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George Gordienko: Canadian Wrestler, Artist and Renaissance Man
George Gordienko (1928-2002) may be the greatest wrestler you've never heard of. From humble, Ukrainian/Cossack immigrant roots in the Canadian Prairies, he endured a tough childhood during the Great Depression to emerge as a leading "shooter" and one-of-a-kind artist on the mat. Excluded from wrestling in the United States during the McCarthy era because of his association with the Communist Party as a young man, he was deprived of a run with the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, for which he was hand-picked by the great Lou Thesz. After retirement, Gordienko transitioned to a different sort of canvas and became a successful painter. This first full-length biography traces his remarkable career.
252 pages, Paperback
Published April 28, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 24, 2026
Wonderful study on an exceptional wrestler and fascinating person. The author did his homework and delivers a terrific biography.
July 11, 2022
another very good book by verrier. this one is sure to remain the most detailed look at the life of george gordienko (a life ably summarized for people who don't have time to read this book by verrier in this SLAM article: https://slamwrestling.net/index.php/2...). in fact, it's a wonder he was able to assemble so much info about dates, times, etc. given how the itinerant gordienko left an incomplete paper trail and almost no video footage (fortunately, nephew ted gordienko pulled together good deal of material before verrier began this effort).
this is, however, a fairly slow read. gordienko isn't alive to lend his voice to the effort, the sources verrier does have speak to us indirectly at many points, and most of his contemporaries remember him in a vague way, as a great shooter or technician or "hand" (people wondering who was tougher than whom will enjoy the near-ceaseless speculation about gordienko vis a vis billy robinson (who claimed in his book physical chess to have been the better man), bert assirati, lou thesz, and others). additionally, most of the quotes in the book were reported to verrier through ted gordienko, so they don't have the immediacy that they might if the author had sourced them directly.
a good read for history buffs and completists, to be sure, but verrier's gene kiniski bio is a more engaging read for generalists wanting to learn about the life and times of one of the major players of the 50s and 60s.
this is, however, a fairly slow read. gordienko isn't alive to lend his voice to the effort, the sources verrier does have speak to us indirectly at many points, and most of his contemporaries remember him in a vague way, as a great shooter or technician or "hand" (people wondering who was tougher than whom will enjoy the near-ceaseless speculation about gordienko vis a vis billy robinson (who claimed in his book physical chess to have been the better man), bert assirati, lou thesz, and others). additionally, most of the quotes in the book were reported to verrier through ted gordienko, so they don't have the immediacy that they might if the author had sourced them directly.
a good read for history buffs and completists, to be sure, but verrier's gene kiniski bio is a more engaging read for generalists wanting to learn about the life and times of one of the major players of the 50s and 60s.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews