Abe Jacobs

Abner Robert Jacobs (18 June 1928 – 21 August 2023) was a New Zealand professional wrestler.

He was one of the first men to follow fellow New Zealander Pat O'Connor to the United States where, like O'Connor, Jacobs became a major star in the National Wrestling Alliance during the "Golden Age of Wrestling".

One of the most recognisable "babyfaces" during this period, he was billed as the "Jewish Heavyweight Champion" and wrestled in a number of high-profile matches with many stars of the era including numerous bouts against NWA World Heavyweight Champions Lou Thesz, Gene Kiniski, Buddy Rogers, Dick Hutton and Pat O'Connor.

Abner Robert Jacobs was born on 18 April 1928, on the isolated Chatham Islands in New Zealand, where he was also raised.

His father managed a cattle station with 6,000 head of sheep and a few thousand cattle.

Jacobs had a very rural upbringing working on the station and regularly travelled long distances by horseback; he once rode 85 miles in a two-day ride.

At the age of 13, Jacobs broke his first horse and herded 1200 head of sheep on a three-day trip to be shipped to the mainland, and began training sheep dogs.

He also attended a local elementary school and completed high school via a correspondence course.

He saw his first automobile as a young man in Christchurch and his first television set while competing in Hawaii years later.

In the late-1940s, he became interested in professional wrestling while listening to live radio broadcasts, aired twice a week by the Dominion Wrestling Union, and reading the local newspapers.

He was once able to hear a match between Gorgeous George and George Temple being broadcast in San Diego for 20 minutes before the signal faded.

He would later have the opportunity to wrestle many of these wrestlers while competing professionally in the United States.

Jacobs began weightlifting which, in addition to working on his family's ranch, would give him a distinct strength advantage when he started his amateur wrestling career as a teenager.

Although conventional wisdom discouraged weight training at the time, then believed that becoming "muscle bound" would slow speed and agility, Jacobs continued working out after reading a magazine article which claimed that the fastest Olympian was an Egyptian lightweight power lifter.

He was invited to an Easter Camp, where amateur wrestlers had the opportunity to train with the 1952 light heavyweight Olympic Champion, but was forced to leave by the head of the wrestling association for his weightlifting.

Despite this setback, he eventually won three Canterbury Provincial Titles, four Wellington Provincial Titles and runner-up silver medalist in the New Zealand Nationals.

Jacobs later won the New Zealand Championship and held the title until 1953 when he was defeated by John da Silva in Wellington.

He also tried out for the 1956 Olympics but lost to another wrestler by one point.

After the Olympic trials, Jacobs decided to wrestle as a professional and was trained by The Zebra Kid.

He was assisted by Al Costello, whom he trained with as an amateur, and future tag team partner Don Curtis.

Jacobs made his professional debut against his trainer, the Zebra Kid, in Hastings in 1958; substituting for George McKay, their match served as the main event.

It was during this match that he debuted his trademark submission hold, the "Kiwi Roll", which was covered by local newspapers the following day.

After wrestling nearly a dozen matches for the New Zealand Wrestling Union, among his opponents being Ricky Waldo, Tony Olivas, Dick Hrstich, Andre Drapp, Fred Wright and Jack Bence, he was brought over to the United States where he worked for promoter Al Karasick in Hawaii.

This was one of the most popular territories to work for at the time due to its high salaries, little travel time and, due to the promotion running only three shows a week, there was generally plenty of recreational time.

Three months later, he arrived in the continental United States and spent a year for Vince McMahon, Sr. in Capitol Sports, then based in Washington D.C., and began appearing on their weekly television show in 1958.

As one of their up-and-coming "babyfaces", Jacobs was billed as the "Jewish Heavyweight Champion".

He took on the promotion's top "heel" NWA United States Heavyweight Champion "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers that same year which saw Haystacks Calhoun interfere in the match.

The match was recorded on kinescope and, later featured on Wrestling's Greatest Villains of the Golden Era, is one of the oldest surviving matches from that era.

Jacobs met Buddy Rogers on eight occasions during his career, the majority for the United States Championship, and at least once for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.

His bout against O'Connor in 1961, which aired on Capitol Wrestling's weekly television show, was the first time two New Zealanders wrestled for a championship title on foreign soil.

Jacobs was also an established journeyman wrestler, touring Europe and Japan on several occasions, travelling around the world four times and wrestling over 8,000 matches in his 30-year career.

Although never reaching the heights of O'Connor as a singles wrestler, he was very successful as a "tag team specialist" winning the NWA Florida-version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship with Don Curtis, the NWA Los Angeles International Television Tag Team Championship with Haystacks Calhoun, and the NWA Western States Tag Team Championship with Pez Whatley.

Other partners included George Becker, Antonino Rocca, Sailor Art Thomas, Klondike Bill, Man Mountain Mike and "Coloured Heavyweight Champion" Luther Lindsay.

Jacobs spent the final years of his career in the Carolinas where he became a mainstay for Jim Crockett's NWA Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling during the 1970s and early-1980s.

Best remembered by "modern" American wrestling fans as an undercard wrestler, he was the first opponent of "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair when making his debut in the promotion in 1974.

Flair's victory over an established veteran such as Jacobs was a critical step in his early career and is partially credited for helping Flair become a major star in the Mid-Atlantic territory.

During his 10-year career in the amateur ranks, Jacobs won seven provincial titles, was a runner-up to the nationals and a winner of the national championships.

Jacobs is credited for creating the "Kiwi Leg Roll", a modified amateur submission hold, which was especially popular among fans and to date has never been duplicated.

He was also widely respected in the industry, managing Ricky Steamboat's gym during the 1990s, and was officially inducted into the George Tragos/Lou Thesz Hall of Fame in 2008.

Although he was not as well known in his native country in his professional career, Jacobs was named one of the "Top Ten New Zealand Born Wrestlers" by Fight Times Magazine, and was also featured on a special commemorative edition of the New Zealand ten-dollar note.