Ivan Putski

Ivan Putski is the ring name of Jozef Bednarski, a Polish and American former professional wrestler and bodybuilder born on 21 January 1941. Born in Krakow, he moved to the United States at a young age with his family and began wrestling in Texas, where he became a popular attraction in the Dallas and Fort Worth area and won the NWA Texas Tag Team Championship twice in 1973 with Jose Lothario. He also wrestled for the American Wrestling Association, where he lost weight through bodybuilding and first clashed with Superstar Billy Graham. Joining the World Wide Wrestling Federation in 1974 as its first Polish wrestler, he and Tito Santana won the WWF World Tag Team Championship in 1979. Nicknamed the Polish Hammer and Polish Power, he was inducted into the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame in 2025.