WWE The Canada Effect

Recently I watched the WWE's Classic on Demand roundtable discussion about
Canada and it's links with Canada be that wrestlers from there or WWE shows that
have taken place there. The show was hosted by Gene Okerland and on the panel
were Jim Ross, Michael 'PS' Hayes and Canadian WWE Hall of Famers Pat Patterson
& Bret 'Hitman' Hart. As you can guess all were asked about memories of working
in Canada and about workers from there and Bret said the best worker he had seen
come out of Canada was Archie Gouldie who was more famously known as The
Mongolian Stomper. Patterson was bemused by Bret's choice and just wouldn't let
it lie. Patterson actually said his choice is Bret himself but still kept on
going on about Bret's choice. Hayes had to just tell him it was his choice
simple as.

Not many of the current Canadian stars got a mention like Edge, Christian and
Jericho which brings me to the topic at hand, Canada has had some tremendous
workers so I wanted to take a look back at some of them.



Starting with the Hart family, all the brothers plus Stu dabbled in the in ring
stuff but only two of them really made a name for themselves and they of course
were Bret & Owen. We all know Bret has been one of the most consistent
performers over the last 25 years or so and was one of my all-time favourites.
Owen, although a different type of wrestler was in his own right excellent.

Another that came out of Canada and excelled was Chris Benoit. Of course after
what Benoit did some years ago people just seemed to dismiss his wrestling
career but even though I also believe what he did was totally unacceptable he
should be remembered as one of Canada's greatest wrestlers.

Another wrestler who got a little mention on the WWE program was Roddy Piper, I
don't think it's that well known the 'Rowdy Scot' is actually from Canada.

Current WWE stars Edge (who of course has just retired) and Christian didn't
really get a mention.



Events from Canada that were talked about were of course the two Wrestle Mania's
VI & X8. Both events were notable for one Hulk Hogan despite there being a
twelve year gap between the two events. Hogan's match with The Ultimate Warrior
has been a long time favourite of mine even though I go on about being a fan of
the technical style of wrestling. 1990 the year this took place was the year I
really got hooked on pro-wrestling and this match was a catalyst towards this.
Anyone who has seen WM X8 will recall how awesome the crowd were during the match, especially in the staredown before the match between Hogan & The Rock began. The match itself was good with the fans booing Rock in parts and cheering the then evil nWo Hogan.

Please leave comments on what your memories of Canada and their wrestlers are.

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