Don Jardine
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Don Jardine | |
|---|---|
| Statistics | |
| Ring name(s) | Super Destroyer Sonny Cooper The Butcher The Spoiler Don Jardine |
| Height | 6 ft 4 in |
| Weight | 270 lb |
| Born | 1940 Moncton, New Brunswick |
| Died | December 16, 2006 Wetaskiwin, Alberta |
| Trained by | Whipper Billy Watson |
| Debut | 1955 |
| Retired | 1994 |
Don Jardine (1940 – December 16, 2006) was a Canadian professional wrestler from Moncton, New Brunswick.
Standing 6' 4" and weighing 270 lbs, "The Master of the Iron Claw", Jardine was best known for his masked gimmick as "The Spoiler".
Contents |
[edit] Wrestling career
Jardine began wrestling in the mid-1950s, making his wrestling debut in 1955 at the age of 15. He made his Maple Leaf Gardens debut in 1959 as "Babyface" Don Jardine, a protege of Whipper Billy Watson and wrestled preliminarily in Toronto (where he also wrestled as Sonny Cooper) until 1961 and returned briefly in 1964. In 1964, Jardine wrestled NWA World Heavyweight Champion Lou Thesz on TV in St. Louis, but did not win the title.
Jardine also wrestled as The Butcher in Los Angeles in 1964. Whilst wrestling under "The Butcher" monicker, he teamed with both Mad Dog Vachon and Dutch Savage for a short time. He challenged Gene Kiniski for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in 1966. He became one of the top masked wrestlers in the Southern United States, particularly in Texas, where The Spoiler was created by Fritz Von Erich in 1967. He famously walked the top rope like the Undertaker would do in the 1990s, a move he actually taught Mark Calaway in the days at World Class Championship Wrestling in the mid-1980s.
He was unmasked in Texas in 1972 by Billy "Red" Lyons and Red Bastein and identified as Don Jardine, still, he continued to wrestle under the mask as "The Spoiler" in Texas and Oklahoma. The Spoiler also wrestled in All Japan Pro Wrestling and New Japan Pro Wrestling during the 1960s and 1970s. He became the Super Destroyer and was brought into the Carolinas by George Scott in 1973 and also used the "Super Destroyer" name during his stint in the AWA (1977-78). Jardine was one of the key guys, along with Johnny Valentine, who turned the Mid-Atlantic territory around and established hot singles wrestling programs in what had traditionally been a tag team territory. Jardine challenged Jack Brisco for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship as both the Super Destroyer and The Spoiler, and wrestled Harley Race for the NWA Heavyweight title in a main event in Houston, Texas in 1979. He held the Georgia-based NWA National Heavyweight Championship and was briefly billed as NWA National Heavyweight Champion by the World Wrestling Federation after it bought out Georgia Championship Wrestling in July 1984.
According to Jake "The Snake" Roberts it was around this time that during an in-ring miscommunication between the two, with Jake holding Jardine in a front facelock, both fell, and the latter's head was driven into the mat, supposedly creating the DDT. The move was thereafter used by Roberts as his finisher.
The Spoiler, along with Jake "The Snake" Roberts and the 400-pound "King Kong" Bundy, joined forces with an upcoming tag team, the Road Warriors, to form the original "Legion of Doom".
The Spoiler once headlined against WWF Champion Pedro Morales in Madison Square Garden, wrestling maskless as there was a rule in Madison Square Garden at the time which barred masked wrestlers. Ironically, the Spoiler appeared in a historic match against Mil Mascaras, the Mexican legend, marking the first time a wrestler (Mascaras) ever wore a mask into a ring in New York State.
The Spoiler's matches against Chief Jay Strongbow and Sonny King were long-lasting feuds that enjoyed successful runs across the WWF circuit. His "Iron Claw" was the first maneuver to be censored from the TV screen by the WWF promotion in a 'reverse psych' move to sell tickets.
Jardine died on December 16, 2006 at age 66 due to complications from a heart attack and leukemia. [1]
[edit] Championships and accomplishments
- Atlantic Grand Prix Wrestling
- AGPW North American Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Nikita Kalmikoff
- International Wrestling Alliance
- IWA Tag Team Championship (3 times) – with Mario Milano (1) and Waldo Von Erich (2)
- National Wrestling Alliance
- National
- NWA American Tag Team Championship (7 times) – with Gary Hart (3), Smasher Sloan (2) and Mark Lewin (2)
- NWA National Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
- NWA North American Heavyweight Championship (Tri-State version) (2 times)
- NWA United States Tag Team Championship (Tri-State version) (1 time) – with Dusty Rhodes
- Regional
- NWA Central States Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- NWA Florida Southern Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- NWA Florida Heavyweight Championship (3 times)
- NWA Georgia Heavyweight Championship (3 times)
- NWA Mississippi Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
- NWA Texas Brass Knuckles Championship (1 time)
- NWA Texas Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
- NWA Texas Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Mark Lewin
- NWA World Tag Team Championship (Vancouver version) (2 times) – with Dutch Savage
- Other titles
- City of Mobile Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
[edit] Signature moves
[edit] Personal life
Jardine promoted some shows in Tampa, Florida in 1993-94 and then retired from wrestling. He spent the later years of his life in Wetaskiwin, Alberta, Canada with his wife, where he was the manager of a car wash business. He was writing a novel based on his many wrestling experiences over the years around the time of his death. Jardine was known to make clay sculptures and carved faces in the bark of cotton wood trees. He also volunteered for the Literacy Program, teaching young children to read.
