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The 411 Wrestling Top 5 07.08.09: Week 30 – Top Canadian-Born Wrestlers

July 8, 2009 | Posted by Jeremy Thomas

Hello everyone and welcome to 411 Wrestling’s Top 5 List. Our usual host Michael Bauer is away this week and he’s handed the reigns to me after establishing a topic for us, so let’s have at it! What we are going to is take a topic each week and all the writers here on 411 wrestling will have the ability to give us their Top 5 on said topic, plus up to three honorable mentions. At the end, based on where all these matches rank on people’s list, we will create the 411 Wrestling Top 5 list. The scoring is very similiar to the Wrestler of the Week as it looks like this:

#1 Choice – 5 points
#2 Choice – 4 points
#3 choice – 3 points
#4 Choice – 2 points
#5 Choice – 1 point
Honorable Mentions will break ties, but get no points.

Also, in the case of a tie, the most votes win, regardless of where it is listed in the individual Top 5. I will also use this rule in the event that one item is mentioned more often, but is one point behind. For example, one second place vote and two Honorable Mentions will defeat simply one first place vote.

So, on to this week’s topic…

THE TOP 5 CANADIAN-BORN WRESTLERS

Ahh, Canada. For many of us who live in America, the great country just above us is synonymous with ice skates, hockey, Molson’s, and “being that country where some people speak French.” For the rest of us who have a brain (and happen to be wrestling fans, two conditions that are not always mutually exclusive), the great constitutional monarchy of North America is just as well-known for one other thing: professional wrestling. Some of the greatest names to ever rise to prominance within the industry have been born in Canada, and this week, just after discussing the greatest United States Champions of all time, we asked the 411 Staff to provide their lists of the five greatest professional wrestlers to be born “Up North.”

So what did our group of writers select? Let’s find out…

Alistair McGeorge

HONORABLE MENTIONS
NOTE: I’m limiting my list to wrestlers who I’ve actually seen matches of. That means a lot of people who probably should be on here (Owen Hart and Petey Williams spring to mind), I haven’t seen enough of them to justify putting them in my list.

Trish Stratus – Simple really…Trish was always one of my favourite female wrestlers, and I think will be remembered as one of the best women wrestlers of all time.

Andrew Martin – Probably nowhere near the best Canadian wrestler of all time, but like I said I’m keeping this list largely to people I’ve actually seen. He was never exceptional, but I still enjoyed watching him work.

Bret HartThe only one on my list I haven’t seen a lot of, he’d be included in the Top 5 if I’d seen more matches by him. Undeniably one of the best of all time though.

5.Sean Morley – I’ve always been in a huge Val Venis mark, and he’s someone I think is horribly underrated. From what I saw, he could work with most styles of wrestlers and would be great on ECW with the way it’s going now. I was disappointed that after I regularly started watching he only really appeared on Heat, or to job on Raw…such a wasted talent.

4. Christian – He’s charismatic, a fantastic wrestler and he’s awesome in ladder-based matches. Christian is a very well-rounded wrestler who can work with almost anyone, and is great as both face and heel. I’m glad he came back to the WWE, and hopefully he’ll be given a chance to freshen up the main event scene.

3.Adam “Edge” Copeland – Edge has really come into his stride the last couple of years, becoming I think the greatest heel of all time. His feud with The Undertaker was one of the best I’ve seen in years, plus he even made Vickie Guerrero watchable for me. He’s truly been the face of Smackdown! since he joined the brand and is an incredible talent.

2.Lance Storm – Whilst I prefer Edge as the total package, the list is the Top 5 Canadian wrestlers. I really don’t think there are much better than Storm, despite his lack of charisma. He has a great mind for the business, and his match with the next man on my list at One Night Stand 2005 was one of my favourite matches in recent times.

1.Chris Benoit – Commenters, get ready to blast me all you want. My favourite wrestlers of all time are tied between this man and Eddie Guerrero, and always have been. Whilst not the most charismatic of wrestlers, that didn’t matter- he made everything believable and had exceptional matches with near enough everyone. I’m not sure if my fellow writers will place him as high as I have, but I can honestly say I’ve been able to separate his final days with his legacy in the ring, which is in my opinion one of the best wrestlers of all time.

Aaron Hubbard

HONORABLE MENTIONS
NOTE: Jericho was BORN in Manhatten, so I have no qualms leaving him off this list.

Lance Storm – If I can be serious for a moment, Lance is awesome.

Petey Williams – Far from a one move wonder, Petey was a mainstay of the X-Division and deserves a mention here.

Christian – A personal favorite of mine, but not top five worthy.

5.Trish Stratus – Trish Stratus is my second favorite women’s wrestler of all time. Not because I think she’s a perfect 10(Stacy Keibler she ain’t), or because she’s the second best wrestler (she’s not). It’s because she was hired to be eye candy, and she worked her butt off to become a very capable worker. Sara Del Ray, Cheerleader Melissa, etc. may be more technically sound, but Trish was able to work a main event style and maximize her talents so that everything she did mean something. This is a woman who went from being carried by Molly Holly and Jazz to carrying Ashley and Christy to matches above the DUD level. Trish truly belongs in the WWE Hall of Fame one day.

