Leo Burke

:"For other uses, see: Leo Burke (disambiguation)".

Leo Burke (born June 29, 1948) is a Canadian professional wrestler. He was born in Dorchester, New Brunswick, Canada.

Biography

Leo Burke (real name Leonce Cormier, aka: Tommy Martin) is a legend to wrestling fans in Atlantic Canada. He became a star there during the 1970s with Eastern Sports Association's "International Wrestling", where he had matches against former world champions Pat O'Connor, Harley Race, Dory Funk Jr. & Lou Thesz. He also challenged reigning champions Jack Brisco (1975) & Terry Funk (1976). He was also a multitime North American Heavyweight Champion & International Tag Team Champion with his brothers, Yvon (The Beast), and Romeo (Bobby Kay). Third brother Jean-Louis (Rudy Kay) & Leo were the only combination of the Cormier brothers not to hold the Tag Team trophy.

In the off-season (Winter) Burke would sometimes wrestle in the Mid Atlantic promotion (Carolinas & Virginia), using the name Bobby Kay - "the same name his brother Romeo used in Atlantic Canada".

In 1977 he returned to Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling in Calgary (where he had first broken into the business), and became a star there as well, holding their North American Championship eight times. He often returned to the Maritimes during the summer months to work for Atlantic Grand Prix Wrestling (circa 1979-90, except 1984), and in the 1990s with Canadian Championship Wrestling, of which he was a partner (circa 91-93). During the 1990s he was also a trainer for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in Calgary. He was often tag teamed with Big Stephen Petitpas, Hubert Gallant and his brothers during the Atlantic Grand Prix Wrestling days of the 1980s. In 1983-84 he appeared with Toronto's Maple Leaf Wrestling as their North American Champion, until the promotion was purchased by the WWF (circa June, 1984). He then took the North American title to the Maritimes, and defended it on Al Zinck's revived "International Wrestling".

He has wrestled all over Canada, also in Puerto Rico, New Zealand and in the USA, (Mid-Atlantic, Texas & Central States). He has held numerous championships both as a single and as a tag team wrestler.

He borrowed the name Burke from a boxing friend because he didn't want to wrestle in the shadow of his older brothers Yvon and Jean-Louis. After retiring from full-time wrestling, he went to Calgary in the early 1990s. He has helped train Glenn Kulka and Andrew "Test" Martin.

Championships and accomplishments

*Atlantic Grand Prix Wrestling:*AGPW United States Heavyweight Championship (3 times)

*Central States Wrestling:*NWA Central States Heavyweight Championship (2 times):*NWA North American Tag Team Championship "(Central States version)" (1 time) - with Terry Martin

*Eastern Sports Association:*ESA International Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Bobby Kay (1) and The Beast (1):*ESA Maritime Heavyweight Championship (1 time):*ESA Maritime Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Hubert Gallant:*IW North American Heavyweight Championship (6 times)

*NWA New Zealand:*NWA British Commonwealth Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

*NWA Western States Sports:*NWA Western States Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with The Beast

*Stampede Wrestling:*NWA International Tag Team Championship "(Calgary version)" (4 times) - with Keith Hart (2) and Bobby Burke (2),:*Stampede North American Heavyweight Championship (8 times):*Stampede International Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Bret Hart (1) and Ron Ritchie (1):*Stampede Wrestling Hall of Fame [ cite web |url=http://www.wrestling-titles.com/canada/ab/hof.html |title=Stampede Wrestling Hall of Fame (1948-1990) |accessdate= |author= |authorlink= |coauthors= |date= |year=2003 |month= |format= |work= |publisher=Puroresu Dojo |pages= |language= |archiveurl= |archivedate= |quote= ]

*World Wrestling Council:*WWC Caribbean Heavyweight Championship (1 time):*WWC Caribbean Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Chicky Starr:*WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship (1 time):*WWC World Television Championship (1 time)

References

External links

* [http://archives.cbc.ca/IDC-1-41-1237-6850/sports/prowrestling/clip13|CBC Archives]