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Big Time Wrestling (1951-1964)
Big Time Wrestling (1951-1964)
Stu Hart had been promoting successfully for a few years in Edmonton when he moved into Calgary, bought the town and began promoting there. He joined the National Wrestling Alliance, which helped him bring in drawing talent. Western Canada was tough area though with long road trips, brutal weather and limited exposure that no established pro-wrestlers wanted to put up with for long. However, in early 1950s, television was transforming the business - for the better. Starting in the United States and spreading through Canada, Calgary finally got a station. Hart soon secured two TV shows in 1956. He brought Sam Menacker on board to book, produce and announce and “Big Time Wrestling” became a great success story as its distribution spread. Menacker would leave the promotion (twice, in fact) and they could never fill that void. Unfortunately, politics of the time and some unfortunate business deals began taking a toll. Most notably, Hart began sinking money into co-promoting with the star-studded Vancouver office. All these contributed to the death of "Big Time Wrestling" in 1964.
Hans Hermann
Gino Marella (Gorilla Monsoon)
Mighty Ursus (Jesse Ortega)
Dr. Bill Miller
Dave Ruhl
Flying Scotts (George & Sandy)
Rube Wright
Stampede Wrestling (1967-1984)
Stampede Wrestling (1967-1984)
After closing "Big Time Wrestling" in 1964, Stu Hart was struggling to stay afloat. He eventually rebounded with "Wildcat Wrestling," thanks to new associate and announcer Ed Whalen, who got Hart back on TV after a hiatus. This company began rising and renamed itself to "Stampede Wrestling" in 1967. The company took off with a new generation of stars that lasted into the mid-70s when they began to struggle again. Excessive violence and new promoters threatened Stampede. Hart made a deal with friend and former Vancouver promoter Gene Kiniski to begin running that city. Al Tomko had bought into Vancouver and Kiniski left, now he had his eyes set on taking over Stampede's area. Ray and Bud Osborne were two brothers in real estate with the same idea, but they lost their backing. Stampede was in a bad way, but the company turned around by using international talent that accelerated the action. While never a major market in terms of money, Stampede became legendary for its innovative style that the product of international styles melding in Western Canada. Vancouver became a decent market where Bruce Hart and rock promoter Bruce Allen began using new ideas to get the product over, much to the chagrin of Kiniski. Although Stampede was doing well again, numerous problems had built up and when Vince McMahon made an offer, Stu Hart sold the company and was hired as a promoter along with Bruce and his biggest stars: Bret Hart, Jim Neidhart, the Dynamite Kid and Davey Boy Smith were all hired on. The legendary era of Stampede was over, but it was not gone forever.
Bad News Allen
Hercules Ayala
Ox Baker
"No Class" Bobby Bass
The Beast (Yvon Cormier)
Carlos Belafonte (Carlos Colon)
Cobra (George Takano)
Wayne Coleman (Superstar Graham)
Cosmo #1 (Al Tomko)
Cuban Assassin
Lynn Denton (The Grappler)
The Destroyer (Frenchy Martin)
Bill Dromo
Emile Dupre
John Fargo (Greg Valentine)
Don Gagne (Frenchy Martin)
Great Gama (Gama Singh)
Gypsy Joe
Higo Hamaguchi (Animal Hamaguchi)
Fighting Hara (Susumu Hara)
Rip Hawk
Dean Higuchi (Dean Ho)
Crazy Legs Hirsch (Al Tomko)
Mr. Hito
Honky Tonk Wayne (Honky Tonk Man)
Judo Joe (Mr. Pogo)
Crusher Kimura (Rusher Kimura)
The Kiwis (Nick Carter & Sweet William)
Sandor Kovacs
Phil Lafleur (Phil Lafon)
Dale Lewis
Loch Ness Monster (Giant Haystacks)
Mighty Ursus (Jesse Ortega)
Jim Neidhart
"Big" John Quinn
Big Daddy Ritter (Junkyard Dog)
Rock Rogowski (Ole Anderson)
Jimmy Rougeau (Jacques Rougeau Jr.)
Royal Kangaroos (Jonathan Boyd & Norman Frederick Charles III)
Dave Ruhl
Hiro Saito
Mr. Sakurada (Kendo Nagasaki)
Sekigawa (Mr. Pogo)
Tim Shea (Dave Taylor)
Gama Singh
Robbie Stewart (Chic Cullen)
Shunji Takano
Art Thomas
Les Thornton
Sonny Two Rivers (Junji Hirata)
Johnny Valentine Jr. (Greg Valentine)
The Wild Samoans (Afa & Sika)
Mr. Wrestling (Dick Steinborn)
Stampede Wrestling (1985-1989)
Stampede Wrestling (1985-1989)
The WWF's purchase of Stampede in 1984 had not been as profitable as they had hoped it would be and not long after the agreement problems began cropping up. A promoter even used the name, which Stu Hart had not copyrighted, in a short-lived group that Bruce Hart (who was now under WWF contract) was negotiating with, according to some rumors. Then the British Bulldogs left New Japan, which was a partner of both Stu Hart's and WWF's, for All Japan. The WWF eventually recinded on the deal and Stampede reopened. Amazingly, they signed a deal with TSN, so they would broadcast across the country. However, the promotion was doing all it could to stay alive long and after a few years fizzled out and continued only as an independent-level group.
Bad News Allen
Bob Brown
Leo Burke
Great Gama (Gama Singh)
Honky Tonk Wayne (Wayne Ferris)
Hashif Khan (Shinya Hashimoto)
Duke Myers
Hiro Saito
Johnny Smith
Super Strong Machine (Junji Hirata)
Shunji Takano
Viet Cong Express I (Hiro Hase)
I'd like to thank Greg Oliver for all of his articles on Slam! Wrestling and his excellent publication, The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame - The Canadians as one of the most bountiful resources in existence. Also Dave Meltzer's Wrestling Observer Newsletter in addition to his books and radio shows, which have been great resources as well. A big thanks also to Canadian wrestling historian, columnist and archivist Vern Mays. I should also thank, in no particular order: Arnold Schwartz, Jenni Grattan, Steve Laflamme, Daren Gleason, John Baumer, Mike Rodgers, Steve Petersen, David Galvan, Andrew Calvert, Andrew Mollon, Rob Elder and Serge Niles from kayfabememories.com for their articles. And, of course, Royal Duncun and Gary Will's contributions to wrestling-titles.com and garywill.com
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