On August 9th I was at the Colisee in Lewiston before the Limitless Wrestling 2025 Vacationland Cup chatting with a few people when Dango told me that Robbie Ellis, Robert Elowitch, had died a couple days ago. I was pretty surprised because Robbie seemed like he was going to be around forever. I searched for his obituary and found that it had been posted earlier in the day. He had passed away on August 7th at the age of 82 at his home in Portland.
Four years ago I was doing some Maine Pro Wrestling History segments for the Limitless Wrestling YouTube page and I did one on Robbie Ellis. I wrote up a script that I followed for the video.
The “Sports Illustrated Legend” Robbie Ellis is a truly legend in Maine wrestling. A native of Portland, Maine he was born April 8, 1943. He attended college at UMass Amherst and in1966 during his senior year he started training to be a pro wrestler in 1966 in Boston.
A year later had his first match coming up short against Pepe Perez. Graduating college he worked for his father’s tire company until he and his wife opened the Barridoff Galleries in 1978. He kept his wrestling a secret for years only wrestling out of town, he was concerned how it would affect his Art Gallery. That was until June 1985, when at his wife's insistence he accepted a booking at the Portland Expo wrestling Brian Walsh. A large photo in the local paper the next day exposed his secret.
He was then featured in the December 2, 1985 issue of Sports Illustrated and over the years would be featured on ABC World News Tonight, The Today Show, The MacNeil/Lehrer News Hour and many other media outlets. In 2007 & 2008 he had a career resurgence teaming in CHIKARA with “Sweet & Sour” Larry Sweeney & Mitch Ryder. He toured Italy in 2006, 2008, & 2009.
In 2010 the documentary Canvasman: The Robbie Ellis Story was released and you can find it on home video. And watch it at this link on IMDB: Canvasman
On January 7, 2012 in Brewer, Maine he defeated Ricky Williams to win the IWE Heavyweight Championship three months shy of his 69th birthday. The final matches of his 46 year career took place the weekend of February 3rd and 4th 2012. On the 3rd in Fairfield, Maine he defeated Larry Wilder retaining the IWE Heavyweight Championship and then on the 4th in Brewer he lost the Championship back to Ricky Williams in what would be his final match.
On August 12, 2012 in Fairfield, Maine 12 men gathered for the Robbie Ellis Super Juniors tournament, with Matt Taven defeating Eddie Edwards in the finals. On November 14, 2013 a second tournament was held in Everett, Massachusetts with Eddie Edward defeating Alexander Chekov in the finals.
In 2008 he was inducted into the New England Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame, and in 2010 he was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2014 he returned to Chikara as the storyline owner of Chikara in what may have been his last act in professional wrestling.
Back then when I chatted with Robbie he wanted to let me know that at 78 years old he is still active running five days a week and lifting weights six days a week. He told me his favorite matches of his career were with Kidd USA Jay Jaillette.
When I think of Robbie Ellis the image that pops into my brain is his legend post, he would stand with his arms bent at the elbows in a biceps pose, with his thumbs pointing at himself and as he wiggled them back and forth he would say "LEGEND!" And he was indeed a Maine Wrestling Legend.
Thank you for reading, please leave a comment, check out my other posts, and if you want like my blogs Facebook page. You can also head over to Amazon and pick up a copy of my book the 2024 Limitless Wrestling Almanac, or any of my other books.
Until next time!