Canadian Wrestler of the Week

[Mr. TM]

I plan to bring forth a Canadian wrestler each and every week in a showcase that shows off the great talent that has come from this frozen country. There will be many greats showcased here, some you might have heard of, some you might not have heard of. I hope you come with me down this journey I am willing to undertaker with you as I move through the jobbers, the heroes, the villains, the tag teams, the managers, the immigrated to Canada Canadians and the families of wrestling of Canada.

Contents​

Angelo Mosca
Yvon Cormier​

 

[Mr. TM]

Angelo Mosca

Mosca is my first person I wish to look at, not because he was really anything special in the ring, not be cause he is one of those people that had a great life outside the ring, not because he fits in as a Canadian in an interesting way, being that he is not Canadian, but because alphabetically, he is the first that I could think of.

He did have a long life outside the ring, for all you gridiron fans out there, you might know that Mosca had won five Grey Cups in the Canadian Football League. But as many wrestlers were, he came from the football world into the wrestling world, and had a pretty decent career.

Although he may never have won a world title, he did compete in wrsetling promotions around the world. He would work with the AWA, NWA, CW, WWC, and most importantly for his Canadian connection, Stampede Wrestling.

One of the biggest wins of his career would be when he won the World Television Championship in a tournament in Raleigh, North Carolina. He would beat "Mr Wrestling" Tim Woods on April 14, 1976, before losing it to Paul Jones. He would stay around Championship wrestling wrestling in many tag team matches, probably as his knees began to give out.


Never a mainstay in any promotion, he would garner some respect as a wrestler and promoter in his adoptive city of Toronto. "King King" as the massive 310 pound man was called, would always be a draw to the southern Ontario fanbase, and bolstered one of Canada's hotbeds, Hamilton to some great showings. He would bring in Ric Flair and Dusty Rhodes for great feuds between them and himself.


Later in his career, he would leave the ring and work elsewhere. As a manager, he would wrestler his namesaked son in the World Wrestling Federation in the 1980s, and even before that would work as an announcer, showing off his big lungs that he would use to put over wrestlers, especially his powerhorse son.

Never a great wrestler, at such a great size and after great knees, he always had a heart for wrestling, and remains a Canadian celebrity of sorts.

 

[Ubiquitous]

I quite liked this thread. Especially since this is the first time I`ve ever seen my hometown of Hamilton mentioned on any thread on this forum. I`m amazed I`ve never heard of this guy before, and plan on looking into him a bit more. Being a Canadian I appreciate what you`re doing here and I look forward to more in the future. Cheers.

 

[Mr. TM]

Hamilton is a city rich in history, and it can be a quite famous of a wrestling town. The first Royal Rumble happened there, as well as I believe, Christian Cage's first title win, but I might be mistaken. I know there is another poster from Hamilton (Simpsons_fantatic) so if either of you know your wrestling history, and it comes up in this thread, I hope that you share it.

 

[Mr. TM]

Wrestling families have always been the lifeblood of sports and sports entertainment. Tradition is inspired, heroes and villains are idolized, and rivalries begin, whether the family are distant relatives, generations of stars, or corporate families. One family that is important in Canada is the Cormier family, and today I am looking at Yvon Cormier. The Beast was one of four brothers, highlighted by his more famous brother known as Leo Burke, and if you know your Stampede, or Puerto Rican history, you know all about Leo, maybe under the name Tommy Martin.

Yvon would move along the territories in the early sixties, always garnering gimmicks relating to his wild look, being a man from a small New Brunswick town (I guess the inverse of Mysterio_Fan). It was not until he went to the big times, Mid Atlantic, that he would get his gimmick, The Beast.

His move to Stampede Wrestling is where I were to first know of him, getting the luxury of seeing his feud with Dave Ruhl, decades after it happen on television. It wasn’t until much later in life when I would know that him and Burke were actually brothers, to be a mark. With Ruhl, they would have their great feud over the NWA CHC which involved a bit of a keyfabed dispute with Stu Hart, back in his glory.

His greatest rivalry was to come against Archie Goldie. The Stomper had grown infamously as a heel, and people inside and outside of Calgary wanted The Beast to take him out. The feud would cross the country after Yvon won the NA Heavyweight title. They never got that definitive match, as many territorial feuds lacked, but I believe if you asked any old school wrestling fan, they would tell you about the evils of The Stomper.

Now after he had left Canada, Yvon would indeed team with his famous brother Leo Burke, I wish I knew more on this, but the matches are harder to come by. In fact, I have had a terrible time even finding matches of his, hoping the WWE who is in possession of much of his library would be able to put together some of it for release. Until then, I am limited to what I have in print to tell me what happened, besides pulling what I have from memories. So if anyone has anything to add from him, and not just his brother, who does possess more histories (Which will be addressed later) I ask that you share some yourself in a non spam format.