Johnny Powers (wrestler)
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| Born |
March 23, 1943 Hamilton, Ontario, Canada |
|---|---|
| Residence | Regional Municipality of Niagara, Ontario, Canada |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Johnny Powers Lord Anthony Lansdowne |
| Billed height | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) |
| Billed weight | 265 lb (120 kg) |
| Trained by | Jack Wentworth Johnny Valentine Lou Thesz Toots Mondt Pedro Martínez |
| Debut | 1960 |
| Retired | 1982 |
Johnny Powers (born Dennis Waters, March 20, 1943) is a retired Canadian professional wrestler, known by his legally changed ring name Johnny Powers. He competed in several North American and International promotions including National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), American Wrestling Association (AWA), Maple Leaf Wrestling, National Wrestling Federation, International Wrestling Association and the World Wide Wrestling Federation feuding with then WWWF World Heavyweight Champion Bruno Sammartino during the early 1960s NWA's Lou Thesz, Gene Kiniski and AWA's Verne Gagne.
As a sports event promoter and television producer since 1967, he has presented over 3,500 live wrestling and sports events from Singapore to New York City to Trinidad. He co-founded the National Wrestling Federation (NWF), which he sold to Japanese interests in 1973. Powers was the first major international syndicator of television wrestling with programs in over 27 countries.
Dennis Waters was born in Hamilton, Ontario. At 15, he started training under the tutelage of Canadian light heavyweight wrestling champion Jack Wentworth. Powers had his first professional match in 1960 in Detroit at age 17 while attending McMaster University in Hamilton. He left university and became a professional wrestler, formally turning professional at age 20 in Detroit as Lord Anthony Lansdowne.
He wrestled Larry Chene many times, who then mentored Powers. Powers dyed his hair blond and wrestled as Johnny Powers, the Golden Adonis, in North East United States and Canada in 1964. Powers wrestled six times for the WWWF Heavyweight Championship against Bruno Sammartino in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. Powers turned heel and was managed by Bobby Davis. He fought Whipper Billy Watson many times across Canada and was main event for two years in Canada's Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. Powers fought NWA World Champions Lou Thesz outdoors in Hamilton ballpark and St Louis Kiel Auditorium and Gene Kiniski in Toronto ballpark and The Hamilton Forum. Powers dominated Cleveland Ohio with great battles against Johnny Valentine, The Sheik, Ernie Ladd and Abdullah the Butcher. In 1973, Powers wrestled Ladd in a match, during which wrestler Ox Baker turned on Ladd to side with Powers. As a result, angry fans stormed the ring—an incident known as "The Cleveland Riot" and one of the most dangerous riots in professional wrestling history.
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