Gino Brito
Louis Gino Acocella (born May 18, 1941), better known by his ring name Gino Brito, is a retired Canadian professional wrestler and promoter. He was most popular in Montreal. As Louis Cerdan, he was a WWWF Tag Team Champion with fellow Italian-Canadian wrestler Tony Parisi. He trained another Italian-Canadian wrestler, Dino Bravo. Professional wrestling career Active wrestler Brito was the son of wrestler Jack Britton. Born Gabriel Acocella, he and his brother Luigi were renamed ''Jack Britton'' and ''Lou Kelly'', respectively, by promoter Paul Bowser, who wanted to attract Boston's Irish population to his events by featuring "Irish" wrestlers. He began working with Detroit promoters Bert Ruby and Harry Light over a year later., who organized a central booking office for midget wrestlers in the 1950s. Brito had a job for the promotion shuttling the wrestlers from city to city. Before becoming a professional wrestler at the age of seventeen, Brito was an amateur wrestler. At ag ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Dorling Kindersley
Dorling Kindersley Limited (branded as DK) is a British multinational publishing company specialising in illustrated reference books for adults and children in 63 languages. It is part of Penguin Random House, a subsidiary of German media conglomerate Bertelsmann. Established in 1974, DK publishes a range of titles in genres including travel (including DK Eyewitness travel), history, geography, science, space, nature, sports, gardening, cookery and parenting. The worldwide co-CEOs of DK is Paul Kelly and Rebecca Smart. DK has offices in New York, Melbourne, London, Munich, New Delhi, Toronto, Madrid, Beijing, and Jiangmen. DK works with licensing partners such as Disney, LEGO, DC Comics, the Royal Horticultural Society, MasterChef, and the Smithsonian Institution. DK has commissioned Mary Berry, Monty Don, Robert Winston, Huw Richards, and Steve Mould for a range of books. History DK was founded in 1974 by Christopher Dorling and Peter Kindersley in London as a book ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Nick Gulas
Nick Gulas (September 3, 1914 – January 21, 1991) was an American professional wrestling promoter in the Southern United States, partnered with Tennessee promoter Roy Welch for decades. Gulas was also known as "The King of Managers", "King B", and the "Dean of Promoters". Gulas helped start the careers of such wrestling stars as Tojo Yamamoto, Jackie Fargo, and Jerry "The King" Lawler in the 1960s and 1970s, the Bounty Hunters with Jimmy Kent, and the Interns with Dr. Ken Ramey in the 1970s and 1980s. Personal life Nick Gulas and his wife Katharine were married until her death on 4, 1986. The couple had one child, a son, George, who would join his father in the wrestling business. Nick Gulas died in 1991, aged 76, in Nashville, Tennessee. He is buried there in Mount Olivet Cemetery. The Nashville Sports Arena at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds was renamed the "Nick Gulas Sports Arena" in his honor. Professional wrestling promoter Gulas became involved in professional wrestl ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Bruno Sammartino
Bruno Leopoldo Francesco Sammartino (October 6, 1935 – April 18, 2018) was an Italian-born American professional wrestler, best known for his work with the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF, now WWE). There, he held the WWWF World Heavyweight Championship (WWWF Heavyweight Championship during his second reign) for more than 11 years (4,040 days) across two reigns, the first of which is the longest single reign in the promotion's history at 2,803 days. He is overall a two-time world champion in professional wrestling. Dubbed "The Italian Strongman" and "The Strongest Man in the World" early in his career, Sammartino later earned the title "The Living Legend". Known for his powerful bearhug finishing move, he is widely regarded as the greatest professional wrestler of all time. Sammartino became a vocal critic of the drug use and raunchier storylines that became prevalent in the professional wrestling industry after his retirement but he reconciled with WWE in 2013 and headl ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Carl Ouellet
