Sweet Daddy Siki

{{Infobox professional wrestler

|name = Sweet Daddy Siki

|image =

|birth_name = Elkin James

|birth_date = {{birth date|1933|6|16}}

|birth_place = Montgomery, Texas, U.S.

|death_date = {{death date and age|2024|12|31|1933|6|16}}

|death_place = Toronto, Ontario, Canada

|names = Mr. Irresistible
Reggie Siki
Sweet Daddy Siki

|height = 5 ft 10 in{{cite book|title=WWE Encyclopedia|last1=Shields|first1=Brian|last2=Sullivan|first2=Kevin|page=[https://archive.org/details/wweencyclopediad0000shie/page/296 296]|publisher=DK|year=2009|isbn=978-0-7566-4190-0|url=https://archive.org/details/wweencyclopediad0000shie/page/296}}

|weight = 245 lb

|billed =

|trainer = Sandor Szabo
Ray Ortega{{cite web|url=http://www.bodyslamming.com/other/sweetdaddy.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041108113410/http://www.bodyslamming.com/other/sweetdaddy.html|url-status=usurped|archive-date=November 8, 2004|title=Other Superstars - Sweet Daddy Siki|publisher=}}

|debut = 1955

|retired = 1987

}}

Elkin James (June 16, 1933 – December 31, 2024) was an American-Canadian professional wrestler and singer, best known as Sweet Daddy Siki.

Life and career

Siki started wrestling in 1955 in Artesia, New Mexico.{{cite web|url=https://slamwrestling.net/index.php/1900/11/27/sweet-daddy-siki-story-archive/|title=(no title)|website=Canoe|date=27 November 1900 }} He also did some training in Los Angeles with Sandor Szabo and Ray Ortega. He said he weighed about 180 pounds when he started, but within three years weighed in at 230.

He moved to Toronto in 1961 because it was a central location from which to travel across North America. He lived there for the rest of his life, and used Toronto as a base for his country & western band and his work as a karaoke DJ at The Duke on Queen Street East. Siki was a top draw in Canada in the 1960s and 1970s. He fought in Stampede Wrestling for years, travelled with Bearman McKigney's circuit and was a mainstay of the eastern scene. Siki is best known for his headbutt or "coco butt" and his "neckbreaker" maneuver.Siki still wonderful…just ask him, By Tom Godfrey, Toronto Sun, June 29, 1986 At his peak, Siki was a main card attraction at Maple Leaf Gardens and drew fans by the busloads. He had made his Maple Leaf Gardens debut in 1962 and wrestled there until 1980.{{cite web|url=http://www.garywill.com/wrestling/canada/siki.htm|title=PAGE OF FAME: Sweet Daddy Siki|publisher=|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927213930/http://www.garywill.com/wrestling/canada/siki.htm|archive-date=2011-09-27}} In his peak at Maple Leaf Gardens, he earned up to $3,000 a bout and received bundles of mail from fans around the world. In the 1970s, Siki wrestled two well-known radio & television hosts in Toronto: CHUM radio's Terry Steele and CITY-TV's Gene Taylor. He used an airplane spin as a finisher in both matches.

Siki was brought into CWA Memphis on March 25, 1985, by Tux Newman for 3 weeks. He first wrestled a handicap match and then wrestled Mike Sharpe the two following weeks.

Siki later hosted karaoke Saturday afternoons at The Duke bar at Queen and Leslie Streets in Toronto. Along the way, he accrued six major wrestling belts, including the Austra-Asian championship, the North American championship (three times), the Texas championship and the tag-team heavyweight crown. Siki suffered many injuries throughout his career. He suffered from two broken ribs, had his hands broken twice, his ankle and leg broken, and half his face paralyzed. In the 1980s, he wrestled across the Maritimes and in small Northern Ontario towns. Siki wrote his own theme song entitled "I Am So Proud of What I See".

Siki also released an album on vinyl.

During this time, he also started to teach the craft at Sully's Toronto Youth Athletic Club on Sundays. He continued to wrestle into the 1990s. He was also affiliated with a Toronto wrestling school through the 1980s and to the mid-1990s, initially in partnership with Johnny Powers. Besides Canada, Siki has wrestled across the United States, and in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, and Trinidad. The second album by The Henrys, Chasing Grace,{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/chasing-grace-mw0000079229| title=allmusic.com| website=AllMusic}} contains a song titled 'Sweet Daddy Siki'. Toronto based Pork Belly Futures featured him in their second album with the song "Sweet Daddy" Siki made an appearance on WWE Smackdown on September 13, 2011, for Edge Appreciation Night, along with several other WWE Legends and former superstars.

