Moondog King
| Moondog King | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Birth name | Edward John White[1] |
| Born |
May 18, 1949[1] St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada[1] |
| Died |
August 25, 2005 (aged 56)[1] St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada[1] |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) |
Big John Strongbo[1] Moondog King[1] Sailor White[1] Knuckles McKnight[1] The Wharf Rat[1] The Canadian Hit Man[1] |
| Billed height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)[2] |
| Billed weight | 150 kg (330 lb)[2] |
| Debut | May 22, 1972[1] |
Edward J. "Ed" White (May 18, 1949 – August 25, 2005) was a Canadian professional wrestler, best known as Moondog King of The Moondogs when he joined the World Wrestling Federation (now WWE) in the early 1980s.[2] White won 48 championships in Canada and around the globe. He also wrestled in South Africa as Big John Strongbo and in eastern Canada as Sailor White.[2]
Professional wrestling career
After doing work on Great Lakes boats, White made his professional wrestling debut in Pembroke, Ontario on May 22, 1972 against Michael Gango for promoter Larry Kasaboski.[1] While in Quebec he was the Grand Prix tag team champion in 1976, International Heavyweight champion in 1982, International tag team champion twice in 1982–1984 and won the Canadian Television Championship in 1984. He was also a contestant on the television show Match Game.
He was most known for his time in the WWF as Moondog King where he teamed with Moondog Rex and won the WWF Tag Team Championship (then WWWF) from Tony Garea and Rick Martel in Allentown, Pennsylvania in March 1981.[3] After he was denied re-entry to the United States at the Canadian border the WWWF replaced him with substitutes including Stan Hansen, Hulk Hogan, Lou Albano and Sgt. Slaughter before selecting Moondog Spot as a permanent replacement. Gorilla Monsoon explained his absence stating King had been hit by a car.[3] White claims the border dispute involved a rival wrestling promoter alerting the authorities to his criminal past whereas some say it was drug related.[4]
Late in his life Sailor was still active with various St. John's-based wrestling troupes: he started "All-Star Wrestling". Sailor could not afford to maintain All-Star Wrestling and ended up selling his ring to Gord Glynn. After Sailor got out of promoting wrestling he returned to wrestle for "Cutting Edge Wrestling". Cutting Edge Wrestling was founded by Gord Glynn. Other of White's students went on to form their own wrestling troops: "Newfoundland Championship Wrestling" was started by the Bennett Family, "Fierce Threat Wrestling" was started by Dan Gosse, and the Provincial Wrestling Association (PWA), which was created by former Cutting Edge Wrestlers Shane Murphy, Mitchell Fifield, and Bradley Bishop. The PWA was created several years after Cutting Edge Wrestling brought back Newfoundland Championship Wrestling for a joint company, originally, several wrestlers had intended to use the purchased PWA ring for training purposes only, but after a dispute with the Bennett family, the owners of what would become PWA were released from CEW-NCW. PWA had a change of ownership after a year or so and for a brief period of time was being run by Michael Barrington. Michael re-branded the organization to Republic Professional Wrestling (RPW) shortly after taking over. Several shows took place before it closed in late 2008.
Sailor White ran twice for Canada's House of Commons. In April 2000, Sailor White in a St. John's West by-election for the Canadian Extreme Wrestling Party. His motto was "Parliament Needs a Moondog". On July 28, 2004, Sailor ran for the Canadian House of Commons, representing the Green Party of Canada in Bonavista—Exploits, but lost to Scott Simms of the Liberal Party of Canada. White received 367 votes to Simms's 15,970.[5] He suffered from Bell's palsy in 1999 and has two heart attacks by then as well. In 2002 he underwent triple bypass surgery and on December 2, 2004 his taxi crashed, breaking two bones in his neck and pinching a nerve in his spinal cord. He remained in the hospital on life support from then until his death on August 26, 2005.[4] White is survived by his daughter Rozlynn and grandson Keygan.
His biography Sailor White was written by Dave Elliott.[4]
In wrestling
- Finishing moves
- With Moondog Rex
- Managers
Championships and accomplishments
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 "SLAM! Wrestling Canadian Hall of Fame: Sailor White".
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Sailor White's profile". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2009-09-05.
- 1 2 Cawthon, Graham (2013). the History of Professional Wrestling Vol 1: WWF 1963 - 1989. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. ISBN 1492825972.
- 1 2 3 Oliver, Greg. "Sailor White dead at 56". SLAM! Wrestling.
- ↑ Oliver, Greg. "Sailor White to continue in politics". SLAM! wrestling.
- ↑ Ellison, Lillian. First Goddess of the Squared Circle, p.166–167.
External links
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