Toots Mondt

Early life Joseph Raymond Mondt was born in Garden Grove, Iowa, on January 18, 1894.

Birth of the World Wide Wrestling Federation In 1963, Toots Mondt and Vincent J. McMahon broke away from the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), renaming Capitol Wrestling Corporation to the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF). Toots Mondt parted ways with NWA President Sam Muchnick on good terms so that the WWWF would not be seen as an enemy. Toots and Vince were also in the middle of fighting off an invasion by Jim Crockett Promotions from promoting in the WWWF territories.

When Buddy Rogers was crowned NWA World Heavyweight Champion, Toots controlled the bookings for Rogers’ title defenses. Toots would rarely allow Buddy Rogers to defend the title outside the Northeastern region. This would be one of the factors which led to the World Wide Wrestling Federation splitting from the NWA. In April 1963, Buddy Rogers was awarded the WWWF World Heavyweight title, supposedly for winning a tournament for the title in Rio de Janeiro, a fictitious storyline created by Toots Mondt. In 1965, Toots Mondt stepped down as promoter at Madison Square Garden and Vincent J. McMahon took over. When Bruno Sammartino was brought into the WWWF, Vincent J. McMahon predicted that he would be a midcarder for two or three years at best. Toots called Sammartino the future of the company because people instantly liked and responded to him. Toots convinced Vincent J. McMahon to build the company around Bruno Sammartino. In a June 2012 Wrestling Observer Radio podcast, Bruno acknowledged that Mondt and Vincent J. McMahon were not on the best of terms during his tenure with the company, with Bruno suggesting it was due to the fallout over the promotion's handling of Buddy Rogers.

Changing times and the rise of television saw Mondt's influence in the sport diminishing. Mondt was an arena booker and was never able to get a handle on television like McMahon. That fact coupled with Mondt's gambling problems allowed his business-minded partner to muscle him out of ownership of the New York territory. Toots sold off his share to McMahon in the mid-60s. McMahon reduced Mondt to salaried employee for Capitol. Mondt died on June 11, 1976, at the age of 82 after a long battle with an illness.