Toronto

Maple Leaf Wrestling (1939-1984)

Jack Corcoran started Maple Leaf Wrestling in 1931. Two of his employees were the Tunney brothers - John and Frank. In 1939, Corcoran was ailing and wanting out of the business, so the Tunneys bought him out. Sadly, John passed away a year later at 32 years of age, but Frank would turn Toronto into one of the hottest cities in the world during the 1950s and 1960s with Whipper Watson on top. Watson was a national hero and he vanquished all the heels of the television era from Gene Kiniski to Gorgeous George. Toronto became a major market and it featured numerous NWA World title changes over the years. Tunney even became a partner in the St. Louis office and later an NWA President for a short time. Toronto under Frank Tunney gained a special reputation as he had a great rapport with the sports journalists. It helped make Maple Leaf Wrestling the premier Canadian wrestling company and one of the very best in North America during the "Golden Age." Frank slowly brought John's son Jack into the office as his partner. In the 1970s, The Shiek became a huge attraction in Toronto. But like his hometown Detroit, The Shiek and his antics slowly began to hurt the houses. This led to a split and Tunney struggled to get the city back on track, he brought in top stars from the WWWF and AWA, but that did not work. Instead, Tunney used Mid-Atlantic star Ric Flair to turn his company around. The relationship developed as Tunney and Jim Crockett Jr. began working together despite the distance between their home bases. George Scott even bought into the Toronto office. Like Toronto itself, Maple Leaf Wrestling grew steadily into the 1980s. However, the company saw massive changes following Frank's death in 1983. Scott had jumped to the WWF and Crockett did not trust Jack Tunney, so he stopped sending him talent from Mid-Atantic. As the Toronto houses declined, Maple Leaf Wrestling looked like it was headed for a swift death and then someone else, either Vince McMahon or Jim Crockett would step in. Instead, Tunney secured a deal with McMahon and became the first major NWA promoter to make such an arrangement. He organized the 1986 match between Hulk Hogan and Paul Orndorff, which was the first million dollar gate in North American wrestling history. Maple Leaf Wrestling had an amazing run that lasted over fifty years.