Chelsea Green has always been vocal about her Canadian roots and the unique situations that she’s found herself in due to being born above the 49th parallel. Of course, as a fellow Canuck, the country and it’s wrestling scene is always a large part of any conversation we have, and that was no different when we last chatted.
One specific Canadian-related piece I had to pick her brain on was the Canadian Destroyer made famous by Petey Williams. No matter your opinion on the move, it’s one of those things in wrestling that’s sure to spark a debate in any wrestling circle. However, in 2018 on an episode of The Wrestling Perspective podcast, Green was, in fact, handed down the Destroyer by Williams himself. With it rightfully being hers by all wrestling metrics, I asked her, how does she feel about the move being performed on such a consistent basis by so many wrestlers?
Green laughed.
“I have debated tweeting that because I remember on the podcast that was like a big moment for me! Like ‘did he just like really give it to me?'” she commented. “I mean it’s kind of unfortunate that this move that was so cool and that I almost won All In with is now just kind of a like thing, just kind of another move. Hopefully, that goes away. Wrestling happens like that. It happens in waves. And so, maybe we’ll ride this Canadian Destroyer wave and then everybody will get off it and it will become unique again. Who knows?”
“But I mean, everyone, just remember that I’m the only person who’s allowed, okay?”
As is often the case in pro wrestling, chatting about one legendary Canadian often leads to chatting about another. Whether we were talking about wrestling moves or the wrestlers themselves, that was the case more than once during our interview.
Another topic that came up with a Canadian flavour to it was Green’s past training in Calgary under Lance Storm. While we briefly touched on it during our first interview, it was something I was eager to dive deeper into her experience with the SWA. As she’s often said, her training at the Storm Wrestling Academy in Calgary wasn’t just her first experience in a wrestling ring, but foundational to her future success in the business.
“Now that you’ve had the opportunity to train with Lance and train in Japan and train with a lot of great individuals in the Performance Center, what do you think differentiates Lance Storm?” I began. “Looking as an outsider, it’s not like it’s a cookie-cutter program for lack of a better way to put it.”
“Whether it’s yourself or a Peyton Royce or an Oney Lorcan or a Rachael Ellering, you guys are all very different professional wrestlers. What do you think makes Lance great at giving the best of everything?”
“Well, here’s the thing,” Green began. “He starts from day one from the basics and he builds from the ground up. He doesn’t try to throw you in and teach you a move before you know how to lock up, or he doesn’t try to teach you how to be a character before you even learn how to wrestle. You start from ground zero, and you build this great foundation and you just keep building on that. I think that’s why everyone that comes out of Lance’s has a great mind for wrestling and is able to build a perfect, basic match.”
“That’s what I love about the Storm Wrestling Academy is that you can learn all the other fancy stuff everywhere else,” Green closed. “You can just try it, you can cross your fingers and hope that you can do a Frankensteiner or, you know, whatever it is, a Canadian Destroyer. Lance teaches you how to entertain and how to build a match that people are going to want to continue to see.”
Please credit Spencer Love/Love Wrestling with any transcriptions used.
