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Cowboy Frankie Laine passes away

Posted: May 28th 2016 By: www.f4wrestling.com

Frank Luhovy, who wrestled under the name Cowboy Frankie Laine, passed away this past Tuesday at the age of 73.

Laine was a journeyman wrestler who worked from 1966 and continued into the late 80s, often working as enhancement talent on WWE television toward the end of his career. After leaving wrestling, he was very vocal about the treatment wrestlers received from promoters, in particular in 1999 after the death of Owen Hart.

Laine was one of the early wrestlers with a valet, Miss Linda Lee, as she was known, and later as Linda Lee Laine.

He had good fire as a babyface and was a wrestler who received good pushes in smaller territories, but was more a prelim wrestler in larger promotions.

He got his early break as a tag team partner of Lonnie Mayne in Portland, and also had success in Hawaii, Tennessee and California.

His biggest drawing run came during one of the hottest runs in the history of pro wrestling in the Caribbean, when he and Dutch Mantel were a heel Cowboy tag team that feuded with Carlos Colon, The Invader and various partners in 1979 over the North American tag team titles. That was one of the best weekly drawing periods in the history of pro wrestling in Puerto Rico and one that would be considered noteworthy anywhere at any time. It was the run that made Mantell such a big star there.

In California, he captured the Americas title from Black Gordman when Southern California wrestling was on national television and it the territory was at a hot point. His run as babyface champion was more to set up Killer Kowalski coming in and destroying him for the title to set Kowalski up for a big run. Laine returned in 1973 as a heel with a valet.

He had been running his family's 700-acre farm in Alvinston, Ontario since getting off the road.

He had been suffering from multiple scleroris.