From our friends over at Wrestler Weekly, "Action Figures Friday" features a look at mid-to-late 1970s Dino Bravo, who held the Canadian Heavyweight Championship in Toronto, but just prior to that was one half of the NWA World Tag Team and Mid-Atlantic Tag Team champions with Mr. Wrestling Tim Woods.
On the magazine cover above far left you see an art depiction of Bravo wearing the NWA World Tag Team title belt. In the center and far right, you see photos of Bravo wearing the Canadian title.
The magazine on the right, featuring a cover photograph shot by Jackie Crockett, was a special photo-album issue of Mid-Atlantic Wrestling Magazine. Bravo appeared in the Mid-Atlantic area throughout his reign as Canadian champion as a result of a working/business/booking relationship Toronto promoter Frank Tunney had with Jim Crockett, Jr. and George Scott at Jim Crockett Promotions.
2022 Edits:
Andrew Calvert at MapleLeafWrestling.com published an outstanding book on the history of the Canadian Heavyweight championship that existed during that era. The book looks at all the Canadian champions including Dino Bravo, Greg Valentine, Dewey Robertson, Angelo Mosca, the Iron Sheik, Sgt. Slaughter and many others. It includes some pretty rare photographs and a great collection of memorabilia. You can find out all about that book on the Maple Leaf Wrestling website or in our Mid-Atlantic Gateway Book Store.
This is a very rare and somewhat unusual poster from June of 1980 for a show in Niagara Falls, Ontario. It features a United States title defense by Ric Flair against Great Hossein Arab, better known to fans in the traditional Mid-Atlantic territory as the Iron Sheik. The card took place at Niagara Falls Memorial Arena, which was just across the Canadian - U.S. border in Ontario.
The show was promoted by Tony Parisi as an extension of Frank Tunney's Toronto booking office. This was during the roughly 5-year period that Tunney was booking the majority of his talent for Toronto from Jim Crockett Promotions in partnership with Crockett and booker George Scott. One of the unusual things that makes this poster so rare is that it says "Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling" instead of Maple Leaf Wrestling. Andrew Calvert from Toronto told us that posters were generally pretty scarce to begin with up his way, but the ones they did have were almost always billed as Maple Leaf Wrestling.
The Iron Sheik was generally billed in Toronto as Hossein the Arab or Great Hossein Arab. (His name was badly misspelled on the poster.) When he first arrived in the Mid-Atlantic area in early 1980, he was referred to on television by Bob Caudle and Rich Landrum as "Hossein the Arab, the Iron Sheik." Later, it was simply shortened to the Iron Sheik. But in Toronto, it was usually Hossein the Arab.
At the time of this card, the Sheik was Canadian Heavyweight Champion, having defeated Dewey Robertson for the gold belt back in May in Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. Oddly he is not billed as such on this poster, although newspaper articles in advance of this show mention he is champion. It appears Flair's United States title was the only championship on the line that night at the Falls arena. The Canadian title was mainly defended in Toronto, but it would seem a missed opportunity to not have a title-vs-title match, especially given that the finish of the match was reportedly a double count-out.
Sheik was also the reigning Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight champion at this time. He is billed with neither title on this poster.
Others featured on the poster were local favorites (and former Canadian champions) Angelo "King Kong" Mosca and Dewey Robertson, teaming up to face the top heel team for Jim Crockett Promotions, Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka and Ray "The Crippler" Stevens. Snuka and Stevens won the NWA World Tag Team titles just three weeks earlier from Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood in Greensboro, NC, although they are not billed as champions on the poster. Neither is their manager Gene Anderson, and it isn't clear if Anderson appeared with them on this show in Niagara Falls. Again, it seems like a missed opportunity for promoter Parisi to not bill Snuka and Stevens as tag champs and make the match a title match.
Parisi's office was spelling-challenged on this particular poster, too:
they even botched local football and wrestling legend Angelo Mosca's
name!
One other thing that seemed odd (and this was mentioned in the local paper, too) was the low placement on the card of Pedro Morales. To be sure, Morales was wrestling low-to-mid card for Jim Crockett Promotions during this era, even doing jobs on TV, but he had not so long ago been WWWF Heavyweight Champion, and was still occasionally a headliner in the WWWF during this era. With the WWWF television being seen in this area, and the history of the WWWF title being defended in Toronto, you would think that even being booked out of JCP, Morales would have had a more featured spot on the card here.
As seen in this image, the poster is in really rough shape,
worn and torn, and with a lot of apparent water damage. It was recently
sold on eBay, which is where Barry Hatchet noticed it and the image wound up
making its way to us, via our mutual friend Andrew at MapleLeafWrestling.com.
