Leo Burke
| Leo Burke | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Leonce Cormier |
| Born |
June 29, 1948 Dorchester, New Brunswick, Canada |
| Residence | Calgary, Alberta, Canada |
| Family | Cormier |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Leo Burke Tommy Martin |
| Billed height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) |
| Billed weight | 230 lb (100 kg) |
| Trained by |
Yvon Cormier Rudy Kay |
| Debut | 1966 |
| Retired | 1992 |
Leonce Cormier (born June 29, 1948) is a Canadian retired professional wrestler. He was born in Dorchester, New Brunswick. He competed across Canada, in several American promotions, and wrestled internationally for both Puerto Rico's World Wrestling Council (WWC) and the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) in New Zealand. In Canada, where he spent the majority of his career, Cormier used the ring name Leo Burke. In the United States, however, he competed as Tommy Martin.
Over the course of his career, Cormier held 46 wrestling championships. Several of his title victories came as part of a tag team with his brothers, three of whom were also professional wrestlers. He had long-term storyline feuds with such wrestlers as Cuban Assassin and Bret Hart, both of whom he later reconciled with and joined forces with to hold tag team championships. Since his retirement in 1992, he has also trained many wrestlers for both World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW). Cormier also competes in occasional wrestling matches and has been honored by both the Cauliflower Alley Club, a fraternal organization of professional wrestlers, and Stampede Wrestling, who inducted him into their hall of fame.
Growing up in a wrestling family, Leonce Burke decided at age six that he wanted to become a professional wrestler. He followed in the footsteps of his older brothers Yvon and Jean-Louis, who trained him to compete.
Cormier made his professional debut in 1966. Competing in Central States Wrestling, an affiliate of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), he used the ring name Tommy Martin. He won his first championship belt on October 11, 1968 by defeating Bob Brown for the NWA Central States Heavyweight Championship. Later that month, he gained another title when he formed a tag team with his brother Romeo (who was competing under the ring name Terry Martin) to win the Central States version of the NWA North American Tag Team Championship from Brown and Bob Geigel. The reign as tag team champions lasted for seven days before the Martins dropped the belts in a match against The Texas Outlaws (Dick Murdoch and Dusty Rhodes). The following month, Martin also lost the heavyweight championship to Rhodes.
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