Daniel Kroffat (born June 14, 1945) is a Canadian retired

professional wrestler Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

. He is best known for his appearances with Stampede Wrestling in the 1960s and 1970s, where he invented the

ladder match A ladder match is a type of match in professional wrestling, most commonly one in which an item (usually a title belt) is hung above the ring, and the winner is the contestant who climbs a ladder and retrieves the item. The ladder itself becom ...

Professional wrestling career

Stampede Wrestling

Kroffat was discovered by

Earl Maynard Earl Maynard (born November 28, 1935) is a bodybuilder and professional wrestler as well as a film actor, producer and director from Barbados. Career Bodybuilding Maynard won the 1964 Universe - Pro - NABBA bodybuilding competition - part of the ...

, a professional wrestler and former Mr. Universe, while working as a

lifeguard A lifeguard is a rescuer who supervises the safety and rescue of swimmers, surfers, and other water sports participants such as in a swimming pool, water park, beach, spa, river and lake. Lifeguards are trained in swimming and CPR/ AED first a ...

Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

. Maynard began training Kroffat before recommending Stu Hart as a trainer. Kroffat and his wife moved to

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, where Kroffat trained and debuted in Hart's Stampede Wrestling promotion. Wrestling as "Cowboy" Dan Kroffat, he formed a

tag team Tag team wrestling is a type of professional wrestling in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. Tag teams may be made up of wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of establish ...

with Bill Cody and won the Stampede Wrestling International Tag Team Championship in the summer of 1971. In July 1972, Kroffat won his first Stampede North American Heavyweight Championship by defeating

Tor Kamata McRonald Kamaka (March 9, 1937 – July 23, 2007) was an American-Canadian professional wrestler known by the ring name Tor Kamata. He won several heavyweight and tag team championships, most notably the PWF World Heavyweight Championship in Al ...

. Kroffat and Kamata wrestled several times, and Kroffat designed a new match type for one of the encounters. A bag of money was hung from the ceiling and the two competitors fought to retrieve the bag by climbing a stepladder. The idea caught on, and subsequent matches saw Kroffat's title belt replace the money, with the stipulation that the first wrestler to retrieve the belt would be champion. The idea of a

has been used ever since, as

Bret Hart Bret Hart (born July 2, 1957) is a Canadian-American retired professional wrestler, currently signed to WWE under a legend's contract. A member of the Hart wrestling family and a second-generation wrestler, he has an amateur wrestling backgr ...

helped popularize the stipulation in the

World Wrestling Federation World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...

(now World Wrestling Entertainment). Over the next two years, he held both championships several times. He won the tag team title twice while teaming with Lennie Hurst and combined with Cody to win the title belts for the fourth and final time. Kroffat also engaged in a

feud A feud , referred to in more extreme cases as a blood feud, vendetta, faida, clan war, gang war, or private war, is a long-running argument or fight, often between social groups of people, especially families or clans. Feuds begin because one part ...

with

Archie Gouldie Archibald Edward Gouldie (November 22, 1936 – January 23, 2016) was a Canadian professional wrestler. He wrestled for Stampede Wrestling for decades as Archie "The Stomper" Gouldie, with the nickname coming from the wrestler's reputation of ...

in Stampede Wrestling. The pair traded the North American Heavyweight Title back and forth in a series of matches. Kroffat defeated Gouldie to win the belt in 1973, but Gouldie later regained the title. Still in that same year, Kroffat won the title back from Gouldie to begin his third reign as champion. He then feuded with

Gil Hayes Gilbert Lee Hayes (October 20, 1939 – July 28, 2022) was a Canadian professional wrestler who competed in North American promotions during the 1960s and 1970s including All-Star Wrestling and Stampede Wrestling where he remained a mainstay fo ...

, who beat him to win the title. Kroffat regained the belt from Hayes but was unable to win it back after dropping it to him again.

National Wrestling Alliance

Kroffat also enjoyed success outside Stampede Wrestling. In a match that took place in Vancouver, he won the

NWA United National Championship The NWA United National Championship (often abbreviated to UN Championship) was a professional wrestling championship sanctioned by the National Wrestling Alliance, and best known for being defended in All Japan Pro Wrestling. It was unified in ...

while wrestling as King Krow in 1972. He also won the Vancouver version of the

NWA Canadian Tag Team Championship The NWA Canadian Tag Team Championship is a National Wrestling Alliance-sanctioned tag team professional wrestling championship based mainly in the Extreme Canadian Championship Wrestling promotion, although the title has been contested for in the ...

twice in 1974, teaming with Leo Madril and Wayne Bridges.

Later career

Back in Stampede Wrestling, Kroffat defeated his old rival Gouldie to regain the North American Heavyweight Championship. Once again, however, Gouldie won the title back later in the series of matches. He won the belt for the final time by defeating Killer Tim Brooks. After winning the belt, Kroffat retired from professional wrestling and vacated the championship. He continued to wrestle occasionally, however, until retiring for good in 1985.

Retirement

After leaving wrestling in 1985, Kroffat opened Daniel's Auto Wholesale Centre, a used car dealership. After bovine spongiform encephalopathy, also known as mad cow disease, was discovered in an Albertan cow in 2003, the United States stopped importing Canadian cattle. Due to the problems this created in the Albertan cattle industry, Kroffat led a campaign to reopen the border, gathering signatures on a petition and pressuring the Canadian federal government to help with the cause. After Kroffat's retirement, professional wrestler

Philip Lafon Philippe Lafon (born September 16, 1961) is a Canadian professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation as Phil Lafon and with All Japan Pro Wrestling and Extreme Championship Wrestling under the rin ...

, who was a fan of Kroffat's, took on the

ring name A ring name is a type of stage name used by an athlete such as a professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, or boxer whose real name is considered unattractive, dull, difficult to pronounce or spell, amusing for the wrong reasons, or projecting ...

Dan Kroffat in his honor.

Championships and accomplishments

* Canadian Wrestling Hall of Fame **Class of 2016 * Cauliflower Alley Club **Men's Wrestling Award (2011) * NWA All-Star Wrestling ** NWA Canadian Tag Team Championship (''Vancouver version'') (

2 times "2 Times" is a song co-written and recorded by British Italian-based singer Ann Lee. It was released in 1999 as the lead single from her debut album, ''Dreams'' (1999). The single entered and peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart. Outside ...

) - with Leo Madril (1) and Wayne Bridges (1) **

( 1 time) * Stampede Wrestling ** NWA International Tag Team Championship ''(Calgary version)'' ( 4 times) - with Bill Cody (2) and Lennie Hurst (2) ** Stampede North American Heavyweight Championship ( 6 times) **

Stampede Wrestling Hall of Fame Stampede Wrestling was a Canadian professional wrestling promotion based in Calgary, Alberta. For nearly 50 years, it was one of the main promotions in western Canada and the Canadian Prairies. Originally established by Stu Hart in 1948, the pro ...

(Class of 1995) * World Wrestling Council ** WWC Caribbean Tag Team Championship (

) - with Bobby Jaggers

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kroffat, Dan 1945 births 20th-century professional wrestlers Businesspeople from Vancouver Canadian male professional wrestlers Living people Professional wrestlers from Vancouver Professional wrestling executives Stampede Wrestling alumni Stampede Wrestling International Tag Team Champions Stampede Wrestling North American Heavyweight Champions NWA United National Champions