Pro wrestling in the Canadian Arctic
History, farthest north wrestling promotion, stories…
Believe it or not, pro wrestling in Arctic Canada has a very long history and dates all the way back to the turn of the 20th century.
Surrounding the Klondike gold rush in the Yukon Territory in Canada’s arctic northwest, Dawson City experienced a significant population boom. With that population boom came an increase in sport and entertainment in the region, including pro wrestling.
According to Vance Nevada’s excellent book on the history of Canadian Pro Wrestling called Uncontrolled Chaos, pro wrestling got its start in Dawson City all the way back in 1898. However, this pro wrestling isn’t quite the style we know today. While the matches were taking place in a ring with ropes, the wrestling style was more focused on catch as catch can, Greco-Roman and collar and elbow style wrestling among others.
I cannot recommend (Un)Controlled Chaos enough. For an excellent and in depth history of pro wrestling in Canada, order (Un)Controlled Chaos on Amazon today!
The wrestlers who served as the stars in the early days of the Klondike territory included Ben Trennerman, Charles Crelling, Bob Swanson and “The Colored Strangler” Silas Archer. Events were commonly held at venues such as the Monte Carlo, the Dawson City Opera House, the Palace Ground and other local theaters.
As Vance Nevada shares in Uncontrolled Chaos, the most memorable matches in the Klondike territory took place in 1901. That year, Ole Marsh, Col. J.H. McLaughlin and a young Frank Gotch, one of the early days of pro wrestling’s greatest champions who was wrestling under the name of Frank Kennedy, rolled into town.
One of pro wrestling’s earliest and greatest world champions, Frank Gotch, had a run in the Yukon during the early stages of his career.
Mark Hewitt provided some more information on Gotch’s time in Dawson City in his piece “Frank Gotch in the Klondike” in the September 2001 issue of the Journal of Manly Arts and was even able to pull drawings from the Klondike Semi Weekly Nugget publication that depicted the action. One of the highlights of these wrestling events which was depicted in drawing saw Frank Gotch get tossed through the ring ropes, into the orchestra pit beside the ring, and seemingly land on top of some of the musicians and their instruments.
Marsh, McLaughlin and Gotch made quite a mark on Dawson City with money changing hands frequently between the three wrestlers through challenge matches and bets placed by spectators. The news reports at the time questioned whether the bouts were fixed, as did fans on hand. While some Frank Gotch researchers stand by their belief that he never worked a match and only competed in shoot competitions, it seems obvious that the bouts in the Yukon were fixed and reading into the speculation being printed at the time is fascinating.
Gotch is thrown from the ring and into the orchestra pit. Credit Klondike Semi-Weekly Nugget, August 31, 1901 and Professional Wrestling: Frank Gotch in the Klondike from the September 2001 issue of Journal of Manly Arts
Ole Marsh had declared himself the wrestling champion of the Yukon when arriving in Dawson City. This title was on the line in what would serve as the climax and finale of Marsh, McLaughin and Gotch’s time in the Yukon—a three cornered match on September 21, 1901 that was billed as “the biggest event in the history of Dawson.” The three wrestlers would take turns battling each other in 1 on 1 matches in different styles including catch as catch can, Greco Roman and collar and elbow. At the end of the contest, Gotch would emerge victorious, winning the most falls, and would be named the champion of champions and, as his WWE Hall of Fame profile points out, the wrestling champion of the Yukon.
Gotch would also try his hand at boxing while in Dawson City but this foray wouldn’t last long as Gotch lost his only bout to Frank “Paddy” Slavin, an Australian boxer who was recognized as a one time world champion.
From left to right, Ole Marsh, Col J.H. McLaughlin and Frank Gotch. Credit Klondike Semi-Weekly Nugget, August 31, 1901 and Professional Wrestling: Frank Gotch in the Klondike from the September 2001 issue of Journal of Manly Arts
After Gotch and company’s run in the Yukon, pro wrestling was absent from the Canadian Arctic for a long stretch of time. Potentially up to 80 years. It’s certainly possible that there’s something we’re missing in that timeframe, and if there’s something you’re aware of, please feel free to reach out to us here at WrestleMap.
