It was on November 19, 1931 that Jack Corcoran and Queensbury Athletic Club – the promotion that would ultimately become Maple Leaf Wrestling – first held a wrestling event at Maple Leaf Gardens. The new state-of-the-art hockey arena, which had only opened the week prior on November 12, was the new home for the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs. By securing the Gardens for his shows, Jack Corcoran ensured that Toronto wrestling fans had their own mecca for sports entertainment for decades to come, as it remained the home of pro wrestling when Frank Tunney assumed control in 1939 (along with his brother John) and up until the Tunney sale of the territory to Vince McMahon and the WWF in 1984.

The main event for the opening night at the Gardens featured one of pro wrestling’s all-time greatest draws, World Heavyweight Champion Jim Londos, “The Golden Greek”, against Italian star Gino Garibaldi. While it was too early for television, the main event was also simulcast on CRCA radio in Toronto, hosted by legendary NHL announcer Foster Hewitt.

According to the Toronto Daily Star, 15,800 fans crammed into Maple Leaf Gardens for the inaugural wrestling event (and reportedly another 2,000 were outside denied entry), and after preliminary bouts, the rabid fans were ready for a monstrous main event. From the Toronto Daily Star’s Claire Wallace in their recap the following day:

Mr. James Londos, the golden Greek, entered the ring with a sweep in a black velvet gown, which would do credit to Barrymore. He bowed low again and again to the accompaniment of the crowd’s cheers and, it must be admitted, boos. Mr. Garibaldi wore a henna velvet gown.

They crouched, they clung, they strained muscles to the breaking point and far beyond, falling only when it wasn’t humanly possible to stay up. Garibaldi was out to ‘throw’ Mr. Londos, who, it seems, has not had that pleasure for some time, and with that in mind he held his head in a death-like grip, face down. It looked as though the big moment had come, but Mr. Londos kicked like a mule, both feet off the ground at once, until his body was parallel with his had and about three leaping kicks and he was free and Mr. Garibaldi was being chased all around the lot.

At least three times Mr. Garibaldi tried to throw the coffee-coloured lad, but it just wouldn’t work. He wasn’t having any. They had a little fun when Mr. Garibaldi went for a ride all around the ring on Mr. Londos’ back and then suddenly things began to happen. Mr. Londos began to do some throwing himself. He picked up Mr. Garibaldi like a spoonful of porridge and flattened him on the floor. Then he picked him up and did it over again. And it didn’t take long after that. Mr. Garibaldi just didn’t get up after one fall and the match was called off until he could have an aspirin and a cup of hot chocolate, or whatever they have. He was carried out. Under doctor’s orders he didn’t come back and once more Londos remained supreme.

It was a momentous debut for Toronto’s premiere wrestling promotion at the country’s greatest hockey arena and one that helped launch a legacy that ran for over fifty years and now continues today with MAPLE LEAF PRO!

Jim Londos