Oleg Aleksandrovich Prudius (born April 27, 1969) better known by his ring name Vladimir Kozlov, is a Ukrainian actor and professional wrestler. He is best known for his time in WWE, where he won the WWE Tag Team Championship once with Santino Marella. He is trained in freestyle wrestling, rugby, football, sambo, kickboxing, judo, jujutsu, Brazilian jiu-jitsu and mixed martial arts.
Prudius signed a development contract with World Wrestling Entertainment in 2006 and was assigned to WWE's developmental system, Deep South Wrestling. He would later be reassigned to Ohio Valley Wrestling, where he won the OVW Heavyweight Championship. He made his debut on SmackDown as Vladimir Kozlov on April 4, 2008. He was given a big push during his first few months on SmackDown, including a clean victory over The Undertaker. At Survivor Series 2008, Kozlov faced Triple H and Edge for the WWE Championship in a losing effort. At the end of 2008, he received the Slammy Award from WWE as the Breakout Star of the year. However, in the awards voting for the independent Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Kozlov was voted as the Most Overrated Wrestler of the year, and his match at Survivor Series match was voted as the Worst Match of the Year. In 2009, Kozlov was assigned to WWE's third brand, ECW, where he teamed with William Regal and Ezekiel Jackson. After the ECW brand was dissolved, he was assigned to Raw and started a tag team with Santino Marella, winning the WWE Tag Team Championships. Prudius left WWE in 2011.
Prudius has also worked as a stage and screen actor, notably having a small role in Spike Lee's 25th Hour and a walk-on role in the second season of the HBO series The Wire. Prudius also had a role in Grindhouse, appearing in the Werewolf Women of the SS trailer; in addition to his credit under his real name and his WWE persona for the appearance as well as being a former Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) Heavyweight Champion, Prudius was the first Ukrainian to ever wrestle for the WWE.
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Before wrestling
Prudius has won numerous achievements, becoming the 2005 USA Open Heavyweight Sambo Champion
and a United States Kick-Boxing Association (USKBA) International Heavyweight Grappling Champion. He also played American football as an offensive lineman for the Ukraine national team and Santa Barbara City College.
Professional wrestling career
World Wrestling Entertainment/WWE (2006–2011)
On January 17, 2006, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) announced that Prudius had signed a developmental deal and was sent to Deep South Wrestling (DSW). On April 7, 2006, he debuted under his real name and had his first match in DSW against Bobby Walker.
On May 5, 2006, Prudius had his first untelevised WWE match during a house show in San Jose, California, defeating Rob Conway. The next night, at another house show in Sacramento, California, Matt Striker cut a promo on Prudius, calling him a "filthy immigrant", causing Prudius to attack him. Prudius then picked up the microphone and said that he is "proud to be in America".
On the December 18, 2006 episode of Raw, Prudius made an appearance as a WWE prospect named Vladimir Kozlov or Moscow Mauler, which became his ring name. For the next several weeks, Kozlov was interviewed on WWE programming, proclaiming his love for "Double Double E" (WWE), but also began drawing a villainous response after declaring his superiority over whatever wrestlers were competing at the time, saying "I could beat both of them". He then was taken off television for over a year while working in the developmental system Ohio Valley Wrestling and participating in a number of dark matches against Val Venis, Eugene Dinsmore, Super Crazy, including defeating Scotty 2 Hotty at Armageddon 2006, all of which he won.
On July 28, 2007, in Louisville, Kentucky, Kozlov won the OVW Heavyweight Championship by defeating Paul Burchill, but gave the championship the same night to Michael W. Kruel due to an agreement they made before. Kozlov continued working in house show for WWE in fall of 2007. He stayed with OVW until February 2008 when WWE parted ways with Ohio Valley Wrestling.
On the April 4, 2008 episode of SmackDown, Kozlov made his official WWE debut as a heel, with the unique quirk of having no entrance music and no Titantron video – his "entrance" consisted of complete darkness except for a solitary spotlight following him to the ring. He defeated Matt Bentley in his first match, and over the following weeks, Kozlov would go on to easily win several matches, first against local talent and then established names including Colin Delaney, Funaki, Nunzio, Shannon Moore, Jimmy Wang Yang, Jamie Noble, and Domino. On the July 11 episode of SmackDown, Kozlov debuted an entrance theme and Titantron video as he defeated Stevie Richards.
Inoki Genome Federation (2011–2012)
On August 30, 2011, it was announced that Prudius would be making his first post-WWE appearance on September 3, working for the Japanese promotion Inoki Genome Federation (IGF) under his new ring name Alexander Kozlov. He made his debut on September 3 at Genome17, losing to Eric Hammer in under three minutes. On December 2, Kozlov defeated Montanha Silva. On May 26, 2012, at the IGF Genome 20, Prudius battled Jérôme Le Banner for the IGF Championship, but lost in three minutes. On July 10, Prudius got a rematch for the title, but lost again to Jerome Le Banner.
Impact Wrestling/Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2021–present)
On April 26, 2021, Prudius joined Impact Wrestling as a Russian-language commentator via Rutube. His debut at the 2021 Rebellion event was his first wrestling appearance in eight years. He made an on screen cameo on March 17, 2023, where he reunited with Santino Marella. On the October 12, 2023, edition of Impact Wrestling, Prudius returned to assist Dirty Dango in a five-way match.
Other media
Prudius has made many television and film appearances and is actively pursuing an acting career in Hollywood. He appeared in the second season of the HBO drama series The Wire, as well as Roksalana and It's Not To Easy on Ukrainian TV. In 2002, he appeared in Spike Lee's film 25th Hour, playing a Russian mafia enforcer. He appeared in the Russian military theatre play Victory Day and a Ukraine University play Three Musketeers. In 2013 he was also featured in season 7, episode 4 of USA Network's TV series, Burn Notice. He was also a stuntman for the film The Fate of the Furious, and for John Wick 2. Oleg received his biggest acting break in the 2017 Chinese Blockbuster Wolf Warriors 2. In 2019, he appeared in the episode "One-Eyed Jacks" of the Marvel series The Punisher.
In 2009, he became a U.S. citizen.
Prudius made his video game debut as a playable character in WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010 and also appeared in WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2011 and WWE '12.
In 2014, Prudius opened Quasar Entertainment, a full service production company where he's the company's Vice President.
Other ventures
Prudius is the owner and creator of the Moscow Mauler Vodka brand.
Championships and accomplishments
Kickboxing
United States Kickboxing Association
International Heavyweight Grappling Championship (1 time)
Professional wrestling
Ohio Valley Wrestling
OVW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
Pro Wrestling Illustrated
Ranked No. 53 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2009
World Wrestling Entertainment/WWE
WWE Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Santino Marella
Slammy Award (1 time)
Breakout Star of the Year (2008)
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Most Overrated (2008)
Worst Worked Match of the Year (2008) vs. Triple H and Edge at Survivor Series
Sambo
Martial Arts League of America
USA Open Heavyweight Sambo Champion (2005)