In late 1978 or early 1979, I started noticing in some of the newsstand wrestling magazines that the top stars in the Mid-Atlantic wrestling area were regularly headlining in Toronto. At the same time, the Canadian Heavyweight champion, with his Canadian Heavyweight title belt, started showing up on our weekly Mid-Atlantic television programs and on our local cards.
This was long before the days of the Internet and behind-the-scenes wrestling newsletters, and I had no idea what was going on. One of our weekly TV programs was called "World Wide Wrestling" and so I just assumed that maybe we now really were worldwide!
It wasn't until well into the 1980s that I learned the our promoter Jim Crockett, Jr. and the promoter in Toronto Frank Tunney had a working relationship.
My first exposure to Toronto wrestling was in 1977 when the tape of an NWA World Title change in Maple Leaf Gardens aired on our local TV shows. "Handsome" Harley Race defeated Terry Funk for the famous "ten pounds of gold." The TV commentators were former NWA president Sam Muchnick and a former NWA champion I later would learn had been a fixture of Toronto wrestling for decades, Whipper Billy Watson.
Two things made Toronto seem special and unique to me right off the bat. First was that elevated walkway, the famous Toronto "ramp", that led to the ring. I had never seen such a thing, and that whole concept intrigued me. Secondly though, and more lasting in my memory over the years, was the iconic call by Toronto ring announcer Norm Kimber announcing the new champion. I actually made an audio cassette recording of that, and the many times I've listened to it over the next years had it burned into my brain. It wasn't just what he said, it was the dramatic way he said it...
"The winner of the match, the time 14 minutes 10 seconds with an Indian deathlock, the new heavyweight champion of the world Harley Race!" - Norm Kimber LISTEN TO THE AUDIO (14 sec.)
In my opinion, Kimber was one of the great ring announcers of all time.
I later learned there were many other things that made Toronto unique and special. Toronto was one of those towns that was similar to St. Louis and Houston in that they often booked wrestlers from lots of different territories and promotions to make up their big cards, and although it was an NWA town, all the various world champions from the NWA, WWF, and AWA all defended their titles there. And of course the name of the venue sounded cool to me, too. Maple Leaf Gardens. This sounded akin to Madison Square Garden and gave it a more mythical feel as a teenager at my great remove.
I've recently had the pleasure and good fortune to assist author Andrew Calvert in publishing his new book "The Canadian Heavyweight Title: A Complete History 1978-1984." Andrew publishes the popular Maple Leaf Wrestling history website (MapleLeafWrestling.com.) His book chronicles Toronto's Canadian Heavyweight title during those years, a time period known to locals as the "Mid-Atlantic era" because of the close relationship with the NWA territory of that name in the United States. Andrew has done a wonderful job in telling the story of the title and all of the champions who held it during those years, many of whom were headlining in the Mid-Atlantic territory as well.
The research and writing in the book is Andrew's; I only did the layout and design, and helped structure the book in a similar fashion to what I've done with a few of my Gateway history books on our championships. We are honored to include it here in the series of books we've published on the Crockett championships. The book is available exclusively on Amazon, with links included in our Mid-Atlantic Gateway Book Store.
Since first discovering way back in the late 1970s that Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat were selling out Toronto cards at the same time they were headlining here, I've always wanted to know more about that special time in Toronto. As a result of helping Andrew lay out his book, I've learned a great deal about this special time, including the fact that the working relationship between Tunney and the Crocketts was much more formal and corporate than I ever knew before. It actually involved Tunney, Crockett, and George Scott, as the three formed a separate company behind the scenes. You'll learn all the details of that in Andrew's book, how it came together, and how it eventually fell apart.
The book includes a detailed history of the Championship from its inception in 1978 until its demise in 1984, as the Toronto office developed a new relationship with the WWF. Plus, a look at all the champions that held the title, the championship tournaments, and all the title changes. The book also includes a brief history of Toronto wrestling in general, a spotlight on Frank Tunney, newspaper clippings, vintage photographs, and more.
And for those interested in the belt itself, the book is lavishly illustrated with detailed photos of the original Canadian title belt, crafted by the famous belt maker Alex Mulko, aka Nikita Mulkovich, as well as details on how you can own a cast replica of the original for your very own.
It was a magic time, during a wonderful period when the Canadian and U.S. titles were defended on the same Toronto cards, alongside the NWA, WWF, and AWA titles. Experience all this rich history in Andrew Calvert's great new book, available now on Amazon.com.
Originally posted October 8, 2019 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.
My favourite period in wrestling is the Mid-Atlantic era and the Toronto territory of the late '70s to the early '80s.
I vividly remember sitting on the edge of my seat in the front row of the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium, seeing greats like Johnny Weaver, Billy Red Lyons, Sweet Daddy Siki, the Great Kabuki, and "Boogie Woogie Man" Jimmy Valiant.
