Tales From The Territories - Maple Leaf Wrestling - Full Episode 15/30
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 30 сен 2024
- Follow me for more cool shit!!
Twitter - / ratedr69
Facebook - / ratedrwrestlingreport
Instagram - / ratedmuthafuckinr
Spotify - open.spotify.c...
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.
Aligning with the World Wrestling Federation[edit]
Following Frank's death in 1983, the business was run by John's son Jack Tunney and Frank's son, Eddie Tunney. The Tunneys hosted National Wrestling Alliance and Mid-Atlantic Wrestling matches until 1984, when Jack Tunney abandoned Crockett and signed with Vince McMahon's expanding World Wrestling Federation, with Jack serving as a figurehead on-air president of the WWF from 1984-1995, while also serving as the (legitimate) president of Titan Sports Canada, the local arm of the WWF's parent company.
Continued usage of the Maple Leaf Wrestling name[edit]
Following the WWF takeover in 1984, the name Maple Leaf Wrestling continued to be used for the federation's Canadian TV program (a staple of Hamilton station CHCH-TV for many years), which the WWF took over production of after the Tunneys split from the NWA. The show was hosted by Angelo Mosca and Jack Reynolds. TV tapings for the show were held in Brantford and other cities in southern Ontario for the next two years, until the WWF ceased the tapings in 1986 and decided to simply use the Maple Leaf Wrestling name for the Canadian airings of WWF Superstars of Wrestling(with some Canadian footage, such as updates by on-air announcer and former wrestler Billy Red Lyons, and special matches taped at Maple Leaf Gardens, added in). These tapings were actually the precursor to the WWF's Wrestling Challenge, which became the "B" show to WWF Superstars Of Wrestling, the "A" show. Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura were the hosts for the Canadian tapings (with Ventura doing his famous "The Body Shop" segment), and when those tapings morphed into Challenge in 1986, Ventura was moved to the "A" show, Superstars, which had been renamed from WWF Championship Wrestling, and joined their announcers, Vince McMahon and Bruno Sammartino, to form a three-man team. Sammartino eventually left that team, making it just McMahon and Ventura. Bobby Heenan replaced Ventura as the Canadian tapings became WWF Wrestling Challenge.
The end of the Tunneys' involvement[edit]
In 1995, McMahon chose to run the shows in Toronto without any involvement from the Tunneys. The final show at the Gardens was held on September 17, 1995.
#TalesFromTheTerritories
The promotion that inspired my love for wrestling, especially when it was considered NWA territory. I'll never forget the World title main event I saw between Ric Flair and the legendary Harley Race at Maple Leaf Gardens.
Oh wow man. That must have been absolutely fantastic to witness live. You're very lucky to have seen such a historic match with two of the best to ever lace up their boots.
Who old are you..60's?..still love wrestling?..❤️🇨🇦...I'm in Toronto too
I saw Flair vs Race in a cage at MLG in 84. Maple Leaf Wrestling was epic
what year was that match in Maple Leaf Gardens?
I was there as well. It was on a Sunday afternoon- Matinee. It was around Christmas and was right after the very first Starcade. The Flair Race match was a steel cage rematch from the Starcade Main Event and was almost hold for hold the exact same match with the exact same finish but was still legendary considering everything that was at hand and the complete legendary performers!!! It was in kate December of 1983, like I said earlier, on Sunday afternoon as well. Great times and amazing memories of magical wrestling moments!!!
I love this series. It really shows how much you care about what you're doing. Thank you for keeping the stories of these great promotions alive.
Thanks for watching!
Maple Leaf Wrestling at the Gardens was epic . I got to see so many great matches live from 78 - 93 Thanks for these amazing documentaries.
Very well done. One thing though, Frank Tunney didn't use just The Sheik from the Detroit area. The majority of the talent during that time period came from Sheik's Big Time Wrestling promotion until Tunney partnered up Crockett in 1978.
Would love to see one on bruiser's Indianapolis territory.
So glad I came across this video, as 14 year old my father had a job selling snacks at the Gardens. He use to always tell me how he met Andre the Giant during the MLW era. I think he met a lot of the wrestlers but to him Andre was wrestling.
He still is.
Thanks for bringing back so many great memories (1970s-1980s) Maple Leaf Wrestling.
Great vid. Have you thought about doing one on Montreal's International Wrestling ?
any chance of a video on Atlantic Grand Prix?