Northern Manitoba is the next area of interest in Arctic Canada that would see pro wrestling action. Starting in 1988, Winnipeg based promoter Tony Condello began to organize tours of remote indigenous communities in the area. The tours originally would kick off in the summer months, but Condello opted to try a winter tour and noticed that the audience reception was even better during those long winter months with little to no entertainment available to the citizens of the area. From there, the infamous Canadian Death Tour was born. For over thirty years, Condello and a troupe of wrestlers would tour through First Nations communities in northern Manitoba, traveling through treacherous winter conditions and overcoming obstacles such as driving over frozen lakes. A who’s who of Canadian pro wrestlers have completed the tour at least once including Chris Jericho, Kenny Omega, Edge, Christian, Don Callis, Lance Storm and many more. There are a few documentaries on these tours that follow the experience of the wrestlers and give a more in-depth understanding of these tours than I can here. They are Wrestling With The North, The Promoter and the recently released The Death Tour.
A year after the start of Condello’s infamous death tour, Stampede Wrestling paid the one visit to the Canadian Arctic that I’ve been able to track down. Stampede toured through the Northwest Territories that year, making at least two confirmed stops, first in Yellowknife on June 20th and then in Hay River, Northwest Territories a day later on June 21st, 1989. The only matches known for sure to have taken place during this tour were all in Hay River and included a singles match between Bruce Hart and Bulldog Bob Brown and a tag team match that saw Chris Benoit and Davey Boy Smith team up against The Dynamite Kid and Johnny Smith, better known as The British Bruisers.
Heath McCoy’s book chronicling the history of Stampede Wrestling, Pain and Passion: The History of Stampede Wrestling, features some great details about this tour. Following a stellar show in Yellowknife, things apparently went downhill culminating with Dynamite Kid, Davey Boy Smith and the rest of the Stampede crew arriving to Hay River late. Poor travel conditions, heavy drug use throughout the tour and perhaps some heat between Dynamite and Bruce regarding who was booking Stampede caused tensions to escalate between Dynamite and Bruce, so much so that Dynamite punched Bruce in the face backstage, breaking his jaw in the process. Dynamite Kid would then punch ring announcer Bob Johnson in front of the fans on his way to the ring. Following the match, Hart and Johnson retreated to the van the Stampede crew had made the road trip in, locking themselves in to try and keep away from Dynamite. Dynamite, who had been partying throughout the tour, made his way to the parking lot and was furiously screaming at Hart and Johnson, trying to get back at them in the van. A bystander ended up calling police, who arrived to a furious Dynamite threatening and challenging them, leading to his arrest.
Dynamite Kid, image credit WWE
Based on my research, this is the only tour of the Canadian Arctic that Stampede completed. However, if there was a promotion that would have more extensively toured this area in the territory era, Stampede likely would have been that group, so it’s possible the 1989 tour of the Northwest Territories wasn’t the only one.
For a time between the early 90’s to the early 2000’s, the only pro wrestling that I can say for certain that was happening in Arctic Canada was Tony Condello’s Death Tour which, as was mentioned earlier, was running yearly throughout Northern Manitoba.
With the dawn of the new millennium came the spread of indie wrestling and even Arctic Canada would be impacted by this expanding movement. The Northwest Territories became a frequent target of the Calgary based Can-Am Wrestling Federation with the company running at least 22 shows in the province between 2002 and 2003. Wrestlers on these cards included Phil Lafon, Vance Nevada, Massive Damage, Charlotte Webb, Samantha Slides, Steve Rivers, Scott Savage and more. Most of the shows on the CAWF tours through the Northwest Territories featured nearly identical cards in each city and would close out with a six person tag match. The original incarnation of the CAWF would go out of business in 2003, bringing an end to regular touring pro wrestling in the Northwest Territories.
Vance Nevada, image courtesy of the CanAm Wrestling Facebook page
In the midst of the CAWF’s time running shows in the Northwest Territories, another company headed to the Northwest Territories as pro wrestling visited Inuvik for the first time. Twin Wrestling Entertainment, along with a local promoter, worked together to bring professional wrestling above the Arctic Circle for the first time ever. The cost of running the show to the local promoter is said to have been around $25,000.00 and as Vance Nevada’s Uncontrolled Chaos confirms, a ring had to be flown in for the event by cargo plane. Wrestling Data shows that this was actually a two day event with shows running on September 27th and 28th, 2002. There aren’t a ton of results available for the events but a fan that was on hand that I spoke to confirmed that Jim Duggan, Brutus Beefcake and King Kong Bundy were in action along with some Canadian independent stars. These two shows would, for a time, be the farthest north pro wrestling events to have ever taken place. But twenty years or so later, that distinction would belong to another promotion. One that calls Inuvik home and one of its original members was that fan I spoke of a little bit earlier. But we’ll return to Inuvik and this group a little bit later on. TWE also ran an event in the Yukon on this same tour, according to Uncontrolled Chaos, although there aren’t many details available on the card. Beefcake, Duggan and King Kong Bundy were likely involved again, and Bad News Allen was said to be on the tour as well, working in a manager role. Vance Nevada’s Uncontrolled Chaos shares a story about Hacksaw Jim Duggan absolutely flipping out, punching out a hotel light fixture and storming out of his room when the promoter suggested that Brutus Beefcake should beat Duggan and shear off his hair in the ring on this tour. I think it’s safe to say that Hacksaw didn’t get a haircut in the ring on any of these cards.
