Tor Kamata

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Tor Kamata (birth name Macronald Kamaka) (1937 - July 23, 2007) was an American/Canadian professional wrestler. He won several Heavyweight and Tag Team championships, including one World Tag Team title. He was a classic "bad guy" wrestler. He was reviled for his "dirty tricks" in the ring, which included rubbing foreign substances, such as salt, into his opponent's eyes.

In 1976 and 1977 Tor Kamata wrestled in the World Wide Wrestling Federation. Managed by Fred Blassie, he had two memorable matches with Bob Backlund when Backlund was on the brink of becoming the WWWF champion. In his first match against Backlund, Kamata threw salt into Backlund's eyes, which set the stage for a televised Texas Death Match, aired Saturday May 7, 1977 on stations such as WPHL and WTAF. Again Kamata threw salt in Backlund's eyes, so Backlund merely used the referee's shirt to wipe the "salt" out. Then Backlund delivered an Atomic Knee Drop and won the match. At the time, "Superstar" Billy Graham had just defeated Bruno Sammartino for the title and Bob Backlund was being built up as the number one contender.

When Ed Whalen or Vince McMahon interviewed Kamata he sometimes said 'no chancy'.

Kamata died on July 23, 2007 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan after almost a decade of battling heart disease.

[edit] Championships and accomplishments

• All Japan Pro Wrestling

• PWF World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

• American Wrestling Association

• AWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Mitsu Arakawa

• Central States Wrestling

• NWA North America Tag Team Championship (Central States version) (1 time) - with Luke Brown

• NWA Hollywood Wrestling

• NWA World Tag Team Championship (Los Angeles version) (1 time) - with Kamalamala

• NWA Mid-Pacific Promotions

• NWA Hawaii Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
• NWA North American Heavyweight Championship (Hawaii version) (1 time)
• NWA Pacific International Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

• NWA New Zealand

• NWA Australasian Tag Team Championship (3 times) - with Baron Von Krupp (1), Ox Baker (1), and General Hiro (1)
• NWA New Zealand British Empire Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

• NWA Mid-America

• NWA Southern Tag Team Championship (Mid-America version) (1 time) - with Tojo Yamamoto

• Stampede Wrestling

• NWA International Tag Team Championship (Calgary version) (1 time) - with Sugi Sito
• Stampede North American Heavyweight Championship (3 times)
• Stampede Wrestling Hall of Fame ^[1]

• World Wrestling Association

• WWA World Tag Team Championship (2 times) - Mitsu Arakawa

• World Wrestling Association (Los Angeles)

• WWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Freddie Blassie

• World Wrestling Council

• WWC Puerto Rico Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• Tomás de Torquemada

[edit] External links

• [1] Article acknowledging Tor's death.