'MIGHTY' JOHN QUINN
When Mighty John Quinn from Hamilton, Ontario, stepped into the ring in front of the television cameras at the Pavilion in Hemel Hempstead in 1979, little did he know that his comments about the British people being cowards would make him one of the most hated men ever to step into a British ring. He would become one of the biggest stars of all time in the UK and fans flocked in their hundreds to the halls whenever he was billed - just in the hope of seeing him beaten. Most of his matches ended in a knockout and he racked up a list of victims that looked like a 'Who's Who' of British Wrestling. Included on the list were among others Pete Roberts, Caswell Martin, Jack Rowlands, John Elijah, Len Hurst, Barry Douglas, Count Bartelli, Honeyboy Zimba, Ray Steele and Lee Bronson. He barnstormed his way through all the opposition and his quest for glory culminated in a top of the bill appearance at Wembley Arena in front of 10,000 people. John started his career in the mid 60's in Ontario and wrestled for all the big companies in Canada and the United States. In 1967 he began wrestling for the World Wide Wrestling Federation which was the promotion run by Vince McMahon Snr. (Years later Vince McMahon Jr would shorten the name to World Wrestling Federation and later to World Wrestling Entertainment.) While in the WWWF he had a long running feud with the World Champion at the time Bruno Sammartino including a World Championship match at Madison Square Garden in New York. John has used a variety of names during his career including The Kentucky Butcher and The Stomper and has held the Stampede North American Title and The Pacific Coast Title.
He came to Britain following a three month stay in Germany where he took part in the big tournaments in Hannover, Dusseldorf, Dortmund, Munster, and Bremen. Standing 6'6" and weighing over 20 stone, John was built like a brick s**t house. He initially came to the UK to work for Joint Promotions where he took the World Heavyweight Championship from Wayne Bridges, but he jumped ship shortly afterwards to work for Brian Dixon and Orig Williams. While in the UK he lived with his wife and family in a converted single decker bus. This was also his transport and he drove the bus the length and breadth of the country to fulfil wrestling engagements. John returned to Canada in 1988 and retired shortly afterwards. |
