We are reminded recently about the success of both Edge (Adam Copeland) and Christian (Cage), not to mention Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens in the tag team category, which they weren’t famous for.
Success has come to all of them, but for their relatively unknown success in a tag situation made me think of the best Canadian tag teams that you’ve never heard of.
Best Canadian Tag Teams That You’ve Never Heard Of
What were some of the best Canadian Tag Teams not known to the general public or ones that have been forgotten in time? And as a curator of sorts of Wrestling History and keeping that part of our chosen sport alive.
Let’s share some love for a few Canadian Tag Teams that you may have never heard about or weren’t in your wheelhouse back in the day. While these guys are kind of concentric to Ontario, they all in their own way, travelled extensively throughout their respective careers.
The Wildman and The Wolfman –
Willie and Dave – Vilmos Farkus and The Bearman
Let’s start with a couple of boys near and dear to my heart. Willie and Dave! Who? You ask? Farkus and The Bearman? A title for an obscure TV series, no, not this time. These two beasts of the ring were better known under many names but are commonly remembered in parts of Canada as The Wildman and The Wolfman.
Vilmos Farkus was a tall lanky soccer player who immigrated to Canada in the 50’s after the communist regime took over in Hungary. He bounced around in the 60s, and many stories of his start in the ring have been told.
Stu Hart? Jail? Red Garner? I don’t have or know the definitive answer, but what I do know is he was another one of those heels who was a gentle giant and a friend to all who came into his circle of friends and acquaintances.
I remember meeting him for the first time in Niagara Falls and showing him a small bulletin I’d put together, “ Toronto Wrestling History.” One edition had a few clips of him and The Wildman in it when they were working for the WWA based out of Indianapolis.
Willie spoke English but was so broken and splintered that it was just about impossible to understand. He was forever indebted by my inclusion of him in the edition, along with his tag team partner billed here as The Beast.
Willie was a fitness buff and kept himself in top form for his whole career. Standing well over six feet and packing 240lbs. on his slender but muscular frame, he was a force to be reckoned with his unkept long hair and beard.
He was one of the first wrestlers to be managed by Freddie “The Hollywood Fashion Plate” Blassie when Fred finally gave up wrestling and became a manager in the WWWF in the mid-70s.
Wolfman matches were some of the first that I remember seeing where parts of the matches were censored with three big red Xs across the TV screen as Willie laid waste to another foe by chewing on the opponent’s leg or arm.
The Bearman or Canadian Wildman was a traveled veteran of the ring, starting out his career in 1954 in small promotions in and around Toronto, Canada. His nom de guerre was from his love of wrestling Bears, of which he had many over his career.
His first bear was Terrible Ted, and they traveled the highways and byways of North America throughout the late ’50s and 1960s. Dave and Ted worked in just about every State in the USA and straight across Canada from Quebec to BC.
Until Ted’s retirement in 1975, Dave had his own independent promotion in parts of Canada and was promoted from 1965 until 1988. He was successful for many years and had a general who’s who of wrestling work for him.
Andre, Lewin, Brazil, The Sheik worked over 500 matches for him over the years. Former World champions were also part of his shows, as Moolah, Whipper Watson, Larry Zbyszko, Stan Stasiak, Maurice Vachon, and Mighty Igor all partook in his shows.
Records show that he promoted over 1200 matches over his career without the aid of a TV show. Newspaper ads and wrestling posters were his way of promoting, which obviously worked. In London, Ontario, he promoted over 100 cards from 1969 to 1987.
Dave and Willie teamed for around ten years. They are known with Ontario Wrestling fans as the Hairiest and most exciting TagTeam villains of their time.
The Masked Crusaders
The Masked Crusaders were put together as a team in Toronto by the Tunney promotion. White masks and white singlets tights as they were a rarity at the time as they were a full-on Babyface TagTeam.
At the time, I think the only other masked babyfaces were Mil Mascaras and the two Mr. Wrestling’s in the southern U.S. Dewey Robertson was a local guy who was the protégé of Whipper Watson in the mid to late ’60s and had quite the remarkable career.
He was a typical athletic type of babyface who eventually won the Ontario-based Canadian Heavyweight title—winning in a one-night tourney to capture the strap and eventually losing to The Great Hossein/Iron Sheik in and around 1979-1980.
