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Whipper Billy Watson
William John Potts, (June 25, 1915 to February 4, 1990) was a Canadian professional wrestler best known by his ring name "Whipper" Billy Watson. He was a two-time world champion, having held both the National Wrestling Association title and the National Wrestling Alliance title. Early life Watson was born in 1915 in East York, Ontario (now part of Toronto) to an English-born father, John Potts and a Canadian-born mother, Alice Mary Wilken. Watson began wrestling in Toronto under his real name. He was a member of the Scarborough Athletic Club in the mid-1930s and was wrestling on what were billed as amateur wrestling shows in Toronto. Professional wrestling career Exposure to wrestling For four years as a teenager, Watson sold the '' Toronto Daily Star'' at the corner of Danforth and Dawes Road. He was convinced by his brother George to play hooky from piano lessons one Saturday to attend a wrestling session at the All Hallows Anglican Church gymnasium. The event changed Wat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
East York, Ontario
East York is a former administrative district and municipality within Toronto, Ontario, Canada. From 1967 to 1998, it was officially the Borough of East York, a semi-autonomous borough within the upper-tier municipality of Metropolitan Toronto. The borough was dissolved in 1998 when it was amalgamated with the other lower-tier municipalities of Metropolitan Toronto to form the new "megacity" of Toronto. Prior to its amalgamation, East York was Canada's last remaining borough. It is separated by the Don River from the former City of Toronto. Traditional East York is southeast of the river, and the neighbourhoods of Leaside, Bennington Heights and densely populated Thorncliffe Park are northwest of the river. The heart of East York is filled with middle-class and working-class homes. History East York was originally part of York Township. Following the incorporation of the Township of North York in 1922, York Township was divided by Toronto, Leaside and North Toronto. Wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yvon Robert
{{disambiguation ...
Yvon may refer to: * Yvon (given name), a masculine given name * Yvon (surname), a surname See also * Chapelle-Yvon * Evon * Ivon * Jaille-Yvon * Pierre-Yvon * Yvan * Yvonne (other) Yvonne is a female given name. Yvonne may also refer to: * Yvonne (band), a 1993—2002 Swedish group featuring Henric de la Cour * Yvonne (cow) a German cow that escaped and was missing for several weeks in 2011 * ''Yvonne'' (musical), a 1926 Wes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Farmer Brooks
Clifford Fraser (October 10, 1957 - November 20, 2022) was a Canadian retired professional wrestler, known as the midget wrestler Farmer Brooks. He was a major participant in Grand Prix Wrestling throughout the 1980s and a longtime rival of Sky Low Low. Professional wrestling career Clifford Fraser moved to Rexdale in Toronto when he was growing up. He later dropped out of school and trained to become a professional wrestler under Whipper Billy Watson. He also was a member of Earl Sullivan's Sully's Gym, another wrestling program. During his career, his most prolonged rivalry was with Sky Low Low. He retired in 1992 when Grand Prix Wrestling closed. Personal life After retiring from the wrestling business, Fraser began working in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia New Glasgow is a town in Pictou County, in the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. It is situated on the banks of the East River of Pictou, which flows into Pictou Harbour, a sub-basin of the Northumberland Strait. The town' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Killer Kowalski
Walter Kowalski (born Edward Władysław Spulnik; October 13, 1926 – August 30, 2008), known professionally as Killer Kowalski, was a Polish-Canadian professional wrestler. Kowalski wrestled for numerous promotions during his career, including the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and World Wide Wrestling Federation ( WWWF, now WWE), and was a known villain professional wrestler. He held numerous championships including the WWWF World Tag Team Championship with Big John Studd billed as The Executioners and managed by Lou Albano. After retiring in 1977, Kowalski started a professional wrestling school in Malden, Massachusetts and trained many professional wrestlers, including Studd, Triple H, Chyna, Eddie Edwards, Kofi Kingston, Damien Sandow, Fandango, Brittany Brown, April Hunter, John Kronus, Perry Saturn, and Tommaso Ciampa. In the 1960s, Kowalski claimed to be the only vegetarian professional wrestler. Early life Born Edward Władysław Spulnik, Kowalski was the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fritz Von Erich
Jack Barton Adkisson Sr. (August 16, 1929 – September 10, 1997), better known by his ring name Fritz Von Erich, was an American professional wrestler, wrestling promoter, and the patriarch of the Von Erich family. He was a 3-time world champion and a record 20-time NWA United States Champion. He was also the owner of the World Class Championship Wrestling territory. Football career Adkisson attended Southern Methodist University, where he threw discus and played football. He has been reported to have played with the now defunct Dallas Texans of the NFL (not the AFL team which became the Kansas City Chiefs), but this is not true. He was signed as a guard but was cut. He then tried the Canadian Football League (CFL). Professional wrestling career Early career and training While in Edmonton, he met legendary wrestler and trainer Stu Hart, and Hart decided to train and book him in his Klondike Wrestling promotion, naming him Fritz Von Erich and teaming him with "brother" Wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hans Schmidt (wrestler)
Guy Larose (February 7, 1925 – May 26, 2012), better known by his ring name of Hans Schmidt, was a Canadian professional wrestler famous in the 1950s and 1960s. Wrestling career Larose used a background in amateur wrestling to break into the pro business after World War II, wrestling as a babyface under his own name with modest success early on. Then in 1951 the Boston-area promoter Paul Bowser, who thought the tall, naturally balding Franco- Québécois looked like a German, renamed him Hans Schmidt. Playing the character of an 'evil German', Schmidt became one of the first great heels of televised wrestling in the 1950s, drawing the hatred of fans as he battled their American babyface heroes of the squared circle. In the 1998 A&E documentary '' The Unreal Story of Professional Wrestling'', Hans Schmidt was labeled "the classic foreign villain" - tapping into lingering anti-German sentiment in America following World War II, Schmidt was a forerunner of many other wrestli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bobo Brazil
