SLAM! Wrestling Canadian Hall of Fame: Paul Diamond
REAL NAME: Tom Boric
BORN: 1961 in Croatia
6'1", 230 pounds
AKA: Paul Diamond, Max Moon, Kato
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Tom Boric as Kato in the WWF.
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There are two Paul Diamonds in our Canadian Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame.
This is about the later-day Diamond, one Tom Boric, from Croatia, who
came to Canada with his family and grew into a professional soccer
player.
Wait a minute! A soccer player?
Yep, before Tom Boric became Paul Diamond in the ring, he was a regular
with the Tampa Bay Rowdies of the old North American Soccer
League from 1982 to 1984.
When the NASL folded, Boric got his green card, and decided to learn the
mat game from the Malenkos in Florida.
To summarize his in-ring days, one would say that Diamond was there for
the beginning of a few great careers, but was never a huge star himself.
His first big success came teaming with a young kid in Texas whose real
name was Michael Hickenbottom. The team was known as American Force, and
won the Texas All-Star Tag Team belts in 1985.
Though the team didn't last that long, it was hardly the last time the
two youngsters saw each other.
Diamond took to the road, and met up with Pat Tanaka. Something clicked
and Bad Company was formed. Together, the tall Diamond and short Tanaka
created havoc in the Memphis CWA promotion, and in 1987, Badd Company
beat Jeff Jarrett & Billy Travis for the Southern tag titles, later
losing the belts to The Nasty Boys, Jerry Saggs & Brian Knobbs.
The CWA was then affiliated with the American Wrestling Association
(AWA), and Bad Company moved up to the bigs. There, they found a rookie
manager who was ready to give them real 'bang' for their buck. Diamond
Dallas Page lead Bad Company to the AWA world tag titles over Diamond's
old Texas tag partner, Shawn Michaels, who had been teaming with Marty
Jannetty as The Midnight Rockers. Tanaka and Diamond would lose the tag
belts to The Olympians, Brad Rheingans and Ken Patera.
Tanaka and Diamond -- who was usually billed from Thunder Bay, Ontario --
split shortly thereafter, and the feuded for a while. Tanaka found a new
partner in Akio Sato, and the team was called The Orient Express, and
they later moved on to the WWF.
As the AWA collapsed, Diamond headed to the WWF to re-team with his old
partner, Pat Tanaka, under a mask as Kato in The Orient Express (Sato
having left the team).
Diamond stuck around the WWF for years, usually under a mask as either
Kato or Max Moon, but he was never close to being a main eventer.
Since his departure from the WWF, Diamond has been wrestled indies
throughout the U.S., including Music City Wrestling in Tennessee and
ECW.
-- By GREG OLIVER, SLAM! Sports
Stories
February 25, 2001:
Diamond returns to his roots
