John Cozman
Encyclopedia
John Cozman is a Canadian professional wrestler
and trainer, known by his ring name "Principal" Richard Pound who competes in North American independent promotions, most notably as a mainstay of Stampede Wrestling
during the 1980s and late 1990s.
, Cozman became a fan of professional wrestling and often attended local house shows with his father growing up. Interested in pursuing a career in professional wrestling, he eventually became friends with wrestling photographer Bob Leonard. In 1984, Leonard introduced him to Archie Gouldie and began training under him soon after.
Working with Gouldie during the next six months, he eventually made his professional debut in Stampede Wrestling in early 1985. Touring the Maritimes with Emile Duprée
's Grand Prix Wrestling
with Gouldie and Leo Burke
during the summer as "Danny Young", he also traveled to the United States following Gouldie and Burke to Texas where they wrestled for promoter Joe Blanchard. During the next five years, Cozman would work exclusively for Stampede Wrestling, feuding with Kerry Brown
before the promotion closed in 1990.
Retiring from professional wrestling, Cozman worked as a security guard during the next several years although, during 1995, he and Venom would spend three months training wrestlers for the Prairie Wrestling Alliance although the promoter later decided against starting the promotion.
In 1997, he became involved in Wild West Wrestling when the promotion began holding events in Saskatchewan. Later that year, while at a WWF house show in Regina with Bob Leonard, Bruce
and Owen Hart
, an outline for an in-ring persona was discussed in order to arrange a tryout with the World Wrestling Federation.
Cozman talked with Jim Cornette
about entering the WWF, however, Cozman and Bruce Hart continued working on a character outline and later brought in Cozman with the character when he reopened Stampede Wrestling in 1999. Making his debut as "Principal" Richard Pound, Cozman soon began one of the most dominant "heels
" in the promotion as leader of the stable The Honor Roll and later defeated Tiger Khan and Greg Pawluk in a three-way match for the Stampede British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight Champion in Calgary, Alberta on November 5, 1999. Cozman would become the first champion since the promotion closed in December 1989.
Defeating Tatanka
for the Stampede North American Heavyweight Championship in April 2000, he later lost the Stampede British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight title to Tiger Mahatma Khan on June 2. The winner of the match would earn a match against Sabu for the Stampede Pacific Heavyweight Championship
on June 9.
Cozman would continue defending the Stampede North American title until losing to Bruce Hart on April 13, 2001. The following month, he was backstage with several other Canadian independent wrestlers such as "Wildman" Gary Williams
at Monday Night Raw
when the WWF toured Alberta in late May. Although he did not compete at the event, he was later invited by the WWF for a tryout match in Tacoma or Seattle, Washington
in June.
Appearing at the fourth annual Brian Pillman Memorial Show, he represented Stampede Wrestling in an interpromotional match losing to East Coast Wrestling Association
veteran J.R. Ryder in Cincinnati, Ohio
in August 2001. In negotiations with Sonny Onoo to tour Great Britain
with WrestleXpress in March 2002, he later faced Bruce Hart on the undercard of the Stampede Wrestling 50th Anniversary Show at the Ogden Legion in Calgary, Alberta on May 1, 2003. In late 2004, he also faced Wavell Starr
and Zack Mercury while in Renegade Wrestling.
Leaving Stampede Wrestling in 2005, he toured Western Canada
with various independent promotions and, in a tag-team match with "Taylormade" Todd Myers, Cozman lost to Big Daddy Kash and The Honky Tonk Man
in an event for High Impact Wrestling in Regina on March 24, 2006. He again lost to the Honky Tonk Man in a singles match the next night thanks in part to outside interference by Bob Leonard.
The following month, he made a guest appearance along with Emile Dupree
, Hubert Gallant
, Rick Martel
, Butcher Vachon
, promoters Al Zinck and Bob Leonard at a "Recognition Night" banquet honoring the Cormier brothers Leo
, Yvon, Rudy Kay
, and Bobby Kay
. The banquet, held in the Cormier's hometown of Memramcook, New Brunswick
, was also part of a bluegrass music
festival and fundraiser for the local volunteer fire department.
Professional wrestling
Professional wrestling is a mode of spectacle, combining athletics and theatrical performance.Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling", Mythologies, 1957 It takes the form of events, held by touring companies, which mimic a title match combat sport...
and trainer, known by his ring name "Principal" Richard Pound who competes in North American independent promotions, most notably as a mainstay of Stampede Wrestling
Stampede Wrestling
Stampede Wrestling is a Canadian professional wrestling promotion based in Calgary, Alberta and was for nearly 50 years one of the main promotions in western Canada and the Canadian Prairies...
during the 1980s and late 1990s.
Career
Born in Regina, SaskatchewanRegina, Saskatchewan
Regina is the capital city of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province and a cultural and commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. It is governed by Regina City Council. Regina is the cathedral city of the Roman Catholic and Romanian Orthodox...