At one time, Twin Entertainment Wrestling’s event in Inuvik was the farthest north pro wrestling event to ever take place. Logo courtesy of the TWE Twitter page
Back East in Northern Quebec, the Canadian Wrestling Federation, which is now based out of Saint Catherine’s, Ontario, has been touring remote First Nations communities for years. Vice’s The Wrestlers covered the CWF’s trips in the fifth episode of the program. The CWF has also put out their own docuseries about these tours called Ice Road Wrestlers. The CWF features some First Nations representation in the form of the uncle/nephew tag team Cree Xtreme consisting of Shadow Xtreme and Tony Caribou. Along with CWF Champion Jesse Bieber, these three are the most loved competitors on these tours with Cree Xtreme in particular being an inspiration to the young fans in Northern Quebec.
Shadow Xtreme scales the ropes. Image courtesy of Shadow Xtreme’s Facebook page.
Another eastern region of Canada’s Arctic has seen an increased pro wrestling presence starting in the mid-2000’s and running up until present day. Canada’s newest province of Nunavut and the capital city Iqaluit has played host to a handful of pro wrestling events since 2008. The first promotion to run in Iqaluit was Canadian indie powerhouse Blood, Sweat and Ears who would later evolve into Maximum Pro Wrestling. The promotion made three trips to Iqaluit in total, holding two events on back to days each trip. The first two shows took place on January 18th and 19th of 2008 and went by the title of Iqaluit Invasion. Slam Wrestling reported on this event, calling it likely the first ever pro wrestling event in Nunavut (from what I’ve been able to track down, I agree with that assessment.) Slam shared that attendance on the first night featured a sell out of 650 and the second night added an additional 100 seats which also sold out.
Among the wrestlers in action for the two day stop over were Bobby Roode, Rhino, Traci Brooks, Kelly Couture, Tyson Dux, Sebastian Suave and more. The first day of action featured a match to decide the first ever BSE Arctic Champion with Tyson Dux beating Brent Banks, who competed in BSE as Brent B, to become the inaugural champion. While Frank Gotch was declared the wrestling champion of the Yukon, there’s no record of Gotch being awarded a title belt. Therefore, it’s fair to say that the BSE Arctic Championship was the first pro wrestling title belt that represented and was defended exclusively in Arctic Canada.
Tyson Dux wearing the BSE Arctic Championship belt after becoming the first Arctic Champion
Day one of BSE’s inaugural trip to Nunavut concluded with a mixed tag main event that saw Bobby Roode and Traci Brooks defeat Kelly Couture and Rhino. Day two’s action featured Brent B avenging his loss against Tyson Dux to become the second BSE Arctic Champion. The main event was a single’s match that saw Rhino avenge the loss from the night before against Bobby Roode.
BSE would return in December of the same year for “Return to Iqaluit” on December 12th and 13th. Many of the wrestlers on the undercard returned including Sebastian Suave, Brent B and Johnny J (who were BSE Tag Champs at the time), Traci Brooks and Kelly Couture. Christy Hemme joined the trip this time, rounding out a women’s triple threat match that Traci Brooks would come out on top in. Christian Cage returned to the Canadian Arctic for the first time since competing on the Death Tour earlier in his career with a tag team main event where he teamed with Brian Youngblood to defeat Tyson Dux and Pierre Shadows.
Traci Brooks in Iqaluit. Photo credit: Slam Wrestling
A mostly women’s tag match with Anton Arakis teaming with Traci Brooks in a losing effort against Kelly Couture and Christy Hemme was a highlight of the second night. Brent B successfully defended the BSE Arctic Championship against Pierre Shadows. The main event saw Christian Cage defeat Tyson Dux in singles action.
