Jack Armstrong

On October 20, 2026, Laura Creavalle wrote on Facebook that she had come to Los Angeles after 19 years to be with Armstrong, that his health was failing, that one of his legs had been amputated and that he was on dialysis, but that "his sense of humour still stays". She hoped he would reach 80. On the evening of October 24, 2026 (Los Angeles time) she posted that she had lost her best friend that day. Wrestling outlets reported the news on October 25, giving his age as 79. No cause of death, place of death or funeral details have been made public. Dave Meltzer, Fightful, Wrestleview, Ringside News, Wrestling Headlines and Sportskeeda all paid tribute.

Jack Armstrong was born Leonard Ornstein. Wrestling databases such as Cagematch and Wrestlingdata give his birthday as June 28 and his birthplace as Los Angeles, California, but his birth year has not been published; it is inferred as 1947 from his reported age of 79 in October 2026. In a 2009 Ric's Corner interview his friend and fellow wrestler Ric Drasin introduced him as coming "from New York originally". Details of his parents and childhood have not been made public.

Seward Park High School on Manhattan's Lower East Side lists "Wildman" Jack Armstrong among its notable alumni, consistent with Drasin's description of him as a New Yorker by origin. No further schooling or formal wrestling training has been documented in published sources. Like many wrestlers of his generation he learned the trade on the road, working long matches in front of live crowds.

Armstrong debuted in 1963. In 1968 he worked for the World Wide Wrestling Federation in New York City as Lenny Solomon, feuding with The Sicilians (Lou Albano and Tony Altomare), and left in 1969. He also used the names Black Jack, Super Scorpion, Ali Ben Khan, Red Rhodes and Sailor Jack.

From around 1970 he was a fixture of Mike LeBell's Los Angeles territory, wrestling at the Olympic Auditorium and on Channel 13 television. During the 1970s he worked in Japan, the AWA, Georgia and other territories; in 1973 he teamed with Ox Baker in Ann Gunkel's All-South Wrestling Association and feuded with Rock Hunter over the ASWA Brass Knuckles title.

From 1983 to 1988 he was a WWF preliminary wrestler on the company's Los Angeles area cards. On the California independent circuit his mid-1980s feud with Jay Strongbow Jr. became notorious for blood. In 1990 he joined Herb Abrams's Universal Wrestling Federation, teaming with Cactus Jack on Fury Hour, and on September 23, 1994, at Blackjack Brawl, the final UWF show, he beat Mando Guerrero to become the first and only UWF Junior Heavyweight Champion. His in-ring career ended in 1994.

Armstrong's screen credits include The Wrestler (as himself), Micki & Maude (1984, as Jack "Wildman" Armstrong), Grunt! The Wrestling Movie (1985, credited as The Wild Man), Bad Guys (1986, Sod Buster), Body Slam (1986, uncredited), Alligator II: The Mutation (1991, Mundo the Wildman), Zombie Army (1991), The Boys Behind the Desk (2000) and Changing Hands (2010, Jack). On television he appeared in Misfits of Science (1986), Matlock (1987, "Sailor" Jack Saunders in "The Annihilator"), Tales from the Darkside (1988, Lockjaw Lukasig in "Basher Malone") and Human Wrecking Balls (2009, as himself). OWW also notes an uncredited appearance as a bloodied wrestler in a Night Court episode.

Armstrong lived for decades on the Westside of Los Angeles, training at Muscle Beach and later Gold's Gym in Venice, where he worked as a personal trainer. In 2000 the New York Daily News reported he was training Randy Savage for Spider-Man. No spouse or children have been named in published sources. Bodybuilder Laura Creavalle described him as her best friend, saying he bought her first posing suit and gave her a home for years when she was broke. She also said his closest friend on the road was Rocky Johnson.

Armstrong did not leave a public record of political or religious views. What his life shows is a lasting belief in physical culture: he trained daily for decades at Muscle Beach and Gold's Gym, worked as a personal trainer into later life, and in 2009 and 2010 sat down with Ric Drasin for Ric's Corner conversations celebrating the full-time territory era, Muscle Beach bodybuilding and the craft of long, story-driven matches. Friends consistently described his values in terms of loyalty and generosity, most vividly Laura Creavalle's account of him housing her when she was broke.

Armstrong is remembered as one of the hardest-working journeymen of Southern California wrestling, a link between the LeBell era at the Olympic Auditorium, the WWF boom of the 1980s and the last days of the UWF. His footage survives on YouTube, including his CCW brawls with Jay Strongbow Jr. and his UWF title matches. Friends remembered his kindness as much as his matches; one tribute called being in his presence "a natural anti-depressant".

UWF Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time, first and only champion, 1994). ACCW Heavyweight Championship (1 time). CPW Heavyweight Championship (1 time). CPW American International Championship (3 times). CPW California Championship (1 time). CPW Brass Knucks Championship (3 times). IWF Heavyweight Championship (1 time). IWF Tag Team Championship (1 time, with Josh Ben-Gurion). Sources: Wikipedia, citing Royal Duncan and Gary Will, Wrestling Title Histories (2000), and Pro Wrestling History.