That's why Andrew Calvert's new book, The Canadian Heavyweight Title: The Complete History 1978-1984, feels like it was written for fans like me, who long for the glory days of Jim Crockett Promotions and Maple Leaf Wrestling....
"The Canadian Heavyweight Title: The Complete History 1978-1984" is published by MapleLeafWrestling.com and available on Amazon.com as well as via links in the Mid-Atlantic Gateway bookstore.
In late 1978 or early 1979, I started noticing in some of the newsstand wrestling magazines that the top stars in the Mid-Atlantic wrestling area were regularly headlining in Toronto. At the same time, the Canadian Heavyweight champion, with his Canadian Heavyweight title belt, started showing up on our weekly Mid-Atlantic television programs and on our local cards.
This was long before the days of the Internet and behind-the-scenes wrestling newsletters, and I had no idea what was going on. One of our weekly TV programs was called "World Wide Wrestling" and so I just assumed that maybe we now really were worldwide!
It wasn't until well into the 1980s that I learned the our promoter Jim Crockett, Jr. and the promoter in Toronto Frank Tunney had a working relationship.
My first exposure to Toronto wrestling was in 1977 when the tape of an NWA World Title change in Maple Leaf Gardens aired on our local TV shows. "Handsome" Harley Race defeated Terry Funk for the famous "ten pounds of gold." The TV commentators were former NWA president Sam Muchnick and a former NWA champion I later would learn had been a fixture of Toronto wrestling for decades, Whipper Billy Watson.
Two things made Toronto seem special and unique to me right off the bat. First was that elevated walkway, the famous Toronto "ramp", that led to the ring. I had never seen such a thing, and that whole concept intrigued me. Secondly though, and more lasting in my memory over the years, was the iconic call by Toronto ring announcer Norm Kimber announcing the new champion. I actually made an audio cassette recording of that, and the many times I've listened to it over the next years had it burned into my brain. It wasn't just what he said, it was the dramatic way he said it...
"The winner of the match, the time 14 minutes 10 seconds with an Indian deathlock, the new heavyweight champion of the world Harley Race!" - Norm Kimber LISTEN TO THE AUDIO (14 sec.)
In my opinion, Kimber was one of the great ring announcers of all time.
I later learned there were many other things that made Toronto unique and special. Toronto was one of those towns that was similar to St. Louis and Houston in that they often booked wrestlers from lots of different territories and promotions to make up their big cards, and although it was an NWA town, all the various world champions from the NWA, WWF, and AWA all defended their titles there. And of course the name of the venue sounded cool to me, too. Maple Leaf Gardens. This sounded akin to Madison Square Garden and gave it a more mythical feel as a teenager at my great remove.
I've recently had the pleasure and good fortune to assist author Andrew Calvert in publishing his new book "The Canadian Heavyweight Title: A Complete History 1978-1984." Andrew publishes the popular Maple Leaf Wrestling history website (MapleLeafWrestling.com.) His book chronicles Toronto's Canadian Heavyweight title during those years, a time period known to locals as the "Mid-Atlantic era" because of the close relationship with the NWA territory of that name in the United States. Andrew has done a wonderful job in telling the story of the title and all of the champions who held it during those years, many of whom were headlining in the Mid-Atlantic territory as well.
The research and writing in the book is Andrew's; I only did the layout and design, and helped structure the book in a similar fashion to what I've done with a few of my Gateway history books on our championships. We are honored to include it here in the series of books we've published on the Crockett championships. The book is available exclusively on Amazon, with links included in our Mid-Atlantic Gateway Book Store.
Since first discovering way back in the late 1970s that Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat were selling out Toronto cards at the same time they were headlining here, I've always wanted to know more about that special time in Toronto. As a result of helping Andrew lay out his book, I've learned a great deal about this special time, including the fact that the working relationship between Tunney and the Crocketts was much more formal and corporate than I ever knew before. It actually involved Tunney, Crockett, and George Scott, as the three formed a separate company behind the scenes. You'll learn all the details of that in Andrew's book, how it came together, and how it eventually fell apart.
The book includes a detailed history of the Championship from its inception in 1978 until its demise in 1984, as the Toronto office developed a new relationship with the WWF. Plus, a look at all the champions that held the title, the championship tournaments, and all the title changes. The book also includes a brief history of Toronto wrestling in general, a spotlight on Frank Tunney, newspaper clippings, vintage photographs, and more.
And for those interested in the belt itself, the book is lavishly illustrated with detailed photos of the original Canadian title belt, crafted by the famous belt maker Alex Mulko, aka Nikita Mulkovich, as well as details on how you can own a cast replica of the original for your very own.
It was a magic time, during a wonderful period when the Canadian and U.S. titles were defended on the same Toronto cards, alongside the NWA, WWF, and AWA titles. Experience all this rich history in Andrew Calvert's great new book, available now on Amazon.com.
