Al Tomko
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Al Tomko (22 November 1931 – 5 August 2009)
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Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
professional wrestler Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring o ...
and wrestling promoter.


Professional wrestling career

Tomko started out as a wrestler in his hometown of
Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749, ...
on 9 July 1954, with the Madison Wrestling Club, losing his debut match to John DePaulo. During that same period, he ran his own promotion in Winnipeg, the Olympia Wrestling Club. After he shut down the Olympia Club to pursue non-wrestling ventures, but he rejoined the larger Madison Club in the 1960s to become one of that promotion's top
heels The heel is the prominence at the posterior end of the foot. It is based on the projection of one bone, the calcaneus or heel bone, behind the articulation of the bones of the lower leg. Structure To distribute the compressive forces exert ...
. He bought the Madison Club in 1967 and merged it with the American Wrestling Association in 1968. Tomko acted as the AWA's Winnipeg promoter from 1966 through to the mid-1970s, and he was credited with launching the career of Roddy Piper. He also competed sometimes in
Stampede Wrestling Stampede Wrestling was a Canadian professional wrestling promotion based in Calgary, Alberta. For nearly 50 years, it was one of the main promotions in western Canada and the Canadian Prairies. Originally established by Stu Hart in 1948, the pro ...
under a mask as Cosmo #1, and later wrestled without the mask in Stampede and in Vancouver's
NWA All Star Wrestling NWA All Star Wrestling (sometimes referred to as NWA Vancouver) is a Canadian professional wrestling promotion, based in Vancouver, British Columbia. All-Star Wrestling folded in 1989 but returned in 2007 no longer affiliated with the National Wr ...
as "Crazy Legs" Leroy Hirsch. In 1972, he started up another independent promotion called Central Canadian Championship Wrestling, which he ran in Manitoba cities and towns outside Winnipeg. He made use of mostly local talent, although he occasionally also brought in big-name stars for special appearances. Tomko later left Winnipeg and headed to
Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
, where he bought Sandor Kovacs' ownership stake in NWA All Star in 1977. While promoting the Vancouver territory, he began pushing himself as All Star's top star under the ring name Master Sergeant Tomko in the early-1980s (despite his age, being physically past his prime, and lacking wrestling skills) and gave himself almost all of All Star's championships (including the Vancouver version of the NWA Canadian Heavyweight title) at various points. Under Tomko's leadership, All Star went into decline (with co-owner
Gene Kiniski Eugene Nicholas Kiniski (November 23, 1928 – April 14, 2010) was a Canadian athlete who played football for the Edmonton Eskimos and then became a three-time professional wrestling world heavyweight champion. "Canada's Greatest Athlete", as he b ...
selling his share of the company in 1985) and went out of business by 1989.


Personal life

His two sons were Todd (who wrestled under the ring name Rick Davis) and Terry (who competed as The Frog, first while wearing a mask, and later unmasked). On 5 August 2009, Tomko died, aged 77, after a two-month bout with pancreatic cancer.


Championships and accomplishments

*Madison Wrestling Club **MWC Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Stan Mykietowich *
NWA All-Star Wrestling NWA All Star Wrestling (sometimes referred to as NWA Vancouver) is a Canadian professional wrestling promotion, based in Vancouver, British Columbia. All-Star Wrestling folded in 1989 but returned in 2007 no longer affiliated with the National Wr ...
** NWA Canadian Heavyweight Championship (''Vancouver version'') ( 5 times) ** NWA Canadian Tag Team Championship (''Vancouver version'') ( 2 times) – with
Igor Volkoff Pierre Lafleur (born February 13, 1939) is a former French Canadian professional wrestler who is best known for his appearances with the World Wide Wrestling Federation under the ring name Lumberjack Pierre where he was the half of The Yukon Lumber ...
(1) and
Bob Brown Robert James Brown (born 27 December 1944) is a former Australian politician, medical doctor and environmentalist. He was a senator and the parliamentary leader of the Australian Greens. Brown was elected to the Australian Senate on the Tasma ...
(1) ** NWA International Tag Team Championship (''Vancouver version'') ( 2 times) – with Moose Morowski (1) and Bob Brown (1) ** UWA Heavyweight Championship ( 1 time) *West Coast Championship Wrestling **WCCW Mid-Heavyweight Championship (1 time)


References


Further reading

*


External links


Slam! Wrestling profileAl Tomko at OWW.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tomko, Al 1931 births 2009 deaths Canadian male professional wrestlers Deaths from pancreatic cancer Sportspeople from Winnipeg Professional wrestlers from Manitoba Stampede Wrestling alumni