“Action Man” Tiger Fist: a Nigerian pro wrestling hero of our generation
”I saw it all in Nigerian Professional Wrestling”
A hero is a person who is admired for his courage, outstanding achievements or noble qualities and those words vividly describe the prize fighter ‘’Action Man’’ Tiger Fist, the Penguin Wrestling Club of Alaba International Heavyweight Champion and titleholder who later became the Nigeria Pro Wrestling Heavyweight number 1 contender during his heyday.
Peter O. Udechukwu (”Action Man” Tiger Fist)
‘’Action Man’’ Tiger Fist’s real name is Peter O. Udechuckwu. He was born on the 25th August, 1957 at Nnewi South area of Anambra state in the Eastern part of Nigeria where traditional wrestling has long a history and honoured culture. Nnewi South is a Local Government Area in Anambra South Senatorial Zone of Anambra State in Nigeria. It has Ukpor as the headquarters of Nnewi South. Anambra is rich in natural gas, crude oil, bauxite, and ceramic. It has almost 100 percent arable soil. Anambra state has many other resources in terms of agro-based activities such as fisheries and farming, as well as land cultivated for pasturing and animal husbandry. The state is also an industrial state.
‘‘Action Man” Tiger Fist as the Heavyweight Champion of Penguin Wrestling Club in the 80s
The talented and skilful Tiger Fist started his wrestling career under the tutelage of the late Gabriel Ibaku ‘’Machine Gun’’ in 1975 at Oko Awo Wrestling and Boxing Club in Lagos, Nigeria though he was a great footballer before falling in love with pro-wrestling. He also received training at the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos from 1978 to 1979 from the former World Light Heavyweight Champion Mike Bamidele who was the first amateur wrestling coach in Nigeria. The amateur wrestling training combined with the pro wrestling gimmicks made Tiger Fist a great pro wrestling talent in the 1980s.
Tiger Fist, who reigned supreme among the top five in the Nigerian wrestling heavyweight division in the 80s and 90s, was privileged to compete with the who’s who of the Nigerian professional wrestling world including Captain Killer, Big Jim Obot, Timesman Udoh, Tony Destroyer, Wicked Bone, Great Langudi, Superbilly Akashili, Sunny King of NIPOST, Conquer Mixture, Power Jihad, Atlas Man Mountain 30-10-30, High Tension, K.C. Adumekwe, BIack Iroko and so many other great wrestlers.
Tiger Fist slugging it out with Spain-based K.C. Adumekwe
Machine Gun formed the New Stars Wrestling Club of Alaba International in the early 90’s with the support and exploits of Tiger Fist as assistant coach to Machine Gun and that organization produced great pro wrestling talents who shook the Nigerian nation like Ishaka 2000, Indomitable Randy Moore, Silverstone, Hitman Chuks, Skin Face, Solid Rock, Aliking the Action Disaster, Sakabula, Brutal Max and a great host of other awesome talents.
On how wrestling started in the 70s and the state of the grunt and groan game presently, Mazi Peter Udechuckwu felt the game was awesome more than now at the origin with sincere promoters and great followership. ‘’Promoters and pro wrestling administrators were up and doing then with sincere will and eagerness to promote the sport while the wrestlers were having regular weekly shows across the Nigerian nation within their clubs where winners emerged to contest for the national titles. We need to go back to the drawing board so as to get the needed result. Invasion of foreign wrestlers too to Nigeria in the late 70s, 80s and in the 90s also added to the hype of a pro wrestling promotion. Whenever talents like Mil Mascaras, Mighty Igor, Dino Bravo, Ernie Ladd, Ox Baker, Rocky Johnson, Cactus Jack and so on were in Nigeria in the 80s, tickets would have been sold and exhausted two to three months to the pro wrestling promotion,’’ explained the ‘’Action Man’’ Tiger Fist.
Old school wrestler Tiger Fist who lists Rice with Salad and water as his favourite food and drink, cherishes pink as his favourite colour and he is of the concern that wrestling is the best sport to reach the limelight and he sees the sport retaining the lost glory again with all hands on deck.