Siki resided in Toronto. He died from complications of dementia in Toronto, on December 31, 2024, at the age of 91.{{cite web |title=Sweet Daddy Siki, American Canadian wrestling star who pushed limits of the sport, dies at 91 |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/sweet-daddy-siki-wrestler-musician-american-canadian-toronto-1.7423101 |website=CBC News |access-date=13 January 2025 |date=4 January 2025}}{{cite news |last1=Oliver |first1=Greg |title=Sweet Daddy Siki Dead at 91 |url=https://slamwrestling.net/index.php/2025/01/01/sweet-daddy-siki-dead-at-91/ |access-date=1 January 2025 |publisher=Slam Wrestling |date=1 January 2025}}{{cite news |last1=Carey |first1=Ian |title=Sweet Daddy Siki passes away at 91 |url=https://www.f4wonline.com/news/other-wrestling/sweet-daddy-siki-passes-away-at-91/ |access-date=1 January 2025 |publisher=Figure Four Weekly |date=1 January 2025}}

Championships and accomplishments

50th State Big Time Wrestling
NWA North American Heavyweight Championship (Hawaii version) (1 time)
NWA Hawaii Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Moondog Mayne
Atlantic Grand Prix Wrestling
AGPW North American Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Cuban Assassin
Big Time Wrestling
BTW World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Haystacks Calhoun[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/newengland/bigtime/bigtime-t.html Big Time Wrestling Tag Team Title (Massachusetts)] at Wrestling-Titles.com. Retrieved September 13, 2018
International Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame
Class of 2023{{cite web|url=https://slamwrestling.net/index.php/2023/03/16/ipwhf-class-of-2023-both-great-and-gorgeous/|title=IPWHF Class of 2023 both 'Great' and 'Gorgeous'|work=Slam Wrestling|first=Greg|last=Oliver|date=March 16, 2023|accessdate=December 5, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230507112606/https://slamwrestling.net/index.php/2023/03/16/ipwhf-class-of-2023-both-great-and-gorgeous/|archive-date=May 7, 2023|url-status=live}}
Maple Leaf Wrestling
NWA International Tag Team Championship (Toronto version) (1 time) - with Bulldog Brower
NWA All Star Wrestling
NWA Canadian Tag Team Championship (Vancouver version) (1 time) - with Kinji Shibuya
Southwest Sports, Inc.
NWA Texas Heavyweight Championship (1 time)*{{cite book| last1=Will | first1=Gary | first2=Royal | last2= Duncan | title=Wrestling Title Histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present | publisher=Archeus Communications | year=2000 | location=Pennsylvania | chapter=Texas: NWA Texas Heavyweight Title [Von Erich] | isbn=0-9698161-5-4 | pages=268–269}}{{cite web | url=http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/tx/tx-h.html | title= NWA Texas Heavyweight Title | accessdate=March 30, 2017 | work=Wrestling-Titles}}
Midwest Wrestling Association
MWA Ohio Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Leon Graham
NWA Ohio
NWA Eastern States Heavyweight Championship (1 time)¹
Professional wrestling
World Negro Heavyweight Championship (1 time){{cite web|url=http://www.wrestling-titles.com/world/world-negro-h.html|title=World Negro Heavyweight Title|website=Wrestling-Titles.com}}
Stampede Wrestling
NWA Canadian Heavyweight Championship (Calgary version) (1 time)
Stampede North American Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
World Wrestling Council
WWC North American Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
Canadian Wrestling Hall of Fame
Class of 2016{{cite web|url=https://slamwrestling.net/index.php/2021/07/01/canadian-pro-wrestling-hall-of-fame/ |title=Canadian Wrestling Hall of Fame |date =April 3, 2016|work=Slam! Wrestling|publisher=Canadian Online Explorer}}

¹This title should not be confused with the NWA Eastern States Heavyweight Championship that was defended in Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling in the early to mid-1970s. This title would go on to be renamed the NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship.