The Duke of Dorchester
from Wikipedia
Pete Doherty is a retired professional wrestler known by his ring name The Duke of Dorchester.
Doherty began his career in the 1970s, wrestling for Vince McMahon Sr. in the World Wide Wrestling Foundation (WWWF). At the time, McMahon’s territory consisted of only the Northeast states, and Doherty wrestled all over in small and large venues. Doherty wrestled under the name, “The Duke of Dorchester” paying homage to his hometown of Dorchester. The Duke was generally relegated to undercard status either wrestling against the stars of his era or against other undercard “jobbers.” The Duke had a short lived run as a masked wrestler named The Golden Terror and was managed by Captain Lou Albano.
The Duke was known in the ring for his long blond hair, missing teeth and wild mannerisms. The Duke’s constant in ring banter and screaming could be heard in the last row of the arena. His signature “move” was getting stuck in a full nelson and then placing his legs on the top rope in order for his opponent to have to break the hold. The end result was that the opponent would release and The Duke would land on his head.
In 1985, The Duke appeared on the premier of the WWF’s Saturday Night’s Main Event. The Duke lost a match to the Junkyard Dog. In 1987, The Duke had a short feud with King Kong Dundy. In addition to feuding with Bundy, The Duke had several grudge matches against the likes of S.D. Jones, Lanny Poffo and Scott Casey. In fact, his feud with Jones came about due to him getting a fluke win after a losing streak the announcers alleged had crossed the 300 mark.
In the late 1980s, Doherty tried his hand at broadcasting, announcing several WWF event in Boston as a heel commentator. The Duke’s biggest win came over Haku. The Duke retired from wrestling in 1997 making occasional appearances at local events including the WWF’s final event at the old Boston Garden.
In April 2010, Doherty was inducted into the New England Wrestling Hall of Fame.
The following is from The Boston Globe
Jack Encarnacao. “Local boy made bad, to much delight. Boston wrestler knew how to lose.”
Boston Globe, September 26, 2004
He was raised in a Dorchester triple-decker on South Munroe Terrace, where he was captivated by wrestling on television. After graduating from Hyde Park High School and serving three years in the Army, he worked as a cable puller at General Dynamics in Quincy. He got into wrestling after he met grapplers working out at a Combat Zone gym, and sought training in the ways of the ring. He hooked up with Vince McMahon Sr.’s World Wide Wrestling Federation outfit and had his first match in a Saugus skating rink in 1971.
After he wrestled short stints in Georgia, Florida, Canada, and Kuwait in the early ’70s, Doherty resolved to stay rooted in Boston. He also wanted the pension that came with full-time work at General Dynamics, so wrestled in locations only within driving distance from Boston.
By his own account, he’d often put in a day of wiring at General Dynamics from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., then push 100 miles per hour in his 1971 LP convertible on the Mass Pike at night en route to wrestling bookings as far away as Philadelphia and Baltimore. He often arrived late, and once was tardy at a wrestling event in Albany, N.Y., where he was greeted sarcastically by wrestling great Chief Jay Strongbow.
“Strongbow says to me, in front of all the boys, ‘Look who’s here — the freakin’ Duke of Dorchester,’ ” Doherty said. “So it stuck.”