Whatever Happened to Vladimir Kozlov?

Brian Damage

He was a heavyweight Sambo champion who was discovered by a famous wrestling promoter. He quickly became a WWE star. He would win one half of the WWE tag team titles before retiring. Today on the blog, we ask…’Whatever Happened’ to Vladimir Kozlov?

In 2005, Oleg Prudius became a champion in the martial art of Sambo. Oleg was considering a career in professional wrestling and reached out to some friends. Some of those friends knew of Jerry Jarrett who was a famed promoter from Memphis, Tennessee and co founded TNA wrestling. Jerry claims he first introduced Oleg to his son Jeff Jarrett and was turned down.

Apparently, Dixie Carter (who was the new owner of TNA) rejected Oleg because he had no experience or name value. Jerry then took Oleg to WWE headquarters and met with John Laurinaitis. Laurinaitis was immediately impressed with the 6ft 8in 310 pound monster and was ultimately signed to a developmental deal in 2006. Oleg Prudius was assigned to Deep South Wrestling for training.

Oleg was given the name ‘Vladimir Kozlov’ in developmental and for a while compiled an undefeated streak. Kozlov was moved to Ohio Valley Wrestling and partnered with fellow developmental talents Mike Kruel and Roucka (Later known as Rosa Mendes in WWE). In 2007, Kozlov defeated Paul ‘The Ripper’ Burchill? to become the OVW heavyweight champion. Kozlov would then surrender his newly won title to Mike Kruel.

Vladimir Kozlov started filming vignettes for his main roster call up. He became known for his pronunciation of WWE by saying “Double Double E.’ In 2008, Kozlov got a huge push to become a top contender for the WWE title. He ultimately earned a title shot against the champion Triple H and fellow challenger Edge at the Survivor Series in 2008 and lost.

Kozlov was moved to the ECW brand and given a Russian soldier gimmick. He would form a faction with William Regal and Ezekiel Jackson that would fall apart a few weeks later and turn Kozlov into a babyface. When the ECW brand folded, Vladimir Kozlov was moved to Raw and became a heel again wrestling John Cena.

Kozlov eventually formed a comedic partnership with Santino Marella. The duo would defeat Heath Slater and Justin Gabriel, Mark Henry and Yoshi Tatsu, and The Usos in a four-way elimination tag team match in 2010. Santino and Kozlov would hold the tag team titles for about 2 months until dropping them back to Heath Slater and Justin Gabriel. In August of 2011, Vladimir Kozlov was released from his WWE contract.

Oleg Prudius would head over to Japan and wrestle under the revamped name of Alexander Kozlov. He would remain there until 2012 when he decided to retire. So, whatever happened to Vladimir Kozlov?

Vladimir Kozlov decided to become a Hollywood stuntman and would also become an actor appearing in movies like Grind house and Fast and the Furious 6. When he is not acting, Oleg works as an adviser for a financial firm. Oleg Prudius currently resides in Miami, Florida.

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You can read all previous ‘Whatever Happened to’ pieces here.

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