Dave McKigney

The Bearman
Professional wrestling career
Dave McKigney (right) and Terrible Ted. Autographed by "Gene DuBois", a ring name of McKigney's.
Birth name	Dave McKigney
Born	June 9, 1932 Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Died	July 4, 1988 (aged 56) Lewisporte, Newfoundland
Ring name(s)	The Bearman The Canadian Wildman Jean Dubois Gene Dubois^[1] Pierre Dubois Dave Dubois^[1] The Beast
Billed height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)^[2]
Billed weight	229 lb (104 kg)^[2]
Trained by	Red Garner
Debut	early 1950's

Dave McKigney (June 9, 1932 – July 4, 1988) was a Canadian professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, The Bearman. He is best known for wrestling bears and training Terrible Ted. His well known appearances in Canada with Stampede Wrestling and Maple Leaf Wrestling and also with the World Wide Wrestling Federation in the late 1960s and early 1970s.^[1]

Early life

Born in Toronto. At age 17, he began wrestling at amateur wrestling level in the Toronto area. McKigney began training in the early 1950's as he was trained by Red Garner in Southern Ontario.

Professional wrestling career

Early career

Started wrestling in Toronto for Maple Leaf Wrestling as the "Flying Frenchman' Jacques Dubois. He would start training Terrible Ted, an American black bear, stood 7"0 and weighed 600 lbs. Ted was declawed and detoothed, and travelled with a carnival in his early years, Whne the carnuvla went bankrupt in the early 1950's. He adopted and trained him. On Boxing Day in 1958, before 8,250 fans, "Terrible" Ted, , defeated his mentor McKigney at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. He wrestled three more matches for Maple Leaf Wrestling to start 1959, then headed to Stampede Wrestling in Calgary, working across Alberta and Saskatchewan. He also had a couple of matches for Tri-State Sports in Idaho.

McKigney would grow out his hair long and had a scruffy beard for the Bearman and Wildman gimmicks

Canada

McKigney was a big name in Canada mainly at Maple Leaf Wrestling in Toronto as the Canadian Wildman. He went to Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling in Calgary in 1959 and used his name as Gene Dubois, Pierre Dubois and Dave Dubois. Lots of times he teamed with The Wolfman.

On July 13, 1966, McKigney offered $3,000 to anyone who could pin Ted. The challenge was accepted and met by John Szigeti (a 36-year-old welder who wanted the money for truck repairs), who pinned Ted "for maybe 15 seconds" before McKigney pried him free. McKigney and promoter Howard Darvin refused to pay the prize, so Szigeti sued them in May 1968.

He would sometimes wrestle in Japan even defeating Japanese legend Antonio Inoki by disqualification, the United States in Michigan and Ohio. McKigney would wrestled until his death.

United States

McKigney made appearances in Alabama, Georgia Championship Wrestling, World Wrestling Association and American Wrestling Association. In 1974 while wrestling in the American Wrestling Association, McKigney would lose to a young Roddy Piper.

World Wide Wrestling Federation

In 1969, McKigney made his debut in the Northeast US for the World Wide Wrestling Federation as Jean Dubois or sometimes spelled Gene Dubois. He was a jobber mainly having matches against Ivan Koloff, Lou Albano, Waldo Von Erich, Chief Jay Strongbow, and The Wolfman. His biggest victory in WWWF was when he defeated Lou Albano. Dubois would have two titles shots against WWWF Champion Ivan Koloff. He would stay with the company until 1972.

Japan

In 1975 McKigney had a stint for New Japan Pro Wrestling where he feuded with Seiji Sakaguchi and Antonio Inoki. His biggest victory was win over Japanese legend Antonio Inoki by disqualification. Inoki got his revenge by defeating the Canadian Wildman.

Later in Career

By the late 1970s McKigney wrestled mainly in Toronto and Detroit's Big Time Wrestling into the 1980s.

Personal life

He trained his step-daughter, Rachel Dubois, who wrestled for a brief period in the 1970s.

On July 2, 1978, in Aurora, Ontario, McKigney left Smokey's cage door open while he answered the phone. Smokey entered McKigney's house and mauled his girlfriend, 30-year-old Lynn Orser, to death. As a result, both bears were taken away by the Ontario Humane Society. Smokey showed no signs of rabies as of July 5, but was under a 14-day quarantine. McKigney's only possible explanation was that bears sometimes act unpredictably during mating season.

On July 4, 1988, in Newfoundland, McKigney was driving to a wrestling show with Adrian Adonis and William and Victor Arko (Mike and Pat Kelly). He swerved to avoid hitting a moose on the Trans-Canada Highway and crashed the van, killing himself, Franke and Victor Arko and injuring William Arko.

References

1 2 3 "SLAM! Wrestling Canadian Hall of Fame: Dave 'Wildman' McKigney". Canoe.ca. Retrieved June 22, 2014.
1 2 Kreikenbohm, Philip. "Gene DuBois « Wrestlers Database « CAGEMATCH - The Internet Wrestling Database". www.cagematch.net.