Pro wrestling in Oshawa went way back to the start of weekly cards in nearby Toronto in 1929. The outdoor Kinsmen Stadium would host wrestling for the first time in 1954 after the adjacent Oshawa Arena had burned down on the day of the last wrestling card of 1953.
 |
| Fritz Von Erich & Karl Von Schober vs Doug Hepburn (pictured) and Lord Layton at Kinsmen Aug 1954 |
The stadium opened in May 1949 and is still there, mostly un-changed from the early days and retains the charm of the old style baseball fields. Can imagine it was a fine spot for wrestling on a hot summer night. Unfortunately it rained much of the time (after a while they reserved Children's Arena, also adjacent, for stormy nights) but they still did well, packing them in.
After starting the 1954 season in nearby Bowmanville the Return of Wrestling to Oshawa with Primo Carnera vs Tiny Mills drew 1500. The next week with boxing great Joe Louis refereeing a tag bout with Pat Flanagan/Tex McKenzie vs Al Mills/The Mighty Ursus they had 2000 in the seats. By summer 1956 they break the Oshawa attendance record (set July 1953 at the Arena, Whipper vs Togo 3527) with a main of Hardboiled Haggerty vs Yukon Eric drawing 4,600 to the Stadium.
Promoter Pat Milosh used the Stadium through 1960 and regularly had 1000-2000 for the weekly shows. The venue fit nicely within the mini territory that he ran from Oshawa to Peterborough and from talking with older fans it was always a great night of wrestling-raining or not!
See also Open Air Wrestling in Toronto
All of the Oshawa stuff that we put back is at Oshawa Wrestling History
-AC
Photos by AC, mapleleafwrestling.com collection. Info sourced from Oshawa Library microfilm
Originally posted at the old site 2011
