Pat O ' Connor Patrick John " Pat " O ' Connor ( 22 August 1924 – 16 August 1990 ) , was a professional wrestler from New Zealand . O ' Connor was regarded as one of the premier workers of his era . He held the AWA World Heavyweight Championship and NWA World Heavyweight Championship simultaneously , the latter of which he held for approximately two years . Early life . Patrick John O ' Connor was born on August 22 , 1924 in Raetihi , New Zealand to parents John Frederick and Isabella . While he attended high school at Feilding Agricultural High School , he also helped tend to the sheep and cattle on his parents ' farm . He later attended Massey University , and later served for six months in the New Zealand Royal Air Force in 1945 . Amateur wrestling . Before entering the world of professional wrestling , Patrick O ' Connor was an amateur wrestler . He trained under Dave Sparrow , and later Don Anderson , while working as a blacksmith to pay the bills . After a tournament in 1947 , he joined the Wellington wrestling team and trained under Anton Koolmann . In 1948 , he represented New Zealand in the Pan American games . O ' Connor won the New Zealand Heavyweight Championship in amateur wrestling in both 1949 and 1950 . The 1949 win earned him entry into the 1950 British Empire Games . At the Empire Games , O ' Connor , once again representing New Zealand , won a silver medal winner in the ( freestyle ) heavyweight division . He later trained to be a professional wrestler under Len Levy . Professional wrestling career . National Wrestling Alliance . On March 19 , 1955 , he won Jim Crockett Promotions ' s NWA World Tag Team Championship ( Chicago version ) with tag team partner Roy McClarity , and they held the title until February 1956 . Later in the year , he worked for Maple Leaf Wrestling . In March , he won the NWA British Empire Heavyweight Championship ( Toronto version ) , but lost it on May 2 , 1957 to Gene Kiniski . That same month , O ' Connor and Whipper Billy Watson won the NWA Canadian Open Tag Team Championship , but lost it to Gene Kiniski and Fritz Von Erich on October 31 of that year . O ' Connor held the NWA World Heavyweight Championship from 1959 to 1961 . He first won the title on January 9 , 1959 , from Dick Hutton , who had held the title for 13 months . O ' Connor ' s reign was recognized by both the National Wrestling Alliance and the National Wrestling Association . The title change was part of the rivalry between bookers Sam Muchnick and Fred Kohler , the latter of whom did not want to waste any money announcing O ' Connor as the new champion . Kohler also wanted O ' Connor to pay him $ 10 , 000 to wrestle at shows in Chicago , while being paid less than champions usually earned . O ' Connor was so angry at the suggestion that he walked out of their meeting and later told Muchnick not to book him for events in Chicago . The men later worked out a deal of sorts , and on February 19 , 1960 , O ' Connor wrestled in Chicago against Bruno Sammartino and Johnny Valentine , among others . On July 29 , at one of Fred Kohler ' s events , O ' Connor defeated Yukon Eric at an event with an attendance of 30 , 275 . During this time , television also became a factor in the burgeoning market for professional wrestling , and as a result , the demand to trade wrestlers , including O ' Connor , throughout the territories , was eased due to Vincent McMahon ' s Capitol Wrestling . In December , he worked for McMahon in the Northeast . In March 1961 , he was suspended for 16 days when he missed a match in New York . On June 30 , 1961 , O ' Connor dropped the title to Buddy Rogers in front of 38 , 622 fans at Comiskey Park , a North American professional wrestling attendance record that lasted until Toronto ' s The Big Event in 1986 . The ticket sells of $ 148 , 000 was a professional wrestling record for almost 20 years . The match , a two out of three falls match , was billed as the " Match of the Century " . During the match , both men had gained a pinfall , when O ' Connor missed a dropkick and suffered a groin injury on the ropes , after which Rogers pinned him to win the match . The entire match can be viewed on YouTube . American Wrestling Association . In May 1960 , while still the NWA Champion , the American Wrestling Association ( AWA ) named O ' Connor as the first holder of the AWA World Heavyweight Championship when they seceded from the NWA . Therefore , he held both the AWA and NWA World Heavyweight Championships simultaneously . He never defended the AWA Championship , and was stripped of it in August , after 90 days , when Verne Gagne was recognized as the new champion . On November 10 , 1967 , the team of O ' Connor and Wilbur Snyder defeated Larry Hennig and Harley Race to win the AWA World Tag Team Championship . They lost the title on December 2 to Mitsu Arakawa and Dr . Moto . O ' Connor and Snyder also defeated Arakawa and Moto for the World Wrestling Association ' s WWA World Tag Team Championship on September 24 , 1968 . They lost the title on October 26 to the same team . Later career . On October 13 , 1970 , O ' Connor was introduced as Jim Crockett Promotions ' s first NWA Eastern States Heavyweight Champion as part of a storyline to introduce the title . The title was later awarded to the Missouri Mauler with the announcement that Mauler won it in New York . On January 1 , 1982 , O ' Connor was part of the card that comprised promoter Sam Muchnick ' s last professional wrestling show , located in St . Louis . O ' Connor was also one of the owners of the St . Louis Wrestling Club . O ' Connor , along with Verne Gagne , Harley Race , and Bob Geigel purchased the territory from Sam Muchnick the day after Muchnick ' s retirement . On September 18 , 1963 , O ' Connor was named as a co - conspirator in the monopoly that controlled wrestling in Missouri , Kansas , and Iowa . O ' Connor filed a counterclaim . All the claims were later dismissed . On November 16 , 1987 , O ' Connor participated in a World Wrestling Federation " old - timers " battle royal , which was won by Lou Thesz . The event only drew a crowd of 5 , 000 people . In 1990 , he died of cancer . The following December , World Championship Wrestling held the Pat O ' Connor Memorial International Cup Tag Team Tournament , an eight - team international tag - team memorial tournament at Starrcade in 1990 in honor of O ' Connor . In 1996 , he was inducted into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame . In 2007 , the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame inducted O ' Connor . He is also a member of the Stampede Wrestling Hall of Fame .