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The history ofprofessional wrestling in Canada dates back to the founding ofMaple Leaf Wrestling, which opened in 1930 and was the first known professional wrestling company in the country.[1] Many Canadian wrestlers includingBret Hart,Roddy Piper,Edge,Chris Jericho andTrish Stratus have gone on to achieve worldwide success.
Culturally, Canadian wrestling has been an overspill ofAmerican wrestling with a generally similar ring style and business methodology. Four majorNWA territories were based out ofMontreal, Toronto,Calgary, andVancouver each (with a lesser fifth booking office inMoncton). By the mid 1980s,Titan Sports, the parent company of the World Wrestling Federation, had bought out the first three territories (although Calgary was later sold back to its previous owner) and the fourth was in terminal decline. Montreal and Toronto would become major WWF cities, both hostingpay per view events for the company in the 1990s and 2000s.
Canada is an English/French bilingual country[5] and French is the dominant language inQuebec, home of the old Grand Prix Wrestling and Lutte Internationale promotions. Accordingly this territory used both languages with dual language ring announcements,[6] separate English and French commented broadcasts and either language used for promotional interviews. This tradition was continued later by theWWF on Canadian television with its French language segmentLe Brunch de Pat hosted in French by veteran wrestlerPat Patterson either translating interviews from English speaking guests or else conversing in French with Francophone wrestlers.[7]
Many professional wrestling terms used inQuebec French differ radically from those used inprofessional wrestling in France, such as for exampletag team wrestling which is called "combat par équipe" in Quebec[8] but "Catch á Quatre" in France.[9] or the falls of aBest of three falls match which are called "Chutes" in Quebec and "Manches" in France. This extends even to the point of using different terms – "lutte" versus "catch" – for professional wrestling itself.
Note: † denotes wrestler is deceased
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