Man, professional wrestling history is really convoluted and confusing but I love learning about it. Thanks for the video.
Sure was lots of Drama!
Well I mean it was founded by carnies and shady folks haha
I lived in Brantford during those years they did the tapings. Feels like we went to every show and even had a personal run in with Ricky Steamboat. Great times
As usual, very informative. Appreciate the knowledge
thank-you
@@OriginalWrestlingDocumentaries: No mention of the Love Brothers (Tag Team) , The Beast , The Golden Greek , The Wolfman etc.. all of them regular staples of Maple Leaf Wrestling and WWWF (Toronto) !
when I was a kid I was convinced Jack Tunney was the boss
Of WWF.
He really look the part.
You and me both lol
@@OriginalWrestlingDocumentaries
Being a Canadian I never understood the Canadian connection with him until much later in life.
Interesting story and good job on the video!
Nice to hear about Norm Kimber (although that photo looks nothing like him). I remember him calmly smoking a cigarette at ringside table after doing the intros. One night Terry Funk went crashing through his table mid-smoke. Norm got up calmly and walked over to a safer place to finish. Much laughter.
For sure that's not Norm Kimber!
“1 Fall or 2 5 Minute Rounds” First In the Blue Corner”
It’s funny, todays TV product does not resemble any of the stuff we watched back in the day. Glad RUclips exists so we can relive the glory days, and share memories with other fans
That what the best era in wrestling. I wish I would have been there. I loved the attitude era because it was the wrestling I grew up with, but it can't hold a candle to the legends of the 70s and 80s. I'd pay any price to go to a show at the old sportatorium.
Well said, Jeremy Eggleston! I agree 💯%!
Because back then it was presented like a big time boxing match
Thanks for RUclips for getting Houston and Maple leaf wrestling documentaries.
I was introduced to them in late 85. We just got chch from hamilton, and they broadcasted wwf twice every sat and eventually once sun.They were somehow affiliated with wwf. That's how I got introduced to wwf. The matches sucked however. In a one hour show, you only got one match with two stars. The rest of the show was predictable matches against jobbers.
Darren Spohn That’s The way the territories did TV back then but if the jobbers were good you would have a great show
Iron Mike Sharpe....best jobber ever!!!
Yeah i remember those days as well when WWF was shown on CHCH TV in Hamilton, Ontario where you would get WWF Wrestling on WUTV 29 in Buffalo,New York on Saturdays at 12pm and Sundays around same time or 1pm depending on time slots then Maple Leaf Wrestling at 1pm then WWF Wrestling at 7pm after The Dick Beddos Show where they would show a match from the last house show from either Toronto ,London and sometimes Hamilton as the featured match . That was my childhood during the 80's being able to watch WWF Wrestling on Saturday and Sunday afternoon .Sometimes would get AWA Wrestling from a Buffalo station (WGRZ Channell 2) and NWA Wrestling from Kitchner (CKOC Channel 13) later on . God i miss those days
@@shannonmurray34 Was the 1st wrestler I seen up close when they did a show at CNE . As a kid his arms looked as big as my chest now ! Weigh a huge 130 pounds now !
@@craigstrachan just found this and remember it ! Where you allowed to stay up late on weekend for
" Its 11 o'clock do you know where your children are ?"
Then one of top 3 stories was a fire !!
You need to do a segment on Montreal’s Grand Prix wrestling man that was a huge part of Canadian wrestling in the 70’s to the 80’s
"The NWA Toronto United States Championship" lol makes sense
I think I'm gonna call myself the Russian Iranian Champion lol
Great job, with one big omission. Billy Red Lyons was like a God in Canada!
wow... blown away! you really know your shit, or you really know how to do your homework. i suspect it's a bit of both. thanks again !!
Living in the Midwest, I only knew of Toronto wrestling through the wrestling magazine articles. But I remember thinking that some great action was taking place north of the border.
Was cool to see a wrestler after just reading about them ! So nice to catch up on stuff from the past now !
Toronto United States Championship? That's so stupid...
