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SUNDAY NIGHT - Dec 17 1978
Bravo crowned Canadian Champion
An historic card featuring Dino Bravo beating Gene Kiniski to be crowned
Cdn Champion and Ricky Steamboat pinning Ric Flair to win the U.S. Title
An important card in the history of Maple Leaf Wrestling cementing the popularity of the Mid-Atlantic stars
as well as the kick-off for a long overdue true local title. It was billed as
Whipper Watson Appreciation Night
Card Review & clips from Main Event Wrestling Dec 27 1978 Terry Justice
At the Westbury Hotel I had the
pleasure of meeting and talking with
Paul Jones and former N.W.A. world's
heavyweight champion Gene Kiniski. I
got both their autographs.
Later at Maple Leaf Gardens, for the
first time, an autograph table was set up for fans. The
wrestlers at this table were Ricky Steamboat, Dino
Bravo, Jones and Jimmy Snuka. Not only did they sign
autographs but they also gave out some free photos of
themselves.
The wrestling itself was very good, for the most
part. In the opener, Johnny Weaver looked very agile
and showed a lot of different moves en route to his
surprisingly easy victory over Rudy Kay.
Jones won the most boring match of the night over
Gene Anderson. Apparently it was just an "off night"
for both wrestlers, who are highly regarded in other
areas.
Fashion award went to Snuka and his opponent, ring
veteran Swede Hanson. Snuka, who wrestled barefoot,
sported a flowered blue-green ring outfit. Hanson
had a flowered Olympic-type uniform underneath his
bright yellow warm-up robe. I was surprised to see
Hanson had red hair always thought it was blond.
Snuka was quite impressive.
Tiger Jeet Singh's win over Zimba Zhan rated as the second most boring encounter of the night, but at least the local Hindu fans were relieved to
see that Singh finally showed up for a change. He had missed a couple of
earlier scheduled MLG appearances this year.
Tony Atlas and Jay Youngblood were impressive victors in what was for some unknown reason changed
from a title to non-title match against Greg Valentine & Baron Von Raschke
. Von Raschke was much
more impressive than I had
expected he would be.
Always impressive Dino
Bravo registered the big
upset of the night pinning
Kiniski. The two took
turns throwing each other
out of the ring. Kiniski
got in some good licks but
Bravo's excellent flying
head scissors took its toll
on the veteran star.
Ric Flair had an impressive
robe but was outclassed
in the ring by Ricky Steamboat. Anyone who imagines
Flair is better than Buddy
Rogers was has obviously
never seen Rogers!
Card Review & clips from Main Event Wrestling Dec 27 1978 Terry Justice
As was the norm during this era, most of the stars would appear the next day in one of the neighboring cities.
This clip from Kitchener about 70 miles outside Toronto
Steamboat walking the ramp after winning the U.S. belt from Ric Flair. Pic is from Pic Of The Month
Click to enlarge
See Also
First M-A Card 1978
Cdn Title Reigns - Dino Bravo
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