Ken Patera
Aliases - none
Athletic background - Powerlifting(`72 Olympics), Track & Field (Brigham Young University)
Teachers - Verne Gagne, Wahoo McDaniel, Billy Robinson (`72 Camp)
Professional history - AWA(`73), Texas(`74), Tri-State(`76), WWWF(`76-`77), Mid-Atlantic(`78), St. Louis(`80-`81), WWF(`80), Georgia(`81), AWA(`82-`83), Memphis(`83), WWF(`83), WWF(`87-`88), AWA(`89), Midwest Indies(`90-`96)
Groups - Heenan Family, Shiek's Army
Peak Years - `78-`84
Career Highlights - n/a
Finisher(s) -
- Swinging Neckbreaker (Swinging Full Nelson)
- Bearhug
Favorites -
- Bodyslam
- Back Suplex
- High Knee
- Small Package
- Forearm
Ringwork Rating -
move set - 5
science - 3
aerial - 0
power - 10
strikes - 4
Intangible Rating -
entertainment - 5
selling - 6
bumping - 6
carrying - 5
heat - 6
legacy - 4
Serious Injuries - Arm
Place in History - In the 70s and 80s, Ken Patera, a former Olympian seemed like the most unlikely of heels, but he was one of the best and strongest pushed. He'd been very successful with several gold medals in Pan-America games, however Patera burned out at the Olympics and that hurt him from coming in as a gold medalist lifter that might have been the gimmick to make him one of the biggest stars of the day. Thickly muscled in a period where that was still a novelty, Patera was an above average worker and was pushed strongly everywhere he went. He showed a nack for having good matches with people who were hit-and-miss and that afforded him numerous good programs on top of the pushes. Right when his career was coming to something of a pinnacle, Patera and Masa Saito threw a boulder through a McDonald's window and got in a brawl with the officers who came to apprehend them. It landed them in prison for two years and Patera returned to a world that had passed him by and his final years in the sport all but killed his legacy. Ken Patera's name is now one of someone who had natural ability and worked hard to get to a certain level, but choked in the clutch and never fully achieved the level he could have or should have.