, Cozman became a fan of professional wrestling and often attended local house shows with his father growing up. Interested in pursuing a career in professional wrestling, he eventually became friends with wrestling photographer Bob Leonard. In 1984, Leonard introduced him to Archie Gouldie and began training under him soon after.
Working with Gouldie during the next six months, he eventually made his professional debut in Stampede Wrestling in early 1985. Touring the Maritimes with Emile Duprée
Emile Duprée
Emile Duprée is a former professional wrestler and promoter. He is also the father of former WWE professional wrestler, René Duprée and currently lives in Pointe-du-Chene, New Brunswick.-Professional wrestling career:...
's Grand Prix Wrestling
Grand prix wrestling
Grand Prix Wrestling is a wrestling promotion run and owned by Emile Duprée. Grand Prix Wrestling has currently stopped touring due to heavy traveling costs...
with Gouldie and Leo Burke
Leo Burke
Leonce Cormier is a retired Canadian 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 and the National Wrestling Alliance in New Zealand...
during the summer as "Danny Young", he also traveled to the United States following Gouldie and Burke to Texas where they wrestled for promoter Joe Blanchard. During the next five years, Cozman would work exclusively for Stampede Wrestling, feuding with Kerry Brown
Kerry Brown (wrestler)
Kerry Brown was a Canadian professional wrestler. Brown was best known for working in Stampede Wrestling in the 1980s under his real name, but also wrestled in Puerto Rico and the Maritimes using the ring name Rick Valentine.-Beginning and Canadian promotions:Brown began wrestling in 1979 in...
before the promotion closed in 1990.
Retiring from professional wrestling, Cozman worked as a security guard during the next several years although, during 1995, he and Venom would spend three months training wrestlers for the Prairie Wrestling Alliance although the promoter later decided against starting the promotion.
In 1997, he became involved in Wild West Wrestling when the promotion began holding events in Saskatchewan. Later that year, while at a WWF house show in Regina with Bob Leonard, Bruce
Bruce Hart (wrestler)
Bruce Dennis Luis Hart is a retired Canadian professional wrestler. The second son of Stu Hart, Hart is a member of the large Hart wrestling family.Hart substitute teaches for the Calgary Board of Education.-Career:...
and Owen Hart
Owen Hart
Owen James Hart was a Canadian professional and amateur wrestler who worked for several promotions including Stampede Wrestling, New Japan Pro Wrestling , World Championship Wrestling , and most notably, the World Wrestling Federation , where he wrestled under both his own name, and ring name The...
, an outline for an in-ring persona was discussed in order to arrange a tryout with the World Wrestling Federation.
Cozman talked with Jim Cornette
Jim Cornette
James Mark "Jim" Cornette is an American professional wrestling manager, commentator, promoter, and booker. As a manager, he has worked for Jim Crockett Promotions, World Championship Wrestling and World Wrestling Federation and from 1991 to 1995, was the owner of Smoky Mountain Wrestling...
about entering the WWF, however, Cozman and Bruce Hart continued working on a character outline and later brought in Cozman with the character when he reopened Stampede Wrestling in 1999. Making his debut as "Principal" Richard Pound, Cozman soon began one of the most dominant "heels
Heel (professional wrestling)
In professional wrestling, a heel is a villain character. In non-wrestling jargon, heels are the "bad guys" in professional wrestling; the term heel coming from the term take to you heels, which means to run away which heel champions tend to do to avoid losing their titles.storylines...
" in the promotion as leader of the stable The Honor Roll and later defeated Tiger Khan and Greg Pawluk in a three-way match for the Stampede British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight Champion in Calgary, Alberta on November 5, 1999. Cozman would become the first champion since the promotion closed in December 1989.
Defeating Tatanka
Chris Chavis
Christopher "Chris" Chavis , is a Native American professional wrestler best known for his work with World Wrestling Entertainment as Tatanka from 1991 to 1996 and from 2005 to 2007...
for the Stampede North American Heavyweight Championship in April 2000, he later lost the Stampede British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight title to Tiger Mahatma Khan on June 2. The winner of the match would earn a match against Sabu for the Stampede Pacific Heavyweight Championship
Stampede Pacific Heavyweight Championship
The Stampede Pacific Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling title, the first secondary title to be created following the reopening of Stampede Wrestling in 1999. The title was defended over a two year period before being abandoned in late 2001. Title defenses were held primarily in...
on June 9.
Cozman would continue defending the Stampede North American title until losing to Bruce Hart on April 13, 2001. The following month, he was backstage with several other Canadian independent wrestlers such as "Wildman" Gary Williams
Gary Williams (wrestler)
Gary William Gallant better known by his ring name "Wildman" Gary Williams has been competing in Canadian independent wrestling circuits since the 1990s. Williams is also a musician, actor and a bodyguard for VIP artists and personnel. Williams first passion is professional wrestling and what he...
at Monday Night Raw
WWE RAW
WWE Raw ) is a sports entertainment television program for WWE that currently airs on the USA Network in the United States...
when the WWF toured Alberta in late May. Although he did not compete at the event, he was later invited by the WWF for a tryout match in Tacoma or Seattle, Washington
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
in June.
