Just take a look in his eye as he makes his way to the ring. Dean Malenko is focused intently with just one thought in mind and sight – winning.
No fancy gimmicks, additives or preservatives. Malenko is the real deal, a consummate wrestler who knows virtually every move in the book. Aptly nicknamed “Man of 1,000 Holds” and “The Ice Man,” Malenko is a major player in World Championship Wrestling, gaining the respect of all who cross his path including Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero and Chris Jericho.
Malenko formed a dangerous alliance titled The Triple Threat with Benoit and “The Franchise” Shane Douglas in Extreme Championship Wrestling. Benoit and Malenko became ECW tag team champions working an aggressive, intense style toward success.
They helped change the face of professional wrestling as we know it today from the big, mall of muscle of the ‘80s; to a mix of styles from quick and agile to strong and physical.
“What’s happened is the last five or six years in the United States it’s been very stereotyped that unless you were 6-foot-8 and 350 pounds and arms of 24 or 26 inches, you weren’t considered a professional wrestler. With the athletes that have been coming in from Japan, from Mexico, from Europe, the United States’ fans are finally getting to see what’s been out there for quite a long time,” says Malenko. “A lot of it has to do with timing. The wrestling industry had gone one way for so long, stereotyping the biug guys – and I hate using the term big and small – but there are a lot of great athletes in the junior weight, cruiserweight, and middle weight division where you’re going to get your great matches.”
Benoit, Guerrero, Jericho, Malenko, the Mexican and Japanese wrestlers and others held contracts in Mexico and Japan and could not compete in any other major wrestling companies, i.e. World Wrestling Federation or World Championship Wrestling, but they could work for independent gigs with Extreme Championship Wrestling. So, they worked several shows for ECW, bringing this changing style to American fans on a smaller scale. But word quickly spread from the excitement generated through these wrestlers.
“The wrestling fans in the United States the last two years have been real fortunate to see some of Mexico’s best from Rey Mysterio, Jr to Juventud Guerrero to Psicosis to some of the great wrestlers to come out of Japan to Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero and Chris Jericho who I think are probably the elite group of wrestlers in our sport today. I’ve had opportunities in the past to come and wrestle in the United States, and I didn’t think it was the right time. I didn’t think the fans were ready for the knowledge and the background of some of the talent that was out there,” Malenko explains. “Where wrestling has gone from one extreme to the other that it was right and it was the time to bring in a whole new breed of wrestler, and the fans have taken to it the last two years. Like anything else, like fashion or music, what goes around comes around, and I think there are a lot of wrestling, wrestling fans that have really been entertained and really been fortunate the last two years to see some of the great talent that have come from other places.”
Malenko is a second generation wrestling, the son of the late Great Boris Malenko. He learned from his father, setting his own trail to a career in professional wrestling which officially began in 1979.
“I’ve been wrestling ever since then,” says Malenko. “I’ve been real fortunate to be able to wrestler overseas in Japan for the last 13 to 14 years before I started in WCW. I got a lot of basic knowledge of the wrestling industry, and it’s a place where I think every young wrestler at one point of their career should go – to learn all the fundamentals and the basic foundation of wrestling. It’s taught me everything I know, the 12, 13 years that I spent over there.
“Also, having a father that was in the business over 30 years and that brought me into the business the right way and game me a lot of knowledge as to what to foresee in the future in out sport and how to handle myself in a business like manner,” he adds. “I’ve been real fortunate through the years with a little bit of luck to get some really good breaks along the line, and at the same time was able to maintain a professional that I enjoy doing.”
Since coming to WCW, Malenko has made quite an impact. Yes, he’s held gold including the WCW Cruiserweight title and the U.S. Championship, but more importantly, Malenko brings his tremendous gifts to the table each and every match, whether he has a strap or not.
“There are a certain few in our sport that really take what we do extremely seriously,” Malenko notes. “Being fortunate again to have a father who was in the sport 30 years and having to follow in his footsteps, I was very blessed in being able to be a step ahead of a lot of guys who didn’t have that opportunity to grow up in our sport. I foresee the way the wrestling industry is changing that we are going to start getting to more of guy’s abilities – what they can do in the ring and what they can produce as far as wrestling.
“I’m not saying there isn’t going to be a market for other thing, for more of an entertainment factor because there always will be,” Dean demurs, “but there is also a big market for the hard-core wrestling fans who want to see a good, competitive match between two wrestling athletes.”
Dean Malenko is one of those wrestling athletes. He is 5-foot-11, 175-pounds of pure wrestling talent. He helped run a wrestling school in Tampa with his father and brother, training others to be the best they can be.
As far as Malenko: “I’m at the stage in my career where I’ve had the opportunity to wrestler some great, great talents like Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Dynamite Kid, Tiger Mask. The thing that I really look forward to is getting in the ring with the people I’ve always wanted to wrestle that I never had the opportunity to and just go out there and give 110 percent. Every time I step into the ring I give it my best, and when I walk out win or lose, I know I've made a name and a mark for myself.
“Dean Malenko has really never been about accolades, about a pat on the back or a trophy or wearing a belt around his waist,” the Man of 1,000 Holds confesses. “But in the same breath, I’d be lying if I didn’t say wrestling in front of 20,000 people chanting your name and getting behind you doesn’t give you a certain rush. Any athlete would be lying if they said it doesn’t give them a rush because it does. Friends I’ve grown up with in high school not have 9 to 5 jobs, supporting families and doing something they really don’t enjoy doing but they have to because they have responsibilities in life. I’m very fortunate and very blessed to be doing something I get paid for and enjoy doing at the same time and know that I’m entertaining people all over the world and putting a smile on someone’s face by watching what I’m doing, brightening their day, taking their mind off their troubles. That’s definitely a rush.”
Malenko moved from California to Tampa during his pee wee years. He has lived in Tampa about 30 years, wrestling in AAU Junior Olympics since age eight and continuing through high school until a neck injury put him on the shelf for two years. Fortunately the neck surgery was successful, and Malenko pursued a pro wrestling career creating a Heinz 57 style – a mix of European, Mexican and a big percentage of Japanese. His influences include Tony Charles, someone around the same weight and height as Malenko with tremendous countering abilities, and the Dynamite Kid, whom Malenko credits as the mentor who started the ball rolling in their weight class.
The Four Horsemen eat, breathe and sweat a symbol of excellence in all weight classes. Malenko would be a perfect addition.
“The Horsemen have been around for along time in this business with a little different set of cast and characters thought the years,” Malenko states. “Most recently, with the acquisition of Chris Benoit, you’ve also got Ric Flair and Steve McMichael. If there is one common denominator between all three of them is they are all athletes, and they take what they do very seriously. Steve McMicheal being the inexperienced one in the group, but at the same occasion we’re talking about an athlete who spent 12 years in professional football, and he knows what it takes to be successful, what it takes to be an athlete, what it takes to dedicate your time in this sport.
“I’ve said since coming into WCW two years ago that I thought there was a lot of old newspaper that needed to be discarded in our sport,” Malenko emphasizes. “There are a lot of young and up-and-coming guys, but I learned a lot of things through my dad, and one was that there is not substitute to experience, and if you’re going to do business with anybody, it’s better to deal with an established firm. So when it come to Ric Flair, there are times that I wouldn’t mind reading an old newspaper again. “As for Chris Benoit, I can’t say enough things about him. He is one of the most gifted athletes out sport has ever seen. If there is one person in this sport who mirrors a likeness to Dean Malenko, I would pick Chris Benoit.”