- By Gary Will
Top drawing matches, year-by-year, 1929-1977: Gary Will's TWH
I think it's likely that the biggest crowd of the year would be mentioned, so if there was no attendance reported, it was likely not the biggest draw of the year. But there's no guarantee of that, and after 1974 the attendance reports become highly infrequent. The inaccuracy of the numbers could be a bigger issue. Usually the figures in the papers made sense, but sometimes there would be a huge number out of the blue, and occasionally different papers would report completely different crowd sizes, sometimes separated by thousands. But this is the best information available.
Whipper Billy Watson was in the top drawing match 21 times. The Sheik is next with 10.
| 1929 | Gus Sonnenberg vs Dan Koloff (9,000) |
| 1930 | Gus Sonnenberg vs Stanley Stasiak (9,600) |
| 1931 | Jim Londos vs Gino Garibaldi (15,800 - first Maple Leaf Gardens show) |
| 1932 | Jim Londos vs George Zaharias (14,350) |
| 1933 | Jim Browning vs Joe Savoldi (11,000) |
| 1934 | Jim Londos vs Joe Savoldi (11,000) |
| 1935 | Dan O'Mahony vs Jim Browning (16,000) |
| 1936 | Dan O'Mahony vs Ray Steele (9,000) |
| 1937 | Dan O'Mahony vs Dean Detton (7,000) |
| 1938 | Masked Marvel (Ted Cox) vs Vic Christie (10,000) |
| 1939 | Elimination Tournament, won by Vic Christie (6,000) |
| 1940 | The Angel vs Jerry Monahan (11,000) |
| 1941 | The Angel vs Masked Wolf (10,000-) |
| 1942 | The Angel vs Strangler Lewis (10,000) |
| Whipper Billy Watson vs Wild Bill Longson (10,000) | |
| 1943 | Whipper Billy Watson vs Jack Claybourne (11,000) |
| 1944 | Whipper Billy Watson vs Hard Boiled Hannigan (12,000) |
| 1945 | Whipper Billy Watson vs Frank Sexton (10,000-) |
| 1946 | Whipper Billy Watson vs Wladyslaw Talun (14,000) |
| 1947 | Whipper Billy Watson vs Wild Bill Longson (15,000) |
| 1948 | Whipper Billy Watson vs Nanjo Singh (13,000) |
| 1949 | Whipper Billy Watson vs Masked Marvel (14,000) |
| 1950 | Whipper Billy Watson vs Yukon Eric (13,000) |
| 1951 | Whipper Billy Watson vs Lord Athol Layton (14,000) |
| 1952 | Hans Hermann vs Yukon Eric (13,000) |
| 1953 | Al Mills/Tiny Mills vs Whipper Billy Watson/Yvon Robert (16,000) |
| 1954 | Al Mills/Tiny Mills vs Ernie Dusek/Emil Dusek (13,000) |
| 1955 | Whipper Billy Watson vs Antonino Rocca (13,000) |
| 1956 | Whipper Billy Watson vs Lou Thesz (15,000) |
| 1957 | Whipper Billy Watson/Yukon Eric vs Gene Kiniski/Dick Hutton (15,000) |
| 1958 | Whipper Billy Watson vs Al Bunny Dunlop (13,000) |
| 1959 | Whipper Billy Watson vs Gorgeous George (14,000) |
| 1960 | Whipper Billy Watson vs Gene Kiniski (10,000) |
| 1961 | Bulldog Brower vs Yukon Eric (10,000) |
| 1962 | Buddy Rogers vs Bruno Sammartino (14,000) |
| 1963 | Buddy Rogers vs Lou Thesz (11,000) |
| 1964 | Whipper Billy Watson vs The Beast/Martino Angelo (11,000) |
| 1965 | Johnny Valentine vs The Sheik (7,000) |
| 1966 | Masked Yankees vs Whipper Billy Watson/Lord Athol Layton (7,500) |
| 1967 | Tiger Jeet Singh/Fred Atkins vs Whipper Billy Watson/Mighty Igor (7,500) |
| 1968 | Ivan Koloff vs Edouard Carpentier (10,000) |
| 1969 | The Sheik vs Gene Kiniski (15,000) |
| 1970 | The Sheik vs Whipper Billy Watson (17,000) |
| 1971 | The Sheik vs Tiger Jeet Singh (18,000) |
| 1972 | The Sheik vs Carlos Rocha (18,000) |
| 1973 | The Sheik vs Andre the Giant (18,000) |
| 1974 | The Sheik vs Andre the Giant (16,000) |
| 1975 | The Sheik vs Abdullah the Butcher (12,000) |
| 1976 | The Sheik vs Mark Lewin (8,000) |
| 1977 | The Sheik vs Tiger Jeet Singh (7,000) |
-by Gary Will
Wrestlers who made their Toronto debuts in main events, 1930-1989: Gary Will's TWH
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Starting From The Top:
Wrestlers who made their Toronto debuts in main events, 1930-1989
Whipper Billy Watson didn't do it. Neither did Hulk Hogan, The Sheik, Buddy Rogers, Lou Thesz, Bruno Sammartino, Ric Flair, or even Andre the Giant. In fact, very few wrestlers did it after the 1930s -- made their big-venue Toronto wrestling debuts in a main event. It was easier to do in the 1930s because the weekly shows only began in 1929, so more wrestlers were making their debuts. And the undercards were much shorter, so a greater percentage of wrestlers on a card were in the main event. These lists are in chronological order.
- by Gary Will
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