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 Anderson in a 1978 publication | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Larry Heiniemi (1939-03-14)March 14, 1939 (age 86) Bovey, Minnesota, U.S.[1] |
| Alma mater | St. Cloud State University |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Lars Anderson[1] Lucious Lars[1] |
| Billed height | 6 ft 3 in (191 cm)[1] |
| Billed weight | 235 lb (107 kg)[1] |
| Trained by | Verne Gagne[1] Eddie Sharkey[1] |
| Debut | August 1965[1] |
| Retired | 1986[1] |
Larry Heiniemi[2] (born March 14, 1939) is an American retiredprofessional wrestler, better known by hisring name,Lars Anderson. His career spans over a decade of performing inNational Wrestling Alliance (NWA) territories as well as theAmerican Wrestling Association (AWA).
Heiniemi started wrestling in 1965. He formed atag team with his kayfabe brotherGene Anderson and also tagged with his other kayfabe brotherOle Anderson. Ole and Lars had adopted Anderson as their family names to pretend to be brothers of Gene.[3] He occasionally wrestled with them as theMinnesota Wrecking Crew. Lars did not have the success that theother Andersons had. He did win numerousNWA regional championships, including winning theGeorgia version of theNWA World Tag Team Championship with Gene Anderson. Lars wrestled briefly in the Carolinas as "Luscious Lars" Anderson.
In the early 1970s, he wrestled in theSan Francisco bay area (again as "Luscious Lars" Anderson), winning theNWA (San Francisco) World Tag Team title with partner Paul DeMarco in 1972.
On the microphone, Larry was one of the besttalkers in an era when gettingover on the microphone was important. In the early '70s, after leaving Gene Anderson, he returned to the AWA and hooked up with"Pretty Boy" Larry Hennig. The latter needed a new partner after the departure of"Handsome Harley" Race who ventured to the NWA.
In the mid 1970s, Heiniemi was joined by his college friend, Les "Budd" Wolfe. Together they formed a solid combination, and many felt they should have won theAWA World Tag Team titles. In March 1975, Heiniemi announced he was retiring from the ring, and after losing his last match to England'sBilly Robinson, Larry left the AWA.
However in 1977, he was back to using the Lars Anderson handle and brieflyfeuded with his kayfabe brothers Gene and Ole in Atlanta in 1977.
He spent the last years of his career wrestling inHawaii forPolynesian Pacific Wrestling (PPW). When its owner,Peter Maivia, died in 1982, his wife hired Heiniemi as headbooker. This lasted until 1988 when the dwindlingpromotion folded.Dwayne Johnson, former wrestler and grandson of Peter Maivia, spoke of Heiniemi in his 2000 autobiography,The Rock Says.... Johnson described a scene where, as a teenager, he angrily confronted Heiniemi when he refused todrop the Polynesian Pacific Heavyweight title toBad News Allen.
In 1996, Heiniemi established World League Wrestling. This little known promotion consisted largely of wrestlers from his training school and former PPW talent. The promotion officially folded in 2000.[4]
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