William John Potts , OOnt (June 25, 1915 – February 4, 1990) was a Canadian professional wrestler best known by his ring name " Whipper " Billy Watson . He was a two-time world champion , having held both the National Wrestling Association title and the National Wrestling Alliance title . On February 21, 1947, he became the first man to win a world heavyweight wrestling championship on TV.
27-457: NWA British Empire Heavyweight Championship may refer to: NWA British Empire Heavyweight Championship (Toronto version) NWA British Empire Heavyweight Championship (Vancouver version) See also [ edit ] NWA British Empire/Commonwealth Championship (New Zealand version) Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with
54-455: A midget professional wrestler , and Rocky Johnson , a multiple-time tag team champion and father of The Rock . Watson was hit by an out-of-control car while placing a fireplace screen in the trunk of his car on November 30 on Rogers Road in Toronto. After a three-hour surgery at Northwestern Hospital, his knee eventually recovered, but Watson could never wrestle again. Although he nearly lost
81-530: A copy of his entry form with the Ontario Athletics Commission so that Tunney would be unable to claim he did not enter, and then won four matches in one night to win the tournament. From that point on, Watson was positioned as a legitimate main event performer, a position that was cemented during Watson's feud with Nanjo Singh, which began in January 1942. Watson soon became a crowd favourite and within
108-419: A few months later. On March 15, 1956, Watson ended Thesz's six-year reign as World Champion in front of 15,000 fans. Former boxing champion Jack Dempsey was the referee in the match. Watson traveled throughout North America and took on legends such as Gorgeous George, Pat O'Connor , Dick Hutton , Richard Dempk, Bobo Brazil , Hans Schmidt , Fritz Von Erich , Killer Kowalski and Buddy Rogers. Thesz regained
135-626: A few years was a mainstream celebrity and one of Toronto's most popular citizens. Frank Tunney estimated that Whipper Watson drew more than five million people in main events of shows in Toronto. As one of the most popular wrestlers in the city's history, Watson spent 31 years entertaining fans. His last match was held on November 28, 1971. Watson defeated Nanjo Singh for the British Empire title on April 30, 1942. He feuded with Bill Longson , Lou Thesz , Yvon Robert , Gene Kiniski , Gorgeous George , and The Sheik , among many others. Watson earned
162-502: A leg, he continued his fundraising activities into his retirement. Watson also promoted his own soft drink brand. Watson was well known for his contributions to charity. He raised millions for campaigns such as the Easter Seals and was responsible for having 150,000 children join a safety club. He made many public appearances across Canada in support of children with physical disabilities and held an annual Easter Seals skate-a-thon at
189-479: A mural in the facility. As Watson was quoted in the Sault Star on January 31, 1979, "They deserve a chance to live life as normally as you or I and we can help them do it. We can tear down some of those needless barriers that the handicapped face everyday. We can give thanks that our kids and families are unafflicted and we can get out and sincerely work hard to make the 1979 Snowarama the most successful yet." Over
216-528: A reputation as someone who was willing to lose clean in the ring. He earned an "everyman" image and Watson went on to hold the city of Toronto's regional title and the British Empire title on a regular basis. Tunney cut Watson in on the business side of things. Their combined booking efforts resulted in large fortunes for the two of them. With connections to St. Louis promoter Tom Packs , Watson's notoriety resulted in Watson ending Longson's four-year title reign with
243-1411: A scheduled defense; defeated Katan on February 25, 1943 8 Jack Claybourne 1943 Stampede show N/A 1 N/A 9 Whipper Billy Watson March 18, 1943 Stampede show Toronto, ON 3 70 10 Yvon Robert May 27, 1943 Stampede show Toronto, ON 1 7 — Vacated June 3, 1943 — — — — Title held up after Robert Defeated Whipper Billy Watson by DQ in Toronto, ON 11 Whipper Billy Watson June 10, 1943 Stampede show Toronto, ON 4 42 Defeated Robert in rematch 12 Earl McCready July 22, 1943 Stampede show Toronto, ON 3 N/A — N/A — — 13 Whipper Billy Watson July 1944 (NLT) Stampede show N/A 5 N/A Unknown whom Watson defeated for
