Superstars of Wrestling, also sometimes known as the Canadian Wrestling Association, was an internationally syndicated Canadian professional wrestling television program. Based in Windsor, Ontario, the show ran live events in Eastern Canada and the Great Lakes region of the United States from 1975 to 1984.
The show was created by George "Crybaby" Cannon after the close of Eddie Einhorn's International Wrestling Association, which had attempted to become the first-ever national wrestling promotion. Cannon, who served as the IWA's booker, brought in many of its former stars during the show's early years. The group also used wrestlers from NWA Big Time Wrestling in Detroit throughout the 1970s.
Superstars reached the height of its popularity following their 1977 debut in Montreal. French Canadian fans had not seen televised wrestling since the close of All-Star Wrestling and Grand Prix Wrestling the previous year. For much of the 1970s and early 1980s, Cannon was seen as the face of pro wrestling in the city. Superstars eventually began working with Promotions Varoussac and later produced the English-language version of its flagship programs "Les Étoiles de la Lutte" (The Stars of Wrestling) and "Lutte Internationale" (International Wrestling).
While Cannon possessed a strong TV syndication network throughout Canada and parts of the Midwestern United States, Superstars of Wrestling had difficulty securing talent and promoting house shows. The situation worsened following the close of Detroit's Big Time Wrestling in 1980 and Cannon was forced to scale back its production values and roster. In 1983, in an effort to counter Ole Anderson's planned "invasion" of Detroit, Cannon made a deal with World Wrestling Federation promoter Vince McMahon to co-promote shows in the area. Cannon's partnership with McMahon played a key role in securing the Detroit and Canadian markets as part of the WWF's national expansion during the 1980s. In less than two years, however, the WWF ended its partnership with Cannon. The show would subsequently be replaced by WWF Superstars of Wrestling.
Show history Background In 1970, George "Crybaby" Cannon returned to his native Canada following a two-year run as host of a variety show on KTLA (Channel 5) in Los Angeles, California. He spent the next decade as a wrestling manager, most notably representing The Fabulous Kangaroos (Al Costello and Don Kent) in the NWA's Detroit territory. Cannon also began working under The Sheik and eventually became a key figure behind the scenes in Big Time Wrestling. In late 1974, a group of The Sheik's top mid-card wrestlers led by Karl Von Shotz and Jack Cain left BTW to form their own promotion, "Universal Wrestling", running shows in Ohio and Canada. Cannon briefly hosted a weekly television series for them which was a precursor to Superstars of Wrestling. It was while working with Universal Wrestling that Cannon became friends with Milt Avruskin. Avruskin, who was a ring announcer at that time, was brought on as a co-host. The Canadian television tapings were held at the University of Windsor and the American tapings were at the Tam O'Shanter Arena in Toledo, Ohio. The Universal Wrestling show managed to replace The Sheik's "Big Time Wrestling" show on WDHO-TV. The station received so many complains from fans, however, that it began airing both shows as a compromise. The promotion lasted less than a year and closed the following summer.
In early 1975, Cannon began working for the International Wrestling Association. When the owners Eddie Einhorn and Pedro Martinez decided to expand nationally, Cannon was hired as a booker and essentially promoted the Canadian end of the IWA. He also managed Eric The Red and the IWA Tag Team Champions The Mongols (Geeto Mongol and Bolo Mongol). Cannon was voted Manager of the Year by Inside Wrestling at the end of the year. By 1976, however, the pro wrestling industry was in a serious recession. All-Star and Grand Prix Wrestling in Montreal, and the National Wrestling Federation out of the Buffalo-Cleveland area, all folded during this period. Cannon too found himself out of a job when Eddie Einhorn pulled out of the IWA that same year. Despite the poor economic climate, Cannon decided to use the experience he had gained as a booker and promoter to strike out on his own.
Early history In May 1975, Cannon began promoting events under the "Superstars of Wrestling" banner in Newfoundland, Canada. The main attraction was a feud between Sailor White and Karl Von Shotz as well as Billy Two Rivers battling Kurt Von Hess. Other wrestlers who took part in the original tour included Mike Vachon, Bad News Jackson, Louis Laurence and Silent MacKey. The region was still a "virgin territory" at this time and considered a risky venture by other wrestling promoters. These early shows were so popular, however, that Newfoundland and Labrador became a regular stopover for Superstars up until its final year in operation. Cannon's decision to promote Newfoundland locals Sailor White and Hartford Love as the top stars were a big part of what made these summer tours so successful.
Cannon chose his adopted city of Windsor, Ontario as the base of his operations. Superstars of Wrestling made its premiere later that year with Cannon providing color commentary and Avruskin as the play-by-play announcer. Avruskin played an integral role in the show's creation successfully pitching the show to the Global Television Network as a replacement for their Universal Wrestling program. As the IWA's last booker, Cannon was also able to retain many of the promotion's Canadian television contracts. Superstars of Wrestling was initially produced at the Toronto studios of Global TV, then a small regional network of stations in Southern Ontario, in Don Mills. With Avruskin's assistance, Cannon gradually continued to build a powerful syndication network over the next few years that would see the show air throughout Canada and parts of the U.S. by the end of the decade.
