Jack Tunney

**John Thomas** **Tunney** (January 21, 1935 – January 24, 2004), better known as **Jack Tunney**, was a Canadian professional wrestling promoter. He was known worldwide for his appearances on World Wrestling Federation television as the promotion's figurehead president. Tunney's tenure was during the company's initial worldwide popularity boom in the 1980s, the peak days of "Hulkamania".

## Career

The Tunney family had a long history of running wrestling promotions in Toronto and the southern Ontario area, going back to 1939. His father, John Tunney, and his uncle Frank Tunney were promoters of wrestling in Toronto and all over southern Ontario. What they didn't promote, they still had control over, allowing small promoters to run small towns where it suited them. John was the head promoter until his sudden death. Frank Tunney was an incredibly well-known and liked promoter, both in the city and around the NWA, in which he had great sway.

As a young man, Tunney entered into employment in the Queensbury Athletic Club, the proper name for the Toronto Wrestling promotion for many years, before it became known as Maple Leaf Wrestling and worked alongside his uncle, Frank, announcer Norm Kimber, Frank Ayerst, Ed Noonan, and wrestlers Whipper Watson and Pat Flanagan. The offices were across the street from the famed Maple Leaf Gardens.

Later, Tunney ran his operation out of the Gardens itself. Jack worked for years under his uncle Frank Tunney until Frank's death in May 1983 when he took over the Toronto promotion. Jack Tunney and his cousin Eddy Tunney (Frank's son) took control of the Queensbury Athletic Club. With the years of experience under his belt, Jack moved into the spotlight his uncle loved, and Eddy was a silent partner.

At the time, the Toronto office was in partnership with Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling promoter (in the Carolinas) Jim Crockett and had been since 1978 (A deal broken by George Scott, a key executive with Crockett who had been a preliminary wrestler for Tunney from 1950-1956). But when the promotional wars heated up, Crockett felt he could no longer spare the top name wrestlers, and had a distrust of Tunney, who had a long history of working with Crockett's main rival, Vince McMahon, and McMahon's booker George Scott, who was a partner in the Toronto promotion. The Toronto cards got progressively weaker through 1983-84, dwindling down to audiences of 3,000 for some shows. Leo Burke and his brothers became the lead heels, along with Don Kernodle when the top Crockett stars were no longer available.

In 1984 Jack decided he no longer wanted to promote cards with a mix of WWF, NWA, and other wrestling talent and decided to switch allegiances from the NWA and aligned himself his Vince McMahon's WWF, promoting only WWF cards north of the border. Jack, with Frank's son Eddie as his silent partner, transferred controlling interest of the promotion to the WWF in a maneuver which made Toronto a WWF city and was instrumental in consolidating the company's power base in Canada. Jack Tunney and his cousin Eddie Tunney retained a one-third stake in the Maple Leaf Wrestling promotion, with George Scott holding one-sixth (until 1987). Tunney still controlled the Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto to a large extent, and also covered southern Ontario and Buffalo, NY.

Tunney would usually promote 40 or more WWF shows per year, making him a very important man in the expansion of the WWF, and keeping WCW out of key Canadian markets well into the 90s. It was a brilliant business move, signing up just as the WWF was about to hit it big. He had positioned himself as Canada's WWF promoter, leading McMahon's army as they destroyed promotion after promotion. Soon, wrestling promotions across Canada fell on hard times as Tunney helped McMahon take over their territories. All-Star Wrestling in Vancouver expired. The AWA stopped coming into Manitoba. Stu Hart's Stampede promotion began eroding until he too was forced to sell to McMahon (and later starting up again for a few years). Grand Prix out of Montreal fought Tunney, but also eventually succumbed. Dave McKigney's Big Time Wrestling couldn't make a go of it due to Tunney's pressuring of Ontario's Boxing & Wrestling Commission to make insurance too expensive for the little guys.

To reward Tunney for his work he was made the chief WWF Promoter for Canadian tours and was legitimately the president of Titan Sports Canada, the WWF's Canadian corporate presence, after McMahon began operating under that entity in late 1989. Furthermore, to present Canadian fans with a familiar face as the WWF tried to expand northward, Tunney was named the WWF's figurehead President on the company's television programs in the mid-80s. This role was strictly ceremonial, to provide an authority figure to announce major decisions on television, and Tunney held no backstage power beyond what a standard regional promoter would. Still, he was thrown onto TV whenever a major decision had to be announced. His on-air decisions were kayfabed as being legitimate though, the most famous of which being when he stripped Ted DiBiase of the world title he acquired through deceptive means and an implied financial payoff. His hard nosed way of doing things earned him the nickname "The Hammerhead".

Tunney's position grew smaller over time, and by the early 90's he was rarely seen on TV. In 1995, McMahon chose to run the shows in Toronto without any involvement from the Tunneys. The final show at the Gardens was held on September 17, 1995. That year, Tunney decided to leave the WWF organization and split with McMahon. Gorilla Monsoon was given the role of on-screen WWF President.

## Death

On January 24, 2004, Tunney died of a heart attack in his sleep at his home in Waterdown, Ontario, at the age of 69 after a sudden illness. Tunney's firing from the WWF was never resolved, and upon his death not a single representative from the WWF/E was present at his funeral, nor was his death announced on WWE.com.