Dean Malenko is the son of the legendary Boris Malenko. But surprisingly Malenko was not a professional wrestling fan growing up. In a May 2000 interview with Scoops Wrestling, Malenko stated, “I wasn't a wrestling fan. I wrestled amateur from the time I was 8 years old to the time I was 14. I enjoyed the technical part of wrestling and the competitiveness. When I injured my neck back in '77 I still wanted to be involved in wrestling, and still loved the moves and the thought process and the only way I could still do it was turning pro.”

Malenko made his professional debut in 1979 and wrestled in Japan for a decade before coming to the United States. Malenko wrestled with his brother Joe for All Japan Pro Wrestling from 1988 to 1992 before joining New Japan Pro Wrestling. It was in Japan where Malenko perfected his craft and learned variations to a plethora of maneuvers.

Benoit, Douglas, and Malenko

After becoming highly respected in Japan, Malenko saw the opportunity to wrestle in the United States with Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) in November 1994.

In ECW, Dean Malenko was a member of the “Triple Threat” with Chris Benoit and Shane Douglas and won the Tag Team titles with Chris Benoit. Malenko also was a two-time holder of the ECW Television title. Dean Malenko was a member of the “Triple Threat” in ECW with Chris Benoit and Shane Douglas. It was in ECW that Malenko had a feud with Eddie Guerrero that is without a shadow of a doubt one of the best feuds of the 90’s. In late 1995, Malenko and Benoit "jumped ship" to World Championship Wrestling (WCW).