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Bob Merrill (wrestler)
Bob Merrill was a retired American professional wrestler. He used a number of ring names over his career, including Bob Stanlee, Rip Miller, The Golden Terror, Giant Evans, and Mighty Joe Thunder. Career Merrill made his professional wrestling debut in 1957 as Rip Carlson after training with Stu Hart in Calgary. Shortly after he teamed with Dr. Bill Miller as his storyline brother Big Ed Miller. After a 3-year stay in Calgary he left for the Detroit territory where he challenged the likes of Antonino Rocca. His longest stay was in Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF). He teamed with Moose Evans (as Giant Evans) to form The Mighty Yankees and they captured the NWA Southern Tag Team championship and then, as The Masked Yankees, the NWA International Tag Team Championship. He stayed in the territory for almost four years before moving to Detroit under the name Bob Stanlee, where he wrestled with real life brothers Steve Stanlee and Gene Stanlee Eugene Stanley Zygowicz (Ja ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stu Hart
Stewart Edward Hart (May 3, 1915 – October 16, 2003) was a Canadian amateur and professional wrestler, wrestling booker, promoter, coach, trainer, football player and sailor. He is best known for founding and handling Stampede Wrestling, a professional wrestling promotion based in Calgary, Alberta, teaching many individuals at its associated wrestling school " The Dungeon" and establishing a professional wrestling dynasty consisting of his relatives and close trainees. As the patriarch of the Hart wrestling family, Hart is the ancestor of many wrestlers, most notably being the father of Bret and Owen Hart as well as the grandfather of Natalya Neidhart, Teddy Hart and David Hart Smith. Hart was born to a poor Saskatchewan family but became a successful amateur wrestler during the 1930s and early 1940s, holding many national championships, as well as engaging in many other sports. He began wrestling for show in 1943 with the Royal Canadian Navy while serving in World War II as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roy Shire
Big Time Wrestling – also known as the American Wrestling Alliance (AWA) or National All-Star Wrestling – was a professional wrestling promotion headquartered in San Francisco, California in the United States. Founded by "Professor" Roy Shire (1921–1992) in 1960, the promotion emerged as one of the most profitable in the United States thanks to its "red hot angles" and "good TV". The promotion's heartland was the San Francisco Bay Area, with the Cow Palace as its core venue, but it also ran regular shows in cities including Fresno, Las Vegas, Oakland, San Jose, and Sacramento. Shire folded the promotion in 1981. History From November 1935, professional wrestling in San Francisco was dominated by Joe Malcewicz's NWA San Francisco promotion, a member of the National Wrestling Alliance. After sustaining a severe knee injury, NWA San Francisco wrestler "Professor" Roy Shire decided to move into promoting in direct competition with Malcewicz. In October 1960, he registered the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Male Professional Wrestlers
American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, people who self-identify their ancestry as "American" ** American English, the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States ** Native Americans in the United States, indigenous peoples of the United States * American, something of, from, or related to the Americas, also known as "America" ** Indigenous peoples of the Americas * American (word), for analysis and history of the meanings in various contexts Organizations * American Airlines, U.S.-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas * American Athletic Conference, an American college athletic conference * American Recordings (record label), a record label previously known as Def American * American University, in Washington, D.C. Sports teams Soccer * Ba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
NWA San Francisco
NWA San Francisco was a professional wrestling promotion headquartered in San Francisco, California in the United States. Founded in 1935 by "The Utica Panther" Joe Malcewicz (1897–1962), the promotion joined the National Wrestling Alliance in 1949. It traded until 1961, when it folded due to competition from the upstart Big Time Wrestling promotion. The promotion's heartland was San Francisco, with the San Francisco Civic Auditorium as its core venue, but it also ran shows in other Northern Californian cities including Fresno, Oakland, Richmond, Sacramento, San Jose, Santa Rosa, Stockton, and Vallejo. History "The Utica Panther" Joe Malcewicz was born on March 17, 1897, in Utica, New York. He had his first recorded professional wrestling bout in 1914 and challenged for the World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship on several occasions in the 1920s. He retired from professional wrestling at the age of 38 and moved to promoting. In November 1935, he succeeded Jack Ganson as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Mid-America Version)
The Mid-America version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship was a regional professional wrestling championship for tag teams that was used in the National Wrestling Alliance's (NWA) NWA Mid-America professional wrestling promotion from 1957 until 1977. The championship, promoted by Nick Gulas, was one of many NWA World Tag Team Championships in existence in the period between 1949 and 1992, each of which was a regional championship restricted to an NWA territory and not a true "world" championship. At one point in 1957 there were at least 13 different, concurrently promoted NWA World Tag Team Championships across the United States. The Mid-America version was in use for 20 years, the second longest of any of the NWA World Tag Team Championships of that era, only behind the Central States version. Being a professional wrestling championship, the NWA World Tag Team Championship was not won or lost in competitive matches, but determined by the decision of the bookers of NWA Mid- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
NWA Mid-America
NWA Mid-America was a professional wrestling promotion territory under the umbrella of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) that promoted shows in Tennessee, Kentucky and Alabama from the 1940s until 1981. The company was founded in the 1940s by Nick Gulas and Roy Welch and was one of the first promotions to join the NWA after it was founded in 1948. From 1953 until late 1974, John Cazana promoted the Knoxville area and Joe Gunther promoted the Birmingham area from around 1940 until some point in the 1970s. In 1977, promoter Jerry Jarrett and wrestler Jerry Lawler broke away from NWA Mid-America, breaking the Memphis area off to start on the own under the name the Continental Wrestling Association (CWA). Mid-America stopped promoting in 1981 and the CWA took over most of their territory as well as some of the championships promoted by NWA Mid-America History In the 1940s, wrestler and promoter Roy Welch started promoting shows on a regular basis in and around Memphis, Tennessee and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maple Leaf Wrestling
