By Gordon Holmes
Special to Canadian of the Week

From Alberta’s Hart Family to Quebec’s Rougeau Brothers to Ontario’s Edge and Christian, the tradition of Canadian wrestling is full of larger-than-life personalities and unforgettable matches. Join us every week for the next 10 weeks as we count down to Wrestlemania XXVI by taking a look at the Great White North’s finest contributions to the squared circle.

Editor’s Note: The “Modern Era” is defined as the period of wrestling that exists from SummerSlam 1988 to the present day. Why 1988? Because that’s when I started watching wrestling. My list, my rules…

10: Andrew “Test” Martin

Height: 6’6”
Weight: 280 lbs.
Hometown: Toronto, Ontario
Greatest Match: Test vs. Shane McMahon – SummerSlam 99 – Love Her or Leave Her Match

When I was approached about doing a Top 10 Canadian wrestlers piece, my first instinct was, “Only 10?” But then when I dug deeper into the topic, I realized that there are really two tiers. The top seven or eight are extremely talented and influential. After that, there isn’t a ton to differentiate between them.

So, what makes Test stand out in this tier over notable Canadians like Sean “Val Venis” Morley and Jacques “The Mountie” Rougeau? All three held the WWE Intercontinental Championship, considered at the time to be the second-most prestigious title in the organization. All three enjoyed extended runs as mid-level talent on WWE programming. But only Test seemed poised to take a place in the higher echelon of WWE performers.

Why didn’t he? Like many things that happen in the guarded world of wrestling, there isn’t really a definitive answer. But let’s take a look at what might have been…

Test debuted as a member of Vince McMahon’s evil Corporation during the winter of 1998. As a part of this stable, Test was able to rub elbows with top names like The Rock, Triple H, Mick “Mankind” Foley, and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin right off the bat.

After his run with the Corporation came to an end, Test became the on-screen boyfriend of Vince’s daughter Stephanie McMahon. The storyline picked up steam when Test was forced to earn the approval of Stephanie’s brother Shane. The two faced off in the shockingly good “Love Her or Leave Her” match at SummerSlam 99. Shortly afterward, Test and Stephanie were engaged to be married (again, just in the storyline … this gets confusing).

However, during Stephanie’s bachelorette party in Las Vegas, Stephanie was drugged by the WWE’s top villain, Triple H. Triple H smuggled her away to a quickie marriage chapel and married her as she sat slumped in the car.

This didn’t sit well with Test.

Now, from there the storyline could have continued with a furious Test tearing through Triple H’s DeGeneration X cronies to get at his former bride-to-be’s new husband (told you this was confusing).

However, they went a different way. Stephanie turned on her father, Triple H went on to feud with Mick Foley, and Test was shuffled down the card into the tag team “T&A” which was basically a juvenile way to draw attention to Trish Stratus Holmes’ considerable assets.

Test was never as hot as he was during the winter of 1999. So, maybe it’s his potential that puts him over performers like Morley and Rougeau.

That, and he dated both Stacy Keibler and Kelly Kelly. Maybe not at the same time, but that’s still impressive.

Gordon Holmes is the wrestling correspondent for Comcast.net’s SlamCast wrestling coverage and the “Survivor” correspondent for Fancast.com. He was also trained to take a beating by WWE Hall of Famer Afa “The Wild Samoan” Anoa’i. You can follow Gordon on Twitter at twitter.com/gordonholmes.