Houston Harris (July 10, 1924 – January 20, 1998) was an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Bobo Brazil. Credited with breaking down barriers of racial segregation in professional wrestling, Harris is considered one of the first successful African-American professional wrestlers. Early life Houston Harris was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, but later lived in East St. Louis, Illinois, and Benton Harbor, Michigan. His father died when he was seven years old, which resulted in him doing odd jobs such as working on a local fruit farm for fifty cents a container. He played baseball in the Negro leagues for The House of David, where he was discovered to become a wrestler at a steel mill. Professional wrestling career Harris was trained by Joe Savoldi after meeting him at matches at the Naval Armory. Savoldi originally named Harris, BuBu Brasil, "The South American Giant," where he wrestled using a sequined satin cape stitched together by his wife, bu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dick Hutton
Richard Heron Avis Hutton (October 4, 1923 – November 24, 2003) was an American amateur and professional wrestler. He was a three-time NCAA champion and, as a professional, held the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, making him a one-time world champion in professional wrestling. Early life Hutton was born in Amarillo, Texas to Bailey and Gladys Hutton. He had one brother, Jerald Hutton. He moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma where he became a two-time state finalist for Daniel Webster High School. later on Dick joined the army and was a veteran of World War II. He attended Oklahoma A&M. While at Oklahoma A&M he was the NCAA wrestling champion three times, in 1947, 1948 and 1950 (In 1949 he lost in the finals to Verne Gagne, future professional wrestler). Also while at Oklahoma A&M, he went to the 1948 Olympic Games. He came 7th in Freestyle wrestling. Professional wrestling career Hutton made his debut in 1952, in a loss against Bill Longson. Hutton left Tulsa, as it was primari ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pat O'Connor (wrestler)
Patrick John O'Connor (22 August 1924 – 16 August 1990), was a New Zealand amateur and professional wrestler. Regarded as one of the premier workers of his era, O'Connor held the AWA World Heavyweight Championship and NWA World Heavyweight Championship simultaneously, the latter of which he held for approximately two years. He was also the inaugural AWA World Heavyweight Champion. He is an overall two-time world champion. Early life Patrick John O'Connor was born on 22 August 1924 in Raetihi, New Zealand, to parents John Frederick and Isabella. While he attended high school at Feilding Agricultural High School, he also helped tend to the sheep and cattle on his parents' farm. He later attended Massey Agricultural College, and later served for six months in the New Zealand Royal Air Force in 1945. Amateur wrestling career Before entering the world of professional wrestling, O'Connor was an amateur wrestler. He trained under Dave Scarrow, and later Don Anderson, while w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The Seattle metropolitan area's population is 4.02 million, making it the 15th-largest in the United States. Its growth rate of 21.1% between 2010 and 2020 makes it one of the nation's fastest-growing large cities. Seattle is situated on an isthmus between Puget Sound (an inlet of the Pacific Ocean) and Lake Washington. It is the northernmost major city in the United States, located about south of the Canadian border. A major gateway for trade with East Asia, Seattle is the fourth-largest port in North America in terms of container handling . The Seattle area was inhabited by Native Americans for at least 4,000 years before the first permanent European settlers. Arthur A. Denny and his group of travelers, subsequ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Wrestling Alliance
The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) is an American professional wrestling promotion and former professional wrestling governing body operated by its parent company Lightning One, Inc. Founded in 1948, the NWA began as a governing body for a group of regional professional wrestling promotions, the heads of which made up the Board of Directors. The group operated a territory system which sanctioned their own company championships while recognizing a singular world champion who defended his title across all the territories, participated in talent exchanges, and collectively protected the territorial integrity of member promotions. Prior to the 1960s it acted as the sole governing body for most of professional wrestling. It remained the largest and most influential body in wrestling until the mid-1980s by which time most of the original member promotions went out of business as a result of the World Wrestling Federation's (WWF, now WWE) national expansion. In September 1993, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tom Packs
Thomas Nicholas Packs (born Anthanasios Pakiotis; August 15, 1894 – October 22, 1964) was a Greek-American professional wrestling promoter. He was one of the top promoters over the first half of the 20th century and was responsible for building one of the nation's most prestigious wrestling territories in St. Louis. Youth Anthanasios Pakiotis was born in Poulithra, Arcadia, Greece on August 15, 1894, though he would eventually become part of the flood of turn-of-the-century Eastern European immigrants when his parents brought him to the United States in 1907. Upon entering the country, his name was anglicized to Thomas Nicholas Packs; and his family then settled in Chicago, which subsequently played host to a pro wrestling boom period during his teenage years (as Packs thus witnessed the sport's two high-profile encounters between Georg Hackenschmidt and Frank Gotch). Moreover, one of Packs' relatives, John Contos, had begun promoting wrestling matches in St. Louis during the e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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