Bert assirati biography

At pounds, Assirati was one of the heaviest men to perform the iron cross. Assirati was born in HolbornLondon to British-born parents of Italian descent and raised in Clerkenwell. Assirati began weight-training at the age of twelve. At the age of seventeen, Assirati formed part of the acrobatic stage duo Mello and Nello. At the age of twenty, Assirati began his career as a professional wrestler, but continued to train as a weight-lifter.

At his highest weight, he was one of the strongest men in the world, and could still perform such acrobatic maneuvers as the iron cross and a one-arm hand stand. Assirati was known as a vicious competitor. He is said to have taken pleasure in injuring his opponents, and often refused to play along with the predetermined nature of professional wrestling.

Assirati stated that Lou Thesz was one of the wrestlers afraid to face him. In one version of the story, Assirati challenged Thesz to a match, but Thesz refused. Wrestler Les Thornton stated that Assirati's eagerness to hurt people in the ring helped establish credibility for competitors who were willing to face him. He had claimed to be the British Heavyweight Champion but did not win the title officially until 27 January He later dropped this title to Martinson but continued to hold the British Heavyweight Championship.

Miquet regained the title belt later that year, however. As a result, he was stripped of the British Heavyweight Championship. Tillet's final wrestling match was in Singapore on 14 Februaryhe was working for The National Wrestling Alliance Mid South Area, then known as Tri-State and owned by Leroy McGuirk, and agreed to lose to Bert Assirati because Tillet's health had begun to fail due to being diagnosed with acromegaly at the early age of He won his first official wrestling British Heavyweight Champion title in and the European Heavyweight Championship two years later.

In he decided to leave British Wrestling Association and travel to India to wrestle, which consequently led to loss of his British Heavyweight Championship titles. A similar scenario happened a few more times during his career, but it seems like Assirati was determined to improve his skill in wrestling — no matter what. Assirati suffered an injury inwhich stopped him from competing professionally.

Eventually, he got a job as a bert assirati biography at the Ebbisham Halls in Epsom, Surrey in order to support himself and he died inonly to become a member of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame posthumously. But therein lies his success as a wrestler. Because of his size, his agility and his knowledge of the various holds and leverages, there have been few wrestlers capable of beating him.

Take a look at his record. These are just a few. To name the complete list would take a number of pages. Born in London, Assirati stands five feet six inches in his bare feet and weighs around the 16 stone mark. Despite his weight and stockiness, his opponents find him a difficult man to hold in any one spot for very long. According to Assirati, even the renowned Lou Thesz was reluctant to face him, although Thesz denies this in his autobiography.

Assirati won his first major championship as a member of the British Wrestling Association, earning the title of British Heavyweight Champion.

Bert assirati biography

However, he officially received the title on January 27, Although he eventually lost this title, Assirati retained his title as the British champion. Inhe was also crowned the Heavyweight Champion of Europe, defeating Felix Miquet, but Miquet later reclaimed the title in He returned to Europe inwinning another European Heavyweight Championship before returning to India and relinquishing his title.

His last major victory came in