William John Potts, OOnt (June 25, 1915 – February 4, 1990) was a Canadian professional wrestler best known by his ring name "Whipper" Billy Watson.

[4] Watson was born in 1915 in East York, Ontario[1] (now part of Toronto) to an English-born father, John Potts and a Canadian-born mother, Alice Mary Wilken.

He was convinced by his brother George to play hooky from piano lessons one Saturday to attend a wrestling session at the All Hallows Anglican Church gymnasium.

In June of that year, he went on a tour of the United Kingdom along with fellow Toronto wrestlers Tommy Nelson, Al Korman, and Ken "Tiger" Tasker and their manager, Harry Joyce.

English wrestling often involved hard-nosed shooting and he was sidelined for six months with a fractured shoulder and numerous broken ribs.

[6] Watson received the "Whipper" nickname from his usage of the "Irish Whip", which involved hurling an opponent into the ropes before throwing him over his back, though sources differ on whether the name was acquired in Canada or the United Kingdom.

According to storyline, Watson filed a lawsuit against Tunney for breach of contract, claiming that he had been signed to wrestle a main event against Masked Wolf.

Frank Tunney estimated that Whipper Watson drew more than five million people in main events of shows in Toronto.

[2] Watson traveled throughout North America and took on legends such as Gorgeous George, Pat O'Connor, Dick Hutton, Richard Dempk, Bobo Brazil, Hans Schmidt, Fritz Von Erich, Killer Kowalski and Buddy Rogers.

On November 28, 1971, he teamed with Bulldog Brower at the Gardens to beat Dingo the Sundowner and Man Mountain Cannon in less than five minutes which would be his very last match.

[2] He made many public appearances across Canada in support of children with physical disabilities and held an annual Easter Seals skate-a-thon at the Gardens.

To date, Snowarama for Easter Seals Kids has raised over 16.1 million dollars provincially to help support children and youth with physical disabilities.

[11] Today, his campaign to build The Whipper Watson Therapeutic Pool at Southlake Regional Health Centre is illustrated in a mural in the facility.

Watson tested the waters of politics as the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada candidate in York East in the 1965 federal election.