A long time coming …
I’ve been toying with the idea of documenting my dad’s life for years. I’ve envisioned a book or a script for a movie, I’ve gone so far as writing stories of my dad into a notebook and even worked with a film maker on a proposal for a documentary film. None of those ideas have ever turned into anything though so time for me to do something, he deserves that. Hopefully this will become a series of articles.
So, yes
Even though I am tall my father was a little person or ‘dwarf’ as he was called when I was young. And in the 60’s and 70’s he had the illustrious job title of Midget Wrestler.
His name was Little Bruiser. Back in the day most midget wrestlers’ were either ‘little’ this or ‘mini’ that as you can probably imagine. My dad was the mini version of Dick the Bruiser. And in fact, one of the only matches you can find around today of my dad includes him in a match with Dick the Bruiser, but I’ll get to that a bit later.
So ya …
It can be a bit weird when people hear for the first time that my dad was a midget wrestler. Some times people think I am making it up. I even once had a friend call me and say that a friend of his, had met me at a party, heard my story and didn’t believe me. He was retelling the story to this mutual friend who said, “yes, i actually know Mike and its 100% true even though it sounds totally made up.”
I’m the oldest child of three and was born in the 70’s, so I had the luxury of getting to see my dad wrestle and actually have some memories of those events.
I remember this one time when my dad was wrestling and I was in the audience with my mom, in the middle of the match my dad got busted wide open (he was bleeding). I immediately stood up and yelled to the ring that it was time to go home, the jig was up.
My dad …
Always liked being the heel or bad guy. He didn’t like when he was a face (good guy) because everyone would want to be his friend, be nice to him or pat him on the shoulders, he hated that. He said it was much easier to be a heel, “you just go out and call everyone pussies or say that their wives are fat, easy.”
When I walk around with a mean look on my face or when I am in a bad mood I often wonder if I am channeling a heel version of my dad.
Famous Peeps
My dad wrestled for Whipper Billy Watson who ran the Maple Leaf wrestling promotion after he retired from in-ring performing. My dad traveled all over the world as a wrestler working for different promotions.
As a kid I remember spending time in arena’s and running errands for ‘the boys’, such as running to the The Original Sheik’s car to get him more headshots to sign for eager fans.
The most famous person I ever met was Andre the Giant whom I met a few times, the last of which was in our family home in southern Ontario. Andre had stopped by to visit with my dad and he was too big to fit through our doorway, we had to have a picnic in the backyard. #Goodtimes
Unfortunately there isn’t a lot of footage and/or pics left of my dad’s time as a wrestler. The pictures I have shown in this article are almost all that exist from my dad’s time in the squared circle.
There is however a video on Youtube that you can watch. It is a match with Dick the Bruiser and Da Crusher vs. The BlackJacks (Lanza and Mulligan) and their manager, a certain Bobby Heenan.
As the story went, Bobby kept interfering in matches and costing The Bruiser and Da Crusher the tag titles so someone had to be brought in to deal with Heenan, enter my dad …
-- Downs out.
Hi there,
I'm Mike, welcome to my little corner of the web.
Hope you like what you see here, please leave me a comment whether you did or not. 
Keep pitching the Movie Stu can play your Dad and Colin can play You.
Ha! Maybe, although there has been little interest in making a movie.
Perhaps if I write enough blogs about him with interesting stories that will go somewhere?
Who knows.
Wow I may be boast but what an incredible idea..maybe someone from the show little people may watch it and pass it on…Your Dad was a legend in his time and totally deserves recognition…he bought down the hoyse many times with his antics…especially when grandad was the referee…keep up the great work Mike xx
Damn auto correct…you got the message right??? Lol
Thanks Aunt Kim.
He was certainly some thing else, I look forward to sharing some of his antics with the world.
ThankS for sharing Mike we all have our own memories of Dad so it’s excellent hearing your stories 💖
For sure, I’ll be sharing more in the future as well.
Mike I am your cousin Sandra. My dad is your Uncle Dewart. I rememeber seeing your dad a few times when I was a kid and my dad use to tell stories of your dad. And I know he was very proud of him. It is great to read about family members . I hope it does get made into a movie.
Thanks for reaching out Sandra, I appreciate it. This is only the first of hopefully many, I could only imagine if we were lucky enough to get some sort of film made. Even if people stumble on this article and can share maybe pics or videos they might have would be awesome too.
Thanks again for the comment Sandra.
Hello Mike! I remember when you all use to talk about your dad!! Please keep going your dad definately deserves recognition!! Thank you for sharing.
Thanks Betty-Anne, I’m glad people enjoy reading this stuff. Sometimes its difficult to know if anyone cares, so thank you for your feedback.
I love this idea Mike. Just these few paragraphs & there were already things I didn’t know.I’m looking forward to seeing more.
Too bad so many of the wrestlers we knew have already passed, I’m sure they could have added a lot of fodder for this.
Thanks Aunt Kay, I tried to keep it fairly high level for those who are only slightly aware of the story, hopefully they will get better as time goes on.
Although I did know that your father was a wrestler from the few times you mentioned it on the podcast it is really interesting to get a peek into his career through your words. I will be eagerly awaiting the next blog and hope that you can bring his life stories to another medium someday.
Probably wouldn’t go anywhere I’m sure, but I would bet that the WWE has footage or pictures of your father somewhere in their “Vault” as they have gobbled up many ( if not all) the territories and their tape libraries. Its sad that with all of the tapes they have probably going back into the 50s-60s the amount that is on the WWE Network is probably only 5% of what they own.
Cant wait for more buddy!
Thanks Richard, really appreciate the feedback dude.
Keep an eye out for more in the future.
Thank you for putting pictures and video to the story of your Dad’s life that you were generous enough to share!
Thanks Lora Lee, other people have said to me how much they like the old pics.
Takes you back i think eh, that black and white look, for me they totally take me back.
Thanks for sharing Mike! I have many fond memories of your Dad from my childhood. Reading this brought those back & I have to say I may have shed a tear. I know my Dad also has stories of Butch. I think I even have a pic of your Dad & Mom that was taken at Grandma Cottrell’s. I will look for it & send you a copy if you like.
Hey Vicky,
Thanks for the comment. I love that you may have shed a tear, I haven’t even gotten to the good stuff yet 🙂
I would love for people to share their stories of my dad, so its just not me. Need to think about how to make that happen.
Please send along anything and everything you are comfortable sharing. We don’t even have THAT many pics from the 80s either.