Wrestling Career
Matyushenko is an accomplished freestyle wrestling athlete and utilized his wrestling background extensively in his fights. He was a Soviet National Wrestling Champion.
His nickname of "The Janitor" was coined by Dave Schultz as a joke to the U.S. wrestling team after Matyushenko beat members of their formidable squad (including Olympian Kevin Jackson) during a meet in Siberia. Their first impression of him had been when he was cleaning the mats in poor-looking clothing.
He became a two-time National Junior College champion at Lassen College, winning the 177–184 lb weight class in 1996 and the HWT weight class in 1997, before moving on to the University of Nevada, graduating with a degree in Health Science in 1999.
Read more about this topic: Vladimir Matyushenko
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“We laugh at him who steps out of his room at the very moment when the sun steps out, and says: “I will the sun to rise”; and at him who cannot stop the wheel, and says: “I will it to roll”; and at him who is taken down in a wrestling match, and says: “I lie here, but I will that I lie here!” And yet, all laughter aside, do we ever do anything other than one of these three things when we use the expression, “I will”?”
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