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Magazine Stories
Many of us grew up reading magazines with the outrageous stories about our favorites
Here are some Toronto 'stories'
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Like Father, Like Daughter
Raquel Dubois
Story and pics from Feb 1974 Ring Wrestling with hometown beauty Raquel/Rachel Dubois - daughter of Wildman McKigney - who had a brief but memorable ring career
A slight prompting from her father, Gene Dubois, who is a Canadian wrestler, may have had
somethign to do with Raquel's decision to become a wrestler. Raquel says, "He did mention it now and then, bit it was
I who really pressed the point of wanting to get in to it..
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Sunday Bloody Sunday
Sheik vs Abdullah 1975
Story and pics from May 11 1975 with U.S. champ The Sheik defending against former tag partner Abdullah.
They would go on to have two more re-matches with Sheik finally beating Abdullah in June 75 in a steel cage.
Fans in Toronto, though they knew it would be bloody, were inexplicably drawn to this match. They
had to see the two most ruthless rulebreaker's in the sport try to destroy each other. With any luck both men would come
out losing! Then the sport would be rid of it's two most vicious combatants. It is most likely that is what the fans want to see.
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The Wrestler March 1980
'Nick Bockwinkel - The Last Hurrah ' AWA Champ vs Dewey Robertson
Story and pics from Cdn. Champ Dewey's Oct 1979 MLG match against then AWA champ Nick Bockwinkel which ended in a curfew draw and nearly saw our champ beat 'Tricky Nicky'.
"You can feel in the air." Dewey Robertson declares, and his face breaks into a wide grin. "Before a title is about to change hands
, you can sense something about to happen. I can't explain it but anyone who's been at a match
where a major title has changed hands knows what I'm talking about. That's when this...feeling, I guess you'd call it, is strongest.
But before the night of the match, wrestlers haver sensed the feeling for weeks. I guess we're more sensitive to it."
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Wrestling Review June 1972
'Bloodbath In Toronto' with The Sheik & Bulldog Brower
Bulldog Brower was looking to stop The Sheik in the midst of his 120 + match winning streak at MLG (lists it as undefeated match #68, pics are likely from the Jan 9 1972 match which would make it #71, 60 wins and 11 draws - see link below). Brower is described as having had his own winning streak stopped several years earlier at 58 straight wins.
In pre bout shenanigans, Brower atttacked The Sheik as he was in conference with Allah and promptly very nearly strangled him to death with timekeeper Jerry Hiff's mike cord. Then he threw the section seats that Hiff and this photographer occupied at ringside at the Arab. Brower in the short space of a couple of minutes had worked himself into a frenzy and next ran the Sheik's head into the ringpost. All this happened before the match was officially started by referee Tiger Tasker
For more on the streak see TWH - Sheik's Unbeaten Streak
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The Wrestler Feb 1976
'The Terror That Grips Toronto' screams the headline
That's our own Dave McKigney and Willie 'The Wolfman' Farkus getting some
major coverage courtesy of Bill Apter. The pictures are from a match-up with Lord Layton
and Duncan McTavish in Aug 1975. It tells of how the two wildmen met in
Northern Ontario and came back to Toronto to wreak havoc on the fan-favorites! Fans in Maple Leaf Gardens were stunned as they watched Wolfman and Wildman
Never had they seen two more vicious grapplers! As soon as one was in trouble, he would tag his partner
Sometimes, the other half of the wild team did not even wait to be tagged
The scene was uncontrollable
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The Wrestler Apr 1982
'Majoring In Mayhem'
This one, with photos taken in the dressing room at MLG explains how then
Canadian Champ John Studd is teaching 'rulebreaking techniques' to his students
The pictures are from the 50th Anniversary Show in Nov 1981
No bell rings, but school is in. Professor John Studd is at the lectern
and if you listen carefully, you too can become one of the sports premier rulebreakers
Studd had been travelling all across the continent speaking to wrestlers in both Canada and the
States His talks are usually followed by a demonstration of his moves as he wrestles an unfortunate
and quite unwilling classroom subject. This is one teacher who practices what he preaches
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The Wrestler Feb 1975
'Don't Believe Those Nasty Stories About Jack Brisco'
Report of a September 1974 match with our own Billy Red Lyons challenging NWA Champ Jack Brisco
The mostly 'scientific' bout is used to quell rumours of Brisco turning badAs is often the case, the fans were behind the local hero, in this case Lyons
While Brisco wasn't booed, he didn't get the reception a popular champion figures to get
During the match however, fans found few reasons to either boo Jack or accuse him of dirty tactics
The contestants traded scientific hold for scientific hold
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