Style and pioneering innovations Superstars was unique from other wrestling programs of the era. It was primarily a studio show but also aired matches from live events held in Newfoundland and Ontario. Because it filmed in different locations viewers never knew who would be showing up each week. Among those who made unannounced appearances included Chief Jay Strongbow, Johnny Valiant, Killer Kowalski, Mad Dog Vachon, Spiros Arion and Waldo Von Erich. The Kelly Twins (Mike Kelly and Pat Kelly), who were working for rival Maple Leaf Wrestling at the time, wrestled on Superstars as the masked tag team The Patriots. The Destroyer and Hossein the Great also appeared on Superstars and Maple Leaf television. The show also provided opportunities to several future stars. Riki Choshu, then wrestling under his real name Mitsu Yoshida, made his first appearance in North America on the Superstars of Wrestling program. Ten years before his pro debut, a 22-year-old Diamond Dallas Page made a cameo on the show in 1978. Al Snow and Bruiser Bedlam also wrestled on Superstars during their rookie year. While fans enjoyed the show's unpredictability, the downside was that Superstars was unable to build long-term storylines or feuds. Only a fraction of wrestlers from Cannon's live events appeared on Superstars and the lack of continuity was often a disadvantage when promoting house shows.
Superstars also incorporated 1970s rock music into the program. "The Ox" by The Who was used as the show's theme song. Superstars mainstay "Crazy" Chris Colt used Alice Cooper's "Welcome to My Nightmare" as his entrance music. This is one of the earliest instances of a promotion playing theme music for wrestlers.
Notable talent The show featured a number of wrestlers who were regulars in the Detroit-Windsor and Montreal territories. When the IWA began recruiting wrestlers, rival NWA promoters threatened to blackball anyone who worked for the new promotion. After its close, a number of former stars found a home on Superstars including Cannon's former charges Eric the Red and The Mongols. On one of the early episodes of Superstars, the team defended the IWA Tag Team Championship against Dino Bravo and Luis Martinez. Using Sailor White as the main "heel" performer, the show also boasted names such as Buddy Austin, Bull Curry, Crusher Cortez, Don Kent, Hartford Love, Mighty Igor, Johnny War Eagle, Bob Della Serra, Tony Parisi and Otto Von Heller. Percival A. Friend from NWA Central States made a number of appearances on the show as well.
Cannon was successful in creating a few "homegrown" stars for the show. Superstars was the birthplace of manager "Supermouth" Dave Drason who had previously appeared in "Universal Wrestling". He was the top manager on Superstars in the mid-1970s. Drason was the manager of the mysterious El Santos, a pair of masked wrestlers originally portrayed by Duncan McTavish and Terry Yorkson, who were a popular tag team during the show's early history. Later on, Superstars featured midget wrestlers such as Cowboy Lang, Farmer Pete and Little John. Chief Lone Eagle, who would briefly hold the NWA World Midget's Championship in the early 1980s, got his start working for Cannon's group.
The show's biggest attraction, however, was arguably George Cannon himself who quickly emerged as an entertaining on-air personality for his deadpan humor and witty one-liners.
His likeable personality and skill at improvisation was responsible for some of the show's most memorable moments. One popular segment was the "Iron Stomach" challenge in which Cannon invited members of the studio audience to take turns punching him in the stomach as hard as they could. These participants ranged from teenage boys to adult men who "would invariably pound George in the stomach and grimace or shake their hands in pain". While being punched, Cannon would occasionally perform a humorous monologue (e.g. reading from the works of Shakespeare) or, describing the action in a mock play-by-play voice, playfully taunting the participants by asking "Is that the best you can do?".
Rivalry with Maple Leaf Wrestling Cannon's main competitor was longtime Toronto promoter Frank Tunney who operated Maple Leaf Wrestling. As members of the National Wrestling Alliance, the Tunney family had ruled the territory since the 1940s. The Tunneys were usually indifferent to potential rivals as long as these "outlaw" promoters did not try to hold events in areas under their control such as Toronto. When "The Bearman" Dave McKigney tried running a show at Varsity Arena in September 1971, Tunney immediately scheduled a show at Maple Leaf Gardens on the same night. Over 15,000 people showed up at the Gardens while McKigney's show drew only 700 fans. McKigney's headliner, Tony Parisi, no-showed the event and began working for Tunney the following week. Five years later, encouraged by the strong attendance at the Superstars TV tapings, Cannon planned to hold their first major supercard at the CNE Coliseum which was to feature Lou Thesz in the main event. To help promote the show, the 60-year-old former NWA World Heavyweight Champion wrestled an exhibition match on Superstars and served as a special guest announcer.