Big Time Wrestling was a professional wrestling promotion that held events in the New England area of the United States from 1960 to 1975. For much of the 1960s, BTW was the top professional wrestling promotion in Boston, Massachusetts, and was a significant competitor to the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF).
The company was founded by Tony Santos Sr. in 1960, following the death of Boston's longtime promoter Paul Bowser, and the departure of Bowser's rival Eddie Quinn. Partnering with Jack Pfefer, Santos solidified his control over the city after securing the Boston Garden that same year. Big Time Wrestling was a staple of the regional carnival circuit and regularly visited New England's summer resort towns. Its live events often featured female and midget wrestlers, as well as a variety of wrestling animals.
Under Pfefer's guidance, the "outlaw" promotion became infamous for using "soundalike" wrestlers which parodied a number of stars from both the National Wrestling Alliance and World Wide Wrestling Federation. Big Time Wrestling was one of several promotions to recognize the Atlantic Athletic Commission World Heavyweight Championship, a world title created by Bowser in 1957, although it gradually diminished in importance after the mid-1960s.
In 1963, Abe Ford spearheaded the WWWF's expansion into Boston. Santos was able to keep the New York–based promotion at bay for several years. A rivalry developed between Big Time's top star Frankie Scarpa and the WWWF's Bruno Sammartino which attracted big crowds in New England, particularly among the Italian-American population in Boston, and saw Sammartino eclipse Scarpa as the region's top "babyface" performer by the end of the 1960s. Santos slowly lost his hold on Boston after WWWF television programming began airing in New England and the emergence of Sammartino as a major star in the northeastern United States. Big Time Wrestling went on an unofficial hiatus following the in-ring death of Scarpa in 1969. The promotion enjoyed one last big run in the mid-1970s, this time operated by Gene and Tony Santos Jr., before finally shutting down in 1975. The promotion was revived by former BTW mainstay Richard Byrne in 2006 and began touring nationally in 2013.
History and overview Formation
Tony Santos Sr. formed Big Time Wrestling following the death of Paul Bowser and subsequent departure of Eddie Quinn from Boston in 1960. Santos had spent six years working under Bowser, initially promoting shows in Medford and Revere, Massachusetts in 1952, before running Boston Arena and Boston Garden under the "Big Time Wrestling" banner. Santos worked with a number of wrestling promoters during this period including a brief partnership with Quinn and Johnny Doyle. When Doyle left the U.S. with Jim Barnett to start World Championship Wrestling in Australia, Jack Pfefer was brought in as a booker. Frankie Scarpa was the promotion's main attraction, however, Santos built a small group of his own stars by the early-1960s including The Boston Bruiser, Bull Montana, Gypsy Joe Jesse James and Alma Mills. The promotion also started one of the first-ever wrestling camps in the country where many of these BTW mainstays were trained. Using two or three crews of wrestlers, Big Time Wrestling put on shows six nights a week during the summer months. These included midget and women's wrestlers, and even a 300-pound "wrestling bear" called Black Ozzie. For most of its existence, BTW did not have a studio wrestling show. It did, however, manage to get occasional television coverage into Boston via WMUR-TV (Channel 9) from Manchester, New Hampshire and in Providence, Rhode Island on WLNE-TV (Channel 6).
The promotion recognized Edouard Carpentier as its world champion based on his 1957 victory over then NWA World Heavyweight Champion Lou Thesz in Chicago, Illinois. The NWA had acknowledged Carpentier as champion until Eddie Quinn left the organization later that year. Through the belt was returned to Thesz, the decision was challenged by several NWA members who continued billing Carpentier as a world champion for several years. This eventually resulted in the creation of the Minneapolis and Los Angeles versions of the world title.
Santos' decision to continue supporting Carpentier gave Big Time Wrestling the opportunity to "own" their own world champion, however, this would put Santos at odds with other promoters in the Northeast United States. His biggest rivals, Vince McMahon Sr. and Toots Mondt, would eventually break away from the NWA and create their own world championship three years later. In April 1961, Bearcat Wright defeated Killer Kowalski for the BTW Heavyweight Championship in Boston, becoming one of the first African-Americans to win a major singles title during the Territory-era. In addition to the "traveling champion", the promotion also established several regional titles including the BTW United States Heavyweight Championship (1959–1974), BTW Women's World Championship (1959–1970) and BTW World Tag Team Championship (1960–1964)
Early Boston promotional wars
At the start of the 1960s, wrestling promoters battled over Boston and New York much like their "Gold Dust Trio" counterparts did during the 1920s and 1930s. Two figures from this era, Jack Pfefer and Toots Mondt, partnered with younger promoters Tony Santos and Vince McMahon Sr. respectively. Shortly after allying himself with Pfefer, Santos was able to win the city by securing the Boston Garden for Big Time Wrestling.
