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Steve Cook’s Top 5: Toronto Wrestlers

Toronto has produced some great wrestling talent–who stands out?

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Edge Toronto

The Toronto Raptors are in the NBA finals, inspiring Steve Cook to take a look at the 6IX’s best wrestling exports!

The Toronto Raptors have finally made it to the NBA Finals after twenty-four seasons of basketball action. We all know that basketball isn’t the sport of choice for many residents of the T-Dot. We also know that the Maple Leafs haven’t made those fans happy for generations.

Toronto is one of professional wrestling’s best cities. It goes back to the days of Frank Tunney running regular cards at Maple Leaf Gardens. Toronto has hosted two WrestleManias along with countless WWE events with rabid fans attending and letting their opinions be known. Eventually, WWE got tired of that & labeled Toronto as “Bizarro World”. To be honest, Toronto fans knew what was going on, & WWE didn’t want to accept that.

Today, we look at five of the finest professional wrestlers to call Toronto home.

5. Christian

Christian

Poor Christian. He was always doomed to be the Marty Jannetty of his tag team with Edge. Edge fit the size needs that WWE had at the time, & Christian was a bit shorter & lighter than what they wanted. Somehow, the CLB hung around and got the WWE fanbase liking what he was doing. The WWE front office still didn’t like it too much, so he got his release & went to TNA to become an actual main event talent.

I went to a TNA house show in Louisville that had Christian fighting Kurt Angle for the TNA World Championship & seemed like a legit main event. He eventually got back to WWE & became the WWECW Champion. Then he got called up to SmackDown to be Edge’s second banana, and Edge got forced into retirement until anything else could happen there. Christian never got to prove to Vince that he was anything more than a CLB. Such a shame.

4. “Whipper” Billy Watson

If you want to talk about Canadian wrestling legends, you have to talk about Whipper Billy. He was one of the first NWA World Heavyweight Champions, holding the championship for 239 days between Lou Thesz’s first & second title reign. He was always at the top of the card at Maple Leaf Gardens during his career, and he would have stayed there if not for a horrific accident where he got hit by a car. Watson still raised a ton of money for charities after his career ended, and appeared on television from time to time to get beaten up by the Shiek.

3. Trish Stratus

Up until the Women’s Evolution/Revolution, Trish was the greatest female competitor in WWE history. Her seven Women’s Championship reigns were unrivaled until Charlotte Flair came along. Her workrate was unparalleled in WWE until the Women’s Evolution became a thing. Until Ronda Rousey, Becky Lynch or anybody else of this era came along, the only woman that could claim similar popularity to Trish was Wendi Richter. Trish didn’t have Cyndi Lauper on her side, so she deserves a lot of respect there.


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2. Gail Kim

If we were only talking about WWE, Gail would be so far behind Trish that it wouldn’t be funny. Her first WWE run wasn’t great, and her second WWE run was even worse. For whatever reason, Gail worked so much better in TNA/Impact Wrestling. Her feud in TNA with Awesome Kong was epic. She could never replicate that in with WWE with whoever they had at their disposal.

Some wrestlers were like that. They worked in one promotion and not in others. Gail was meant to perform with TNA/Impact Wrestling. If she went anywhere else, it didn’t work. But when she was with the right promotion, she was one of the best in the world.

Honorable Mention: Traci Brooks

This won’t come as a surprise to anybody that’s read anything I’ve ever written. I credit Traci taking notice of me early in my 411 days to my still doing this nonsense today. Sadly she came around a little too soon to be part of the WWE Women’s Evolution, or even when TNA decided to actually push Knockouts. She was the original TNA Knockout, and I keep hoping that she’ll be part of All Elite Wrestling at some point.

1. Edge

THE RATED-R SOOOOOOOOPERSTAR! Love him or hate him, Edge definitely had an impact on WWE throughout the 2000s up until his retirement. He was that guy on the fringe of the main event scene for years, then once he got there he racked up championship after championship.

He started out with the Brood, then formed one of the greatest tag teams of all time with his fellow Ontario resident, Christian. Once they split up he was able to spread his wings & become a top singles star. It took a little time, but once he caught on he became a guy WWE could build a show around. He became a guy WWE could build as the third greatest Canadian wrestler of all time.

I mean, I like Edge, but even he would say he would rate behind Bret Hart & Chris Jericho.

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Opinion

Chris King: The Wyatt Sicks’ Wasted Potential By WWE

Chris King takes a look at the WWE and their wasted potential of Uncle Howdy and the Wyatt Sicks faction.

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Wyatt Sicks WWE

Chris King takes a look at the WWE and their wasted potential of Uncle Howdy and the Wyatt Sicks faction.