Carl Joseph Yvon Ouellet (born December 30, 1967) is a Canadian professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, PCO (originally a contraction of his long-term former ring name Pierre Carl Ouellet, but now standing for Perfect Creation One). He is currently signed to Impact Wrestling, where he is a former member of the Honor No More stable. Ouellet is best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling as one-half of The Quebecers/The Amazing French Canadians with Jacques Rougeau (with whom he held the WWF Tag Team Championship on three occasions). After retiring in 2011, Ouellet returned to the ring in 2016, undergoing a career renaissance with the gimmick of "part beast-turned-man, part old-time strongman". From 2018 to 2021, Ouellet wrestled for Ring of Honor (ROH), where he was a ROH World Champion, ROH World Tag Team Champion, and ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champion. Other promotions Ouellet has wrestled for include Extre ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Abdullah The Butcher
Lawrence Robert Shreve (born January 11, 1941), better known by the ring name Abdullah the Butcher, is a Canadian retired professional wrestler. He has a reputation for being involved in some of the most violent and bloody hardcore wrestling matches of all time. Over his time in wrestling he was given the moniker of "Madman from Sudan". One of Shreve's trademarks is a series of divot-like scars on his head that he has due to excessive use of blading during his career. The scars are so deep that, according to Mick Foley, Shreve is able to put gambling chips into them. An amateur martial artist, Shreve also has knowledge of judo and karate, often including this knowledge in his wrestling matches through throws and chops. Early life Shreve was born on January 11, 1941 and raised in Windsor, Ontario, as part of a family of ten people in a deeply impoverished household. He learned karate and judo as a youth and, teaching fellow children in the backyard, claims to have eventually earn ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Paul LeDuc (wrestler)
Paul LeDuc (born 1939) is a former Canadian professional wrestler. He is best known for teaming with his kayfabe (storyline) brother Jos LeDuc. Career LeDuc began wrestling professionally in 1957 at age 18. He began his training in Montreal, Quebec and later moved to Mexico for further instruction. He talked a friend, Michel Pigeon, into becoming a wrestler as well. Pigeon agreed and took on the ring name Jos LeDuc, as the pair pretended to be brothers. They first worked together in Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling promotion in Calgary, Alberta. The LeDucs used a lumberjack gimmick to honor deceased professional wrestler "Yukon" Eric Holmback. While wrestling in Stampede Wrestling, the pair held the Stampede International Tag Team Championship. The LeDucs next moved back to Montreal. They feuded with the Rougeau family as well as the Vachon brothers (Maurice and Paul). During a wrestling show in Montreal, Paul LeDuc was legitimately married in the wrestling ring. They also held the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hull, Quebec
Hull is the central business district and oldest neighbourhood of the city of Gatineau, Quebec, Canada. It is located on the west bank of the Gatineau River and the north shore of the Ottawa River, directly opposite Ottawa. As part of the Canadian National Capital Region, it contains offices for over 20,000 civil servants. It is named after Kingston upon Hull in England. History Early history Hull is a former municipality in the Province of Quebec and the location of the oldest non-native settlement in the National Capital Region. It was founded on the north shore of the Ottawa River in 1800 by Philemon Wright at the portage around the Chaudière Falls just upstream (or west) from where the Gatineau and Rideau Rivers flow into the Ottawa. Wright brought his family, five other families and twenty-five labourers and a plan to establish an agriculturally based community to what was a mosquito-infested wilderness. But soon after, Wright and his family took advantage of the lar ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lou Thesz
Aloysius Martin "Lou" Thesz (April 24, 1916 – April 28, 2002) was an American professional wrestler. He was a three-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion and held the title for a combined total of 10 years, three months and nine days (3,749 days) – longer than anyone else in history. Considered to be one of the last true shooters in professional wrestling and described as the "quintessential athlete... a polished warrior who could break a man in two if pushed the wrong way", Thesz is widely regarded as one of the greatest wrestlers of all time and the single greatest wrestling world champion in history, and probably the last globally accepted world champion. In Japan, Thesz was known as the 'God of Wrestling' and was called ''Tetsujin'', which means 'Ironman', in respect for his speed, conditioning and expertise in catch wrestling. Alongside Karl Gotch and Billy Robinson, Thesz later helped train young Japanese wrestlers and mixed martial artists in catch wrestling. A s ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Pat Patterson (wrestler)
