF Intercontinental Championship, a former two time ECW Champion in the original ECW history and was the 1985 King of the Ring, the first-ever in WWE history.

The Grand Wizard was the godfather of Muraco's daughter.

1 Career
2 In wrestling
3 Championships and accomplishments
4 Notes
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Career

[edit] Wrestling in the U.S. and Canada (1970-1980)

A former state champion in amateur wrestling in Hawaii in 1967,[1] Muraco wrestled in the American Wrestling Association (AWA), and several National Wrestling Alliance territories including Vancouver-based NWA All-Star Wrestling, Georgia Championship Wrestling, Jim Crockett Promotions, and Championship Wrestling from Florida. In CWF, he is best remembered for his feud with debuting wrestler Barry Windham.

[edit] World Wrestling Federation (1980-1988)

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. On October 17, 1983 in a steel cage match at Madison Square Garden, he defended his WWF Intercontinental Championship against "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka. The match ended in a loss for the Superfly, but he managed to drag Muraco back into the ring and this time connect with the most famous Superfly Splash of his career, off the top of the 15-foot high steel cage.^[1] Future wrestling stars Mick Foley and Tommy Dreamer were both in attendance at the event, and both attribute this match as the reason they decided to aggressively pursue professional wrestling.^[2]

The hugely muscular and genuinely intimidating Don Muraco also had bloody feuds with Pedro Morales, Bob Backlund, and Rocky Johnson. 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, 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. 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.

Muraco was fired in late 1988. 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.

[edit] Eastern Championship Wrestling (1990-1991)

In the early 1990s, Muraco was one of the first to hold the ECW Championship, before it became Extreme Championship Wrestling.

Muraco often wrestled as a heel in New York and Philadelphia during this period. Along with Ric Flair, Jake Roberts, Roddy Piper, and Randy Savage, Muraco was a precursor to the 1990s Attitude Era, when lines were blurred between heels and faces. He was the first wrestler to be known as "The Rock"^[3], originally simply as a play on his name and his finishing maneuver, a reverse piledriver which The Undertaker would later call the Tombstone Piledriver.

[edit] Retirement

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. 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^{[citation needed]}.

He currently manages his son Joe in the WXW.