270-585: A small group of wrestlers to have membership in the National Wrestling Alliance . In 1955, Watson expanded his business ventures by purchasing the Seattle territory from Bob Murray. Wrestlers from Toronto such as Doug Hepburn and Sky-Hi Lee wrestled for Watson in Seattle. Ken Kenneth ran the day-to-day operations for Watson and imported wrestlers from San Francisco to compete in Seattle. The territory folded
297-535: A tour of the United Kingdom along with fellow Toronto wrestlers Tommy Nelson, Al Korman, and Ken "Tiger" Tasker and their manager, Harry Joyce. English wrestling often involved hard-nosed shooting and he was sidelined for six months with a fractured shoulder and numerous broken ribs. It was on this tour that William Potts became Billy Watson. Booked by former Olympic Gold Medalist George de Relwyskow , Watson traveled through England and Ireland . The change of surname
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#1732884707009324-561: A victory at the Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis on February 21, 1947. The territory of St. Louis became a home away from home for Watson. More than 10,000 St. Louis fans watched local hero Lou Thesz beat Watson for the world title on April 25, 1947. After Packs retired in 1948, Tunney bought into the territory in St. Louis and this resulted in many more matches for Watson in the city. Watson became one of
351-1820: The NWA British Empire Heavyweight Championship was a major singles title in that city's NWA affiliate, Maple Leaf Wrestling , from 1941 until 1967, when the title was abandoned. Title history [ edit ] Key No. Overall reign number Reign Reign number for the specific champion Days Number of days held No. Champion Championship change Reign statistics Notes Ref. Date Event Location Reign Days 1 Earl McCready June 1941 Stampede show N/A 1 N/A Reigning New Zealand version champion - recognized in Toronto 2 Nanjo Singh February 12, 1942 Stampede show N/A 1 77 3 Whipper Billy Watson April 30, 1942 Stampede show Toronto, ON 1 154 4 John Katan October 1, 1942 Stampede show Toronto, ON 1 41 5 Earl McCready November 11, 1942 Stampede show Toronto, ON 2 22 6 John Katan December 3, 1942 Stampede show Toronto, ON 2 56 7 Whipper Billy Watson January 28, 1943 Stampede show Toronto, ON 2 N/A Defeated Nanjo Singh when Katan no-showed
378-1441: The NWA World Heavyweight title 24 Pat O'Connor March 29, 1956 Stampede show Toronto, ON 1 399 Defeated Lord Athol Layton 26 Gene Kiniski May 2, 1957 Stampede show Toronto, ON 5 35 26 Whipper Billy Watson June 6, 1957 Stampede show Toronto, ON 10 680 27 Gene Kiniski April 17, 1959 Stampede show Toronto, ON 2 62 28 Whipper Billy Watson June 18, 1959 Stampede show Toronto, ON 11 N/A — Deactivated 1967 — — — — Title abandoned See also [ edit ] List of National Wrestling Alliance championships References [ edit ] ^ Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2006). Wrestling Title Histories (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4 . ^ Hoops, Brian (March 3, 2017). "Daily Pro Wrestling History (03/03): Sting wins
405-1611: The National Wrestling Association World Heavyweight title 16 Nanjo Singh May 13, 1948 Stampede show Toronto, ON 2 21 17 Whipper Billy Watson June 3, 1948 Stampede show Toronto, ON 7 273 18 Fred Atkins March 3, 1949 Stampede show Toronto, ON 1 152 19 Whipper Billy Watson August 2, 1949 Stampede show Hamilton, ON 8 65 20 Yvon Robert October 6, 1949 Stampede show Montreal, QC 2 42 21 Whipper Billy Watson November 17, 1949 Stampede show Toronto, ON 9 69 22 Yvon Robert January 25, 1950 Stampede show Montreal, QC 3 260 23 Whipper Billy Watson October 12, 1950 Stampede show Toronto, ON 9 1,981 — Vacated March 15, 1956 — — — — Watson won
432-506: The Gardens. He appeared in one Gardens main event in February 1941, but his big push came two months later. According to storyline, Watson filed a lawsuit against Tunney for breach of contract, claiming that he had been signed to wrestle a main event against Masked Wolf. When Tunney held an open tournament to determine the number one contender for the world title on May 1, 1941, Watson entered; filing
459-413: The Gardens. In 1974, he also started the "Whipper Watson Snowarama for Timmy" to raise money for the construction of a therapeutic pool. To date, Snowarama for Easter Seals Kids has raised over 16.1 million dollars provincially to help support children and youth with physical disabilities. Today, his campaign to build The Whipper Watson Therapeutic Pool at Southlake Regional Health Centre is illustrated in
