User blog:CEDJunior/Canada's Impact on Women's Wrestling

Today is Canada Day, and we wrestling fans know full well how large the Canadian influence is in the world of professional wrestling. It's not just the long list of men, which include Bret Hart, Chris Jericho, Edge, and Christian, to name a few, but a large amount of Canadian women have made an impact in various promotions over the years.

Natalya and Rosa Mendes represent Canada on the current WWE Divas roster. Past Canadian Divas include Gail Kim, Maryse, and WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus. Gail is one of two Canadians on the current Knockouts roster, with Angelina Love as the other one. Sarita and Taylor Wilde are two more Canadians who have once been part of the TNA Knockouts roster.

One thing I've noticed is that when it comes to the main companies, WWE and TNA, a good bit of the milestones and records in women's wrestling have been accomplished by Canadians. The biggest one is Trish Stratus' seven reigns with the WWE Women's Championship. In fact, Trish was the first Diva to win the title five times, a feat that has only been duplicated by Mickie James. Quebecoise Diva Maryse was the first Diva to hold the WWE Divas Championship twice, a feat that has been duplicated by Melina, Michelle McCool, WWE's only three-time Divas Champion Eve Torres, and current champion AJ Lee. Maryse's first Divas Championship reign was the longest in history, until AJ surpassed that feat in January 2014.

Gail Kim made history 11 years ago yesterday when she became the first and only Diva to capture the Women's Championship in her WWE debut. She was the only Diva overall to win a title in her debut until Paige duplicated the feat on April 7, 2014 by capturing the Divas Championship in her main roster debut. Gail has two milestones in TNA, though. She will go down in history as the first ever TNA Knockouts Champion; accomplishing the feat by winning a gauntlet match at Bound For Glory 2007. Gail is also the longest reigning Knockouts Champion in TNA history, with her second reign lasting from November 2011 until June 2012. Angelina Love holds the record for most Knockouts Championship reigns with six. In fact, Angelina was the first Knockout to win that title five times; a feat that has since been duplicated by Tara and Madison Rayne. Counting her one Knockouts Tag Team Championship reign, Angelina has won seven titles in TNA, a record she shares with Madison Rayne.

Taylor Wilde was the first KO to have held the Knockouts singles and tag team championships at least once. That feat has only been duplicated by Madison Rayne and Gail Kim, with the latter holding both at the same time and sharing the tag team gold with the former. Taylor and Sarita will go down in history as the first ever Knockouts Tag Team Champions, having won the titles in the finals of a tournament at No Surrender. And I mentioned that today is Canada Day. Today marks the fourth anniversary of what I call "The Canada Day Catfight," where Sarita turned into a villainess and attacked Taylor backstage.

One of the most noteworthy women's wrestling promotions emanates from Canada: the Quebec-based NCW Femmes Fatales promotion. The promotion began in 2009, and has featured an immense amount of talented women from Canada, with most of them (of course) emanating from Quebec. The most noteworthy of the women is LuFisto, who made history as the first ever Femmes Fatales Champion. In fact, not only does LuFisto compete, but she has served as a trainer for several of the women on the NCW FF roster; taking in pupils such as Sweet Cherrie, Mary Lee Rose, and Kalamity, who became the second ever Femmes Fatales Champion.

Canadian women have also competed in various other promotions, most notably SHIMMER Women Athletes, Women Superstars Uncensored, and Shine Wrestling. Other than LuFisto, who currently reigns as the WSU Champion, women such as Jewells Malone and Courtney Rush have competed for these promotions. Courtney is one of the more notable Anglophone Canadians on the NCW FF roster, especially as of late, though she has also competed for SHIMMER and served as one half of the SHIMMER Tag Team Champions with Sara Del Rey. Jewells has mainly competed for WSU, and from what I've learned, she's a regular in hardcore matches, much like LuFisto. I really want to see her in Shine; I think she would be perfect for that promotion's roster.

The list of my favorite Canadian female superstars also includes Xandra Bale, Jody D'Milo, Leah Von Dutch, and Cat Power. I've watched Cat for a long time in SHIMMER and NCW FF and I loved her heel act when she was nearly dressed like Catwoman. She's another one I'd love to see in Shine Wrestling. I've actually seen LVD in Shine Wrestling and I really love what she delivers. Her video promos are golden, and she really does a good job acting as a villain, even though, IMO, she has a natural babyface look. Speaking of babyfaces, Xandra Bale is quite a phenomenal one. I've actually seen her in all four of the aforementioned indy promotions and she is just and absolute treat to watch. She's the Canadian AJ Lee:  small, but effective. Jody D'Milo's a new favorite; I've only seen her for about a few months. I absolutely love Jody's villainous character, mainly her wearing the leather jacket and sunglasses because it gives a Bret Hart-type vibe. She also has that big physique, which means Jody could also portray an evil and merciless destroyer. That and her arrogant swagger make her absolutely golden!

Those are just some of the Canadian women who have made an impact in professional wrestling. The list is much longer. But without question, Canada and wrestling have gone hand in hand for many years, and this proves it.