Associated Press - North York: Wrestler to Retire at Young Age
Luv, whose real name is Kevin MacKenzie, began professional wrestling at the age of 19. He was spotted at Maple Leaf Gardens carrying a pro-Ric Flair/anti-Roddy Piper sign, asked if he had an interest in training to be in the sport, and found himself training under the watchful eye of Whipper Watson Jr. in Aurora, Ontario a few months later. Watson, son of Canada's first famous wrestler Whipper Billy Watson, trained Kevin for two or three months and then found himself a couple bodies short for his "1993 Teen Pro Wrestling summer tour and Whipper Watson memorial cup tournament".
Kevin was offered and took a role as "Kevin the Kid MacKenzie", a Canadian western guy from "High River, Alberta". He alternated from good guy to bad guy, and after the 4 month 56 city tour which saw Kevin wrestle in front of crowds as big as 1100 in Bancroft, a city just double that size, and as small as 40 in Port Hope, Kevin ended up winning the 'Whipper Watson Memorial Cup', having accumulated enough points through wins of matches and battle royals.
After that, Kevin wrestled in places as far away as Fall River, Massachusetts, Hull Quebec, and right here in Toronto wrestling for Rocky Johnson, Uncle of current WWF superstar "The Rock" Rocky Maivia. Disenchanted with the local scene and his 'The Kid' gimmick, he came up with "Kevin the Graduate Luv", a character which was influenced by characters in the movie "Animal House", as well as the late 80's wrestling group "The Varsity Club" which included Mike Rotondo, Kevin Sullivan, Steve Williams, and Rick Steiner.
Having created a character or gimmick that was closer to Kevin's real personality, he flourished wrestling in and around Ottawa every few months. There he got his own interview segment "Frat Chat with The Graduate" and did colour commentary for Rogers Community TV's tapings of the shows. He also had his own "fraternity" of wrestlers including Wild Bill Skullion of Scarborough, J.T. Fox from Wales, and Real Deal Jake Steele (who now wrestles as 'Lord Jacob Cain or 'Teracain'). It was here that Kevin and partner Wild Bill Skullion won the tag team championships and held them for over a year.
Over the years, Kevin suffered several injuries including torn knee ligaments and a chronic neck problem. Being that Kevin often was weighing between 200 and 215 pounds standing just 5'11, he was often in the ring with men larger than him....and while that didn't stop him from competing at top form, the wear and tear of picking up 280 pound men and even worse, having those 300 pounders slam Kevin around, took their toll on his body.
Having had x-rays done recently, Kevin found the vertebrates in his neck were not aligned properly and in fact one was ¼ rotated which is quite abnormal and thought to be related to his constant 'bumps' in wrestling, as well as injuries incurred two or three times in his career while putting other wrestlers often larger than himself, into the back breaker known as 'the torture rack', a move used by Lex Luger and one that very much wears down the neck muscles and vertebrae beneath.
So with that news and recent treatment, Kevin has decided to walk away from the sport for awhile. He adds, "Look, guys retire all the time and end up back in wrestling within weeks. Hogan did it two months ago, announced his retirement on The Tonight Show and then shows back up 5 weeks later. At least I said "semi" retirement. I guess I'm saying in the future if things become simple, and I don't have to drive 4 hours to Ottawa to be involved, I'd consider it. But for all intents and purposes, I'm retiring from the ring. I've got a marriage and my radio career I want to devote more time to."
Kevin will be missed in towns like Embrun where his matches and interviews always caused uproar among the francaphone audience. Mayor Claude Magnon of Embrun had this to say upon hearing of The Graduate's retirement, "We will miss Kevin's obvious energy and love of the sport. But we won't miss his comments towards the French."
When asked for comments on MacKenzie's retirement, Adam Copeland AKA 'The Edge' in the WWF, had these comments, "Who?"
Those of you wanting to see some of Kevin's greatest moments can bother him for his videos or go to the video stores in Embrun or Arnprior.