Joe Malenko was trained to wrestle by his father, Boris Malenko. He began his wrestling career in 1977. His first success overseas came in May of 1985 when he wrestled as Joe Solkoff for the Universal Wrestling Federation. Joe went on to wrestle as a tag team with Dean in All Japan Pro Wrestling. From early 1985 to mid 1992, they were simply known as The Malenko Brothers.

Joe Malenko became a notable singles star for All Japan Pro Wrestling in 1989 when he won the World Junior Heavyweight Title twice. The first time was in Fukuoka, Japan on January 20. Joe defeated Masanobu Fuchi, but lost the title 5 days later to Mighty Inoue. Joe regained the title on July 1st in Ohmiya, Japan from Mitsuo Momota. Joe held the title for a few months before losing it in Nagoya, Japan to Masanobu Fuchi. During the second title reign, Joe actually battled his brother Dean for the title. Dean lost to his elder brother in a match that lasted just over 15 minutes.

In a 1998 WCW angle, Chris Jericho went on a tirade against not only Dean Malenko, but Joe and Boris Malenko as well. While Dean was taking some personal time off from wrestling, Joe made an appearance on the May 11, 1998 Nitro emanating from Kansas City, Missouri. Joe demanded respect for his family from Jericho, but instead got hit in the back with a prosthetic leg and a picture of Dean Malenko that Jericho had vandalized.

Regarding his brother�s appearance on Nitro, Dean stated: �We�re the Malenko family, we stick together through thick and thin. When Jericho talked about my dad the way he did, my brother got very upset. He didn�t know if I was coming back to wrestling or not so he took it upon himself to stick up for the family name.�

While Joe was respected for his scientific ability in the ring, he never found as much success in the ring as his brother, Dean. He has had a hand in training some future wrestling stars, but today, Joe focuses on his career as a certified pharmacist in Florida, but still occasionally wrestles in Japan and on the Independent circuit in the United States.

Several video tapes including Joe Malenko matches are available at RFVideo.com. These videos include:

Title: All and New Japan
Malenko Moment(s): Dean Malenko vs. Joe Malenko
Price: $20.00

Title: All and New Japan
Malenko Moment(s): Joe and Dean Malenko vs. Kabuki and Mesa Fuchi, Joe and Dean Malenko vs. Footloose, and Masa Fuchi vs. Joe Malenko
Price: $20.00

Title: Japan: International Fire Vol VI
Malenko Moment(s): Joe Malenko vs. Dean Malenko (7/11)
Price: $20.00

Title: Japan: International Fire Vol VII
Malenko Moment(s): Joe Malenko vs. Masa Fuchi (7/28)
Price: $20.00

Title: Japan: International Fire Vol VIII
Malenko Moment(s): Joe Malenko and Kenta Kobashi vs. Dan Kroffat and Ken Shamrock, Dan Kroffat and Doug Furnas vs. Joe Malenko and Kenta Kobashi 10/11), Joe Malenko vs. Masa Fuchi (10/20)
Price: $20.00

Title: All and New Japan
Malenko Moment(s): Furnas and Kroffat vs. Joe Malenko and Kobashi
Price: $20.00

Title: All Japan & New Japan, March - April 1991
Malenko Moment(s): Fuchi vs. Joe Malenko
Price: $20.00

Title: History of Taz in ECW
Malenko Moment(s): Taz and Sabu vs. Dean and Joe Malenko
Price: $20.00

Title: History of All Japan Strong Style Volume 2
Malenko Moment(s): Fantastics vs. Joe Malenko and Tsuyoshi Kikuchi (9-23-1990)
Price: $20.00

For Dean Malenko merchandise, click here.