Ed White (wrestler)
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Ed "Sailor" White (born 1949 in St. John's, Newfoundland, died August 26, 2005) was a Canadian professional wrestler, best known as Moondog King of The Moondogs when he joined the World Wrestling Federation in the early 1980s. White won no less than 48 championships in Canada and around the globe. He wrestled in South Africa as Big John Strongbo and in eastern Canada as Sailor White.
After doing work on Great Lakes boats, White made his wrestling debut in Pembroke, Ontario on May 22, 1972 against Michael Gango for promoter Larry Kasaboski. 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 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. 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, a friend of André the Giant, as a permanent replacement, and explained his absence stating King had been hit by a car. White claims the border dispute involved a rival wrestling promoter alerting the authorities to his criminal past whereas some say it was drug related.
Late in his life Sailor was still active with various St. John's-based wrestling troops: 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 Wresting 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 Brothers, "Fierce Threat Wrestling" was started by Dan Gosse and Provincial Wrestling Association (PWA) was started by Michael Barrington.
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. 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 from then until his death on August 26, 2005.
His biography Sailor White was written by Dave Elliott.
