Unmasked! -- Wrestlers who lost their masks in Toronto : Gary Will's TWH

Masked wrestlers in Toronto date back to the first appearance of the area's first Masked Marvel in 1932. More than 20 wrestlers lost their masks in the ring in Toronto:

DATE	NAME	UNMASKED AS	UNMASKED BY
36/06/18	The Unknown	Hal Rumberg	Jim McMillen
38/09/29	Masked Marvel	Ted Cox	Mayes McLain
41/11/27	Masked Wolf	John Grandovich	The Angel
43/08/12	Red Shadow	Leo Numa	Wild Bill Longson
44/01/05	The Czar	Dick Lever	Bobby Managoff
48/01/08	The Mummy	Pedro Martinez	Masked Marvel
49/01/27	Mr. X	Earl McCready	Masked Marvel & tag partners
49/02/17	Masked Marvel	Lew Reynheer	Whipper Billy Watson
51/02/22	Masked Manager	Mayes McLain	Whipper Billy Watson
51/08/30	Masked Marvel	Lou Newman	The Zebra
51/11/29	The Zebra	George Bollas	Whipper Billy Watson
52/12/26	Masked Marvel	Frank Valois	Red Mask
53/06/11	Red Mask	Dutch Hefner	Lou Thesz
59/06/04	Great Bolo	Al Lovelock	Whipper Billy Watson
61/05/25	Black Terror	Laverne Baxter	Whipper Billy Watson
64/01/16	The Destroyer	Joe Christie	Johnny Valentine
64/05/06	Mighty Hercules	not identified	Johnny Valentine
66/07/10	Masked Yankee Dandy	Bob Stanlee	Whipper Watson/Bulldog Brower
66/07/10	Masked Yankee Doodle	Moose Evans	Whipper Watson/Bulldog Brower
71/07/11	Masked Assassin	Guy Mitchell	The Sheik
74/04/07	The Crusader	Dewey Robertson	The Sheik
80/05/25	Masked Superstar #2	John Studd	Blackjack Mulligan
84/04/15	Assassin	Ray Hernandez	Jimmy Valiant

Four Masked Marvels were unmasked in Toronto, but the first one -- the one from 1932 -- never was. It was said to be Al Getzewich, who was unmasked later that year in Ottawa by Strangler Lewis.

The later versions of the Masked Marvel were sometimes called The Mask, as in the ad at right. That's for the August 30, 1951 show where Zebra unmasked The Mask and revealed him to be Vancouver's Lou Newman.

The Mighty Hercules from 1964 was said to be Bobby Graham in the papers, but he was the only one who was not formally identified after having his mask removed.

-by Gary Will 

MLG Footage - 1957 Part Card

Thanks to Jon Boucher -  Twitter @jon_boucher for converting this and sharing with the fans!

Jan 17 1957 MLG

Billy Red Lyons vs Baron Gattoni

Bill & Ed Miller vs Pat Flanagan & Ken Kenneth

Edouard Carpentier vs Steve Stanlee

A tag bout in the middle of the card and the main are not included.

Whipper Watson vs Gene Kiniski

Moto & Hito vs The Brunettis

Note from Roger 

      'Thanks for the wonderful wrestling that took place at M.L.G. so long ago, I remember all of the participants. Phil Lisner, refs Bert Maxwell, Cliff Worthy, Bunny Dunlop,and old friend Joe Gollub. How I remember sitting at times with announcer Jerry Hiff at the ring side table, however always keeping my eyes on what was going on. As for the wrestlers on this card, Carpentier, Billy Red Lyons, Baron Gattoni who I saw previously on TV from Buffalo, Ed and Bill Miller, Steve Stanlee, and our own mule kicking Pat Flanagan.

I may very well have been in attendance for this show, not sure. Was a ticket holding fan, about a year away from becoming a roaming wrestling reporter.'

-Roger Baker

Toronto's Longest Runs -- The 25-Year Club: Gary Will's TWH

These are the wrestlers with the longest gap between their first Toronto appearance for a major promotion and their last: NAME YEARS Lou Thesz 36.6 Lee Henning 35.3 Ivan Kalmikoff 33.2 Sky Low Low 32.4 Whipper Billy Watson 31.1 Little Beaver 30.7 Joe "Killer" Christie 30.0 Ric Flair 28.6 Dick Beyer / The Destroyer 28.0 Billy Red Lyons 27.4 Pat Flanagan 27.2 Wee Willie Davis 27.0 Killer Kowalski 26.7 Gene Kiniski 26.5 Al Costello 26.3 Nanjo Singh 26.2 Lord Athol Layton 26.0 Don Jardine / The Spoiler 25.8 Mike Mazurki 25.8 Bobo Brazil 25.3 Bruno Sammartino 25.2 Paul "Butcher" Vachon 25.2 This is different from a list of wrestlers with the most matches in Toronto, since several of these guys had lengthy gaps where they made no appearances here. For example, Dick Beyer didn't wrestle in Toronto after 1961, until returning 18 years later as The Destroyer. Don Jardine didn't wrestle in Toronto for over 20 years after starting in the area in the late 1950s, but he came back for a few matches as The Spoiler in the mid-1980s. Nanjo Singh served a prison sentence for killing his wife before his final run in Toronto.  -by Gary Will