BSE would make their last trip to Iqaluit three years later for events on May 27th and 28th of 2011 but were now operating under the banner of Maximum Pro Wrestling following a merger with Canadian indie Border City Wrestling in 2010. These shows were titled Return to the Arctic and actually had a really stacked talent roster. Iqaluit was able to enjoy two days of wrestling featuring Jimmy Jacobs, “Speedball” Mike Bailey, Matt Morgan, Colt Cabana, Traci Brooks, Ashley Sixx, Tyson Dux, Michael Elgin, MPW/BSE Arctic Champiom Brent B and Kiyoshi. Highlights from the first day saw Tyson Dux successfully defend the MPW Championship against Michael Elgin, Colt Cabana team with Traci Brooks to defeat Ashley Sixx and Gabriella Vanderpool in a mixed tag match and Brent B defeat Kiyoshi in the main event to continue his long reign as BSE/MPW Arctic Champion. The second day of action included Jimmy Jacobs defeating Michael Elgin, Mike Bailey emerging victorious, Matt Morgan beating Kiyoshi and in the main event, MPW’s last ever match in the Arctic, Brent B and Tyson Dux ran back their series of bouts to determine the first and second BSE/MPW Arctic Champion. Brent B defeated Tyson Dux to retain the title and, probably unknowingly at the time, would ensure his spot as the last BSE/MPW Arctic Champion ever as MPW ceased operations in 2012.
Scott D’Amore with the MPW Arctic Championship
Two years later, Toronto’s Smash Wrestling would make their Arctic Canada debut in Iqaluit for a two day event entitled Rumble in the Tundra on October 25th and 26th, 2013. Some familiar faces from the BSE/MPW days were back in town including the last Arctic Champion Brent Banks, Mike Bailey, and Tyson Dux. Some other well known wrestlers were also in action including Matt Cross, Gregory Iron, Josh Alexander, Evil Uno, Stu Grayson and Lance Storm. The mayor of Iqaluit even got involved in the action, body slamming Sebastian Suave. The main event of night one was a singles match in which Lance Storm defeated Tyson Dux. The second day of action featured more marquee bouts that stand out than the first day including Evil Uno defeating Mike Bailey in a singles match, Matt Cross defeating Josh Alexander and Stu Grayson in a triple threat match and Tyson Dux avenging his loss from day one against Lance Storm in a two out of three falls match.
Pro wrestling was most recently in Nunavut on February 4th, 2024. According to the Nunatsiaq News, North Shore Pro Wrestling of Quebec City was invited to perform in Iqaluit by the city’s Franco-Centre. The resulting event saw a crowd of approximately 200 turn out to the Aqsarniit hotel in Iqaluit. NSPW shipped the ring to Iqaluit via cargo plane for their first event outside of Quebec. All reports indicate a successful night in Iqaluit for NSPW’s debut show in the Canadian Arctic as the fans on hand are reported to have chanted “this is awesome!” at times throughout the night. It doesn’t appear as if NSPW ever released any results from the event either through their social media or on any of the popular results websites like Cagematch or Wrestling Data but according to the NSPW Facebook page, wrestlers that were in action in Iqaluit included Zak Patterson, Matt Falco, Stephen Sullivan, Yann Pike, Dylan Donovan, Martin Girard, Robby Hennessy, Benjamin Tull and others.
Yann Pike poses in the NSPW ring in Iqaluit. Image courtesy of Yann Pike’s Instagram page
Over one hundred years since pro wrestling made its debut in the Yukon, it would return on an annual basis starting in 2013 albeit in a much more comedic and artistic form. The Dawson City League of Lady Wrestlers was a feminist art troupe that put on a yearly wrestling event featuring a card of all female bouts. By 2017, similar groups had formed in Fairbanks, Alaska, Toronto and Victoria, British Columbia with wrestlers from several of the different divisions being on hand and in action in Dawson City for the last League of Lady Wrestlers event in 2017. A Yukon News article on the 2017 event mentioned that the women involved in the League of Lady Wrestlers events would get some criticism from male veterans of pro wrestling, being told that they weren’t respecting professional wrestling with their performances but this doesn’t seem to be a fact that bothered them. But even with artistic and comedic touch that was a signature component of the project, the matches still come with a touch of danger as any pro wrestling match would. During one event in 2013, one of the wrestlers landed in glass, needing to be taken from the venue in an ambulance and requiring 19 stitches. A Yukon News report that recapped the last LOLW event stated that a crowd of over 500 turned out for the matches. Since their events included wrestling matches, drew a crowd and were centered around some of the major themes of pro wrestling, and especially the fact that they brought wrestling to an area that doesn’t usually see it, the Dawson City League of Lady Wrestlers definitely deserves to be mentioned as part of the history of pro wrestling in Arctic Canada.
The Dawson City League of Lady Wrestlers in action. Image courtesy of the Dawson City League of Lady Wrestlers Facebook page.
