Henry Mittlestadt (1911–1987), best 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 ...
, Tiny Mills, was a
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
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 ...
born in Camrose, Alberta. He often teamed with his brother Al Mills as the
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 ...
Murder Incorporated (Murder Inc.). Later on
Stan "Krusher" Kowalski would replace Al Mills as part of Murder Incorporated.
Career
Mills started his wrestling career at the
Maple Leaf Gardens
Maple Leaf Gardens is a historic building located at the northwest corner of Carlton Street and Church Street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The building was initially constructed in 1931 as an arena to host ice hockey games, though it has sinc ...
in 1953. Teaming with his brother Al Mills, they were billed as "Murder Incorporated."
Al and Tiny won Toronto's
NWA Canadian Open Tag Team Championship
The NWA Canadian Open Tag Team Championship was the top tag team professional wrestling championship in the Canadian promotion
Promotion may refer to:
Marketing
* Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any ty ...
in the debut year, defeating the Canadian dream team of
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 ...
and
Yvon Robert
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 (disambiguation) Yvonne is a female given name.
Yvonne may also ...
.
[ They drew huge houses at Maple Leaf Gardens that year. They traded the Championship with Watson and Hombre Montana as well as Ernie and Emil Dusek in 1954 and won the Championship once more in 1955, which was also the year Al made his final wrestling appearance in Toronto.][ After the deal of Al Mills Tiny decided to find a new partner and reform Murder Inc. in the late 1950s. He decided to team up with Minneapolis native Stan "Krusher" Kowalski.] Team won the Minneapolis version of the NWA World Tag Team Championships twice while working for the NWA Minneapolis Wrestling and Boxing Club.[ When that promotion became the ]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 1960, Mills and Kowalski became the first AWA World Tag Team Champions.[ Mills not only worked in tag teams but as a singles wrestler as well. In 1960, Mills had a Championship match against ]NWA World Champion
The NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship is a world heavyweight professional wrestling championship owned and promoted by the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), an American professional wrestling promotion. The current champion is Tyrus, who is in ...
Pat O'Connor at Maple Leaf Gardens. Together with Kowalski, Tiny Mills once again won the Canadian Open Tag Team Championship, defeating Watson and Ilio DiPaolo on the last Maple Leaf Gardens show of 1960.[ They lost the Championship early in 1961 after which Mills never came back to Toronto again.][ After retirement, Tiny became a sheriff in Minnesota.]
Championships and accomplishments
*50th State Big Time Wrestling
50th State Big Time Wrestling (sometimes referred to as NWA Hawaii or Mid-Pacific Promotions) was a professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii in the United States that promoted professional wrestling matches throughout Ha ...
**NWA Hawaii Tag Team Championship
The NWA Hawaii Tag Team Championship was the primary tag team title of 50th State Big Time Wrestling and was defended between 1952 and 1979 when it was phased out. The title was later revived by the current incarnation of NWA Hawaii in 2000. It is ...
( 1 time) – with Stan Kowalski
Stan Kowalski (born Bert Smith; May 13, 1926 – October 20, 2017) was an American professional wrestler who was one half of the tag team Murder Incorporated with partner Tiny Mills in the American Wrestling Association (AWA) from 1960 to 1975.
E ...
* Alex Turk Promotions
**Manitoba Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Al Mills
* Central States Wrestling
** NWA World Tag Team Championship ''(Central States 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 Al Mills (1), Pat O'Connor (1)
*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 Athle ...
**NWA Canadian Open Tag Team Championship
The NWA Canadian Open Tag Team Championship was the top tag team professional wrestling championship in the Canadian promotion
Promotion may refer to:
Marketing
* Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any ty ...
( 6 times) – with Al Mills (5) and Stan Kowalski
Stan Kowalski (born Bert Smith; May 13, 1926 – October 20, 2017) was an American professional wrestler who was one half of the tag team Murder Incorporated with partner Tiny Mills in the American Wrestling Association (AWA) from 1960 to 1975.
E ...
(1)
*Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling
Jim Crockett Promotions Inc. is a family-owned professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States, restarted by Jim Crockett's son and Jim Crockett Jr's brother, David Crockett. Founded in 1931, the promot ...
** NWA Southern Tag Team Championship ''(Mid-Atlantic version)'' ( 1 time) – with Jim Austeri
*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 N ...
** NWA Southern Tag Team Championship ''(Mid-America version)'' ( 1 time) – with Jim Austeri
*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 1 ...
** NWA World Tag Team Championship ''(San Francisco version)'' ( 1 time) – with Hombre Montana
* NWA Minneapolis Wrestling and Boxing Club / American Wrestling Association
**AWA World Tag Team Championship
The American Wrestling Association (AWA) World Tag Team Championship was a professional wrestling world tag team championship in the American Wrestling Association from 1960 until the promotion folded in 1991.
History
When the NWA Minneapolis ...
( 1 time) – with Stan Kowalski
Stan Kowalski (born Bert Smith; May 13, 1926 – October 20, 2017) was an American professional wrestler who was one half of the tag team Murder Incorporated with partner Tiny Mills in the American Wrestling Association (AWA) from 1960 to 1975.
E ...
** NWA World Tag Team Championship ''(Minneapolis 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 Stan Kowalski
Stan Kowalski (born Bert Smith; May 13, 1926 – October 20, 2017) was an American professional wrestler who was one half of the tag team Murder Incorporated with partner Tiny Mills in the American Wrestling Association (AWA) from 1960 to 1975.
E ...
* Southwest Sports, Inc.
**NWA Texas Tag Team Championship
The WCWA Texas Tag Team Championship was the secondary professional wrestling tag team championship promoted by the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex area-basedWorld Class Wrestling Association (WCWA). The championship was originally known as the NWA ...
( 1 time) – with Duke Keomuka
Martin Hisao Tanaka (April 22, 1921 – June 30, 1991) was an American professional wrestler better known as Duke Keomuka. He is the father of wrestler Pat Tanaka and referee Jimmy Tanaka.
Biography
Because he was a Japanese American in Californ ...
*Stampede Wrestling
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 prom ...
**NWA Canadian Tag Team Championship (Calgary version)
The Calgary version of the NWA Canadian Tag Team Championship was established in 1954 as the original top tag team championship in Stampede Wrestling
Stampede Wrestling was a Canadian professional wrestling promotion based in Calgary, Alberta. ...
(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 Al Mills
** NWA International Tag Team Championship ''(Calgary version)'' ( 1 time) – with Jack Daniels
*Other titles
**North Dakota Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
References
External links
Canadian Pro Wrestling Page of Fame - Al and Tiny Mills
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mills, Tiny
1911 births
1987 deaths
Canadian male professional wrestlers
People from Camrose, Alberta
Professional wrestlers from Alberta
20th-century professional wrestlers
AWA World Tag Team Champions
NWA Canadian Open Tag Team Champions
NWA Canadian Tag Team Champions (Calgary version)
Stampede Wrestling International Tag Team Champions