| Adrian Street | |
|---|---|
Street (centre) with Bruno Sammartino and Bill Watts in 2005. |
|
| Ring name(s) | Adrian Street[1] Kid Tarzan Jonathan[1] The Nature Boy[2] Hell's Angel #1[2] |
| Billed height | 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)[2] |
| Billed weight | 235 lb (107 kg; 16.8 st)[2] |
| Born | 5 December 1940 [2] Brynmawr, South Wales[3] |
| Resides | Gulf Breeze, Florida[2] |
| Trained by | Chic Osmond[4] Mike Dimitre[4] |
| Debut | 8 August 1957 |
Adrian Street (born 5 December 1940) is a Welsh professional wrestler known for his flamboyant, androgynous wrestling persona, brought to prominence in the 1970s and 1980s. Street was often accompanied to the ring by his long-time manager Miss Linda, and the two worked primarily as villains. After retiring from full-time in-ring work, Street ran the Skull Krushers wrestling school and went into business designing professional wrestling gear. .
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Born in Brynmawr in Brecknockshire, Street's family was in the coal mining business[1] - his father was a miner for 51 years.[5] In his teenage years, he began bodybuilding.[1] He left home at age 16 and began his professional wrestling career in 1957.[1][3] His early inspirations were American wrestlers Lou Thesz, Buddy Rogers and Don Leo Jonathan (from whom Street adopted his first moniker, Kid Tarzan Jonathan).[5]
Street was trained as a professional wrestler by Chic Osmond.[4] His first professional wrestling match was on August 8, 1957.[4] Using the name Kid Tarzan Jonathan, Street defeated Geoff Moran.[4]
Later in his career, he developed his "Exotic" Adrian Street gimmick, a flamboyantly gay character. His wrestling costume generally involved pastels and glitter face make up and clipping his bleached hair into mini-pigtails. As "The Exotic One" his signature move in the ring was to kiss opponents to escape being pinned down and to put make up on his opponents when they were disabled. He was managed by Miss Linda, a bodybuilder who would frequently participate as an accomplice to Street's in-ring shenanigans. He worked primarily as a heel and traveled all over the world.
He formed a tag partnership with fellow 'bad boy' Bobby Barnes called the Hells Angels.
In 2005, he appeared at WrestleReunion in a battle royal for the IWA Heavyweight Championship, which was won by Greg Valentine.
Street starred alongside Ron Perlman in the film Quest for Fire.[6] He also appeared in Grunt: The Wrestling Movie,[7] as well as appearing in the opening scenes of Pasolini's 1972 film The Canterbury Tales as a wrestler.[8]
In 2005, Street proposed to long-time manager Miss Linda at a reunion of the Cauliflower Alley Club.[1] Don Leo Jonathan was his best man at the wedding.[1]
He survived a bout with cancer.[1]
Street and his wife sell professional wrestling gear and other sundries via their website. He created the ring gear worn by Mick Foley as Dude Love during his feud with Stone Cold Steve Austin. He also ran the Skull Krushers wrestling school until it was permanently closed due to damages suffered to the ring and apartments by Hurricane Ivan.