The AP story has it wrong- Killer Kowalski's pet submission hold was the Cobra Clutch, not the Killer Clutch.

EVERETT, Mass. - Pro wrestling pioneer Walter "Killer" Kowalski died Saturday, August 30, from the effects of a heart attack. He was 81.

Kowalski died at Whidden Hospital in Everett, 12 days after his family decided to take him off life support. He had been in critical condition since his heart attack Aug. 8, wife Theresa Kowalski said.

An obituary posted at Weir Mac Cuish Family Funeral Home's Web site said Kowalski began his professional career in 1947. His 6-foot-7, 275-pound frame and a brutal wrestling style soon earned him the nickname "Killer." He became known as a villain after severing part of Yukon Eric's ear during a match in Montreal in 1954. He visited his opponent in the hospital and "the two men began laughing at how silly Eric's bandages looked. The reporter incorrectly printed that Killer was laughing at his victim and soon after, Killer quickly became wrestling's most renowned 'heel,'" according to the Web site.

Kowalski later became famous for various moves, including a stomach vice grip called the Killer Clutch. He retired in 1977, a year after he and Big John Studd captured the WWF Tag Team Championship as The Executioners.

He went on to open a wrestling school in Malden, where he trained many current stars including WWE's Triple H.

[Baltimore Sun] When I first started watching pro wrestling as a first-grader in the early 1970s, there were various types of bad guys (we didn’t call them heels back then).

There were black-hat wearing cowboys, flamboyant pretty boys, post-World War II German and Japanese wrestlers and an assortment of rugged-looking guys with snarling faces.

But there was only one Killer Kowalski.

Walter Kowalski, who died [August 30] at 81 from the effects of a massive heart attack, portrayed one of wrestling’s all-time great villains during a career that spanned 30 years.

I still remember the first time I saw Kowalski wrestle in person at the Baltimore Civic Center. I was either 6 or 7, and my parents and I were seated about five rows from the ring. Kowalski’s opponent that night was Tony Garea. With his chiseled features and wavy hair, Garea was the epitome of a white meat babyface. He also was my mother’s favorite wrestler.

In contrast, Kowalski looked as if he had just stepped out of a nightmare. At 6 feet 7 and 275 pounds, he was Frankenstein’s monster in wrestling tights. Unlike the fictional character, however, Kowalski was anything but stiff and plodding. Typically, he would hunch over menacingly, curl his hands into claws out in front of his chest and then pounce on his helpless prey.

Before Garea knew what was happening, Kowalski was all over him. I was close enough to the action to hear Kowalski growling as he viciously stomped his helpless opponent. At one point, Garea screamed out in pain as Kowalski applied his infamous stomach claw hold. I believed it was all real, and I was terrified that Kowalski was going to come into the crowd and make me his next victim.

In other words, Kowalski did his job extremely well.

In real life, Walter was no Killer. In fact, he had a reputation for being one of the industry’s true gentlemen. Jim Ross wrote on his blog yesterday that Kowalski “had a heart of gold” and “was always considered too nice a guy by many promoters to be a wrestling bad guy.”