OMG! This is my husband's dad's cousin--Harry Ekizian--aka Ali Baba! This man was a living monster of a man! Wow! Thank you!

the commentary is hilarious lol

Hi Gworrell, I have reason to believe that the person your grandfather wrestled was my Uncle Bob. He boxed and wrestled quite a bit back then. What an amazing film clip! Ruti Brannigan

Ali Baba notes from The Phantom of the Ring (edited by J Michael Kenyon) which accompanies his review of an old movie [Registered Nurse, 1934] in which Ekizian and Tor Johnson appeared. ... Arteen Ekizian was born in the Black Sea port of Samsun on June 21, 1901. His father, Krikor, was a wealthy Armenian tobacco merchant aligned with the American Tobacco Company. He frequently traveled to America and, eventually, earned American citizenship, a happenstance that would later come to his son’s rescue. During World War I, the Ottoman government planned and carried out a program of genocide to wipe out its population of Armenians, Assyrians, and Greeks. Krikor was hanged and Arteen - by then nicknamed “Harry” -- was caught up in the net, sold into slavery and forced into hard labor until he managed to escape a couple of years later. After managing to reunite with an older sister living Constantinople, he came to the U.S. in 1920 (some accounts maintain it was 1918) and settled with an uncle, Garabed, and the latter’s family in Dorchester, Mass., where he worked in his uncle’s fish market. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1923 and soon earned notoriety as a wrestler, reportedly acquiring fleet championships in a trio of weight divisions - lightweight, middle and heavy. Or, at least, flirted with such honors. For certain, on Dec. 18, 1923, at Madison Square Garden in New York City, Harry Ekizian was runner-up to Edward Shaboo for the U.S. Navy fleet middleweight title. Here, the tale gets dodgy. According to wrestling historian Steve Yohe, Ekizian was a Pasadena native. He graduated from Pasadena High School in 1917 and attended Pasadena Junior College, as a wrestler, in 1919 before relocating eastward in 1920 to work in uncle Garabed’s fish business. On the side, Harry attempted to enter the pro wrestling business, but his small stature (5’5”, 140 lbs.) worked against him, so he enlisted in the Navy. Yohe believes his inaugural pro match was with “Tarzan” Knight (from Delaware) in Boston on July 1, 1924. The result was drawn. Who’s right? Who knows? As regular readers of mine know by now, professional wrestling has no history. It has a past, bent and molded to fit the circumstances of the day. With normal history, facts begat legends. In what passes for wrestling history, it is the opposite: legends begat facts. Yohe’s version of Ekizian’s early life is supported by an interview he gave to a Visalia (CA) newspaper, circa 1960. It could well be that Ekizian, whose active career spanned the years 1931-50, simply bought into his own hype, hiding behind the curtain of kayfabe. Whatever, all versions have Harry staying in the Navy until discharge in 1931. While serving aboard the U.S.S. Lexington, he had begun taking pro bouts along the Pacific Coast and continued to do so after marrying Alice Elizabeth Bagdoian, a Californian of Armenian descent. The couple settled down in Pasadena and Alice bore him three children. Ekizian wrestled and worked part-time at a used auto parts shop. On the side, he parlayed his build and swarthy looks into a couple of film roles, making appearances in such films as Island of Lost Souls (1933), where he worked under heavy makeup as a “beast-man”; Alice In Wonderland (1933), playing an executioner; Registered Nurse, and W.C. Fields’ great comedy, The Man On The Flying Trapeze (1935). Harry played “Hookalakah Meshobbab” (typical Fields writing). Wrestling Tor Johnson, he lifted Johnson in an airplane spin and tossed him onto the unfortunate Fields, who was standing at the entrance, unable to get in. In time, because of his swarthy looks and compact stature, promoters began marketing him under a variety of aliases as a “Terrible Turk.” Harry shaved his head, wore a fez into the ring, and wrestled barefooted, all the while slowly building a reputation as a ring villain, or heel."

I wonder how Ali Baba would have done against the super-heavies of his day; in particular, the huge Asian Indians who often weighed in excess of 300 lbs.?

When you spam the cheat code for body slam lol

Ali was a mountain of muscle.

A GOOD way!!! He was a machine as the announcer said--unstoppable!Even before he wrestled and trained and went into the Navy to win every weight title, he used to pick up 600-lb. barrels of fish and toss them around like nothing. He biked up a long, steep hill with my husband's Dad on the handlebars without even getting off the seat! This was when he first came over from Turkey after being a slave for 4 years.

Before suplex city there was body slam city lol

Referee Tommy Young officiating😂😂😂

You can also see him in the 1930's film The Island of Dr. Moreau (with Charles Laughton) playing one of the beasts they altered to turn into a human, lolol!

Poor Red. Never stood a chance.

oops! the movie was called Island of Lost Souls

ali baba in malaysia is a funny joke😀

Ref stop due to repeated slams. Wow, simple but brutal. Nowadays Lesnar has to do 15 F5s to pin Cena or Roman. I prefer the old style. Ali Baba had a natural muscular body and functional strength.

Was Ali Baba ever pinned during his career? If so, by who, and where can I see it?

Reading Ali Baba's Wiki is freakin wild. Father and brother murdered in Armenian genocide. Sold as a slave to Arabs. Four years of hard labor, until he escaped and moved to the US. No wonder he was a beast. That man had been through some unbelievably horrific times.

Wauhh ali baba is the most strongman like sam un or some son

علي بابا عربي مسلم

Red's ass owned... better boxer than wrestler...

ALI BABA ARMENIA ???

The match looked scripted. Still it is amazing that Ali Baba could reach down while standing and pick up his opponent that many times. I'm sure the date can be verified by the venue it took place in. All of these comments were made five years ago. Adding mored recent comments and sharing this on Facebook, etc will keep it online.