Champions of the Rose City

A Windsor wrestling school was recently ranked as one of the greatest wrestling schools of all time.

Canada has always had a well-respected reputation in the world of wrestling, producing stars dating back to the early days of the sport such as Killer Kowalski and Stu Hart. All the way to modern times with guys like Chris Jericho and current WWE Champion Kevin Owens. But who would have thought that Windsor could have one of the greatest wrestling schools in the world.

Scott D’Amore’s Can-Am Wrestling School was recently put on the list of 20 greatest wrestling schools of all time by TheSportster.com. Can-Am was ranked 15 overall topping schools run by Wrestling Hall of Famers such as Shawn Michaels and Boris Malenko.

“Getting picked in the Top 20 wrestling schools in the world of all time was pretty humbling,” said D’Amore. “It’s a testament to the students who have come through here.”

D’Amore opened the school in 1993 as a way to improve his own skills as well as create new wrestlers for his own border city wrestling promotion. Early on, the impact on, the major wrestling organizations was minimal. D’Amore and a few early Can-Am guys worked for World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling but failed to make any impact.

The First major breakout star of Can-Am was Rhyno. Rhyno would go on to have a short but successful career in the now defunct wrestling promotion Extreme Championship Wrestling. He was their final world champion.

Former Can-Am graduates appear all over the world in the top wrestling federations including World Wrestling Entertainment, Total Non-Stop Action, Ring of Honor, and New Japan Pro Wrestling.

“Honestly, until we looked at it recently and kind of started tallying it up for the relaunch, I didn’t realize how many World champions we’ve had come through here,” said D’Amore.

D’Amore and many of his current and former students as they return to live in ring action at St. Clair College for Border City Wrestling’s Excellence show on Nov. 5.