It’s that time of the year again, folks; it’s unfortunate and downright awful that so many WWE superstars got released today. I’m not going to list all of them, but I am going to talk about one of my favorite factions, 

The Wyatt Sicks. Nikki Cross, Joe Gacy, Erik Rowan, and Bo Dallas (Uncle Howdy) were something special. After Bo’s brother Bray Wyatt’s tragic passing, WWE felt like there was a hole that needed to be filled. Wyatt was one of the most creative and brilliant characters, and Bo would be taking over his brother’s concept and bringing it to life. In 2024, at the end of an incredible documentary highlighting Wyatt’s career and struggles, Bo appeared on the screen portrayed as Uncle Howdy. The last time Uncle Howdy was seen on-screen was at the 2023 Royal Rumble, where Wyatt defeated LA Knight in a Pitch Black Match. Howdy jumped off a structure onto Knight. 

This post-credit scene sparked so much speculation and excitement that Wyatt’s brother would carry on his legacy and possibly debut the faction that was Wyatt’s concept. On the June 17th episode of Monday Night Raw, The Wyatt Sicks made their dramatic debut ,destroying the backstage area as well as “murdering” Chad Gable. It was such an iconic arrival for Howdy as he made his menacing walk from the back into the audience who were chanting “Holy Shit.” The Sicks and American Made (Chad Gable and The Creed Brothers) battled for months, with The Sicks being victorious. On the September 9th episode of Raw, The Sicks defeated them, with Howdy getting the win with Sister Abigail. 

The following year, The Sicks would move over to Friday Night SmackDown, and it seemed like WWE had a plan in place. They would win the tag team championships from The Street Profits and start to look dominant. Now, what should have happened next is Howdy should have won the United States title. The Sicks could have held all the gold over on the blue brand, but it never happened. The Sicks entered into a never-ending feud with The MFT’s (Solo Sikoa, Tama Tonga, Tonga Loa, JC Mateo, and Talla Tonga.) It started off exciting, and the WWE Universe was red-hot for their interactions. 

After months of repetitive matches and The MFT’s stealing their lantern, the feud grew tiresome and boring. Even Tama asked Solo why they are still holding onto the lantern, as it was destroying them as a whole. Finally on the SmackDown before Mania, Tama

gave the lantern back to Howdy against Solo’s wishes. Please explain to me why both factions fought almost every single week instead of just having one final blowoff match at WrestleMania. 

It should have been either a massive street fight or a falls count anywhere match on the grandest stage of them all. Instead, it turned into a meaningless week-after-week extravaganza that benefited no one. The MFTs won the rivalry, and The Sicks don’t even work for WWE anymore. This was the same criminalized creative process that Wyatt dealt with during his first run in the company. 

We’ll never know how much of a dangerous force The Wyatt Sicks could have been in the WWE. For all their careers’ sake, I hope they stay far away from the company for as long as possible. Every superstar that was cut deserves better!

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Opinion

Chris King: Bloodline Saga: Is This the Right Call For WWE?

Chris King questions the WWE’s logic in setting up Jacob Fatu as the next challenger for World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns 

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WWE Jacob Fatu Roman Reigns Backlash

Chris King questions the WWE’s logic in setting up Jacob Fatu as the next challenger for World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns

Roman Reigns is once again World Heavyweight Champion after his dominant win over CM Punk at WrestleMania 42. On the following night on Monday Night Raw, The OG Bloodline came back together as a well-oiled machine as The Usos stood side by side with Roman. With the WWE Universe asking who would be the first to challenge “The Tribal Chief,” Jacob Fatu shocked the world by answering the call. 

Fatu is running hot after his impressive win over Drew McIntyre and feels like he is ready to become the new world champion. This bloodline segment ended Raw, and it picked right back up on SmackDown with even Solo Sikoa and the MFTs involved. This is now two shows that have been centered around The Bloodline saga, and it’s made me question whether or not WWE should be retelling this story. 

The Bloodline (Roman Reigns, The Usos, and Solo Sikoa) ran WWE for over four years as Reigns’ henchmen, doing his dirty work to retain his title. Even though Roman has declared he doesn’t want Jey and Jimmy to serve him, it sure seems like WWE are spinning their wheels. Fatu could add a whole new chapter into the story, even if he’s not able to beat Roman at Backlash. “The Samoan Werewolf” could be forced to do the same thing as Jey did all those years ago and fall in line. 

 In my opinion, I feel like Fatu should be challenging for the Undisputed WWE Championship because that’s a title I feel like he should win. I understand standing up to your blood and trying to prove you’re the best, but I don’t think this is the right move. It feels like 2022 all over again, as The Bloodline is the central focus on both shows. If Fatu doesn’t win, what happens to all his momentum he’s been building over the last two years? 

Why did WWE make this the best choice for storyline purposes? Why couldn’t creative have come up with a different challenger for Roman? There are so many other superstars that could challenge The Tribal Chief, such as Rusev, Bron Breakker, Gunther, or even a returning Sheamus. 

I just can’t help but question WWE’s logic here, and it kind of reminds me of all the times The Shield reunited. Could WWE be pushing the same storyline too many times here? Could the WWE Universe get tired of this rinse and repeat cycle of The Bloodline Saga?

Are we about to see all the weekly episodes solely focused on The Bloodline again? Will it be cinema… Yes. Is there still money in The Bloodline… Yes. Was it the right call? That’s to be determined!

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