4.Owen Hart – No, it’s not because he’s dead. People that think that I would award someone solely because they died tragically clearly don’t know me. I’m the biggest Eddie Guerrero mark on the planet, but I’ll be the first to tell people off when they call him the greatest of all time, because he wasn’t. I’m honoring Owen here because he DESERVES it. Owen was probably the most versatile of the Harts, able to fly as well as wrestle, and he had a definate charisma that his more famous brother lacked. Owen is at least as good as the next three on this list, but he sadly never accomplished as much as them.

3.Chris Benoit – Workrate. Workrate. Workrate. Benoit was the definition of it. Personally, I think that hurt other aspects of his game (storytelling, body part psychology), but man, the guy could outwork 99.9% of all other wrestlers. The man got over based almost solely on the fact that he was a “the best technical wrestler”. He didn’t need mic skills to get over as a main event guy. That says quite a bit considering Benoit’s first rise in popularity took place after the “Attitude Era”, where guys like Rock, Austin, and Foley were having **** promos on a weekly basis.

2.Bret Hart – If you do your homework, you’ll know that I consider Bret Hart to be SEVERELY overrated. As far as I’m concerned, Bret wasn’t nearly as versatile of a worker as Benoit or Owen. People might counteract and say “He’s a better promo than Benoit!” How is that an accomplishment? However, even though I feel he’s unjustly overhyped, he was a tremendous talent. The guy’s workrate was outstanding, his knack for storytelling exceptional, and he’s selling nearly flawless. He was also the most popular wrestler from his country and a multiple time world champion. Quite frankly, Bret Hart HAS to be in the discussion for “Best Canadian Born Wrestlers”. No other way to put it.

1.Edge – Edge is probably my favorite wrestler in the business right now. Here is why I’m putting him ahead of everyone else. When it comes to Canadian Wrestlers, you tend to think “Dungeon Wrestlers” like Chris Benoit and Bret Hart. Edge is not in that same class of workrate, though he’s no slouch. But what he has that those two don’t is the ability to market himself. Edge has a character that isn’t just “Canadian Wrestler”. He’s a rockstar uber heel with no redeemable qualities. He’s an egomaniac, he’s an opportunist, he’s a cheat, he’s a womanizer. And he always seems to have gold around his waste. Edge is probably the most entertaining heel today (sorry Jericho, but you are really started to bore me), and may go down as one of the very best of all time.

Shawn S. Lealos

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Chris Benoit (Montreal, Quebec, Canada) – He was great in the ring, below average on the mic and left a legacy no one wants to talk about.

Killer Kowalski (Windsor, Ontario, Canada) – He wrestled all over the world, held numerous titles and trained Triple H.

Christian (Kitchener, Ontario, Canada) – He is maybe the most entertaining wrestler on this list but has never reached the levels of his former brother Edge.

5. Lance Storm (Sarnia, Ontario, Canada) – I was a huge fan of WCW. Many people claim Storm was not pushed properly in WCW, but I loved his stint there. He, at one time, won the US Championship, Cruiserweight Championship and Hardcore Championship in rapid succession. He then gave two of the titles to his stable mates because he’s just that cool. He also was dominant in ECW, holding the tag belts with Justin Credible and had a fantastic feud with Jerry Lynn. Then he went to the WWE, where he quickly won the Intercontinental title and mastered his catch phrase “if I could be serious for a minute.” He teamed with Christian and won the tag team titles before retiring in 2004. Storm remains one of the best technical wrestlers to come along in a long time.

4. Owen Hart (Calgary, Alberta, Canada) – I was on a plane returning from Las Vegas when it was announced that Owen Hart had died in the ring. That was a horrible moment because he still had so much potential and such a long life left ahead of him. He stepped out of his brother’s shadow with a series of great matches including the incredible Wrestlemania bout where be beat Bret to solidify his “King of Harts” gimmick. I hate it that he finished his career in a comedy gimmick but he gave us so many great moments and so many great memories before that fateful night. I believe over time, he could have been better than his brother.

3. Edge (Orangeville, Ontario, Canada) – Edge started off as a strange goth type weirdo and has since developed into the greatest heel in the game. Over the years he has shown us his comic side with Christian (the five second pose for the benefit of those with flash photography) while putting on some of the greatest tag team gimmick matches in the history of the sport. He helped revolutionize the TLC matches and, alongside Jeff Hardy, is the man most responsible for “Holy Shit” moments in those matches. He has since became the most hated man in professional wrestling while proving to be great both as champion and challenger. He is the greatest bad guy working today.

2. Bret Hart (Calgary, Alberta) – Bret Hart did as much as anyone to force his way to the top of the sport. He was not the best technical wrestler but he knew how to tell a story better than almost anyone in the sport. He could win a crowd over thanks to his resolve but he flourished as a bad guy. He is maybe the only person to be the most loved wrestler in the ring and the most hated at the same time, thanks to the US/Canada feud. I don’t know how much of it was his idea, but the fact that he remained a hero to his home country despite being the biggest asshole in American rings was a masterwork in psychology. They say to be a great bad guy, you have to believe everything you are doing is right and Hart personified that type of character. Don’t forget his time as part of the Hart Foundation tag team either, because whether it was tag action or his amazing singles career, Hart was one of the best to ever step in the ring.

