About Dean Malenko
Dean Shelly Simon (born August 4, 1960), better known by the ring name Dean Malenko, is an American retired professional wrestler. He is signed with All Elite Wrestling (AEW) as a senior producer. He is best known for his time in World Championship Wrestling as a wrestler and World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) as a wrestler and a road agent and New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). Although never a world champion, Malenko achieved championship success in ECW, WCW and the WWF, winning 11 total titles across the three organizations. Pro Wrestling Illustrated named Malenko the #1 wrestler in the world in 1997, and he was inducted into the Hardcore Hall of Fame in 2015. He has been described by commentators as one of the most underrated wrestlers of all time. Multiple-time world champion Bryan Danielson said that his "number one guy, growing up, was Dean Malenko". Following his retirement as an in-ring competitor, he worked as a road agent for WWE from 2001 until 2019. == Professional wrestling career == === Early career (1979–1988) === Malenko was born into a wrestling family, and his father Boris Malenko was a prominent wrestling figure. He started out as a referee in the Tampa, Florida area and worked briefly as a referee for the World Wrestling Federation in the mid-1980s.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.