It’s great to finally contribute to this great website, when I heard from Bruce Hart about it in 2014 I wanted to jump in since. I look forward to hearing from everyone at the PWPNation so I decided to write this article because I believe for this promotion I am writing about has potential to contribute to an independent wrestling revolution. I also decided to write a little bit of an introduction on Winnipeg wrestling as my first article due to me growing up with it and appreciating it’s longed history, as for CWE it’s just a small overview of what obstacles it’s overcome and how much it is on the rise in Canada. Enjoy!
Winnipeg has always been known for its rich professional wrestling history. Whether it’s my grandparents, great grandparents or even my parents who don’t even watch wrestling, know about the history of the American Wrestling Association at the Winnipeg Arena in the 60’s and 70’s. Back in that time, it was all about the AWA. In the 80’s and 90’s the World Wrestling Federation came into town once in awhile and that was the main focus. During the late 90’s and early 2000’s marked the rise of the independent wrestling product in Winnipeg, and the rest of Manitoba. It was widely popular back in that time until things stopped working out and promotions shut down. Until Mike Davidson’s Action Wrestling Entertainment and Wrestling Fan Xperience came along in 2007, AWE and WFX were huge in the city back in the day and got good TV numbers. Alongside those numbers came a major league wrestling style stage set and everything looked really professional and after the early 2000’s, the rise of independent wrestling in the city also suffered a downfall, there wasn’t much happening on the Winnipeg scene. Besides, a few good talent on a handful of local shows and a few shows with names until Davidson saved the day.
In 2009, local standout Danny Duggan wanted to try something new, so he decided to create a product and make it uniquely different from others. He started a promotion by the name of Canadian Wrestling’s Elite, January 23rd 2009 marked the promotions first event. Fast fact, the first match in the promotion was a four way match where Billy Blaze defeated Don Douglas, Rick Matthews and Bobby Fox. The most popular team in Canadian wrestling in 2009 and one of the most underrated of all time “The Big Sexy Beasts” AJ Sanchez and Kevy Chevy also had a fantastic match against Ben Sailer and Nate Bash (Midwest Ground & Air). Promoter Danny Duggan defeated the late and all time great Kerry Brown and the main event featured a 5 star match against Mentallo and the man we all now know as Daniel Bryan. The first event took place during my childhood and I remember going to the show with a family friend and when the bell rang for the main event I knew that I was going to see something special. Personally after that bell rang most critics (Not all) began to shut up saying CWE wouldn’t last. When the match ended you knew that it was a new time for Winnipeg wrestling and CWE was the company to do it. After the next few events at Maples Community Center with more big names and the continued quality product the company only began to rise. It became a Winnipeg wrestling cornerstone especially after their 2nd show featuring Nigel McGuinness.
A little after a year the company began doing tours with some shows in Manitoba and Ontario. The first tour had 5 shows, the 2nd tour had 4 shows and since then the product has created many relationship markets in 5 provinces across Canada. That’s huge for independent wrestling in Canada. I also forgot to mention that the tours nowadays for CWE have 16 shows! With the markets combined Canadian Wrestling’s Elite is viewable in Canada by over 1.5 million people. Another reason why Canadian Wrestling’s Elite is an underrated cornerstone in Canadian wrestling is due to the fact that some of the best independent talent in the world that they bring in and not only are they brought in… They have 5 star matches.
When you bring in the best in the world and you make them work with the right people it just clicks and fortunately enough CWE has been able to provide that. Us as fans need to talk more about a product that is highly unique and that makes independent wrestling fans dreams come true by bringing in talent from as far as Japan. So I urge you to go on YouTube and check out what CWE has to offer. It definitely has changed the Canadian independent scene, very much so that US and Japanese standouts are coming to work with the best. If you are in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba or Ontario, CWE has an upcoming tour called “The Nightmare on Elite Street” from August 1st -20th.
Check out CWECanada.net or on their Facebook page at facebook.com/CWECanada to find an event near you. If you have some downtime, check out some of the shows online on YouTube. I assure that you will not regret watching this independent wrestling gem.
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