1. Roddy Piper (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan) – Roddy Piper is the greatest bad guy to ever wrestle. That guy could rile up a crowd like no one else. Ric Flair is perceived as the dirtiest player in the game, but I think Piper has him beat there. He has been in some of the most brutal fights in the sport (see the dog collar match against Greg Valentine) and was the most hated man during the most mainstream era in professional wrestling (the rock and wrestling era). Hulk Hogan was the most popular figure in the sport and it was Piper who was his greatest rival, both in the ring and on the mic. The amazing thing is Hulk Hogan never could beat and eliminate Piper like he did everyone else. Piper went on to have great matches over his career after that but his peak was in the eighties and he set a high standard for every bad guy who followed. No one can look at Hulk Hogan as being the most popular wrestler ever without acknowledging that Roddy Piper might have been the most hated.

Len Archibald

YES! I snuck in here! I can now use words with “u’s”! (like colour and neighbour and labour.) As a PROUD Canadian (and who isn’t? At least, that is…A Canadian who’s proud?) I found it quite the daunting task to name my favorite grappling country(wo)men…Quick shout out to Abdullah The (Canadian) Butcher!

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Owen Hart – If the “Black Hart” lived today, I think he would easily be in the Top 5. BLUE BLAZER FTW~!

Pat Patterson – First ever IC Champ. Yes, at one time it meant INTER-Continental. Made sense that someone outside of the U.S. would be the first person to hold it.

Killer Kowalski – The man wrestled legends, trained legends and is a legend himself. A CANADIAN LEGEND.

5.Chris Benoit – CONTROVERSY! I just made this pick to see how many comments we get. I’m not seperating the man from the wrestler, cause it turns out he was one in the same. The dude was talented…But so was Charles Manson – in his own way. Besides, I could always say the uber-violent atmosphere and bloody history of America made him snap. (Oh, no he didn’t!) I mean he *was* in Atlanta…And what has Atlanta ever done for us Canadians? Besides having the colour-guard hang OUR FLAG UPSIDE-DOWN! GRRRRRRRR.

4.Edge – 9-Time world champion. That may seem like peanuts in our ADHD world, but that’s still seven away from Ric Flair. The guy was on the opposite side of the SkyDome where we both saw The Ultimate Challenge at WrestleMania VI. To think that he would main event 18 years later must have been something. Living vicariously through Edge aside, he is THE main heel right now in wrestling, was able to turn a real life douchebag situation into paydirt (hey, once you go Canuck, the girls, all they want to do is…Hug) and was the first guy I really thought had a chance (however slight) to actually take down The Undertaker’s “Streak” – for that ALONE, he should be on this list. I wave a hearty Maple-Leaf flag your way, sir.

3.“Rowdy” Roddy Piper – I always remember watching WrestleMania 8 and the promo that went on between The Rowdy One and Bret Hart before their classic encounter for the IC strap. Why was Piper reminiscing over being around when Bret was a kid? Wasn’t he from Scotland? In my youthful ignorance I put two and two together: HOLY SHIT! PIPER’S A CANUCK! It made me watch the 1st WrestleMania and his subsequent feuds with Ric Flair in a completely different light, and made me smile seeing Piper be the “special guest referee” for two of the Hitman’s WM matchups. I don’t care if he may have shown some pro-Canadian bias in his calls – we Canucks stick together like the finest maple syrup and Eggo Waffles. He was the premiere heel during the whole “Rock n’ Wrestling Era” and was just as pivotal to the mainstream acceptance towards wrestling as Hulk Hogan (he NEEDED a bad guy.) But, he is here just for one reason – 4 simple words: Starrcade – Dog Collar Match.

2.Trish Stratus – No, I’m not being sarcastic. Ask any other “casual fan” to name another female Canadian wrestling star. I doubt many will say “Luna Vachon”. Here’s the fact: Trish Stratus went from being another hot blonde piece of eye-candy to basically the best female wrestler in the modern era. And she accomplished all this in FOUR YEARS. Observe her hotness as a simple valet (WM 2000) transition to definable character (WM X-Seven) to BELIEVABLE accomplished wrestler (WM X-8) to HEEL EXTRAORDINAIRE! (WM 20) to “wrestle a broomstick and look good” (WM 21) and even dealing with the spiteful “Cena Effect” before Cena had to (WM 22). She is one half of perhaps the ONLY Womens Title match to main event Raw, and even now – if she returned, would get a pop that would rival anyone on the roster today. Stratusfaction guaranteed? Only if you’re Canadian, BAY-BEE! And she’s still hot – even as a brunette (please, just do the weather for CTV from now on.)

1.Bret “Hitman” Hart – Expected? Yes. Cliche as hell? Yes. I. Do. Not. Care. If there was no “Hitman”, I – and probably a lot of other Canadian viewers, would not have put up with the WWF in the mid-90’s as it was ATROCIOUS television. (Twin Undertakers? Really?) Amidst all this cartoon tomfoolery, I was always assured one thing: That once the guitar riff would hit, there would be SOMEONE who would go to the ring, no frills, and pummel someone into submission. Everyone knew he was the better half of the Hart Foundation, everyone knew he was destined for greatness after SummerSlam ’91 and everyone knew that it was only a matter of time when he would become WWF Champion again after the WrestleMania IX debacle. He may be a bitter, self-absorbed, self-obsessed former shell of himself but he is OUR CANADIAN bitter, self-absorbed, self-obsessed former shell of himself – if for no other reason than taking part in perhaps the single most important angle in the history of wrestling: The US vs. Canada angle. I could come up with a column that would easily detail how Bret’s “Fall from Grace” story MADE (even inadvertently) EVERY SINGLE STAR of the “Attitude Era” and forced the hand (again, inadvertently) that would put WCW out of business. He is my reason for taking wrestling as insanely seriously as I do – making me a “mark” and a “smart” at the same time. The Hitman is my Canadian God – Almost as good as an ice cold bottle of Molson…Almost.

Stephen Randle

Geez, why don’t you just ask Kate Gosselin to choose her favourite child?

HONORABLE MENTIONS

“The Canadian Earthquake” John Tenta – Definitely one of the best big men in pro wrestling, and also definitely one of the nicest. He will be missed.

Owen Hart – It may seem sacrilege to say it, but of the Hart Family, he was probably the best all-around wrestler, even better than Bret, due to having the added flexibility of high-flying ability. And everyone who ever worked with him says the same thing: he was the nicest guy in pro wrestling.

Christian – Still doesn’t get enough credit within WWE for all he contributed to the rise of Edge & Christian, and ultimately Edge. Arguably, he’s the better promo guy of the tag team, Edge is just better at “serious” ones.

5.Roddy Piper – Damn, somebody beat me to this revelation. He main-evented the first WrestleMania, sold out arenas against Hulk Hogan, and even managed to do it again nearly two decades later in WCW, on the strength of his ability to cut some of the best (and occasionally wackiest) promos in history. And a lot of people just thought he was cool because he was Scottish.

4.Santino Marella – Here’s a shocking one. The funniest and often best part of Raw (when he’s not cross-dressing) is played by a Canadian. Now are you ready to stop doubting that we are the reason for most of the best wrestling talent in the world? Suddenly it makes a lot of sense why he got to main event against Cena on the December Raw in Toronto last year.

3.Trish Stratus – Speaking of that main event. You know, there’s all sorts of “pure wrestling” geeks who step up and say that Trish isn’t the best women’s wrestler in the world. And while she’s not the female version of Kurt Angle, no female has improved in terms of in-ring ability by so much since her debut, and she was always improving up to the day she retired. In addition, Trish’s abilities outside the ring created arguably the best face and heel female characters that pro wrestling has seen in a long time.

2.Edge – I’ve been cheering for this guy since he first came out of the crowd, so the fact that he’s a nine-time World Champion, million time Tag Champion, with a handful of IC and even a US title reign to his credit, you can put forth an argument that no Canadian-born wrestler has been as weighed down with as much championship gold as Edge. Plus, he’s changed his character completely so many times, and managed to make them all interesting in their own way.

1.Bret Hart – Come on, you knew it was going to come down to him, so do I even really need to explain my choice? I do? Damned word limit requirements. Face it, he’s and his family are the reason there are so many Canadian wrestlers, and so many Canadian wrestling fans. In Canada, this man was practically royalty, and if you don’t believe me, go back and watch WWE Canadian Stampede again. Only this man made himself such a Canadian hero that he turned two of the most popular wrestlers in WWE, Shawn Michaels and Steve Austin, into hated heels inside Canada, one of them probably forever. In the end, Bret Hart still is the best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be.

Julian Bond

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Petey Williams – Being a native in my hometown of cold-ass Michigan, it’s my great pleasure to give some shout-outs to the great wrestlers from our “neighbor” land of up north Canada. As much as I want to put cool people such as Trish Stratus (one of the best women’s wresters ever), Christian (simply the shit), Chris Jericho (who technically was born in New York and not Canada) and Roddy Piper (always thought before that he was from Scotland!!!), I really wanted to focus on the folks who weren’t just good and born there but also automatically reminded fans of being from the great Canuck country. So it honestly would be a shame if I didn’t mention Petey Williams…the man who’s not only was great in the ring in TNA’s X-Division, but also was part of the cool stable Team Canada (who played the Canadian national anthem as their entrance music) as their team captain and even had his sweet-as-all-holy-hell finisher named “The CANADIAN Destroyer”.

Owen Hart – Simply can’t mention great Canadian wrestlers without remotely mentioning Owen. Didn’t wave Canadian flag every single time out, but was horribly excellent in the ring…and his last name was Hart.

Kevin Steen/El Generico – Every time I see this awesome tag team, who are currently kicking some major ass in ROH, I always get it that Kevin Steen (who to me strangely reminds me of a perfect combination of Rhino and Christian) is from the land up north. But it makes me laugh every time when I hear that his partner El Generico, whose looks like a masked luchador from Mexico and yells out “Ole Ole Ole!!” is also from Canada. May not be so obvious by appearance, but the guys are totally reppin’ Canadians.

5.Edge – Edge doesn’t always brag that he’s from Toronto, but he’s easily one of the best wrestlers who’s still going at it to come out of Canada. The man was won like almost every single title in the WWE in only a decade of being there. When one mentions awesome Canadian wrestlers, Edge is an automatic lock for the Top 5.

4.The Quebecers – Not too many people here may had mentioned them, but the Quebecers were the ultimate Canadian tag team. When watching these guys as a kid, I was taken back at how they came out and acted like such full-blooded dead-on Canadian bad-asses. With their whole “Mountie-like” gimmick of being evil French Canadians and getting everyone, including myself, to hate their every move was a sight to behold. Not the best tag team ever, but definitely have to mention and give these two props when talking about Canadian wrestling.

3.Chris Benoit – Since I’ve mentioned the man many times in my own columns and here in the Top 5 without really giving my “personal” opinion about him and for the simple fact that a whole gang of people are just waiting to make comments about him here, this is my two cents about Benoit for the record: “Personally” I naturally find what Benoit did 2 years ago to be unmistakably unforgivable and inhumane and in no way do I remotely condone his actions…”business-wise”, which is talking about things that have happened in the wrestling ring here on 411, I still horribly respect the work that Benoit did IN THE RING. Because I am a writer, I personally would like to keep these two worlds of Benoit separate in my head, with still being horribly aware of what happened. Now with this buzz-kill out of the way…I think that Benoit is EASILY one of the best to come out of Canada. You look at the gap-toothed mouth demeanor of Benoit and one automatically thinks of a true ruffhouse Canadian. The man’s in-ring skills were seriously uncanny. Honestly only next to anyone with the last name of Hart, Benoit had some of the biggest pops from Canadian crowds. Proof of this is when he won the World Heavyweight Title and came out on the Backlash PPV in his hometown of Edmonton to receive one of the loudest crowd cheers I have ever heard in my wrestling watching lifetime.

2.Lance Storm – When you constantly introduce yourself to the audience with the line “I’m from…CALAGARY…ALBERTA…CANADA!”, you cannot deny that you may be one of the best ever to put his own country on the wrestling map. This person is Lance Storm. There is literally no mistaken that this man is from up north. The guy has a Canada accent, wears Canadian colors for his ring gear, and was even a part of a couple of evil heel Canadian stables (“Team Canada” in WCW and “The Un-Americans” in WWE). Hell, the man while in WCW in “Team Canada” did the unthinkable at the time by winning (and holding all at once) the U.S. Title, Cruiserweight Title, and Hardcore Title within weeks and then turning around to rename the titles for his “Canadian audience” (U.S. Title=”Canadian Heavyweight” Title, Hardcore Title=”The Saskatchewan Hardcore International” Title, Cruiserweight Title=The “100 Kilos-and-Under” Title). Besides his horribly strong Canadian connection, the man was one of the sickest technical wrestlers in the ring. He may not be as big or popular as Hart, Benoit or Edge, but Storm should be at the top of the list here cause he’s the perfect definition of what a Canadian wrestler is all aboot…about.

1.Bret Hart – Not going to put too many words here because I really don’t think it’s worth it. Simply put…Canadian wrestling=Bret Hart. Someone would do a word association game with a wrestling fan and if you mentioned the word “Canada”, they’d more than likely respond back with “Hart”. The man is simply one of the best EVER to step in a ring and he never EVER once forgot to remind us fans on where’s he’s from.

Ryan Byers

HONORABLE MENTIONS

El Vampiro Canadiense (Thunder Bay, Ontario) – A lot of people write him off because he wasn’t a huge name in the United States in modern times, but, if you’re looking at wrestling globally and throughout history, Vampiro was one of the biggest stars in lucha libre in the early 1990’s. Great in-ring performer? No. However, he managed to get over in that country like few others have.

Owen Hart (Calgary, Alberta) – I like Owen Hart. I really do. However, when I’m compiling a list of the best wrestlers in any category, I have to consider their fame in addition to their talent. Though Owen is one of the most talented in-ring performers I’ve ever seen, his level of fame isn’t quite as high as the other men and women on the list.

“Monster Ripper” Rhonda Singh (Calgary, Alberta) – I don’t think that Trish Stratus is the greatest female pro wrestler of all time . . . and it’s not because I’m a “workrate geek” as Mr. Randle might suggest. It’s because there are women in history who, in addition to being significantly better wrestlers, were significantly bigger stars than Stratus. I like Trish for what she did in her time and her context, but she wasn’t main eventing cards that drew upwards of 10,000 fans who there primarily to see her. Rhonda Singh did that, in addition to putting on great matches, which is why I consider her the greatest female Canadian wrestler of all time.

5.Abdullah the Butcher (Windsor, Ontario) – Yes, the supposed madman from the Sudan is actually a Canuck from the same town as Scott D’Amore. Furthermore, he wasn’t always the morbidly obese, broken down old man who we see on small independent shows standing around in the middle of the ring waiting for a hapless opponent to come within range of his fork. He used to be one of the wildest, most entertaining brawlers in all of pro wrestling, and he was a major player virtually everywhere that he went. Though he had success in WCW, World Class, Detroit, and numerous NWA territories, it was in All Japan Pro Wrestling that the Ontarian gained his greatest fame, becoming a major name and a perpetual favorite in the Champions Carnival tournament throughout the 1970’s and early 1980’s. Abby’s career his fallen on harder times since then, but, at age 73, he definitely has had one of the most enduring runs in all of professional wrestling.

4.Gene Kiniski (Edmonton, Alberta) – A former standout in the organization that would become the Canadian Football League, Edmonton’s Gene Kiniski transitioned from the gridiron to the squared circle in the early 1950’s, and the rest, as they say, is history. Kiniski held or challenged for virtually every major championship that was available during the course of his career. Though he got his start in the Funks’ Amarillo territory, he quickly moved to California, where he held versions of the NWA Tag Team Titles and went toe-to-toe with Lou Thesz for the NWA World Heavyweight Title. From there, he became an AWA World Heavyweight Champion, crashing the Minnesota-based promotion in 1960 and unseating Verne Gange very quickly thereafter. From there, he took a trip to the World Wide Wrestling Federation, where he challenged Bruno Sammartino for that company’s championship in a main event level program. Despite the fact that he had been around gold for the prior fourteen years, Gene’s career peaked in 1966, when he beat Lou Thesz for the NWA World Heavyweight Title over a decade after he first challenged Thesz for the championship. The NWA Title was not handed over to wrestlers lightly at the time, and the entire wrestling world had to have a significant degree of respect for an individual in order for him to be named champion. Though for whatever reason he did not go on to become the legend that Thesz, Flair, or other NWA Champs did, the mere fact that he held the title is a huge feather in the hat of the former Edmonton Eskimo.

3.Pat Patterson (Montreal, Quebec) – All jokes about his sexual preferences and his time as a “stooge” of Vince McMahon aside, Pat Patterson was a great f’ing professional wrestler before he stepped away from the limelight in order to take an office job. Though he began wrestling in his home country, it was in the San Francisco territory of Roy Shires in the 1960’s and 1970’s that Patterson would evolve in to an industry-changing performer. Cutting electrifying promos, wrestling high impact matches, and even developing an effective style of blading that has rarely been duplicated, Patterson kept that territory alive for decades with the help of guys like Ray Stevens and Billy Graham. Not long thereafter, he went on to a less noteworthy but still impressive run in the World Wide Wrestling Federation before settling down in to a backstage role in that promotion. There, he would be involved in some of the most important moments in wrestling history, including being assigned to referee the main event of Wrestlemania I so that he could act as an aide to Mr. T, creating one of the world’s most prolific gimmick matches in the form of the Royal Rumble, and being a mentor to the Rock, one of the single biggest stars in the history of the industry. For his accomplishments both inside and outside of the ring, Patterson deserves a major pat on the back.

2.“Rowdy” Roddy Piper (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan) – It feels a bit odd to be writing this the week that Piper has been arrested in LA on DUI charges . . . but, what the hey, you can’t let somebody committing a crime cloud your memories of history’s greatest Canadian professional wrestlers! Though never really that great of an in-ring performer, Piper had the kind of larger than life personality and charisma that will get a wrestler far almost regardless of his weaknesses in other areas. The Hot Scot used his mouth and his mind to become one of the most memorable opponents of Hulk Hogan, guaranteeing himself both a place in the annals of wrestling history and a run on top of WCW when that company decided to pay millions of dollars to anybody who had ever stepped within five feet of the Hulkster in the 1980’s.

1.Bret “Hitman” Hart (Calgary, Alberta) – Wrestling fans can have some pretty screwed up morals and priorities. That helps to explain why Bret Hart has his contributions to the industry minimized by certain groups of fans and is even outright vilified by others. When it comes to Bret Hart, Montreal, and modern fans’ reactions to that incident, I don’t think that I’ve ever in my life seen a case of a man so clearly in the right being treated by so many people as though he was completely in the wrong. But, now that I’ve had my opportunity to vent, let’s look beyond that. Let’s look at the fact that Bret Hart made a connection with his fans – i.e. the people who were actually watching him at the time that he was wrestling – more deep than virtually any other performer that I have come across in my lifetime. No, he didn’t have a huge personality and wasn’t a great promo. However, that was almost part of his charm. He wasn’t a wild man from Borneo, a wrestling clown, or some kind of space creature. He was the humble, normal guy who everybody liked and related to who just happened to be among the greatest athletes that his chosen sport had ever seen. That connection and the amazing body of matches that Bret left us with are more than sufficient reasons to put him at the top of this list.

Michael Bauer

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Owen Hart – Would be an easy Top 5 if tragedy never striked.

Kevin Steen/El Generico – I can’t seperate the two, because as a team they are amazing.

Lance Storm – Seriously. Lance Storm is definitly Top 5 material. He’s out on personal preference.

5.Christian – Captain Charisma is pretty much a total package of what a wrestler should be. Great skills and athletic ability combined with great mic skills combined with that X-Factor. He just needs a real World Title reign.

4.Chris Benoit – Forget what he did outside of the ring, because the Top 5 isn’t about the outside world. Benoit was a tremendous wrestler. There is no question about it. What he seemingly lacked in charisma, he made up for in heart, determination, and pure wrestling ability.

3.Trish Stratus – The best female wrestler ever. PERIOD. Say what you want about Laree, Kong, Blaze, or anyone else, but Trish was everything that you want in a Diva and wrestler. She was smoking hot, had the wrestling ability most divas wish they had, and could actually capture a crowd better than most men. Definitly one of the best Canada ever gave us.

2.Bret Hart – Bret Hart lived up to his motto, at least for the is and was parts. I personally don’t think he is the best ever, as definitly edvinced by this list. Nobody was better in the early and mid 1990’s than Bret from any company. He had the talent, he could work the mic, and he was the best thing to come out of Canada.

1.Edge – I perfer Edge to Bret for several reasons, beyond just personal preference. Edge has the same level of talent as Bret for their time periods. Take away Edge’s nine title reigns based on his gimmick and they pretty much have the same track record. But Edge has always been more of the speaker I only wish Bret could have been. He has everything needed to be that heel that we love to hate. But he also had the same ability when being a face.

Scott Rutherford

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Abdullah The Butcher – And you actually thought he was from Sudan? Maybe the most brutal worker in history and fuck those who say ECW was innovative, Abby was doing that shit decades before Heyman’s army came into being. .

Rick Martel – Always a personal favourite wrestler, some called him bland but his day heel work and solid-to-good ring work always made him better than most.

Edge – Some would say he should be higher but I think he’s benefited from main eventing a period without much competition. Still a great talent, great talker and highly entertaining.

5.“Iron” Mike Sharpe – My absolute favourite jobber from back in the 80’s. Sharpe has developed a sort of cult-of-personality recently but anyone that has seen his late 70’s early 80’s territory work (as a babyface in Mid-South no less!) would know he was a rugged wrestler who probably would have had a great heel run if used as something more than cannon fodder by Vince when the 80’s expansion took place. While most will fondly remember him as one of the nosiest men in wrestling and guys from the locker room will remember his OCD-like obsession in remaining clean, I like to think of him as a well rounded, rough and ready competitor that could mix it up in the ring.

4.“Rowdy” Roddy Piper – The man most responsible for Hulkamania (oh, there will be comments), Piper was an amazing heat magnet that drew people in using his mouth and then kept them entertained by his wild antics and frenetic matches. It was criminal that he never was WWF Champion and a WM1 main event of Hogan beating Piper would have been a more fitting main event. While Pipers talent always lay with his promo skills, he could build a good match if given the chance but like Andre the Giant, the actual wrestling wasn’t what you looked at in a Piper match. While his predilection for comebacks and controversy have tainted his legacy, you can’t deny just how much he meant to wrestling and his sudden burst of infamy in the 80’s was just as important as the overly tanned blonde who got more headlines.

3.Pat Patterson – Insanely great wrestler. He could brawl, go scientific, work heel or face and was ballsy enough to never learn proper English. People now use Patterson as a gay joke punchline these days but even on his later career work with Sgt Slaughter, Bob Backlund and Iron Sheik he would be considered among the best, factor in his legendary teaming with Ray Stevens and he grounding “gay” gimmicked character back in the late-50’s and you really start getting the bigger picture. What should also be mentioned is Patterson’s WWF behind the scenes role and his work as the man who helped plan out big matches for other wrestlers…a huge advantage the WWF had over every other competitor.

2.Chris Benoit – Hopefully the hysteria over his last days is starting to fade and we can now start separating the man from his work…because his work is boss. Benoit was a rare wrestler that got over on his ring work and not his personality (cause he had none) or his promo skills (ordering diner was a stretch). I remember the first time I saw him in the ring and I just instinctively knew there was something about him because of his look and the way he went about his business. I can say I was an instant fan and more than happy when he started to make a name for himself in ECW after starting to follow his career in Stampede and when he won the World Title at WM20, I was a happy man. Tainted as he may be now (and rightly so), he was one of the very best ever and would have topped this list if another Canadian wasn’t just a little bit better

1.Bret Hart – Hands down #1 for me. His skill, timing and sheer believability in the ring make him my favourite ring worker of all time. While people will constantly compare Ric Flair and Hart, I always give Bret the edge because he matches were realistic and his signature bumps and selling of really added the extra substance to a match. What works better, a Flair-flop or Bret’s chest first bump at high speed into the turnbuckle? His ability to make the fake seem real was tremendous and like Benoit, his in-ring work had a great deal to do with him getting over but in saying that, his promo work is vastly underrated and after some embarrassing early interviews managed to create great promo’s through is character that helped build a story rather than spew catchphrases and nothing else. Always will be the best…period.

Robert S. Leighty Jr

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Trish Stratus – Her transistion from eye candy to the most dominant female wrestler is still pretty mind boggling to me.

Owen Hart – One of the most talented men on this list that never got the chance to shine as a World Champion.

Lance Storm – I will give him a shout-out because he was one of the more entertaining people in the dying days of WCW, and always seemed to have a good match no matter with whom he was paired.

5.Chris Benoit – Going on pure wrestling talent alone he belongs on this list, and that’s all I will say.

4.Pat Patterson – The first IC Champ deserves a spot in the top 5 for not only his ring work, but what he has meant to wrestling since he took on a backstage role. His booking of matches has produced some of the most epic moments in wrestling history: Hogan/Warrior, Hogan/Rock, and if not for Patterson, we have no Royal Rumble.

3.Rowdy Roddy Piper – Quite possibly the greatest heel in the history of business, and at the same time of the biggest faces ever. When he had to he could go in the ring (see his match with Bret at WM VIII), and you won’t find another person with the quick wit of Piper. He had the talent of talking people into paying their money to see him gets his ass kicked.

2. Edge – My favorite wrestler in the world today, and one of the last great heels in the business. Edge has been in the WWF(e) for over a decade now, and has morphed into one of the best talents in the business.

1.Bret Hart – I will give him the nod over my boy Edge for the simple fact that when you think of Canada and Pro-Wrestling, you think of Bret Hart. If not for the nasty end to his run with the WWF and his career ending injury, he could still be out there today tearing the house down with Edge, Cena, Jericho, etc.

Jeremy Thomas

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Abdullah the Butcher – One of the innovators of hardcore, Abby was one of the most brutal hardcore wrestlers that ever stepped into the ring. The image of that deeply-grooved forehead and the pools of blood that collected in them is something I’ll never forget.

Lance Storm – Sure, he wasn’t the greatest on the mic and unlike some workrate horses he never really improved. But he was a force to be reckoned with and a personal favorite of mine from the moment he burst onto the national scene and I became aware of him.

Trish Stratus – The woman who helped bring women’s wrestling back to the biggest wrestling company in the world and single-handedly drove millions of teenagers into early puberty deserves some love here.

5.Edge – It’s no secret that I’m an Edge mark, but even if I wasn’t he’d be on this list. The man has blossomed into a fantastic wrestler and a born heel. He’s able to hang with some of the true icons on the microphone and has proven himself to be gold in the ring. No one was happy than I was when he finally reached the top of the WWE, and while he’s a little injury-prone (as current events have shown), when he’s healthy there’s no one who can stop him from excelling in the ring and on the stick.

4.Chris Benoit – ONOZ! Seriously, to leave Chris Benoit off this list would be the real bias here. He was a workrate animal and while he wasn’t the best on the microphone, he did grow into that a little once he got his main event spot. If for no other reason then his OTHER legacy in the business–making stars and helping put over the new generation of superstars–the Rabid Wolverine was truly a legend in the halls of Canadian professional wrestlers and it would be criminal to leave him off.

3.Owen Hart – I’m one of those people who believe (probably naively) that Owen Hart would have become a World Champion if he’d had the chance to. Unfortunately, that opportunity never came as Owen of course died in the ring during Over the Edge 1999. I like to think that had he survived to the modern era, Owen would have fit in well with the Wellness Era of the WWE and probably would have gotten his shot at the big time. Whether he would have or he wouldn’t have, Owen was a great technician and high-flyer who displayed a lot of personality in the ring and on the mic. He was also one of the few people ever to have a match that pretty much everyone considers to be a five-star one on the grandest stage of them all, his match with Bret at WrestleMania X. Deserving of this spot? You’re damn right.

2.Roddy Piper – My all-time favorite heel, without exception. Rowdy Roddy Piper’s legacy may not be as openly obvious as some others on this list–he was never a World Heavyweight Champion, he only held two titles in the big two and one of them was an eight day “Legends” reign with Ric Flair. But his mark on the industry is inestimable, as he influenced how heels behaved all the way to the present day. Some of his segments are absolutely iconic (coconut, anyone?) and he always gets a huge reaction when he comes out to this very day. I fully agree with Scott that without Piper, Hulkamania wouldn’t have become as big as it was, and that alone earns him a spot here.

1.Bret Hart – That nickname isn’t just marketing hype folks. Bret’s the best of all of these guys on this list put together. He was an amazing in-ring worker, he could give some great interviews, he made a great character on either side of the heel/face line and he was just. Freaking. Amazing. It’s nearly impossible to think of Canadian wrestling without thinking of Bret Hart, and his influence in bringing many others within the industry from Canada into the spotlight is yet another legacy of his. Damn you, Bill Goldberg…damn you to Hell.

So with all said and done, here is the 411 Wrestling’s Overall Top 5 Canadian-Born Wrestlers.

Honorable Mention: Lance Storm – 9 points (2 2nd place votes, 1 5th place vote, 4 Honorable Mentions)

5. Trish Stratus – 11 points (1 2nd place vote, 2 3rd place votes, 1 5th place vote, 3 Honorable mentions)

4. Roddy Piper – 22 points (1 1st place vote, 2 2nd place votes, 2 3rd place votes, 1 4th place vote, 1 5th place vote)

3. Chris Benoit – 21 votes (1 1st place vote, 1 2nd place vote, 2 3rd place votes, 2 4th place votes, 2 5th place votes, 1 Honorable Mention; beats Piper via “more mentions” rule)