Stampede Wrestling was a Canadian

professional wrestling promotion A professional wrestling promotion is a company or business that regularly performs shows involving professional wrestling that has little relationship to the rules of the amateur olympic form. "Promotion" also describes a role which entails mana ...

based in

Calgary, Alberta Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

. For nearly 50 years, it was one of the main promotions in

western Canada Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces, Canadian West or the Western provinces of Canada, and commonly known within Canada as the West, is a Canadian region that includes the four western provinces just north of the Canada� ...

and the

Canadian Prairies The Canadian Prairies (usually referred to as simply the Prairies in Canada) is a region in Western Canada. It includes the Canadian portion of the Great Plains and the Prairie Provinces, namely Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. These provin ...

. Originally established by Stu Hart in 1948, the promotion competed with other promotions such as NWA All-Star Wrestling and

Pacific Northwest Wrestling Pacific Northwest Wrestling (PNW) (also known as Big Time Wrestling and Portland Wrestling) is the common name used to refer to several different professional wrestling companies, both past and present, based in Portland, Oregon, United States. ...

and regularly ran events in Calgary's Victoria Pavilion, Ogden Auditorium and the Stampede Corral between 1948 and 1984. Bought out by promoter

Vince McMahon Vincent Kennedy McMahon (; born August 24, 1945) is an American media proprietor and retired professional wrestling promoter, executive, and performer. From 1982 to 2022, he served as the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of WWE, the ...

, the company was briefly run by the

World Wrestling Federation World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and var ...

(WWF) before being sold back to the Hart family the following year. Run by Bruce Hart until January 1990, he and Ross Hart reopened the promotion in 1999 and began running events in the Alberta area. Along with its wrestling school known as " The Dungeon", many of the promotion's former alumni becoming some of the most popular stars in the World Wrestling Federation and other American promotions during the 1980s and 1990s, the promotion produced one of the earliest televised professional wrestling programs (today considered the forerunner of today's WWE) that remained one of Calgary's most popular sports programs eventually airing in over 50 countries.

History

First run (1948–1984)

Stampede Wrestling was formed in 1948 by Stu Hart and Al Oeming under the name Klondike Wrestling, and held their first show on September 11, 1948, at the Sales Pavillion in Edmonton, Alberta. It also become the

National Wrestling Alliance The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) is an American professional wrestling promotion and former professional wrestling governing body operated by its parent company Lightning One, Inc. Founded in 1948, the NWA began as a governing body for a ...

's Calgary territory in Canada. In May 1951, they changed its name to Big Time Wrestling. In February 1958, they introduced their version of the NWA International Tag Team Championship to replace the

Alberta Tag Team Championship In professional wrestling, the Alberta Tag Team Championship was a tag team championship promoted by the Calgary, Alberta, Canada-based professional wrestling promotion Stampede Wrestling in the mid-1950s. History The Alberta Tag Team Champions ...

that was retired the year before, which was won by

The Kalmikoffs The Kalmikoffs were a professional wrestling group of fictitious soviet brothers. It began as a tag team consisting of Ivan (Edward Bogucki) and Karol (Karol Piwoworczyk) who were later joined by "brothers" Nikita (Nikita Mulkovitch) and Stan (o ...

. In 1959, Oeming retired and Hart took full control of the territory. Hart would also retire their version of the NWA Canadian Tag Team Championship. In 1965, he changed the name of the promotion to Wildcat Wrestling. Finally, in August 1967, he changed it to Stampede Wrestling, and the name stuck. In February 1968, they created their own singles title, the Stampede North American Heavyweight Championship, which was won by

Archie Gouldie Archibald Edward Gouldie (November 22, 1936 – January 23, 2016) was a Canadian professional wrestler. He wrestled for Stampede Wrestling for decades as Archie "The Stomper" Gouldie, with the nickname coming from the wrestler's reputation of ...

(the future Mongolian Stomper). Four years later, they retired their version of the NWA Canadian Heavyweight Championship. In June 1978, they introduced the Stampede British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight Championship, with Dynamite Kid as their inaugural champion during his first tour in North America. In 1979, Stampede would bring back an old championship, the

Stampede World Mid-Heavyweight Championship The Stampede World Mid-Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling title, one of the lesser known secondary titles created for Stampede Wrestling in 1959, and was the focal point of the 1982-83 feud between the Dynamite Kid and the Great ...

(the title was first introduced in June 1959, before being quickly abandoned), with Dick Steinborn as champion. In 1982, Stampede withdrew from the NWA. On December 2, 1983, a riot broke out at the Victoria Pavilion in Calgary during a match between

Bret Hart Bret Hart (born July 2, 1957) is a Canadian-American retired professional wrestler, currently signed to WWE under a legend's contract. A member of the Hart wrestling family and a second-generation wrestler, he has an amateur wrestling back ...

Davey Boy Smith David Smith (27 November 1962 – 18 May 2002) was an English professional wrestler. Born in Golborne, Lancashire, Smith is best known for his appearances in the United States with the World Wrestling Federation under the ring names Davey B ...

and Sonny Two Rivers against

Bad News Allen Allen James Coage (October 22, 1943 – March 6, 2007) was an American judoka and professional wrestler. He won medals for the United States at several international judo competitions, including the heavyweight bronze medal at the 1976 S ...

The Stomper Archibald Edward Gouldie (November 22, 1936 – January 23, 2016) was a Canadian professional wrestler. He wrestled for Stampede Wrestling for decades as Archie "The Stomper" Gouldie, with the nickname coming from the wrestler's reputation of ...

and Stomper's

kayfabe In professional wrestling, kayfabe, as a noun, is the portrayal of staged events within the industry as "real" or "true", specifically the portrayal of competition, rivalries, and relationships between participants as being genuine and not staged. ...

son Jeff Gouldie. Longtime Stampede announcer Ed Whalen reportedly became distraught during the riot, in which a woman was trampled, causing him to quit from the Stampede on air. Speaking of the events he remarked, "We're starting to scare the patrons with this violence outside the ring, and I will not be associated with it anymore." The event led to Stampede Wrestling being banned from Calgary for six months by the city's wrestling and boxing commission. In August 1984, Stampede Wrestling was sold to the

. Of all the talent that WWF took upon their purchase of Stampede, they took only three wrestlers: Bret Hart, Davey Boy Smith, and Dynamite Kid. Their last show was held on November 5, 1984 in Vancouver, British Columbia, as a WWF/Stampede joint show.

Second run (1985–1989)

On October 28, 1985, the WWF sold Stampede back to the Hart family, with Bruce Hart taking the reins, and by 1986, the Calgary territory was given a shot of adrenaline with new talent such as

Owen Hart Owen James Hart (May 7, 1965 – May 23, 1999) was a Canadian-American professional wrestler who worked for several promotions including Stampede Wrestling, New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and the World Wres ...

, Brian Pillman,

Chris Benoit Christopher Michael Benoit (; May 21, 1967 – June 24, 2007) was a Canadian professional wrestler. He worked for various pro-wrestling promotions during his 22-year career including most notably the World Wrestling Federation/World Wrestlin ...

, Biff Wellington, and

Johnny Smith Johnny Henry Smith II (June 25, 1922 – June 11, 2013) was an American cool jazz and mainstream jazz guitarist. He wrote "Walk, Don't Run" in 1954. In 1984, Smith was inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame. Early life During the Great D ...

coming in to tangle with Gama Singh and his Karachi Vice stable (which included Shinya Hashimoto,

Gary Albright Gary Mitchell Albright (May 18, 1963 – January 7, 2000) was an American professional wrestler best known for his work in Japan, first with UWF International (UWFi), and later All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW). In AJPW, Albright was a two-time Worl ...

, and Mike Shaw) and The Viet Cong Express (which included a masked Hiroshi Hase). In December 1987, they added a women's championship, the IWA World Women's Championship, with

Monster Ripper Rhonda Ann Singh (February 21, 1961 – July 27, 2001) was a Canadian professional wrestler. After training with Mildred Burke, she wrestled in Japan under the name Monster Ripper. In 1987, she returned to Canada and began working with Stampede W ...

as their champion, but by January 1989, that championship moved to Japan. Despite a valiant four years trying to resurrect the wrestling scene in Calgary to its former glory, Stampede officially shut down on December 18, 1989. The closure stemmed from long-standing problems between Bruce Hart and Ed Whalen, producer Fred May's constantly editing too much content off TV, and pay disputes within talent. Their final show before closing down was held in Edmonton on December 16, with Larry Cameron defeating Bob Emory in the main event to retain the North American Heavyweight Championship.

Failed attempts to relaunch

Despite Stampede officially closing down in December 1989, there were several attempts to revive the promotion. The first attempt occurred around March 1990 by Bruce Hart, but it only lasted three months, running smaller towns outside Calgary and Edmonton, due to a lack of approval by the Calgary Wrestling & Boxing Commission to promote shows. The next attempt was around December 1991 by Abu Wizal, but only lasted a couple weeks. Between July 1995 and July 1997, Bruce Hart promoted one-off shows periodically at the Rockyford Rodeo in Rockyford, Alberta. On December 15, 1995, a special Stampede Wrestling tribute show was held at the Corral in Calgary, celebrating Stu Hart's life and career. It featured several Stampede alumni, as well as talent from both the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling. The main event saw Bret Hart successfully defend the WWF Championship against Davey Boy Smith.

Third run (1999–2008)

In early 1999, Bruce and Ross Hart reopened Stampede Wrestling, showcasing graduates from the Hart Dungeon training school. However, only weeks after their first event, the promotion once again became inactive following the death of Owen Hart in May. Although considering closing the promotion, the Hart family continued to promote events five months later and began touring western Canada. Although successful, the Harts were forced to cancel several tours in late 2001 and early 2002 due to the arrival of a rival promotion backed by a Calgary businessman. The promotion also lost much of its roster due to its rival hiring away top stars. In 2005, promoters Bill Bell and

Devon Nicholson Devon Nicholson is a Canadian professional wrestler who has wrestled under the names of Kid Nichols, Hannibal and Blood Hunter. He is also a professional wrestling promoter, running the Great North Wrestling company, and has a YouTube channel, Th ...

took over day-to-day operations for Stampede Wrestling. During an event at the Spray Lakes Sawmill Sportsplex in Cochrane, Alberta, Nicholson would face Abdullah the Butcher after the scheduled main event between Lance Storm and Rhyno was canceled when Rhyno failed to appear. At that same event, longtime tag team partners TJ Wilson and Harry Smith faced each other in Smith's final match for the promotion before leaving for World Wrestling Entertainment. Bruce and Ross Hart sold Stampede Wrestling to Bill Bell in 2007. The promotion ceased operations again in April 2008. Stampede's weekly shows were held mostly at the Victoria Pavilion in Calgary, with special events held at the Stampede Corral.

Television program

Stampede Wrestling was the basis for a long-running weekly sports broadcast produced in Calgary showcasing many of the promotion's most popular wrestlers. Hosted by Ed Whalen most of its run, which went from 1957 to 1989, the series was syndicated around the world and reruns continue to be shown in some countries to this day. At the time Stampede was revived in 1999, a second ''Stampede Wrestling'' TV series was attempted, hosted by

and play by play commentator Mauro Ranallo, but it was short-lived and Whalen was not involved.

Tape library

WWE currently controls Stampede's extensive tape library. In December 2015, the WWE Network began adding Stampede Wrestling shows to its Vault section. However, it was all removed a few days later, after Bret Hart proved that he owned the rights to the footage of his matches.

The Dungeon

Stampede Wrestling was famous for "The Dungeon", a professional wrestling school located in the

basement A basement or cellar is one or more Storey, floors of a building that are completely or partly below the storey, ground floor. It generally is used as a utility space for a building, where such items as the Furnace (house heating), furnace, ...

of the Calgary mansion Hart House, home of the Hart family. Stu Hart and

Mr. Hito (April 25, 1942 – April 21, 2010), better known as Mr. Hito, was a Japanese professional wrestler who competed in North American and Japanese regional promotions from the 1950s until the mid-1980s. Most notably, he was the tag team partn ...

were the main trainers in the Dungeon. The school trained a number of ECW, WCW, WWE and

NJPW (NJPW) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion based in Nakano, Tokyo. Founded on January 13, 1972, by Antonio Inoki, the promotion was sold to Yuke's, who later sold it to Bushiroad in 2012. TV Asahi and Amuse, Inc. own minority shares of ...

stars, including the Hart Brothers, Mark Henry,

, Chris Jericho, Ricky Fuji, Hiroshi Hase, Ken Shamrock, Justin Credible and

Edge Edge or EDGE may refer to: Technology Computing * Edge computing, a network load-balancing system * Edge device, an entry point to a computer network * Adobe Edge, a graphical development application * Microsoft Edge, a web browser developed ...

Championships

Active until 2008

Retired, defunct, and inactive championships

Former personnel

Modern version (1984-2008)

;Male wrestlers ;Female wrestlers

Original version (1948–2007)

* Adrian Street *

Abdullah the Butcher Lawrence Robert Shreve (born January 11, 1941), better known by the ring name Abdullah the Butcher, is a Canadian retired professional wrestler. He has a reputation for being involved in some of the most violent and bloody hardcore wrestling m ...

* Hercules Ayala *

Ben Bassarab Benjamin Bassarab (born March 3, 1960) is a Canadian former bodybuilder and professional wrestler, best known for his appearances for Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling promotion throughout the 1980s. Bassarab is a two time Stampede International Tag ...

* Black Tomcat *

Steve Blackman Steve Blackman (born September 28, 1963) is an American martial arts instructor, bail bondsman, and former professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) from 1997 to 2002, where he was a f ...

* "Bulldog" Bob Brown * Kerry Brown * Leo Burke * The Bushwackers *Bob Gordon * Larry Cameron * Delbert Wapass * The Cobra * Cuban Assassin * Steve DiSalvo * JR Wapass *Pat Young * Dynamite Kid * Dory Funk Jr. *

The Great Gama Ghulam Mohammad Baksh Butt (22 May 1878 – 23 May 1960), commonly known as ''Rustam-e-Hind'' ( Hindi-Urdu for ''Rostam of Hindostan'') and by the ring name The Great Gama, was a pehlwani wrestler and strongman in British India. In the ear ...

* Sumo Hara *

* Calvin Wapass * Tom Mark * Bruce Hart * Keith Hart *

* Teddy Hart *

Disman Johnson Visman ( fa, ويسمان, also Romanized as Vīsmān; also known as Dīsmān and Vishmān) is a village in Aq Kahriz Rural District, Nowbaran District, Saveh County, Markazi Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 118, in 50 famili ...

* Honky Tonk Wayne * Hiroshi Hase * Allan Mark * Jason the Terrible * Hashif Khan * Killer Khan * Tyson Kidd * Garry Robertson * Brian Grandam * Killer Kowalski * Dan Kroffat * Keiichi Yamada * Rick Martel * Don Muraco * Andy Carmichael * Kendo Nagasaki (Peter Thornley) * Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart *

Nattie Neidhart Natalie Katherine Neidhart-Wilson (born May 27, 1982) is a Canadian-American professional wrestler and columnist. She is currently signed to WWE, where she performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Natalya. She is a two-time women's ...

* Brian Pillman *

Harley Race Harley Leland Race (April 11, 1943 – August 1, 2019) was an American professional wrestler, promoter, and trainer. Race wrestled in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), the American Wrestling Association (AWA), the World Wrestling Federati ...

*Richard Young * Big Daddy Ritter *

Jake Roberts Aurelian Smith Jr. (born May 30, 1955), better known by the ring name Jake "The Snake" Roberts, is an American professional wrestler and actor currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) where he performs as manager to Lance Archer. He is ...

* Goldie Rogers * Mr. Sakurada * Benkei Sasaki *

Satoru Sayama (born November 27, 1957) is a Japanese professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, MMA and wrestling promoter and writer, best known as the original Tiger Mask. He has wrestled under his real name as well as the names Sammy Lee, and masked ...

* "Dr. D." David Schultz * Rhonda Sing * Roy Issac * Darcy Parker * Makhan Singh * Vokhan Singh *

Bruce Nielsen The English language name Bruce arrived in Scotland with the Normans, from the place name Brix, Manche in Normandy, France, meaning "the willowlands". Initially promulgated via the descendants of king Robert the Bruce (1274−1329), it has been a ...

* Harry Smith *

*George Senick * Terrible Ted, a black bear * Les Thornton * Biff Wellington

Hall of Fame

The Stampede Wrestling Hall of Fame list professional wrestlers and others who have competed in Stampede Wrestling, from Stu Hart's Klondike Wrestling to the original Stampede Wrestling promotion which closed in 1990. * – Entries without a birth name indicates that the inductee did not perform under a

ring name A ring name is a type of stage name used by an athlete such as a professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, or boxer whose real name is considered unattractive, dull, difficult to pronounce or spell, amusing for the wrong reasons, or project ...

. * – This section mainly lists the major accomplishments of each inductee in the Calgary wrestling territory.

Major events

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

References

General *McCoy, Heath. ''Pain and Passion: The History of Stampede Wrestling''. Toronto: CanWest Books, 2005. Specific

External links

*
Wrestling-Titles.com: Stampede Wrestling

The Fight Network: Stampede Wrestling Through the Years
by Richard Berger

* ttp://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/2006/06/29/1659522.html Stampede stars remember Tiger Khan - Slam! Canoe {{Authority control 1948 establishments in Alberta 1950s Canadian sports television series 1960s Canadian sports television series 1970s Canadian sports television series 1980s Canadian sports television series Companies based in Calgary National Wrestling Alliance members Professional wrestling in Alberta