Ion Croitoru
| Ion Croitoru | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Ion William Croitoru |
| Born | December 7, 1963 Hamilton, Ontario, Canada |
| Died | February 21, 2017 (aged 53) Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Children | 3 |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Bruiser Bedlam Johnny K-9 K-9 Dog Of War Taras Bulba Orhan Turgedan, The Terrible Turk The Mysterian |
| Billed height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) |
| Billed weight | 300 lb (140 kg) |
| Billed from | Hamilton, Ontario Romania (WWF) |
| Trained by | Nick DeCarlo Vic Rosettani |
| Debut | 1984 |
| Retired | 1998 |
Ion William Croitoru (December 7, 1963 – February 21, 2017) was a Canadian professional wrestler and outlaw biker, known to wrestling fans by his ring names Johnny K-9, Taras Bulba and Bruiser Bedlam. Croitoru worked in several Canadian wrestling promotions, including Stampede Wrestling, and later wrestled for New Japan Pro-Wrestling, Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW) and the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). He wrestled as a jobber in the WWF but was booked to win titles in several other promotions.
Croitoru was notorious for his long history of legal problems. As a member of the Satan's Choice Motorcycle Club (SCMC), an outlaw biker gang, he was convicted of assault, trafficking cocaine and bombing a police station. In 2005, Croitoru was arrested for the murder of lawyer Lynn Gilbank and her husband Fred; the charges were eventually dropped due to insufficient evidence. Croitoru was then arrested in May 2009 for conspiracy to murder the Bacon Brothers, resulting in the killing of Jonathan Barber. He pleaded guilty in July 2013 to conspiracy in exchange for a stay of proceedings on the murder charge.
Croitoru was the focus for episode 11 of the third season of the Vice TV documentary series Dark Side of the Ring.