PAGE OF FAME: Pat Flanagan

Pat Flanagan

Pat Flanagan
Real name: Winnett Watson
Mule kick specialist from Toronto. Began wrestling in the 1930s. Made his Maple Leaf Gardens debut in 1941 and continued to wrestle there until 1968. Then became a referee for Toronto promoter Frank Tunney until retiring in the 1970s.
Worked mostly as a prelim guy, but starting in 1947 he appeared in several main events as the tag team partner of Whipper Billy Watson. According to some stories, Watson took his ring name from Flanagan's real name. Flanagan and Watson won the tournament to crown the first Canadian Open tag team champions in 1952, defeating Lord Athol Layton and Hans Hermann in the final. He was also a frequent tag partner of strongman Timothy Geohagen.
Flanagan died in 1985.
"Pat (Buddy) Flanagan, handsome Irish-Canadian, homeward bound with the charming missus, may contest Bob Gregory upon American soil. Patsy already boasts of a victory over the Englishman, and hopes to make it a double." (From THE RING, July 1938)