Author
Chapter Three: Nathan Hatton - Canadian Wrestling History
#PWHS #Interview #NathanHatton #ThrashingSeasons #RuggedGame #Canada #Wrestling #ProWrestling
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Question 1
What projects are you currently working on? Can you tell me more about them?
Answer
I have a number of projects on the go that cover multiple media. I am collaborating with Pat Laprade and Bertrand Hebert on a book that looks at the early days of wrestling in Montreal. It is effectively a prequel to their bestselling "Mad Dogs, Midgets, and Screw Jobs." This has been ongoing for a very long time, but they had to tackle the Andre the Giant bio first before turning their attention back to our project. With that highly anticipated book nearing its release date, we hope to move our project rapidly toward completion.
I am also currently directing a documentary film related to post traumatic stress disorder and veterans who use grappling/bjj as a coping mechanism.
Additionally, there are some big things in the works for next year's Cauliflower Alley Club Reunion, but I have to keep the lid on that until there is a formal announcement. Stay tuned!
There are a few more irons in the fire, but those are some of the bigger ones I am working on at the moment.
Question 2
What led you to write about the history of wrestling in Canada?
Answer
As a Canadian, it was a natural fit for me. When I started my research, there were no online databases for newspapers, so accessing Canadian microfilm was generally easier.
Additionally, not a lot of work had been done on the early days of wrestling in Canada, so I felt it was important to bring to light some of the country's forgotten wrestling heritage. I am motivated by the desire to preserve the memory of the many great athletes who toiled to establish the foundations of both amateur and professional wrestling in this country, but have sadly been forgotten.
Question 3
You have written quite a bit about obscure rural areas in Canada. What made you decide to focus on them?
Answer
Some of my work focuses on major Canadian urban centers such as Winnipeg and Montreal, but I certainly take an interest in what was going on in smaller communities. Demographically, Canada did not become a predominantly urban nation until the 1920s. Most of the population lived in the countryside and in small towns, and wrestling was one form of amusement that was accessible to people in rural and semi-rural environs. The big heavyweight stars we all know about rarely visited these places, but they nevertheless had a rich wrestling culture, supported by a cadre of talented light heavies, middleweights, welterweights and lightweights. These athletes, in my estimation, were really the glue that held the entire wrestling business together and made the sport available to everyone, while the heavyweight superstars hopped from city to city and garnered the attention of the syndicated wire services. It is also outside the cities where you see a lot of the colorful aspects of wrestling: local champs meeting travelling pros, pros hustling locals, travelling carnivals, and matches conducted under very rustic conditions.
Question 4
What is your opinion of Wildman Dave McKigney?
Answer
I don't know a lot about him. Heard he liked bears!
Question 5
Who would you say has influenced you?
Answer
Focusing solely on the subject of wrestling history, there are a few people that have really helped guide me along the way. First among them is Mark Hewitt. Mark and I began communicating regularly seventeen years ago and he was the individual who really encouraged me to roll up my sleeves and start doing my own research, after having read most of the published books out there on the sport's early past in North America. I was able to use that research as a springboard for completing both a Master's Degree and a PhD., so ultimately it sent my life in unanticipated directions.
Ottawa's Bill Taylor (Phil Maingot) was another big influence. Mark put me in touch with him in early 2003. I ultimately moved to Ottawa for eight months and spent a great deal of time with him. His knowledge of early wrestling history was vast and encyclopedic, so much so that he could cite not just the outcomes of matches, but the exact times of falls for those matches and the holds used to win those falls. Bill contributed a lot to our broader knowledge of wrestling history, including Frank Gotch's escapades in the Klondike, but very few people know about him.
Early on I was also fortunate enough to receive guidance from Don Luce and J Michael Kenyon.
Two other people that deserve credit are Greg Oliver and Vern May. Greg is a good friend of mine and early on he encouraged (or I should say admonished) me, to take the leap from being a researcher to an actual writer on the subject. Vern is the real pioneer of researching wrestling's early history in Western Canada, and a lot of my work is an extension on the foundation he laid.
Julie Hankinson
Thank you for your time, Nathan.
Unique content strictly for the Professional Wrestling Historical Society.
Interview with Nathan Hatton.
Interviewer: Julie Hankinson.
Published: October 12, 2019.
Author Interview: #3.
Editor: Jimmy Wheeler.
Interview with Nathan Hatton.
Interviewer: Julie Hankinson.
Published: October 12, 2019.
Author Interview: #3.
Editor: Jimmy Wheeler.
Other interviews on the #PWHS website can be Read Here.