Pat Patterson (born Pierre Clermont, January 19, 1941 – December 2, 2020) was a Canadian–American professional wrestler and producer, widely known for his long tenure in the professional wrestling promotion WWE, first as a wrestler, then as a creative consultant and producer ("booker"). He is recognized by the company as their first Intercontinental Champion and creator of the Royal Rumble match. He was inducted into the WWF Hall of Fame as part of the class of 1996. In 2019, Patterson became the oldest person to win a title in WWE history, after winning the WWE 24/7 Championship at age 78. He was described by journalist Dave Meltzer as "Vince McMahon's right-hand man" and "one of the chief architects of the WWE, playing an integral role in helping it become a global phenomenon". Early life Patterson was born into an impoverished French-speaking family in the Ville-Marie borough of Montreal, Quebec, Canada on January 19, 1941. He began training to wrestle at the age of 1 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Rick Martel
Richard Vigneault (born March 18, 1956) is a Canadian retired professional wrestler, trainer, and television presenter, better known by his ring name, Rick Martel. He is best known for his appearances with the American Wrestling Association, the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling. Championships held by Martel over the course of his career include the AWA World Heavyweight Championship, WCW World Television Championship, and WWF World Tag Team Championship. Professional wrestling career Early career (1973–1980) Martel is from a family of wrestlers, and made his professional debut at age seventeen when his brother Michel, a wrestler, asked him to replace an injured wrestler. Martel already was a skilled amateur wrestler, and quickly adapted to professional wrestling. Martel wrestled throughout the world, winning titles in Canada (in Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling and Vancouver-based NWA All Star Wrestling), New Zealand, Japan, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico-b ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Fabulous Rougeaus
The Fabulous Rougeaus (also known as the Fabulous Rougeau Brothers) was the professional wrestling tag team of real-life brothers Jacques Rougeau, Jacques and Raymond Rougeau, best known from their time in the World Wrestling Entertainment, World Wrestling Federation (WWF), from 1986 to 1990. History Jacques and Raymond began tag-teaming in the late 1970s in their family's Montreal-based wrestling promotion. They later became major stars in Lutte Internationale. Their most notable feud in Montreal was against the Garvin brothers, Ron Garvin and Jimmy Garvin (who kayfabe, were not actually brothers); the climax of their feud was a match in front of close to 20,000 fans at the Montreal Forum. They were signed to World Wrestling Entertainment, World Wrestling Federation (WWF) contracts in February 1986, and debuted as clean-cut face (professional wrestling), faces, The Rougeau Brothers. The Rougeaus were often matched against heel (professional wrestling), heel teams such as The Dre ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lutte Internationale
Lutte Internationale (; "International Wrestling") was a professional wrestling promotion based in Montreal from 1980 until 1987. The promotion was founded by Frank Valois, André the Giant and Gino Brito as Promotions Varoussac (VAlois, ROUSSimoff, and ACcocella Promotions). Lutte Internationale succeeded All-Star Wrestling and Grand Prix Wrestling as Quebec's top wrestling promotion for most of the 1980s. It was the second of Canada's three major wrestling promotions, along with Maple Leaf Wrestling and Stampede Wrestling, to be put out of business by the World Wrestling Federation (now known as WWE). Many French Canadian professional wrestlers of the 1980s wrestling boom came to the U.S. from Lutte Internationale including, most notably, Dino Bravo, Rick Martel, Ronnie Garvin and The Rougeaus. The promotion's close in 1987 marked the end of the fifty-year "Golden Age of Wrestling" in Quebec. History Early history (1980–84) The promotion was founded by Frank Valois, André t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |