Dave McKigney (June 9, 1932 – July 4, 1988) was a Canadian

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 ...

, also known by his

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 ...

, The Bearman. He is best known for wrestling bears and training Terrible Ted. His appearance as a scruffy beard and long hair. He appeared in Canada with Stampede Wrestling and Maple Leaf Wrestling, and across the border for the World Wide Wrestling Federation, in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Early life

Born in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

. At age 17, he began wrestling at amateur wrestling level in the Toronto area. McKigney began training in the early 1950s as he was trained by Red Garner in Southern Ontario.

Professional wrestling career

Early career

Started wrestling in Toronto for Maple Leaf Wrestling as the "Flying Frenchman' Jacques Dubois. He would start training Terrible Ted, an

American black bear The American black bear (''Ursus americanus''), also called simply a black bear or sometimes a baribal, is a medium-sized bear endemic to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most widely distributed bear species. American black bear ...

, stood 7"0 and weighed 600 lbs. Ted was declawed and detoothed, and travelled with a carnival in his early years, When the carnival went bankrupt in the early 1950s, McKigney adopted and trained him. On Boxing Day in 1958, before 8,250 fans, "Terrible" Ted defeated his mentor McKigney at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. He wrestled three more matches for Maple Leaf Wrestling to start 1959, then headed to Stampede Wrestling in Calgary, working Stampede Wrestling's

territory A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or a ...

across Alberta and Saskatchewan. He also had a couple of matches for Tri-State Sports in Idaho. With Terrible Ted, McKigney eventually grew out his hair long and had a scruffy beard and wrestled under the Bearman and Wildman gimmicks.

Canada

McKigney was a big name in Canada mainly at Maple Leaf Wrestling in Toronto as the Canadian Wildman. He went to Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling in Calgary in 1959 and used his name as Gene Dubois, Pierre Dubois and Dave Dubois. MicKigney often teamed with

The Wolfman In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (; ; uk, Вовкулака, Vovkulaka), is an individual that can shapeshift into a wolf (or, especially in modern film, a therianthropic hybrid wolf-like creature), either purposely o ...

. On July 13, 1966, McKigney offered $3,000 to anyone who could pin Ted. The challenge was accepted and met by John Szigeti (a 36-year-old welder who wanted the money for truck repairs), who pinned Ted "for maybe 15 seconds" before McKigney pried him free. McKigney and promoter Howard Darvin refused to pay the prize, so Szigeti sued them in May 1968. He would sometimes wrestle in Japan even defeating Japanese legend

Antonio Inoki Muhammad Hussain Inoki (born ; February 20, 1943 – October 1, 2022) was a Japanese professional wrestler, martial artist, politician, and promoter of professional wrestling and mixed martial arts. He was best known by the ring name , a homag ...

by disqualification, the United States in Michigan and Ohio. McKigney would wrestle until his death.

United States

McKigney made appearances in Alabama, Georgia Championship Wrestling, World Wrestling Association and

American Wrestling Association The American Wrestling Association (AWA) was an American professional wrestling promotion based in Minneapolis, Minnesota that ran from 1960 until 1991. It was owned and founded by Verne Gagne and Wally Karbo. The territory was originally part o ...

. In 1974 while wrestling in the American Wrestling Association, McKigney would lose to a young

Roddy Piper Roderick George Toombs (April 17, 1954 – July 31, 2015), better known as "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, was a Canadian professional wrestler, amateur wrestler, and actor. In professional wrestling, Piper was best known to international audiences for hi ...

World Wide Wrestling Federation

In 1969, McKigney made his debut in the Northeast US for the World Wide Wrestling Federation as Jean Dubois or sometimes spelled Gene Dubois. His biggest victory in WWWF was when he defeated Lou Albano. Dubois would have two titles shots against WWWF Champion

Ivan Koloff Oreal Donald Perras (August 25, 1942 – February 18, 2017) was a Canadian professional wrestler, better known by the ring name "The Russian Bear" Ivan Koloff. He was the third wrestler to hold the WWWF Championship. Early life Perras was b ...

. He would stay with the company until 1972.

Japan

In 1975 McKigney had a stint for

New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion based in Nakano, Tokyo. Founded on January 13, 1972, by Antonio Inoki, the promotion was sold to Yuke's, who later sold it to Bushiroad in 2012. TV Asahi and Amuse, Inc. own minority shares ...

where he feuded with Seiji Sakaguchi and

. His biggest victory was win over Japanese legend

by disqualification. Inoki got his revenge by defeating the Canadian Wildman.

Late career

By the late 1970s McKigney wrestled mainly in Toronto and Detroit's Big Time Wrestling into the 1980s.

Personal life

He trained his step-daughter, Rachel Dubois, who wrestled for a brief period in the 1970s. On July 2, 1978, in Aurora, Ontario, McKigney left the door open on the cage of his second bear, Smokey, while he answered the phone. Smokey entered McKigney's house and mauled his girlfriend, 30-year-old Lynn Orser, to death. As a result, both bears were taken away by the Ontario Humane Society. Smokey showed no signs of rabies as of July 5, but was under a 14-day quarantine. McKigney's only possible explanation was that bears sometimes act unpredictably during mating season. On July 4, 1988, in

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

, McKigney was driving to a wrestling show with Adrian Adonis (Keith A. Franke, Jr.) and twin brothers William "Mike Kelly" Arko and Victor "Pat Kelly" Arko. Driver William Arko swerved to avoid hitting a moose on the Trans-Canada Highway and crashed the van, injuring himself and killing his brother, Franke and McKigney. McKigney's son, 8-year-old Davey Jr., witnessed the accident from a following vehicle.

Championships and accomplishments

*Big Bear Promotions **North American Heavyweight Title * Canadian Wrestling Hall of Fame **Class of 2016

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:McKigney, Dave 1932 births 1988 deaths Canadian male professional wrestlers Professional wrestlers from Toronto Stampede Wrestling alumni