Santos was not the only one to take advantage of the absence of Bowser and Quinn. In the fall of 1962, he fended off a challenge from ex-wrestler and Boston College football star Dom Papaleo. Papaleo was able to bring in national talent for his shows including Dick the Bruiser, Verne Gagne, and Hans Schmidt. Heavyweight boxer Tom McNeeley was also brought in as a guest referee. Papaleo had plans to train McNeeley for a career in pro wrestling but this never came to fruition. This first promotional war was short-lived due to the failure of Papaleo's two shows held in September and October 1962.
A few months later, Santos faced a second challenge when Abe Ford, representing McMahon's New York–based World Wide Wrestling Federation, arrived in the city. A former theatrical agent, Ford had previously booked talent for Eddie Quinn at the Boston Garden and planned to use the venue to compete head-to-head against Big Time Wrestling's weekly shows at the Boston Arena. Ford's first-ever event on April 20, 1963, however, turned into a complete disaster when half of his wrestlers failed to appear including the recently crowned WWWF World Heavyweight Champion Buddy Rogers. Undeterred by accusations of false advertising, Ford attempted to run a second show the following month. The event was poorly attended despite a heavy publicity campaign and he subsequently returned to New York. Meanwhile, Santos and Pfefer went on the attack by booking journeyman wrestler Isaac Rosario as "Bruno Sanmartino", a playful jab at Capitol's rising young star Bruno Sammartino. Boston wrestling fans who failed to notice the spelling were tricked into thinking they were going to see the Italian-American strongman. On occasion, Santos and Pfefer were even able to get the Boston press to use the "correct" Sammartino spelling which added to the confusion. At one point, Big Time's champion Jackie Fargo challenged both men to a wrestling match. Santos and Pfefer also mimicked other popular wrestlers then working for the WWWF, such as "Hobo Brazil" (Bobo Brazil) and "Pierre Carpentier" (Edouard Carpentier), as well as the National Wrestling Alliance. This practice lasted only a few years, however, the promotion become associated with these "soundalike" wrestlers long after Pfefer had left Boston.
Rivalry with the WWWF Santos remained the sole promoter in Boston for another two years until the reappearance of Abe Ford in 1965. This time, Ford had considerably more support from Vince McMahon Sr. which included the debut of the WWWF's Heavyweight Wrestling on WIHS (Channel 38). He also took a more aggressive approach against the Santos-Pfefer group including the placement of special newspaper advertisements attacking their "knockoff" versions of WWWF wrestlers. Boston wrestling historian Tom Burke described the often heated relationship between the two promoters:
Big Time Wrestling maintained its hold on the territory for the first half of 1965. Ford's "World Championship Wrestling" shows lasted from July until October 1965, due to low attendance. For the second time, Ford was run out of Boston and he temporarily left the wrestling business "to refocus on other interests". During the early-to-mid 1960s, Jackie Fargo and Buddy Fuller had been promoted by the company as its world champions. Fargo left the territory in November 1964 and Fuller stopped appearing in Boston after 1966. The following spring Santos decided to hold a tournament to crown a new champion. The winner was to be presented with the prestigious Ed "Strangler" Lewis championship belt, then valued at $10,000. Frankie Scarpa ended up winning the tournament on April 27, 1967, defeating Gorilla Morgan in the finals. From that point forward, Scarpa was billed as Big Time Wrestling's number-one star.
That same month, Ford returned to Boston for his third and ultimately successful attempt to gain a foothold in the city. This time, he had the advantage of McMahon's growing television audience. WWWF programming was carried on four different channels giving Ford extensive television coverage not only in Boston but throughout the New England region. Ford began running regular shows as the Boston Garden with then 29-year-old Bruno Sammartino as the main headliner. Attendance increased dramatically and by the end of the year Ford's events were being attended by an average of 10,000 people per show.
For several months, Scarpa and Sammartino battled to win over the region's wrestling fans, particularly the Italian-American audience in Boston. In April 1967, Sammartino told the Boston Globe that Scarpa was a "phony" world champion. The tide finally began to turn in the fall of 1967 when Sammartino began feuding with Professor Toru Tanaka over the WWWF World Heavyweight Championship. A high point in the Samartino-Tanaka feud occurred at the Boston Garden on September 30, 1967, when Tanaka pinned the champion while using his feet on the ropes for leverage. Although seemingly winning the title, the decision was reversed after the WWWF "board of directors" reviewed footage of the match. These turn of events excited Boston's wrestling fans and rematches held on November 4 and December 9, 1967, were attended by 9,300 and 9,700 fans, respectively. Ford's efforts ensured the WWWF was in Boston to stay, beginning the turning point in the war with Big Time Wrestling, with the city becoming one on the most valuable markets in Vince McMahon's territory.