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| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Herbert Alan Gerwig (1931-04-26)April 26, 1931 Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. |
| Died | November 10, 2011(2011-11-10) (aged 80) |
| Cause of death | Heart attack |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring names | |
| Billed height | 6 ft 1 in (185 cm)[2] |
| Billed weight | 260 lb (118 kg)[2] |
| Billed from | Amarillo, Texas |
| Trained by |
|
| Debut | 1954[2] |
| Retired | 1983[2] |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch | United States Marine Corps |
| Service years | 1944–1946 |
| Conflicts | Korean War (Battle of Chosin Reservoir) |
Herbert Alan Gerwig (April 26, 1931 – November 10, 2011) was an Americanprofessional wrestler, better known by hisring name,Killer Karl Kox. Kox competed in theNational Wrestling Alliance as well as international promotions such asAll Japan Pro Wrestling, the International Wrestling Alliance andWorld Championship Wrestling during the 1960s and 1970s.
Gerwig was born inBaltimore, Maryland, where his father worked forThe Baltimore Sun. He attendedForest Park High School. After graduating, Gerwig enlisted in theUnited States Marine Corps. He took part in theKorean War, fighting in theBattle of Chosin Reservoir, where he loaded frozen corpses onto a jeep. Gerwig rarely discussed his wartime experience.[3] After leaving the Marine Corps, Gerwig relocated toCleveland, Ohio, where he worked in construction and moonlighted as asoftball player.[3]
Gerwig was trained as a professional wrestler by Fred Bozack andRalph "Ruffy" Silverstein, debuting in 1954.[3][2]
Gerwig reportedly earned the name, Killer, when he performed his famous finishing move, thebrainbuster, on his opponent by holding him upside down for a period of time and allowing the blood to rush to the brain.[4] As a singles heel through the sixties, he was a top-of-card fixture battling well-established crowd favorites such asMark Lewin,Spiros Arion,Tex McKenzie,Dominic DeNucci, andMario Milano. Enormous numbers from Australia's nascent ethnic community turned out to support Arion, Denucci, and Milano, and Kox risked riots at every appearance.
On February 21, 1967, he and"Iron" Mike DiBiase defeatedPedro Morales andRicky Romero to win theWorldwide Wrestling Associates'WWA World Tag Team Championship.[5] He defeated Buddy Rogers to win the MWCW North American Championship in March 1968. Fans longed to see the brainbuster deployed on the side of good, and this boon was granted in 1971 when the Killer turned into a babyface in a nationally televised mea culpa - he pledged to change his ways on a solemn promise to his dying mother.
This created much heat in the already booming Australian wrestling promotion, where the fixture was an ongoing television "war" between the good guys referred to as the "People's Army" (Lewin, Curtis, Arion, Milano and visiting faces from overseas) and the "mercenary soldiers" managed by Kentucky biker / preacher Big Bad John. The turning of the tables saw the erstwhile Killer create great excitement in tag matches against his former heel comradesAbdullah the Butcher,Brute Bernard,Dick "The Bulldog" Brower,Tiger Jeet Singh,Waldo Von Erich and Japanese heels likeMr. Fuji and the Tojo Brothers (Hiro "The Great" Tojo andHito Tojo).
He lost to Johnny Weaver on May 4, 1973, in ahair vs mask match while working as the "Masked Menace". He won theFlorida Brass Knuckles Championship by winning a tournament, and also defended the title againstRocky Johnson andSteve Keirn. In February 1978, he defeatedDusty Rhodes to win theNWA Florida Heavyweight Championship.
At a wrestling show later that year, Kox was wrestling a match when a fan started to repeatedly hit him with an umbrella. Security got involved and detained the fan, but instead of kicking the fan out of the show, Kox requested that they bring him into a backroom with the door locked. He allegedly requested that security not let him out until it was alright doing so. Security took the fan to a back room and locked the door. After Kox's match ended, he told security to open the door and he went in. Five minutes later, Kox walked out of the room and the fan was found lying on the floor, covered in blood and was knocked out unconscious.
In the wrestling profession, Killer Karl Kox was always a popular figure for his humor, behind-the-scenes practical jokes and inventiveness in furthering the promotion ("the greatest gimmicks man in the business" said one admiring colleague). His grudge matches were well-calibrated and exciting, building through a series of disqualifications and non-decisions through run-in interference, and often climaxing in a conditional match in which "the loser packs his bags and leaves town." This saw off one or the other of the combatants as they travelled to fulfill other promotional runs in other countries; battle would be re-joined next season when the participants returned for another highly profitable run.
Dick Murdoch once listed a number of people he had supposedly defeated and put out of wrestling, including a midget wrestler from the 1940s (few people caught the joke reference) and also listed on Herb Gelwig, (who was of course Killer Karl Kox with whom he teamed several times and was still quite active.) On October 9, 1979, he defeatedBob Armstrong to win the vacantNWA Georgia Heavyweight Championship.
Kox was cheered in Australia for one of the few times in his life when he faced the team of Abdullah the Butcher and Bulldog Brower. Among Killer Karl Kox's famous matches in Australia, his feuds with man-mountain Haystacks Calhoun usually involved the insinuation of foreign objects into the proceedings by Kox. At the end of one season, Kox "left Australia for medical treatment in the states" when, in astrap match with Bulldog Brower, his eye was nearly removed (the wound was unbandaged to show the television audience). A headline making event was when a television match for theIWA World Heavyweight Championship againstSpiros Arion was declared ended due to time limit by well-loved commentatorJack Little. Kox responded by delivering thebrainbuster to the unfortunate Little, who was hospitalized and required to call matches the following month in aneck brace.
Kox retired from professional wrestling in 1983.[2] He made his final wrestling-related appearance at VCCW Quest for the Crown II in August 2011, taking part in a meet and greet as well as later presenting the championship to Scot Summers.
Gerwig suffered astroke on October 20, 2011. He died of aheart attack on November 10, 2011, at theUT Southwestern Medical Center inDallas, Texas.[3]