Джек Танни: Канадский промоутер рестлинга и эпоха "Hulkamania"

Canadian wrestling promoter (1935–2004)

John "Jack" Tunney Jr. (January 21, 1935 – January 24, 2004) was a Canadian professional wrestling promoter. He was known worldwide for his appearances on World Wrestling Federation television as the promotion's figurehead president. Tunney's tenure was during the company's Golden Era, the peak days of "Hulkamania".

In 1930, Jack Corcoran set up Toronto's Queensbury Athletic Club (QAC, later known by the unofficial name of Maple Leaf Wrestling), along with Jack's father, John Tunney Sr., his uncle, Frank Tunney, and Toots Mondt.

In 1952, Jack entered into employment with the promotion, first as a referee and later in the booking office working alongside Frank, Norm Kimber, Frank Ayerst, Ed Noonan, and wrestlers Whipper Billy Watson and Pat Flanagan, as they promoted all over southern Ontario. The offices were in Maple Leaf Gardens for many years. In the mid 1970s, the office was moved across the street on Carlton St. On March 16, 1956, the first title change to take place in Maple Leaf Gardens happened when Whipper Billy Watson defeated Lou Thesz, ending Thesz's near 7 year reign. Thesz again lost the NWA World Heavyweight Championship again at the Maple Leaf Gardens on November 14, 1957, when he lost the title to Dick Hutton. In 1960, Frank Tunney replaced Sam Muchnick at the NWA's helm, for a year, as president. He also went on to serve as a vice president to Vince McMahon, Sr. in the WW(W)F, as well as having close ties with Japanese promoters. This meant non stop action in Maple Leaf Gardens approximately every two weeks. On January 24, 1963, a classic match at Maple Leaf Gardens directly led to the WWWF being formed after Lou Thesz beat World Champion Buddy Rogers and was declared champion. After the event, however, Northeastern promoter Vincent J. McMahon refused to recognize the title change and withdrew his operation from the NWA, becoming the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF, now WWE), with Rogers as the star performer. The WWWF recognized Rogers as its first world champion in April 1963. Through the years, there were never any serious threats to Tunney's position as ruler of pro wrestling in Toronto. Several promoters ran shows at smaller venues in the area, often with Tunney's blessing or indifference. But in the 1970s, there were two notable attempts by other promoters to run big venue shows in Toronto. Dave McKigney, a successful promoter outside Toronto and at smaller sites within the city, tried running a show at Varsity Arena in September 1971 with Tony Parisi booked in the main event. Tunney quickly scheduled a Gardens show directly against it. Parisi was a no show and began working for Tunney the following week. According to the newspapers, the McKigney show drew 700 fans while Tunney got 15,500 at the Gardens. History repeated itself five years later. George Cannon and Milt Avruskin had built strong awareness of their promotion in Toronto through a TV show broadcast on Global TV and taped at the Global studios in Don Mills. They tried to parlay that visibility into running a big venue show at the CNE Coliseum, but once again Tunney moved quickly to book a Gardens show on the same day. The Toronto Star reported that only 600 people showed up for Cannon's show.

In 1977, the Tunneys began looking for a partnership since their major draw (and booker), the Sheik (Edward Farhat) was nearing the end of his popularity as a heel. In 1978, while still utilising some talent from other promotions, including balanced cards for both the AWA and WWF, Frank entered into a partnership with Charlotte, North Carolina based promoter Jim Crockett, Jr., who ran NWA affiliated Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling in the Carolinas. The arrangement was largely facilitated by George Scott, a key executive with Crockett who had been a preliminary wrestler for Tunney from 1950 to 1956, before becoming a partner in the Toronto promotion. Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat became the dominant local attractions. Due to their influence at the time, and despite joining forces with Jim Crockett, Maple Leaf Wrestling did not become a one company promotion. Frank continued to pull off his share of promotional coups and, for the first few years, it wasn't unusual to see two world title matches on the same card during this time, as American Wrestling Association (AWA) and WWWF stars continued to perform in the city. A card with Crockett's talent featured a historic match between WWWF champ Bob Backlund against then AWA champ Nick Bockwinkel. This kind of match was fairly rare with only a few cases of two promotions matching their respective world champs against each other. The show also included a classic Steamboat vs. Flair match for the NWA U. S. Title on the undercard. In 1978, along with presenting top wrestlers from the U. S., The Tunneys launched the Canadian title and used it to turn Dewey Robertson and Angelo Mosca into local babyface heroes and main event stars. In 1980, the Tunneys presented shows in Buffalo for the first time, working in alignment with the WWF who had the rights to the arena. The first shows proved somewhat successful drawing over 8,000 fans. The Tunneys would continue with sporadic shows in Buffalo over the next couple of years. In the early '80s, rivalries between the various promotions made it difficult to bring talent from different factions together.

