Jack Tunney

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Jack Tunney bigraphy, stories - Canadian sports businessman

Jack Tunney : biography

1935 – January 24, 2004

John "Jack" Tunney, Jr. (1935 – January 24, 2004) was a Canadian wrestling promoter. Tunney was known worldwide for his appearances on World Wrestling Federation television as the promotion’s figurehead president, suspending wrestlers, stripping them of titles, and ordering matches. Tunney’s tenure was during the company’s initial worldwide popularity boom in the 1980s, the peaking days of "Hulkamania".

Taking control

After Frank Tunney’s death on May 10, 1983, Jack and his cousin Eddie Tunney (Frank’s son) took control of the promotion. Jack moved into the spotlight as the frontman for the promotion, while Eddie had a low public profile. At the time, the Toronto office was in partnership with Charlotte, North Carolina-based Jim Crockett Promotions. 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. 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.

Personal life

Tunney met his wife Ann in the fourth grade, and they had two daughters. Ann died in 1991, and Jack died Saturday, January 24, 2004, in Lindsay, Ontario. Notably, nobody from the WWE attended Tunney’s funeral, nor was his passing announced on WWE.com.

Aligning with the World Wrestling Federation

In June 1984, Jack and Eddie switched allegiances from the NWA to the WWF. They began promoting only WWF cards, becoming another stop on the WWF circuit. This maneuver made Toronto a WWF city and was instrumental in consolidating the company’s power base in Canada.

Following the WWF takeover, the name Maple Leaf Wrestling continued to be used for the WWF’s Canadian TV program (a staple of Hamilton station CHCH-TV for many years). TV tapings for the show were held in Brantford and other cities in southern Ontario for the next two years, until the WWF ceased the tapings in 1986 and decided to use the Maple Leaf Wrestling name for the Canadian airings of WWF Superstars of Wrestling (with some Canadian footage, such as updates by on-air announcer and former wrestler Billy Red Lyons, and special matches taped at Maple Leaf Gardens, added in).

There were several sellouts of 18,000 at the Gardens with the WWF crew, but the city’s (and, at the time, world’s) attendance record was shattered by the show at CNE Stadium on August 28, 1986 which drew 65,000 people, with a gate of over $1 million. Initial projections were for a crowd of 25,000-30,000.

Chief WWF promoter for Canadian tours

Tunney, along with his associates Billy "Red" Lyons and Elio Zarlenga, would usually promote 40 or more WWF shows per year, making him a very important man in the expansion of the WWF, and keeping World Championship Wrestling (WCW), the successor to Crockett, out of key Canadian markets well into the 1990s. Soon, wrestling promotions across Canada fell on hard times as Tunney helped McMahon take over their territories. All-Star Wrestling in Vancouver closed down. The American Wrestling Association (AWA) stopped performing in Manitoba. Stu Hart’s Stampede promotion began eroding until he too was forced to sell to McMahon (and later starting up again for a few years). New territories, such as Newfoundland were opened up by Lyons and Zarlenga, all the while attendance records were being set on a regular basis.

As the figurehead president

In the summer of 1984, the WWF named Tunney its storyline "president." This made Tunney known to fans in the United States and elsewhere. The title was ceremonial only, as he held no backstage power beyond that of a regional promoter; as such, his main roles were that of a storyline authority figure and to announce major decisions or events on television. Some of his major television appearances included: