Stampede Wrestling

Stampede Wrestling is a Canadian professional wrestling promotion based in Calgary, Alberta that for decades produced a weekly television series that is considered the forerunner of today's WWE.

History

Stampede Wrestling was operated by Stu Hart between 1948 and 1984, when his son Bruce took over. Stampede, a member of the National Wrestling Alliance until about 1982, was acquired by the World Wrestling Federation in 1984, who took most of the top talents away from the promotion and developed into the major professional wrestling promotion it is today. The promotion was reopened on April 2, 1999 by Bruce and Ross Hart.

Stampede Wrestling was the basis for a long-running weekly sports broadcast produced in Calgary showcasing many of the promotion's most popular wrestlers. Hosted by Ed Whalen for most of its run, which went from 1957 to 1989, the series was syndicated around the world and reruns continue to be shown in some countries to this day. At the time Stampede was revived in 1999, a second Stampede Wrestling TV series was attempted, but it was short-lived and Whalen was not involved.

WWE currently controlls Stampede's extensive tape library.

The Dungeon

Stampede Wrestling was famous for "The Dungeon", a professional wrestling school located in the basement of the Calgary mansion "Hart House", home of the Hart family. The school trained a number of WCW, ECW, and WWE stars, including the Hart Brothers, and Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho.

Roster

Current roster

''See: Current Stampede Wrestling roster

Alumni

See: Stampede Wrestling alumni

Current championships

Title Notes:	Current Champion(s)
North American Heavyweight Championship	Apocalypse
British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight Championship	Ravenous Randy Myers
International Tag Team Championship	The New Karachi Vice (Tiger Raj Singh and Gama Singh, Jr.)
Women's Pacific Championship	Nattie Neidhart

Former Championships

Title Notes:	Last Champion(s)
NWA Canadian Heavyweight Championship (Calgary version)	Dave Ruhl
NWA Canadian Tag Team Championship (Calgary Version)	Mad Dog and Butcher Vachon

External links

Sports television series in Canada | Stampede Wrestling | 1948 establishments