Maple Leaf Wrestling was the unofficial name in the 1970s and 1980s of the professional wrestling promotion run by Frank Tunney in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. History Queensbury Athletic Club The promotion, initially known as the Queensbury Athletic Club, traces its roots back to 1930, when it was launched by Jack Corcoran, who had previously promoted boxing in Toronto under the Queensbury name. Initially, Corcoran was involved in a promotional war with rival promoter Ivan Mickailoff, but after Corcoran allied himself with the new Maple Leaf Gardens in 1931, he took control of professional wrestling in Toronto. The Gardens would remain the main venue for the promotion for more than 60 years. The Tunneys take over Corcoran stepped down in 1939 and was bought out by his assistants, John and Frank Tunney. John died just a few months later, and the promotion was then run by Frank. Through most of the 1940s and 1950s, Frank Tunney's biggest star was local hero Whipper Billy Watson, w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Captain Lou Albano
Louis Vincent Albano (July 29, 1933 – October 14, 2009) was an Italian-American professional wrestler, manager and actor, who performed under the ring/stage name "Captain" Lou Albano. He was active as a professional wrestler from 1953 until 1969 before becoming a manager until 1995. Over the course of his 42-year career, Albano guided 15 different tag teams and three singles competitors to championship gold. Albano was one of the "Triumvirate of Terror", a threesome of nefarious WWF managers which included The Grand Wizard of Wrestling and Freddie Blassie. The trio was a fixture in the company for a decade until The Grand Wizard's death in 1983. A unique showman, with an elongated beard, rubber band, facial piercings, and loud outfits, Albano was the forefather of the 1980s Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection. Collaborating with Cyndi Lauper, Albano helped usher in wrestling's crossover success with a mainstream audience. Capitalizing on his success, he later ventured into Hollywo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
NWA World Tag Team Championship (San Francisco Version)
The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) member NWA San Francisco promoted a professional wrestling tag team championship under the name NWA World Tag Team Championship from 1950 until 1961 in and around their local territory until it closed. When San Francisco based Big Time Wrestling became a member of the NWA in 1968 they began promoting their version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship as part of their shows until the championship was abandoned in 1979. The NWA rules allowed each individual member to promote a championship under that name, which meant there were several NWA World Tag Team Championships promoted across North America at some point between 1950 and 1982, with two different versions being promoted in San Francisco, although not at the same time. At one point in 1957 no less than 13 different versions of the NWA World Tag Team Championship were recognized across the United States. At least 21 different regional branches of the NWA World Tag Team Championship have id ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Enrique Torres
Enrique Torres (July 25, 1922 – September 10, 2007) was an American professional wrestler, the oldest three Torres brothers in wrestling, and a major star in the late 1940s and 1950s. Personal life Torres was married to Maria in 1938. They had one daughter, Helen, born in December 1939. They also had a son, Enrique (Tony), born in November 1940. Later Torres married Rachel in 1950. They had two sons; Allan Enrique, born April 1952, and Jim (James), born June 1956. Enrique married Kata in 1963; Kata and he later moved to Canada ultimately to reside in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, they had forty-four wonderful years together. In his later years Enrique was on kidney dialysis in addition to receiving a kidney transplant in 2006, then suffered a stroke. On September 10, 2007 he died as a resident of the Carewest George Boyack Nursing Home in Calgary. Professional wrestling career Torres was born in Santa Ana, California and after a long amateur career entered professional wrestling ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
NWA Hollywood Wrestling
NWA Hollywood Wrestling (sometimes referred to as NWA Los Angeles) was a professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Los Angeles, California in the United States that promoted professional wrestling matches throughout Southern California. It was founded in 1958 as the North American Wrestling Alliance, a member of the National Wrestling Alliance. It broke away from the NWA in 1959 and was renamed Worldwide Wrestling Associates in 1961. In 1968, it rejoined the NWA and adopted its final name, remaining a member until closing in 1982. History In 1942, Frank Garbutt, vice president of the Los Angeles Athletic Club, hired former California State Athletic Commission inspector Alvah "Cal" Eaton as the promoter of the Grand Olympic Auditorium at the advice of his secretary, Aileen LeBell. Eaton and LeBell married in 1948, and over the following years the couple became major professional wrestling and boxing promoters in Southern California. By the early-1950s, the Eatons, along with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antonino Rocca
Antonino Rocca (born Antonino Biasetton; 13 April 1921 – 15 March 1977) was an Italian Argentine professional wrestler. He tag teamed with partner Miguel Pérez. He was posthumously inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as a member of the class of 1995 and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame in 1996. Professional wrestling career As a soccer and rugby player when he moved to Argentina before World War II, Rocca was known for his unique, acrobatic, off-the-ground, flying wrestling style. He began his American professional wrestling career in the late 1940s in Texas. He had been trained by former World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion Stanislaus Zbyszko in Argentina. In the early 1950s, he held two regionally recognized World Heavyweight Championships while still headlining nationwide, frequently in territories where other wrestlers were the recognized champions. Capitol Wrestling Corporation/World Wide Wrestling Federation (1949–1976) In 1949, Rocca started wrest ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
