It was just announced this week that former NWA World champion, A.J. Styles will return to Canadian rings when he makes appearances for Border City Wrestling later this month.  Originally, D\'Lo Brown had been scheduled for appearances in Oldcastle, Ontario and Belleville, Michigan, but due to commitments overseas, had to withdraw his appearances in the great white north.  Styles, who has been wowing audiences in NWA TNA has also appeared in Canada for Don Callis\' Winnipeg based No Holds Barred promotion last year.  This time out, Styles will step in the ring with the highly touted \"The Future\" Chris Sabin in what promises to be an incredible match.  Other standouts slated to appear are Jim Duggan, Jim Neidhart, the Honky Tonk Man, Al Snow and Shane Douglas.

 

NWA Pacific Northwest/Extreme Canadian Championship Wrestling star, Madison is keeping very busy these days and has just announced a slew of American dates in upcoming weeks.  The former NWA World women\'s champion who has made two appearances for NWA TNA will be on the road in December for shows in Utah for NWA Rocky Mountain, and in California for dates with Roland Alexander\'s APW before two scheduled WWE tapings in the sunny state before returning home in time for the holidays.  Madison, who rated very high in the recent \"sexiest women in Canadian wrestling\" poll, has been very busy over the past year with a number of appearances across Canada and the United States and it looks like 2004 will be an even bigger year for this \"can\'t miss\" superstar.

 

A DAY IN WRESTLING HISTORY: Sunday, November 15, 1981.
Maple Leaf Gardens  Toronto, Ontario
Promoter Frank Tunney
By Andrew Calvert, special to the Inside Cradle

For 50 wonderful years, the wrestling world had come alive in the legendary arena at the corner of Carlton and Church in Toronto. Frank Tunney had been a part of  the festivities since 1931 when Maple Leaf Gardens had first opened. When his older  brother John Tunney passed away suddenly in 1940, Frank would take over the reigns and present world class wrestling throughout the Golden Horseshoe area of Ontario until his death in 1983.

There would be a buzz in the air in the weeks prior to the card, the TV spots proclaiming a historic card in the making. Toronto had been the site of many historic matches over the years, and the fans knew anything could happen when the world champion came to town. There had been an absence of the World Title from the area since August and being a town that was used to seeing the NWA, AWA, and WWF Titles on a regular basis, the anticipation ran high amongst the Toronto faithful.

Ric Flair would be making his first area defense of his newly won NWA World Title against former champ Harley Race. In promo\'s leading up to the bout, the rugged Race would boast of his experience and superiority to the young \"Nature Boy\" and promise to regain the belt he had worn on six previous occasions. Harley would also remind fans of his historic Toronto victory over Terry Funk in 1977 when he won the NWA title belt for the second time after beating Funk with an Indian deathlock at the beloved MLG.

Flair was as popular a wrestler as any who had ever graced the ring at the historic arena. From the moment he appeared at the opening from the backstage area and stepped up on the fabled ramp leading to the ring, the crowd was deafening in it\'s support for the flamboyant champ.

The match itself would not disappoint, with 16,000 fans seeing the two ring warriors matching each other hold for hold with Race coming close to pinning Flair on several occasions. Race would use his falling head butt to precision causing Flair to bleed profusely and would punish the champ with his calculated knee drops and variety of sooplays.

The young Champ would not be denied however and mount a comeback with his own arsenal of moves including his trademark figure four leg lock. Flair would wear down the former champ and get the pinfall victory after a spirited 24 minute match.

The feud between Canadian Champ \"Big\" John Studd and former champ Angelo \"King Kong\" Mosca was to be settled in a match with 2 referees. Studd had won the belt from the popular former CFL star in September and Mosca had been foiled so far in his attempts to win it back. \"King Kong\" would batter the champ from turnbuckle to turnbuckle and gain a measure of revenge but would fail to regain the belt after Studd was unable to return to the ring and was counted out.

The \"Eighth Wonder of The World\" Andre The Giant would appear in a revenge match against Killer Kahn who had \"broken\" the Giant\'s leg a few months previous. The fans were hoping Andre would end Kahn\'s reign of terror throughout the region which had included a beating on popular veteran Johnny Weaver. The legendary French Giant who had began his career here as the young \"Jean Ferre\" would exact his revenge with an awesome display of strength, handling the massive Kahn like a lightweight. Both wrestlers would be disqualified for refusing to follow the rules but there was no doubt that the Giant was the clear winner.

In other bouts \"Outlaw\" Ron Bass would successfully defend his NWA TV Title by pinning Mike Miller. Johnny Weaver would pin Charlie Fulton, and the team of Tony Parisi and Mike Davis would get the win over Doug Vines and Izzy Slapowitz.

 

 

Ever wonder about the documented history of Canadian wrestling?  Does such a record exist?  Well it looks like a complete record of wrestling in Canada is well on its way to becoming a reality with the recent unveiling of Vance Nevada\'s reasearch on-line.  There are more than 20,000 wrestling cards from 1902 to present from coast to coast to peruse on this on-line database which is sure to produce hours and hours of viewing as you stroll throguh Canada\'s illustrious past.  Check the directory and see something missing, send it off to us and we will forward it for inclusion in a future update.  After only days on the world wide web more than 50 cards have been added ranging from 1903 to 1986 with more information coming in daily.  We strongly urge you to check it out at: