Al Tomko (22 November 1931 – 5 August 2009)
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Canadian Canadians () 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 their being ''C ...

professional wrestler Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to real-life wrest ...

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 Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

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 Olympia may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''Olympia'' (1938 film), by Leni Riefenstahl, documenting the Berlin-hosted Olympic Games * ''Olympia'' (1998 film), about a Mexican soap opera star who pursues a career as an athlete * ''Oly ...

. 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 High-heeled shoes, also known as high heels (colloquially shortened to heels), are a type of shoe with an upward-angled sole. The heel in such shoes is raised above the ball of the foot. High heels cause the legs to appear longer, make the wea ...

. He bought the Madison Club in 1967 and merged it with the

American Wrestling Association The American Wrestling Association (AWA) was an American professional wrestling promotion based in Minneapolis, Minnesota that ran from 1960 until 1991. It was founded by Verne Gagne and Wally Karbo. The promotion was born out of the Minneapolis ...

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 Roderick George Toombs (April 17, 1954 – July 31, 2015), better known as "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, was a Canadian professional wrestler and actor. In professional wrestling, Piper was best known to international audiences for his work with the Wo ...

. 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 prom ...

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. History Early history Although other wrestling promotions e ...

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 cit ...

, 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 ...

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 Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of ...

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. History Early history Although other wrestling promotions e ...

** NWA Canadian Heavyweight Championship (''Vancouver version'') ( 5 times) ** NWA Canadian Tag Team Championship (''Vancouver version'') (

2 times "2 Times" is the debut single of English singer Ann Lee. It was released in Italy in December 1998 by X-Energy as the lead single from her debut album, ''Dreams'' (1999), and was issued worldwide the following year. The single peaked at number tw ...

) – with

Igor Volkoff Rejean Gagnon (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 Lumb ...

(1) and

Bob Brown Robert James Brown (born 27 December 1944) is an Australian former politician, medical doctor and environmentalist. He was a Australian Senate, senator and the parliamentary leader of the Australian Greens. Brown was elected to the Australian ...

(1) ** NWA International Tag Team Championship (''Vancouver version'') (

) – with Moose Morowski (1) and Bob Brown (1) ** UWA Heavyweight Championship ( 1 time) *West Coast Championship Wrestling **WCCW Mid-Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

References

External links

*
Canadian Pro Wrestling Page of Fame: Al TomkoAl Tomko at OWW.com
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tomko, Al 1931 births 2009 deaths 20th-century Canadian sportsmen Canadian male professional wrestlers Deaths from pancreatic cancer in Washington (state) Professional wrestlers from Winnipeg Stampede Wrestling alumni

Professional wrestling career

Personal life

Championships and accomplishments

References

Further reading

External links