In 2019, pro wrestling found a permanent home in Arctic Canada for the first time. In June of that year, Totally Arctic Wrestling launched in Inuvik, Northwest Territories. In doing so, TAW became the only pro wrestling promotion above the Arctic Circle and the farthest north pro wrestling company in the world. The company’s top title, the North of 60 Championship, is the only active belt in Arctic Canada and is the first championship belt to ever be defended above the Arctic Circle.
TAW is a 100% Inuvialuit owned company and incorporates their culture into their product in multiple ways. TAW co-founder Deztro the Eskimofo has indicated that showing the world who they are and where they come from is one of their core values as a group and something they take any given opportunity to share. Instead of a ring bell, Totally Arctic uses a traditional drum to signify the beginning and end of their matches. Some of the TAW wrestlers incorporate traditional northern games into their in ring move set, including current North of 60 Champion Nolerbear, who also wears traditional mukluks made of moose hide, seal and beaver in the ring. He has also hand crafted a TAW championship belt out of moose hide to carry along with the North of 60 title belt. The handcrafted belt features beadwork that’s consistent with the traditional beadwork of the Inuvialuit people with the white and blue background representing the snow and ice landscape of the region, the colorful edging is known as a delta braid and can be found on the bottom of many people from the region’s parkas and the side plates are seal skin, one dyed black and the other natural fur.
Current TAW North of 60 Champion with the title belt and the handcrafted TAW title belt. Image courtesy Nolerbear’s Instagram page
The connection with the local fans is also very important for the wrestlers of TAW, as is the cooperation with several members of the local community. Kids in the audience get an opportunity to see local wrestlers compete with some bigger touring names which can be very powerful in such a small, isolated community. The TAW wrestlers are also very active in terms of communicating with the youth in the area, discussing their dreams and passions.
TAW does not remain stationary in Inuvik, though. They have toured all around the Beaufort Delta Region and even planned a stop in the Northwest Territories capital of Yellowknife that was unfortunately postponed due to wildfires. Among the touring wrestlers who have visited TAW for shows in the Delta Region are Matt Cross, Cheeseburger (who won the North of 60 Championship in his time in TAW), Mitch Clarke, Todd Quality, “Mad Dog” Marty Sugar, Kat Von Heez, Ava Lawless, Justin Cider, Jesse Youngblood, and Ace Redmann Jr while Chris Jericho has also voiced support for the promotion.
Deztro The Eskimofo prepares to send Todd Quality into the corner during TAW action at Ingamo Hall in Inuvik. Image courtesy of the TAW Instagram page
TAW was founded by Dez Loreen, who competes as Deztro The Eskimofo and was the fan from Inuvik who was on hand for the Twin Entertainment Wrestling shows in Inuvik that were mentioned earlier, and Wade Blu Gruben, who competes as Blu Wilder. Other TAW originals include current North of Sixty Champion Nolerbear, TAW Cruiser Champion Devin Shipwreck and Jarred Kalifornia.
With their status as the first and only wrestling promotion located above the Arctic Circle, TAW has completed a lot of historic firsts including hosting the first women’s wrestling pro wrestling match to take place above the Arctic Circle which took place on November 5th, 2023 at the Donald Kuptana Sr. Memorial Arena in Tuktoyaktok between Ava Loveless and Kat Von Heez.
Speaking of Tuktoyaktok, TAW has visited the hamlet of 900 that lies on the coast of the Arctic Ocean three times now. They are the only pro wrestling company to ever visit Tuktoyaktuk and their three trips there count as the three most northernmost pro wrestling events of all time. No other company has competed on the coast of the Arctic Ocean in any country that we’re aware of and it has definitely never happened elsewhere in Canada.
The TAW crew in Tuktoyaktuk. Image courtesy of the TAW Instagram page
TAW has drawn solid crowds in their home arena of Ingamo Hall in Inuvik and throughout the circuit they run. Their attendance record sits at 200+ for an event that was held at the Midnight Sun Complex in Inuvik while they’ve drawn 130 to Ingamo Hall and around 70 in Tuktoyaktuk, numbers that range in the area of 12-15% of the population in attendance which are pretty astounding numbers for independent wrestling in such small communities.
TAW is one of the best examples of pro wrestling’s international spread and the idea that pro wrestling can thrive anywhere. The news coverage and shows of support they’ve received in their short history is an incredible testament to their hard work and their dream to bring pro wrestling to their home. It will be fun to watch what the future holds for Totally Arctic Wrestling and to track the other firsts they can rack up along the way. Perhaps even more important will be the legacy that they leave for the younger generation of fans watching them compete now. The work that TAW is doing now surely sends a message to possible future wrestlers in the area…anything is possible no matter where you are from or where you live in the wild world of professional wrestling.
