Aligning With The World Wrestling Federation
In June 1984, Jack and Eddie switched allegiances from the NWA to the WWF. They began promoting only WWF cards, becoming another stop on the WWF circuit. This maneuver made Toronto a WWF city and was instrumental in consolidating the company's power base in Canada.
Following the WWF takeover, the name Maple Leaf Wrestling continued to be used for the WWF's Canadian TV program (a staple of Hamilton station CHCH-TV for many years). TV tapings for the show were held in Brantford and other cities in southern Ontario for the next two years, until the WWF ceased the tapings in 1986 and decided to use the Maple Leaf Wrestling name for the Canadian airings of WWF Superstars of Wrestling (with some Canadian footage, such as updates by on-air announcer and former wrestler Billy Red Lyons, and special matches taped at Maple Leaf Gardens, added in).
There were several sellouts of 18,000 at the Gardens with the WWF crew, but the city's (and, at the time, world's) attendance record was shattered by the show at CNE Stadium on August 28, 1986 which drew 65,000 people, with a gate of over $1 million. Initial projections were for a crowd of 25,000-30,000.
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