By James Caldwell, Torch assistant editor

Canadian pro wrestler "The Golden Greek" John Tolos, who gained national fame in the early 1990s managing the Beverly Brothers in WWF, died on Thursday at the age of 70 in California.

John Tolos and his brother, Chris Tolos, were a top tag team across the U.S., especially in California, during the 1950s and '60s.

Tolos then had long feud in the 1970s against Classy Freddie Blassie, who wrote extensively about John in his autobiography prior to his death in 2003.

"I respected them (John and Chris) in the ring, and I liked them as people," Blassie wrote about when he first met the Tolos Brothers in the 1950s. "I wrestled John, one on one, a few times, and had some pretty good matches with him. One day, I figured, we'd do big box office together. I didn't realize that I'd have to wait until 1971, when we had the hottest rivalry in the country."

Blassie talks extensively in his book, "Listen, You Pencil Neck Geeks," about the program between Tolos and him during the 1970s in Los Angeles that brought in big dollars for promoter Mike LeBell.

Link: Amazon.com listing for Blassie's book.

Book excerpt: Page 43 (paperback edition).

[Photo credit: Mike Lano]

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