1. Tony Garea was originally an accomplished sprinter and a rugby league player.
22 Facts About Tony Garea
1. 2.
Tony Garea was trained by Wild Don Scott on what he says was a wooden floor with a canvas covering and the only "padding" was a layer of felt under the canvas.
3.
Tony Garea made his professional debut in his native New Zealand in 1971 against Don Scott for which he was paid $12.
4.
Once the 10 days were up, Barnett asked Tony Garea to stay on and work for him for another 2 months with Barnett offering a base pay of $250 per week, which as Tony Garea said in a shoot interview was much better than the $45 per week day job he had at home in Auckland.
5.
Thankfully though Graham was receptive enough to the then unknown Kiwi that he got him a work visa and Tony Garea made his USA wrestling debut for Graham in Florida.
6.
Tony Garea worked in the NWA San Francisco territory where he and Pat Patterson defeated Don Muraco and Invader I for the NWA San Francisco Tag Team Championship in May 1976.
7.
Tony Garea left New Zealand on 16 March 1972 and went to the United States where he signed a contract with Vince McMahon, Sr.
8.
Tony Garea made his WWWF debut at a TV taping in the Philadelphia Arena on 20 September 1972 as a babyface, defeating Davey O'Hannon.
9.
Tony Garea continued the feud with Fuji and Tanaka with a new partner, Dean Ho.
10.
Tony Garea, who had been successful as a tag team wrestler, began a singles career.
11.
Tony Garea continued his singles career for three years before forming a tag team with new partner Larry Zbyzsko in August 1977.
12.
Shortly afterwards, Tony Garea left the WWF and went to work in Japan and Mid-Atlantic for a year.
13.
Tony Garea formed a tag team with new partner Rick Martel, which was Tony Garea's most successful and most popular tag team.
14.
Martel and Tony Garea continued to feud with Moondogs, trying to regain the titles.
15.
Martel left WWF in 1982 while Tony Garea went on his own.
16.
Tony Garea moved to the jobber to the stars status, jobbing to rising newcomers before retiring full-time in 1987.
17.
Tony Garea participated in a World Wrestling Federation "Legends" battle royal, which was won by Lou Thesz on November 16,1987.
18.
Tony Garea thereafter worked as a road agent for the WWF until leaving the Company in 2014.
19.
Tony Garea appeared with former tag team partner Rick Martel at Vengeance: Night of Champions in June 2007.
20.
Butch and Tony Garea recovered and fought off MVP, then celebrated with the Bushwhacker walk.
21.
On 29 March 2010 episode of Monday Night Raw Tony Garea appeared as a lumberjack in the Christian vs Ted DiBiase lumberjack match.
22.
Towards the end of the match, Tony Garea brawled with other legends that were serving as lumberjacks.