Appearing at the fourth annual Brian Pillman Memorial Show, he represented Stampede Wrestling in an interpromotional match losing to East Coast Wrestling Association
East Coast Wrestling Association
East Coast Wrestling Association is an American professional wrestling promotion, founded by promoter Jim Kettner in 1967. It is home to the annual Super 8 Tournament, one of the longest-running independent wrestling tournaments in the country...
veteran J.R. Ryder in Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...
in August 2001. In negotiations with Sonny Onoo to tour Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
with WrestleXpress in March 2002, he later faced Bruce Hart on the undercard of the Stampede Wrestling 50th Anniversary Show at the Ogden Legion in Calgary, Alberta on May 1, 2003. In late 2004, he also faced Wavell Starr
Wavell Starr
Wavell Starr is a Canadian independent professional wrestler, who has worked for a number of independent Professional wrestling promotions including Ohio Valley Wrestling and High Impact Wrestling where he won his first Championship in professional wrestling...
and Zack Mercury while in Renegade Wrestling.
Leaving Stampede Wrestling in 2005, he toured Western Canada
Western Canada
Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces and commonly as the West, is a region of Canada that includes the four provinces west of the province of Ontario.- Provinces :...
with various independent promotions and, in a tag-team match with "Taylormade" Todd Myers, Cozman lost to Big Daddy Kash and The Honky Tonk Man
The Honky Tonk Man
Roy Wayne Farris , better known by his ring name The Honky Tonk Man, is an American professional wrestler. A 1975 graduate from University of Memphis with a B.S. degree in Education. Coached high school football 2 seasons at Munford High School in Munford, Tennessee...
in an event for High Impact Wrestling in Regina on March 24, 2006. He again lost to the Honky Tonk Man in a singles match the next night thanks in part to outside interference by Bob Leonard.
The following month, he made a guest appearance along with Emile Dupree
Emile Duprée
Emile Duprée is a former professional wrestler and promoter. He is also the father of former WWE professional wrestler, René Duprée and currently lives in Pointe-du-Chene, New Brunswick.-Professional wrestling career:...
, Hubert Gallant
Hubert Gallant
Hubert Gallant is a retired Canadian professional wrestler and trainer who competed in North American regional promotions during the 1970s and early 1980s including Stampede Wrestling and Emile Dupree's Grand Prix Wrestling as well short stints in the National Wrestling Alliance, specifically the...
, Rick Martel
Rick Martel
Richard Vigneault is a retired Canadian professional wrestler, best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation between 1980 and 1995 under the ring name Rick Martel...
, Butcher Vachon
Paul Vachon
Paul "Butcher" Vachon is a former professional wrestler. He is a member of the Vachon wrestling family.-Professional wrestling career:Paul Vachon grew up as one of thirteen children of Ferdinand Vachon, a Montreal police officer...
, promoters Al Zinck and Bob Leonard at a "Recognition Night" banquet honoring the Cormier brothers Leo
Leo Burke
Leonce Cormier is a retired Canadian 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 and the National Wrestling Alliance in New Zealand...
, Yvon, Rudy Kay
Rudy Kay
Jean-Louis Cormier was a Canadian professional wrestler best known by his ring name Rudy Kay. Cormier competed primarily in Canada and often formed a tag team with his brothers; together, they are known as the Cormier wrestling family...
, and Bobby Kay
Bobby Kay
Romeo Cormier is a retired Canadian professional wrestler best known by the ring name Bobby Kay. He is a member of the Cormier wrestling family, a group of four brothers who were all successful professional wrestlers. Romeo Cormier competed in Canada and the United States from 1967 to the...
. The banquet, held in the Cormier's hometown of Memramcook, New Brunswick
Memramcook, New Brunswick
Memramcook is a Canadian village in Westmorland County, New Brunswick. Located in south-eastern New Brunswick, the community is predominantly people of Acadian descent who speak the Chiac derivative of the French language....
, was also part of a bluegrass music
Bluegrass music
Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...
festival and fundraiser for the local volunteer fire department.
Championships and accomplishments
- Stampede Wrestling
- Stampede North American Heavyweight ChampionshipStampede North American Heavyweight ChampionshipThe Stampede North American Heavyweight Championship is the major title in the Canadian professional wrestling promotion Stampede Wrestling. From its establishment in 1968 until 1972, it was Stampede's secondary singles championship, becoming the top title in 1972 after the previous top...
(1 time) - Stampede British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight ChampionshipStampede British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight ChampionshipThe Stampede British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling title for lighter wrestlers in the Canadian promotion, Stampede Wrestling. It has existed since 1978.-Title history:...
(1 time)
- Stampede North American Heavyweight Championship
- High Impact Wrestling
- HIW Central Canadian Heavyweight Championship (4 times)
- HIW Tag Team Champion (1 time)
- HIW Provincial Champion (1 time)