Bobby Kay

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Bobby Kay
Birth nameRomeo Cormier
Born(1950-01-05)5 January 1950[1]
Died17 January 2020(2020-01-17) (aged 70)
Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada
FamilyCormier
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Bobby Burke
Bobby Kay
Norton Jackson
Terry Kay
Terry Martin
Billed height5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)[1]
Billed weight220 lb (100 kg)[1]
Trained byStu Hart[1]
Debut1967[1]
Retired1999

Romeo Cormier[1] (5 January 1950 – 17 January 2020) was a Canadian professional wrestler best known by the ring name Bobby Kay. He was a member of the Cormier wrestling family, a group of four brothers who were all successful professional wrestlers. He worked in Canada and the United States from 1967 to the mid-1980s, briefly owning and operating part of the Eastern Sports Association. After retiring from wrestling, he performed country music professionally before taking a job with Loblaws.

Career

Cormier grew up with eight brothers and four sisters on the family's farm in what is now

Memramcook, New Brunswick.[2][3] He became interested in professional wrestling because of his older brothers Jean-Louis, Yvon, and Léonce, who competed under the ring names Rudy Kay, The Beast, and Leo Burke, respectively.[2] At age 17, Yvon took Romeo to Calgary, Alberta to train under Stu Hart.[1][4]

Cormier made his professional debut in 1967 and wrestled in several countries.[1][2] While touring the world as a competitor, he used several ring names. In Calgary's Stampede Wrestling, he used the name Norton Jackson.[5] He then took on the moniker Terry Martin while wrestling in Central States Wrestling.[5] He competed primarily as a tag team wrestler,[1] and he won his first title belt in Kansas City on 31 October 1968. Teaming with his brother Léonce, who was using the name Tommy Martin, he won the Central States version of the NWA North American Tag Team Championship. The reign lasted for one week before they dropped the title to The Texas Outlaws (Dick Murdoch and Dusty Rhodes).[4][6][7]

Cormier also competed for the

Kurt Von Steiger. Kay then teamed with brother Yvon (who was known as The Beast) to regain the title. The teams traded the championship back and forth once again over the course of the summer. They lost the title to Sweetan and J. J. Dillon in autumn 1973. After Dillon left the promotion, the championship was vacated; Kay and The Beast regained it the following year. The reign lasted less than one week before Sweetan and Dubois won the title. Teaming with Burke in June 1974, Kay had one final reign with the title; he sustained an injury, however, and Ron Thompson defended the championship in Kay's place.[4][8]

Later that year, Cormier returned to Kansas, where he won the

Michel Martel later that year, they did not regain the belts until 1980, when they defeated Duke Myers and Bobby Bass.[10][11]

Cormier competed in Toronto from 1982 to 1984 under the ring name Terry Kay, a name that he had also used while wrestling in

Maritimes.[1] His final title victory came in AGPW, where he won the company's North American Tag Team Championship in 1990 while teaming with his brother Leo.[13]

Retirement

Cormier retired from professional wrestling to spend more time with his wife and two children.

World Wrestling Federation moved into the same areas. Because the WWF had a larger budget and was able to gain access to arenas with larger seating capacities, Cormier's promotion was unable to compete.[1] In 2006, a celebration was held in Memramcook to honor the four wrestling Cormier brothers.[15] Cormier balanced competing in occasional wrestling matches with his job in shipping and receiving for Loblaws.[1]

He died on 17 January 2020, at a hospital in Moncton, New Brunswick, at the age of 70.[16]

Championships and accomplishments

References

  1. ^
    Canadian Online Explorer. Archived from the original on 1 January 2013. Retrieved 29 July 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link
    )
  2. ^
    ISBN 0-89689-267-0
    .
  3. ^ Lewis, Eric (5 March 2009). "Legend Yvon 'The Beast' Cormier loses battle with cancer". Telegraph-Journal. Retrieved 31 July 2009.
  4. ^
    ISBN 1-55022-531-6
    .
  5. ^ a b c d "Wrestler Profiles: Bobby Kay". Online World of Wrestling. Archived from the original on 30 January 2010. Retrieved 1 August 2009.
  6. ^
    ISBN 0-9698161-5-4
    .
  7. ^ a b "NWA North American Tag Team Title (Central States version)". wrestling-titles.com. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
  8. ^
    ISBN 0-9698161-5-4
    .
  9. ^
    ISBN 0-9698161-5-4
    .
  10. ^
    ISBN 0-9698161-5-4
    .
  11. ^ a b "International Tag Team Title History". Stampede Wrestling. Retrieved 1 August 2009.
  12. ^
    ISBN 0-9698161-5-4
    .
  13. ^
    ISBN 0-9698161-5-4
    .
  14. Canadian Online Explorer. Archived from the original on 14 July 2012. Retrieved 28 December 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link
    )
  15. Canadian Online Explorer. Archived from the original on 24 July 2012. Retrieved 1 August 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link
    )
  16. ^ "Obituary For Romeo "Bobby Kay" Cormier". Telegraph Journal. Archived from the original on 23 February 2020. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  17. ^ "Honorees". Cauliflower Alley Club. Archived from the original on 6 July 2022. Retrieved 27 September 2020.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bobby_Kay&oldid=1210871161"