Al Blake, Jim Crockett’s Vladimir Petrov, Passes Away At 66
Retired pro wrestler Al Blake, a notable ‘Russian heel’ during the 1980s, passed away at the age of 66 on July 27, 2024. Greg Oliver of SLAM Wrestling broke the news. Blake portrayed the role of Vladimir Petrov, a brutish heel who replaced Barry Darsow as one of Ivan Koloff’s “comrades” back in the Jim Crockett Promotion days. Darsow was Vladimir Khrushchev and ironically enough, both he and Blake actually were from Minnesota, not the former Soviet Union.
In his obituary, Blake was noted to have a passion for health and fitness all the way up to his passing and grew up in a very musically inclined household.
Blake was trained by Eddie Sharkey after discovering him in a bar as a bouncer. Before joining the side of Ivan Koloff, Blake worked as the masked “Russian Assassin” in Paul Jones’ stable. Koloff and Blake ended up feuding with the now babyface Nikita Koloff, Dusty Rhodes and The Rock ‘N’ Roll Express.
Blake’s squared circle career didn’t last very long as he ultimately retired from wrestling in 1992. In late 1988 Blake was convicted on multiple drug dealing charges, stemming from a that started back to 1983 when he was still a bar bouncer that happened to put a speed bump in his wrestling career.
Ivan Koloff didn’t have much to write about Blake in his autobiography and Nikita didn’t know too much about him but did say his personality didn’t match up well with his fellow wrestlers. However, Blake had been married to his wife, Karla Nelson, a bodybuilder and worked several different occupations after hanging up the wrestling boots.