486-1392: The TNA title" . Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online . Retrieved March 7, 2017 . ^ Hoops, Brian (April 17, 2020). "Daily pro wrestling (04/17): WCW Spring Stampede 1994" . Wrestling Observer Newsletter . Retrieved April 17, 2020 . External links [ edit ] NWA British Empire Heavyweight title history (Toronto) v t e Maple Leaf Wrestling championships NWA British Empire Heavyweight Championship NWA Canadian Open Tag Team Championship NWA United States Heavyweight Championship NWA International Tag Team Championship NWA Canadian Heavyweight Championship NWA Canadian Television Championship Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=NWA_British_Empire_Heavyweight_Championship_(Toronto_version)&oldid=1149139177 " Categories : National Wrestling Alliance championships Maple Leaf Wrestling championships Heavyweight wrestling championships National professional wrestling championships Professional wrestling in Toronto Hidden categories: Articles with short description Short description matches Wikidata Articles with hCards Whipper Billy Watson Watson
513-714: The corner of Danforth and Dawes Road. He was convinced by his brother George to play hooky from piano lessons one Saturday to attend a wrestling session at the All Hallows Anglican Church gymnasium. The event changed Watson's life. He furthered his wrestling training with Phillip Lawson at the Bowles Athletic Club and later the Central YMCA. In 1936, wrestling as Bill Potts, Watson appeared on cards at British Consols Stadium in Toronto that were advertised as amateur wrestling shows. In June of that year, he went on
540-738: The course of the next twelve years, Watson gained 130 pounds to weigh 350 pounds. He died on February 4, 1990, in Orlando, Florida . He is well-remembered in York Region where he lived. W.J. Watson Public School in Keswick, Ontario , is named in his honour. He was inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 1995. In 2003, Watson was ranked number one wrestler in Greg Oliver's book Professional Wrestling Hall Of Fame: The Canadians. Watson tested
567-458: The 💕 Professional wrestling championship NWA British Empire Heavyweight Championship ( Toronto version ) Details Promotion Maple Leaf Wrestling Date established June 1941 Date retired 1967 Statistics First champion(s) Earl McCready Final champion(s) Whipper Billy Watson Most reigns Whipper Billy Watson (11 reigns) The Toronto version of
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#1732884707009594-589: The name was acquired in Canada or the United Kingdom. After four years abroad, Watson and his wife returned to Canada, and he began wrestling at Maple Leaf Wrestling in Toronto under 27-year-old promoter Frank Tunney . Watson made his Maple Leaf Gardens debut in the opening match of the October 3, 1940. Newspaper reports in November said Watson was frustrated with not getting a main event match in his first six appearances at
621-440: The title 14 Frank Sexton N/A Stampede show N/A 1 N/A 15 Whipper Billy Watson October 26, 1944 Stampede show Toronto, ON 6 848 — Vacated February 21, 1947 — — — — Watson won
648-580: The title NWA British Empire Heavyweight Championship . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=NWA_British_Empire_Heavyweight_Championship&oldid=587284183 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages NWA British Empire Heavyweight Championship (Toronto version) From Misplaced Pages,
675-566: The title from Watson on November 9, 1956, in St. Louis. Outside of wrestling, Watson considered playing football for the Edmonton Eskimos in the 1950s. On November 28, 1971, he teamed with Bulldog Brower at the Gardens to beat Dingo the Sundowner and Man Mountain Cannon in less than five minutes which would be his very last match. He also trained several wrestlers, including Farmer Brooks ,
702-602: Was born in 1915 in East York, Ontario (now part of Toronto ) to an English-born father, John Potts and a Canadian-born mother, Alice Mary Wilken. Watson began wrestling in Toronto under his real name. He was a member of the Scarborough Athletic Club in the mid-1930s and was wrestling on what were billed as amateur wrestling shows in Toronto. For four years as a teenager, Watson sold the Toronto Daily Star at
729-488: Was caused by the opportunity to take on the tour engagements of fellow Canadian wrestler, Winnett Wallingford Watson, whose ship had been delayed by bad weather in the Atlantic; the original Watson later changed his ring name to Pat Flanagan. Watson received the "Whipper" nickname from his usage of the "Irish Whip", which involved hurling an opponent into the ropes before throwing him over his back, though sources differ on whether
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