It was never publicly called "The Toronto United States Championship" it was only ever referred to as simply The United States Championship. To understand this better, think of the WBA, WBC, WBO, and IBF in boxing. Now plug in Mid-Atlantic as WBA and Toronto as WBO and now you get the idea. The difference is that they wanted the fans to believe there was only one United States Championship, and as such, the belt used in Toronto looked like the belt used in Mid-Atlantic area (all the way down to the misspelling of Heavyweight on the gold map belt), just as most of the NWA world Tag-Team Championship belts looked like the ones worn in Mid-Atlantic by Ricky Steamboat & Jay Youngblood. While traveling the country in those days, I was often taken aback by seeing some team I had never heard of holding the belt that I recognized as The NWA World Tag-Team Belts and doing an interview, only to find when I got home that Ricky and Jay "had them again" and I figured they must have won them back at some house show on tour of the world by the time I got back home. ;)
New japan pro wrestling has a United States title and I'd say it's the most prestigious u.s title in pro wrestling right now. Weird lol
Great video here. I never knew about The MLW. That was so nice to hear about. Love the background music to.
I sure am glad I stumbled upon your work! You do great videos that are very knowledgeable and professional. Do you have twitter or Facebook? I’m not seeing any social medial links
As a 55 year old Torontonian this brings back memories. Thank you!
Saturday afternoons, 12 pm to 4 pm, you could get Maple Leaf Wrestling and Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling. Sometimes we could also pick up American Wrestling Association too.
Dang! That two-measure riff going on over and over and over really gets irritating.
Timothy
You have done great work, and I have enjoyed your videos. Just a heads up, at 15:35 there is an error. It is not Leo DiPaolo and Billy Red Lions, but ILIO DIPAOLO. It's pronounced "Eelee-oh" (ilio). It's an understandable error, since in many type fonts, a capital i looks like a lowercase L thus making it look like a double L as in Lloyd, but it's not a double L, it is ilio. He was well known and has even faced Bruno Sammarino. His family still keeps his memory alive with a restaurant named after him in the Buffalo, New York area
Lol..who cares dude?
The opening music in the 70s was "A Banda" by Herb Alpert
Love your work. It's awesome to learn about the territories I never got to see. I saw a little bit of Maple Leaf as a kid in the mid-80's. But never got to see Portland, NWA-Hollywood, St. Louis, etc. I knew a little about Detroit as I'm from there and watched I Like To Hurt People. How about Stampede????
Norm Kimber great announcer
I always hated that stupid ramp leading up to the ring in the Maple Leaf Gardens.
Thank you for doing the video I mentioned in your other videos to make this video thank you very much big fan of yours from Toronto Canada
Roberto I awesome I watched on chch 11 in Buffalo NY and wutv 29 when it switched to WWF
I love this
Do you plan doing more Canadiens territories like grand prix and stampede?
This series is quite insightful. Keep them coming. Hope you eventually get to the British Columbia All Star Wrestling promotion.
Thanks for watching. I will be doing All Star soon....
I had no idea until recently that Al Tomko booked that territory. It was an underrated promotion.
In Buffalo we were able to watch the Sandor Kovacs Vancouver Wrestling which was covered on Toronto TV!!
Wwf Maple leaf Wrestling was on CKVU in british columbia. Wwf Wrestling Cavalcage was on BCTV and Chek tv.
Living in Buffalo, we had Access to Maple Leaf Wrestling on CHCH TV AND LOOKED Forward to the Toronto CTV Ch 9 Sunday Night Sports where they would Highlight the Main Event And Preview the Upcoming Maple Leaf Garden Shows. NWA MLW Shows tied in with Mid Atlantic also Brought Wrestling to The Aud In Buffalo and they were Phenomenal Shows! As Billy Red Lyons Used Say: “ Up Next is the Show You Have All You Have Been Waiting For”!
Interesting information but I couldn’t get past the first few minutes - the horrible, annoying, repetitive background music was too distracting.
This was very Interesting to watch
Incredible video. So informative and interesting. I for one appreciate the hard work gone into these videos.
Great video overall, a few issues with audio, and personally , I'd say you lower or lose that background music... great research though:-)
But yet I was very fascinated watching this. Sorry I sent it too soon before
I'm an American and was only old enough to remember the last days of Maple Leaf Wrestling when it was just a show for McMahon.
A shame. It was a top promotion when it was part of the NWA.
Not bad, left out some important stuff, but overall, not bad.
Good video
6:54 hey was that who Kevin James was named after on his show? Lol looks like him too 😂
Keep this going please in from toronto and enjoy this
Great video! I can not wait for your next episode.
I hit another even likes number.
Great work just like always!
Thanks I appreciate that
Jack Tunney Frank Tunney
Groovy mat history! 😊
Promotional war!
I love the old money pictures you've incorporated. Brilliant, absolutely brilliant. Good job kid!
All of these programs end the same way, with the greed of Vince McMahon Jr. Wrestling is so boring today. It's the boredom that makes the Raw-Smackdown draft neccessary.
this doc about maple leaf wrestling is this the full documentary
1984 Greg the Hammer Valentine lost the US title to Ricky Steamboat and Steamboat lost to Wahoo McDaniel..
No Atlantic Grand Prix Wrestling? I never missed a match when I was a kid.
A lawsuit during the Great Depression? The plaintiff was probably disappointed.
wow, amazing watch.
Thanks for uploading this and the others like it .
Canada and united States good wrestling.
Keep up the good work!
Thank you!
Thank you for doing this. I learned a hell of a lot, many thanks
Love your work mate really well done thank you
Does anyone know the title of the tune they used in the opening seconds of this video? It seems to be used from 1983 to 1984 or so before it was changed to ZZ Top music and others.
Darude-Sandstorm
Ray I really really enjoyed this video because I remember wrestling from 1965 to now
but I had no idea about the history of the tunneys, and the beginning of Jack Tunney in the wwwf. I also had no clue that the superstars of wrestling show was being brought from Canada. I enjoyed this video so much I'm going to watch it again and share it with a couple of close friends. Ray thanks because the history of wrestling is a very strong subject with me
how it was and how much better it was back then, to the comic strip crap Vince McMahon makes today.
Thanks I appreciate that
Carlos Rocha was good
Ed was Frank Tunney's son. Jack was his nephew. Also the picture you showed when referring to Norm Kimber was of Jerry Hiff.
Greg, who was the ring announcer after Norm Kimber? Marty something? thank you
@@jimmylightshow Sorry Jimmy I wish I knew, but I stopped watching wrestling for many years after the NWA left the Toronto area.
So in Canada you can get out on bail AFTER a conviction??? WTF
Yes if u appeal the conviction
Great video as always.
Canada, ehh
日本語訳で頼みたい。
☺😆😀
I have asked every one in the know who was the ring announcer after Norm Kimber there and I've heard his name was Marty, but I cannot find out anything after that. Would be a great interview I'm sure. He was a really nice guy. A few times in the mid 80s he came outside afterword and gave us kids some of the wrestlers autographs. Thank for any help.
I'm curious to know that too! He had glasses and a full head of brown hair. Good announcer.
@@1978mackdaddy his name is Marty McDonald and he was married to one of Jack Tunneys daughters. I've had many in the know trying to track him down for an interview but no one can find anything about what ever became of him? He was a true Maple Leaf Gardens wrestling main stay and staple for many years. Terrific introduction voice, always found it odd they never mentioned his last name, though once and a while Gorilla Monsoon would say lets go to Marty for the introductions and never used his last name.
@@jimmylightshow Very interesting! He was actually a damn good announcer. Never stuttered and had a commanding voice. I'm sure he could give some amazing backstage stories. You would need to find one of Tunneys daughters and track him down. I messaged one of them on facebook years ago and she never replied to me. I was at the last MLG house show on Sept 17 1995 and I can't for the life of me remember if he was the anouncer for that show. It would be odd if he was because apparantly there was no involvement from the Tunneys on that show. He may not even be alive anymore. If I can track him down I will let you know. You got me curious now.
@@1978mackdaddy good luck and thank you for helping me hunt and track him down. He was a really decent guy and gave me and my friend signed 8 by 10s of Red Rooster (I know right lol), KoKo B.Ware, Hillbilly and Hacksaw. Oh and once he went into the arena and brought out Outback Jack to come meet us and shake our hands. Not sure why there has been nothing written about him he sorta ran things there it seems for quite a while. Even Jimmy Korderas said he was a friendly fellow but had no clue what ever became of him. I bet this Marty has some good backstage stories, when they ran a show in Peterborough in about '88 he was there and not only announcing but helped with setting up the ring with a few of the referees
Marty McDonell or Marty McDonald from what I've been told but my search has been frustrating fruitless search, not even Greg Oliver can find him and he know all what seems to be all there is about Canadian wrestling
Name mispronounciations, wrong currency and flag for the time period, overlooked Watson's partnership in the promotion, Layton's long-time TV announcership and Sheik working as booker. Other than that not bad.
We do appreciate your great Documentary's they are smart and professional .