Nikita Koloff Recalls Turning Down NWA World Title After Wife’s Passing

Nikita Koloff recently discussed when he turned down an NWA Worlds Heavyweight Title reign in the 1980s following his wife’s passing. Koloff made an appearance on Busted Open Radio last week and during the discussion he talked about his hiatus from wrestling when his wife Mandy was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease, which she ultimately passed away from in 1988 at the age of 26th. You can check out the highlights below, per Wrestling Inc:

On taking a hiatus starting in 1986 to take care of Mandy: “I don’t know that they were very fond of that decision while at the same time it what I felt was the right thing to do. And she eventually passed away at the age of 26.”

On being invited to Ric Flair’s house in 1988 and being offered a World Title reign: “I put some parameters on it that I knew they probably wouldn’t accept and so again, I’m kind of in a rare air in terms of how many guys legitimately turned down the world heavyweight title. Would it have been fun to have that world title? Yeah, it would’ve been, but no regrets. I live life with no regrets regarding that.”