He had long-term storyline feuds with such wrestlers as Cuban Assassin and Bret Hart, both of whom he later reconciled with and joined forces with to hold tag team championships.
He was honoured by the Cauliflower Alley Club, a fraternal organization of professional wrestlers, and inducted into the Stampede Wrestling Hall of Fame.
The reign as tag team champions lasted for seven days before the Martins dropped the belts in a match against The Texas Outlaws (Dick Murdoch and Dusty Rhodes).
[3] Cormier spent much of the early 1970s competing in the Maritimes for his brother Jean-Louis's Eastern Sports Association (ESA) (which owned International Wrestling, or IW) as both a singles and tag team wrestler.
[1] The four Cormier brothers all competed in the territory and often joined forces in feuds with the promotion's top heel (villain) wrestlers.
In January 1974, they defeated Don Fargo and Hank James to win the NWA Western States Tag Team Championship, which they held for two months until a loss to Ricky Romero and Dory Funk, Jr.[10] Returning to the ESA, Burke had a short reign as IW North American Heavyweight Champion in May 1974,[7] which he followed in July with another reign with the ESA International Tag Team Championship.
Holding the title with his brother The Beast, Burke held the championship for less than one month before dropping it to Geto Mongol and Great Kuma.
The brothers defeated Silver Streak and Ricky Romero in the finals on February 20, 1976, to win the belts but lost them in a rematch one week later.
[7] Prior to the promotion closing, Burke also had a short reign with Hubert Gallant with the ESA Maritimes Tag Team Championship.
[15][16] In the new year, Leo Burke focused on competing as a singles wrestler and won the Stampede North American Heavyweight Championship on several occasions.
They lost the belts to Cuban Assassin and Bobby Bass that summer, but Burke was able to regain the championship by teaming with Stephen Petitpas.
[15][16] Two months later, he had another reign as North American Heavyweight Champion after defeating "Dr. D" David Schultz (who later regained the title in a rematch).
[17][18] Another reign as NWA Central States Heavyweight Champion followed in November 1981, in which Cormier returned to his Tommy Martin ring name.
[3] Returning to Stampede Wrestling once again, Burke entered and won a tournament for the vacant North American Heavyweight Championship, defeating Duke Myers in the final match on March 21, 1982, to win the title.
He was also credited with an additional reign as United States Heavyweight Champion because he regained the title in a rematch after it was vacated due to a controversial match against The Spoiler.
[22][23] In February 1986, Burke had one final title reign in Stampede Wrestling, holding the International Tag Team Championship with Ron Ritchie.
He won the tag team title by reuniting with former partners Hubert Gallant and Stephen Petitpas; the third reign came with Cuban Assassin, a former enemy of the entire Cormier wrestling family.
He quickly won the promotion's top title, the WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship, by defeating Caribbean wrestling veteran Carlos Colón on December 17, 1989.
[28] Burke's final title victory came in the summer of 1990, when he defeated Ron Starr to win the AGPW International Heavyweight Championship for a fifth time.
After his retirement, he worked in the now-closed bar at Calgary's Cecil Hotel and also operated a mobile coffee and sandwich shop.
[35] In June 2009, it was announced that he was participating in an Ultimate Championship Wrestling Legends Tribute Tour in Atlantic Canada alongside his former rival Cuban Assassin.
[43] On April 29, 2017, Cormier appeared alongside the Cuban Assassin as special guests at the Ultimate Championship Wrestling 10th Anniversary event at the Halifax Forum.
[44] The pair would answer questions during a fan access event, reappearing later in the night during a match where an injured Nick Strong was replaced by Cuban Assassin.