AWA Years
After his military tour, he found employment with the AWA, wrestling every Saturday's TV taping and then house shows during the week for promoter Wally Karbo.
Whenever a new name would come in, they would give them to Kenny to make them look good. He used his mat-based scientific wrestling style with the likes of Mad Dog Vachon, The Crusher, Verne Gagne, and Bruiser.
To help pay the bills, Kenny started his own landscape business, which is where he got the "Sodbuster" nickname. He never left the midwest area, as he was rooted in the area with his landscape business, wife, and three children. He continued working for the AWA for nearly thirty years until they went out of business in 1991.
| “ | Kenny Jay is the best overall talent in wrestling. He was what we called a 'job guy' but he could work with any human being and get a good match out of them. He would go in the ring with a big name who really couldn't do much and make him look good, and he could get in there with a Danny Hodge or Verne Gagne and make them look even better than they were. He was just an incredibly talented guy. | ” |
| — Harley Race |
In 1972 Kenny made his one overseas trip to Japan, where he worked 18 matches, including 5 cage matches, and won most of them.
In 1976 he took on Muhammad Ali in a boxer vs wrestler match which he considers one of the high points of his career.
In 2005 the Cauliflower Alley Club board of directors unanimously chose Kenny Jay to be honored.
| “ | Being the first jabroni to be honored by the Cauliflower Alley Club is real exciting. It’s nice to be recognized by the boys. | ” |
| — Kenny Jay |
Read more about this topic: Kenny Jay
Famous quotes containing the word years:
“Belief is with them mechanical, voluntary: they believe what they are paid for—they swear to that which turns to account. Do you suppose, that after years spent in this manner, they have any feeling left answering to the difference between truth and falsehood?”
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830)