He morphed into one of the most secretive and unknown characters in wrestling history as he became The Missing Link in 1984. Dewey had a very successful career in Canada, as being the protégé of a former World champion has its perks and strengths.
He toured Ontario for years as a high-level local star, finding his way into many main events either in singles or Tag matches. He was one of my favorite babyface wrestlers when I was a kid, and started following wrestling on TV.
Billy Red Lyons was a very successful star whose career had him wrestling practically everywhere in North America. He had title runs as a tag wrestler in the AWA, Texas, and California.
He had been a regular on his home area of Ontario throughout the late 50s into the mid 60’s. He, along with partners Fritz Von Erich and his Brother-in-law The Destroyer (Dick Beyer), had bought the dying Rochester, NY area promotion from Pedro Martinez in the 60s and turned it around with their talent in the ring and sold it back to the Buffalo-based promoter.
Various long extended road trips and his age took a toll on Lyons, and he wished to come home. He had been out of the Ontario scene for years, and a new gimmick was thought of as he was to be another veteran in the ring to help further the career of his masked TT partner(who was seven years his junior) Dewey Robertson.
As the Masked Crusaders they were at the highlight of their careers, winning and losing the International TT titles many times over the years 1974-1977.
Pitched battles with The Love Brothers and The Kelly Twins were stellar matches throughout the Territory. They carried on with their tag team for a few years after working for local independent promoter Dave Mckigney.
Lyons was after his in-ring career finished, he became the voice of Maple Leaf Wrestling both at the tail end of the Mid-Atlantic days and right into the WWF takeover of the Toronto territory.
His catchphrase was announcing another upcoming show: “Don’t ya dare miss it”. Both wrestlers were remarkably fit and well accustomed to flying maneuvers in the ring, where Dewy may have been a more muscular type with his moves, but Lyons could very easily carry the team.
It was said that Lyons had given Brunzell and Blair the idea to be a babyface masked tag team and use the masks to confuse both opponents and referees to their advantage.
Pat and Mike Kelly
Finally, the identical Tag Brothers Pat and Mike Kelly are on our list of Famous Tag Teams that you probably don’t know.
These brothers were more of a journeyman team who traveled many circuits over their 20-year career. They were from Hamilton, Ontario, guys who trained in the factory, which was Hamilton.
So many top stars came out of the few gyms and clubs based in the Steel City. Victor and William Arko were rumored to have started out in their careers as a Hillbilly tag team with a pet rooster that used to accompany them to the ring.
They had many tours throughout the U.S., wrestling mostly in the smaller areas or territories. Having said that, though, they captured Tag Gold in most circuits as they held the following tag team titles: Stampede, Toronto (International) Vancouver, Golf Coast, Central States, WWA, and AWA Southern.
Many years honing their trade on Ontario working for the aforementioned Wildman’s promotion throughout the 70’s and 80’s. Working for the Rougeau’s Allstar wrestling in Quebec, they progressed as a tag team to be wary of and were usually always heel wrestlers.
Having perfected the behind-the-ref switcheroo maneuver, they infuriated crowds wherever they wrestled. A fantastic tour of Japan in 1985 saw them work against the cream of the crop there, including Fujinami, Inoki, Sakaguchi, Dos Caras, El Canek, and both facing and teaming with Bruiser Brody and Stan Hansen.
In 1983, while working in Germany for Otto Wanz, they faced Big John Quinn, Miles Zrno, Ed Wiskowski, UFO(Bob Dellaserra), Axel Dieter, and Klaus Wallas, all famous European stars in their own right.
They started a small-scale promotion in Ontario that had minor success in the 80’s also. They eventually ended their storied career working in 1988 on an ill-fated tour of Newfoundland for Dave Mckigney/The Wildman, and in a tragic single-car accident, Pat Kelly was killed along with Adrian Adonis and promoter Mckigney.
Mike couldn’t carry on without his brother and retired from the ring wars. Another note on their career was a famous TV commercial in Canada for the OH HENRY chocolate bar along with Joe Leduc. Hope you enjoyed this brief synopsis of The Greatest tag teams you’ve never heard of.
