Want more wrestling news, rumors, and results? Be sure to visit PWInsider.com and PWInsiderXtra.com.
When you think of major wrestling promotions, it probably won’t be very long until you start to think about the Canadian influence on sports entertainment. Whether you watch WWE, AEW and Impact religiously, or you tune in once a year for Wrestlemania and check https://legalbetcanada.com/ for the occasional wrestling bet, that influence is always there. Although Canadian promotions have tended to be influential indie companies, the wrestlers, venues and matches in the major promotions wouldn’t be what they are today without that Canadian element.
There have always been Canadian performers in the sport, and their influence has been generational. And on the other side of the ropes, the part played by Canadian fans can’t be ignored either. It hasn’t gone unnoticed that a wrestler can be working as a heel for months or even years across the USA venues of the circuit. But when there’s a house show or even a live broadcast north of the border, they become a solid babyface - sometimes they’re scripted to do so, but even if they’re not, the crowd reaction will turn them face. So let’s have a look at some of the most important ways Canada has influenced pro wrestling.
Stampede Wrestling and the Dungeon
This won’t be the last time the Hart surname is mentioned. But family patriarch Stu Hart along with friend and co-owner Al Oeming are directly or indirectly responsible for the careers of most of the Canadian wrestlers you can name. Stampede was only officially under the WWE banner for a single year in the 1980s, but it’s been as much a farm promotion to the majors as Smoky Mountain or any other. With alumni including all of the Hart family, plus Chris Jericho, Edge, Christian and Jim “the Anvil” Neidhart - and that’s really just scratching the surface - the WWE wouldn’t be what it is today without Stampede, or the influential Dungeon Gym that ran out of Stu’s house.
The Montreal Screwjob
Wrestling in its modern form couldn’t have come to be, were it not for the Attitude Era. And the Attitude Era was launched at the Survivor Series PPV on November 9, 1997, by an incident that has launched innumerable theories as to its planning and delivery. The short version is that Shawn Michaels placed Bret Hart in Hart’s signature Sharpshooter submission hold. Although Hart, in front of a partisan Montreal crowd, refused to submit, ref Earl Hebner called for the bell to be rung and Michaels was declared WWF Champion. Hart, who was leaving the promotion for WCW - with WWF blessing - insists he wasn’t in on the subterfuge. Hebner says he was only made aware of it during the match.
Whether it was all an elaborate work and everyone concerned knew what was going to happen, or the simpler explanation is true and Vince McMahon conspired with Michaels to deprive a departing wrestler of the belt in the most humiliating way possible, one thing is certainly true: that was the night when wrestling lost the last shred of innocence it had.
The Hart family
Speaking of Bret Hart, he and his extended family have an influence that runs through Canadian - and American - wrestling like a blood vessel. During his initial extended run in the top promotion, Hart was the ultimate white meat babyface, his popularity probably only exceeded by his brother Owen. The tragic story of Owen Hart, who was killed when he fell from a harness during a 1999 pay-per view (the fall was planned; its execution was mismanaged), is one of the most unbearably sad stories in all of wrestling.
Shawn Michaels - whose bad blood with Bret was still very much in motion at the time - spoke of Owen as “the only guy who you could have a two-hour show about and no-one had a bad word to say about him.”. To this day, fans, wrestlers and promoters hold a special place in their emotions for the entire family, and especially Owen Hart.
Edge, Christian and Chris Jericho
Anyone who got into wrestling at the end of the 20th century will, to this day, have a major soft spot for Edge and Christian. Many attempts were made to give them a tag-team name; none stuck, because they were all terrible and also because they were, well, Edge and Christian. The WWF, and then the WWE, promoted them as brothers initially, although they later scrubbed that from the books and replaced it with the truth - they were high-school buddies.
Both worked with considerable success as singles wrestlers, but as a tag team they were lightning in a bottle. Their three-way tag-team TLC match against the Hardy Boyz and Dudley Boyz at Wrestlemania X-7 will live long in history as one of the greatest matches ever.
Jericho entered the WWE independently of, and some years after, E&C, but tagged with both of them during the 2000s, and the three are habitually referred to together. Perhaps the best cowardly heel the wrestling world has seen, Chris Irvine (his real name) has reinvented himself constantly, always retaining an instinct for what would get the fans to boo him. That’s become increasingly difficult over the years because of his impact on the sport and his reputation for being a willing foil to new wrestlers looking for a push. But he still seems to find a way.
The fans
Canadian wrestling fans are under no illusion about the pantomime aspects of wresting. They simply recognise that the crowd is a key part of any pantomime, and play that part to the hilt. When the Montreal Screwjob happened, Shawn Michaels had to be rushed backstage because of how ugly things turned; the crowd dumped literal garbage on Michaels, McMahon and anyone else they held responsible. Canadian arenas have a reputation for hosting the hottest crowds in wresting, and there’s a good reason for that.
If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section, which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts, interviews and more by clicking here!
Bang On Casino
