The rugged Seattle native would also find time to tag with Brower and Siki in a 6-man tag match in London against Sammartino, Watson, and Jim Hady and hold a share of the tag belts with Hady.

Tag team wrestling was also at the forefront in the  60's and featured such teams as The Tolos Brothers, Hurricane and Cyclone Smith, Fred Atkins and Tiger Jeet Singh, Billy Red Lyons and Sam Steamboat, Dino Bravo (the original) and Domenic Bravo (later Dom Dennucci), and The Kalmikoffs.

London Free Press 1962

"Siki, Brower Capture Arena Mat Feature"

Those arch villains of wrestling, Dick "Bulldog" Brower and "Sweet Daddy" Siki did it again in the main mat bout at the Arena last night. Yes indeed! The rascals upped and defeated a couple of true, blue honest, loyal grapplers, namely Billy "Red" Lyons and Bruno Sammartino in a tag team tussle. And as usual, Brower and Siki displayed all their illegal tactics.

Whipper Watson would remain the king of Maple Leaf constantly upholding the forces of good against the never-ending parade of characters the fans loved to hate. Some of Whippers rivals would include Dick "The Bulldog" Brower, Sweet Daddy Siki, The Beast, and Hans Schmidt.

Watson would hold the British Empire many times while embroiled in feuds with former titleholders Gene Kiniski and Fred Atkins and would also hold a share of the International Tag Titles with partners including The Brute and Bruno Sammartino. Whipper also had celebrated feuds with the Singhs (Nanjo and Mohan) including an incident where the villains picketed Watson's house for publicity.

Some of the other regulars on the circuit included Stan Stasiak, Seaman Art Thomas, Yukon Eric, Killer Kowalski, Tony Parisi, and a young Gene Dubois (Wildman McKigney) and Terrible Ted, his wrestling bear.

Toronto 1962

"Stasiak Shines Against Brower"

While Stan Stasiak didn't stop Dick The Bulldog Brower before 4,001 wrestling fans at Maple Leaf Gardens last night, he slowed him up considerably. Blood was all over the place after Bulldog konked Stasiak several times with Jerry Hiff's announcers' table but "Stout Hearted Stan" came roaring back and opened up a cut that had Bulldog bleeding from all directions. It was a real old time brawl with no holds barred.

In 1964 Sammartino would begin defending the WWWF Title on a fairly regular basis including a feud with Johnny Powers in 1965. Bruno would face all his old rivals at MLG including Valentine, Waldo Von Erich, Maddog Vachon, and in 1969, a series of matches against The Sheik. Sammartino liked working for Tunney and the big Italian community here loved Bruno as he continued to defend his title into the seventies.

In 1966 local star and former AWA Champ Gene Kiniski would win the NWA World Title, and would defend his belt against the local contenders on his trips through the region. He would face old rival Whipper Watson in October 1966 and earn the win after throwing Watson out of the ring rendering him unable to continue. He would face most of the regulars over his three-year title reign and would continue to grace our rings into the early 1980's.

The London Free Press - Feb 21 1966

"Kiniski-Powers Meet for Title" 

Two of Canada's top heavyweights, fighting for the heavyweight championship of the world, will highlight the wrestling card at the London Arena on Tuesday. Gene Kiniski, Edmonton, Alberta, battler who on January 7 dethroned Lou Thesz for the crown, will meet Johnny Powers, the most deserving challenger in this area. The semifinal will be an action packed tag team bout. The Two Masked Yankees, holder of the International tag team championship, will meet formidable opposition in the alliance of Seaman Art Thomas and Paul DeMarco. A special feature will mark the Canadian debut of Ernie "The Cat" Ladd. Ladd is a 6'6 310-pounder who is extremely agile for his size and weight. Ladd is more widely known for his football ability in the American Football League where he is everybody's all-star selection.

Attempting to topple the king sized Ladd will be hard punching Joe "Killer" Christie. The opening heavyweight encounter will have Pat Flanagan going against Duke Noble.

Some of the stars that would change persona's later included, Dick Beyer (The Destroyer), Gino Marella (Gorilla Monsoon), Emperor Jones (Tom Jones), Mike Valentino (Baron Scicluna), and The Destroyer (Joe Christie). 

The stars of the 1950's had developed into superstars in the '60s, and helped pave the way into the "Sheik Era". When Watson's career was cut short in 1971, it cemented the end of an era.

A lot of the local guys would go on to worldwide acclaim and many of the future champs had left their legacy on Maple Leaf Wrestling in the decade that was the 60's.

Thanks to Gary Will and Terry Dart