On May 10, 1983, Frank Tunney died, after which Jack and his cousin Eddie Tunney (Frank's son) took control of the promotion. With the years of experience under his belt, Jack moved into the spotlight his uncle loved, as the frontman for the promotion, while Eddie had a low public profile, as his silent partner. Jack made an immediate impact on his own. The name Maple Leaf Wrestling became the common place name for the Queensbury Athletic Club. He also promoted two large summer outdoor shows at the Exhibition Stadium, dubbed Night Of Champions and Return Of The Champions. The shows would feature 11 title defences and were main evented by NWA Title defenses by Harley Race against Ric Flair.

When the promotional wars heated up between Crockett and Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Federation, Crockett felt he could no longer spare his top wrestlers for shows in Toronto, sending his B team as attendance at the Gardens plummeted. Crockett's relationship with the promotion had become strained. He held a distrust of Tunney who persistently utilised talent from other promotions, including the WWF. Furthermore, George Scott, still a partner in the Toronto promotion, had chosen to leave Jim Crockett Promotions due to a pay dispute and was now a booker for the WWF. The Toronto cards got progressively weaker through 1983 84, dwindling down to audiences of 3,000 for some shows. Johnny Weaver was the primary booker for the shows, with Leo Burke and his brothers as the lead heels, along with Don Kernodle, when the top Crockett stars were no longer available. Jack decided he no longer wanted to promote cards with a mix of WWF, NWA, and other wrestling talent and decided to switch allegiances from the NWA and aligned himself with Vince McMahon's WWF, promoting only WWF cards north of the border. This made Toronto one of the first former NWA strongholds to jump to the WWF, starting a trend that would continue through the 1980s. After a 34 year run, the NWA title—which had made its Gardens debut in October 1949—made its final appearance in the building in May 1984. Whatever nostalgic feelings long time fans had for the old days, the McMahon Tunney alliance and Hulkamania captured a whole new audience, attracting sell out crowds to the Gardens and drawing over 65,000 people to Exhibition Stadium in 1986 and 68,000 to SkyDome for Wrestlemania VI in 1990 to see Hulk Hogan lose the WWF title to the Ultimate Warrior. In June 1984, barely a year since they had taken over the Queensbury Athletic Club from his late uncle Frank, Jack, with Frank's son Eddie, transferred controlling interest of the promotion to the WWF in a maneuver which officially made Toronto a WWF city.

On January 24, 2004, at the age of 69, Tunney died of a heart attack in his sleep at his home in Waterdown, Ontario, after a sudden illness.

After Jack Tunney's death in 2004, there was some discussion of whether North Carolina based promoter Jim Crockett was ever a partner in the Toronto office. In Canada, during most of the 1970s and the early 1980s, there was a law called the Foreign Investment Review Act (FIRA) which regulated the foreign ownership of Canadian companies. In November 1980, the Canadian Press reported that the government had approved the creation of a new business called Frank Tunney Sports Promotion, which was co owned by Frank Tunney Sports Ltd., Jim Crockett Promotions Inc., and 410430 Ontario Ltd., said to be based in Hamilton. The owner of the numbered corporation wasn't identified (it would be a matter of public record, but you have to pay a service charge to access Ontario corporate records), but Hamilton native George Scott is thought to have been the third partner. He continued to own a part of the office after the affiliation with McMahon and is said to have received a large settlement after he was pushed out of that partnership.