In those days the TV matches would use a rounds system. Big Jim remembers "Who ever was working with Sheik would be on 3^rd and beat his guy in the first round. All other matches went 2 rounds unless you were working with Sheik. I always enjoyed working those final matches with as many falls as you could get. I liked being there with old pros Lee Henning and Nikita Kalmikoff."

The referee's at the time would include former stars Pat Flanagan and Fred Atkins. "Atkins was the stiffest referee I ever worked with" recalls Lancaster, "I was told he worked in the ring the same way. Man, he was tough and used to push guys around a lot."

As this was the era of The Sheik, no TV show would be complete without one of his trademark bloody matches. Big Jim recalls a typical TV appearance against the Noble One. "Jobber in the ring, Sheik in, prayer, bell, lock up and to the ropes. Biting, pencil or both, jobber screams in agony. At about the two minute mark, you were allowed to punch him in the stomach then his head. He sold back into a corner and you arm whipped him into the other turnbuckle. When you went after him, it was pencil to the throat, more biting then camel clutch. He wasn't stiff to work with the entire three minutes I was in there. The camel clutch wasn't as stiff as it appeared on TV. I heard that if he didn't like you he could tighten it good."

By mid 1974 The Sheik's Big Time Wrestling (NWA) would end up replacing Championship Wrestling (NWF) on our screens. It wouldn't last long however, before it became Super Pro Wrestling which featured the Pittsburgh crew- Sammartino, Steele, Scicluna, Denucci, etc.

The Stampede show was also a big favorite in Ontario. The feud between The General's army (King Curtis, Mark Lewin, Dan Kroffat, and Larry Lane) was so popular Frank Tunney brought in Curtis and Lewin for a cage-match; with no local build-up.

In 1975 the Tunney's show was moved back to 6.30 on Saturday's to the delight of the wrestling/hockey fans. A memorable match between a heel enhancement worker by the name of  Randy Poffo (later Savage) and The Sheik also made some news. The young grappler had been appearing throughout the area as a heel (along with his father Angelo) and gave the Sheik a run for his money on the time limit match of the TV show. 

The next couple of years would prove to be eventful time in the TV scene. First was the replacement of Grand Prix by none other than the Rougeau's with a show called "Superstars of The Mat". Other splinter groups from the demise of Grand Prix such as "Celebrity Wrestling" and "Grand Circuit Wrestling" could also be seen in the Ottawa area at this time.

The local scene would see the addition of the IWA. The short lived group would include Tony Marino, Killer Brooks, Karl Von Shotz, Kurt Von Hess and Sailor White among others under the banner of "Universal Wrestling". George Cannon and Milt Avruskin hosted the shows which were taped at the University of Windsor and ran on Global in Toronto .

 Avruskin would later use the Global studios in Toronto under the "Superstars Of Wrestling" banner to produce the shows and then license them across the nation including an all-sports station in California. Feuds between Sailor White and Luis "Ariba" Martinez and the appearance of Crazy Chris Colt captivated the fans during the various changes.

Superstars would grow to include the Quebec market after the changes in 1977 (see the International column for more info) and would continue to be seen in that province until the WWF bought out George Cannon's in the 1980s. We will look more at Cannon's "Superstars" in the next column.

By 1976 we would start to see clips of the previous matches from Maple Leaf Gardens or important matches from around the wrestling world. Clips of Waldo Von Erich challenging Bruno Sammartino for the WWWF title or Terry Funk beating Jack Brisco for the NWA crown would be shown alongside the regular TV matches.

The wrestling scene in Toronto would change drastically upon The Sheik's departure in 1977 and would have an impact on the TV shows in the area. We will look at this era in the next installment of Maple Leaf Wrestling.