Animals in professional wrestling

File:Ted and McKigney.jpg with his owner, Dave McKigney]]

Bears have long been a part of professional wrestling.{{cite magazine|last1=Gipe|first1=George|title=Bear Wrestling Took Hold 100 Years Ago, But Lost With Lena's Revenge|url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1091721/index.htm|magazine=Sports Illustrated|publisher=CNN|access-date=October 19, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100616104548/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1091721/index.htm|archive-date=June 16, 2010|date=October 25, 1976}} Usually declawed and muzzled, they often wrestled shoot matches against audience members, offered a cash reward if they could pin the bear. They also wrestled professionals in worked, often battle royal or handicap, matches (usually booked so the bear won). Wrestling bears enjoyed their greatest popularity in the Southern United States, during the 1960s and 1970s. The wrestling bear Terrible Ted was used many times for Stampede Wrestling and briefly lived at Stu Hart's home in Calgary while working for Stampede, where Stu's son Bret Hart and his other children would sometimes play with him.{{cite web|url=http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/Hitman/2004/04/17/426674.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130120201754/http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/Hitman/2004/04/17/426674.html|url-status=usurped|archive-date=January 20, 2013|title=CANOE – SLAM! Sports – Wrestling – Bret Hart : Positive heroes key for kids|publisher=canoe.ca|date=April 17, 2004|work=SLAM! WRESTLING}}{{cite news|url=http://www.cbc.ca/archives/categories/sports/wrestling/cross-country-smackdown-pro-wrestling-in-canada/ontario---terrible-ted-the-battling-bear.html|title=CBC Archives|publisher=CBC}} Hercules, another celebrated wrestling bear, appeared with Terrible Ted in Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. After quitting the sport, Hercules moved to Scotland and took up acting; he appeared in 1983 James Bond movie Octopussy and was named "personality of the year" by the Scottish Tourist Board.{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-50686555|title=Tribute after Hercules the bear's owner Andy Robin dies|work=BBC News|date=December 6, 2019}}

File:Teddy Hart (27926851550).jpg with his cat Mr. Money in 2015]]

Wrestling promoter and wrestler Stu Hart would wrestle tigers in his Stampede Wrestling territory.{{cite web|url= http://slam.canoe.com/SlamWrestlingHartsGallery/stu2.html|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160109064648/http://slam.canoe.com/SlamWrestlingHartsGallery/stu2.html|url-status= dead|archive-date= January 9, 2016|title=HART OF A TIGER|work=Slam! Wrestling|publisher=Calgary Sun, via Canadian Online Explorer|access-date=February 11, 2016}}{{cite book | author1 = Martha Hart | author-link = Martha Hart |author2= Eric Francis | title = Broken Harts: The Life and Death of Owen Hart |publisher = Rowman & Littlefield | year = 2004 | isbn = 978-1-59077-036-8| page = 32}}{{cite book | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=C6GzDAAAQBAJ&q=stu+hart+sykes&pg=PT201| author = Andy Marshall| title = Thin Power: How former Calgary Mayor Rod Sykes stamped his brand on the city ... And scorched some sacred cows| publisher =FriesenPress | year =2016 | isbn = 9781460283974}} His match with the tiger Sasha "Chi-Chi" was performed partly as a publicity stunt for the Calgary Stampede and was on the behalf of the Calgary Fish and Wildlife Association.{{cite book | author = Marsha Erb | title = Stu Hart: Lord of the ring. | publisher = ECW Press | year = 2002 | isbn = 1-55022-508-1| page = 165}} Hart's daughter Diana also stated that he had a cheetah who he had borrowed{{Efn|Hart was close friends with wildlife conservationist and pro wrestlers Al Oeming who owned a Cheetah named Tawana, Oeming and Hart had founded Stampede Wrestling together in the 1940s.}} over to their home, the Hart mansion, which he may have planned to wrestle.{{cite book | last = Hart | first = Diana | author-link = Diana Hart |author2=McLellan, Kirstie | title = Under the Mat: Inside Wrestling's Greatest Family | publisher = Fenn | year = 2001 | isbn = 1-55168-256-7}}

WWF champion Bruno Sammartino wrestled an orangutan in a match.{{cite book|author1=Keith Elliot Greenberg|author2=Classy Freddie Blassie|title=The Legends of Wrestling: "Classy" Freddie Blassie: Listen, You Pencil Neck Geeks|date=June 15, 2010|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-1-4516-0426-9|page=15}} The match lasted for fifteen minutes with Sammartino earning 25 dollars for each five minute. Sammartino has expressed that he was under the impression that the ape would be a monkey and that he only took the match because he was relatively desperate for money at the time as a young newly debuted wrestler. He also stated that the match was very painful and unsafe as the animal was not trained to perform.{{cite web |author= G, Eric|title=Bruno Sammartino speaks on Chris Benoit, the Iron Sheik, and more|url=http://camelclutchblog.com/bruno-sammartino-interview/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101015044536/http://www.camelclutchblog.com/bruno-sammartino-interview/|url-status=usurped|archive-date=October 15, 2010|publisher=The Camel Clutch|date=October 11, 2010}}

Teddy Hart, grandson of Stu Hart, has expressed interest in using animals such as cats and dogs in his matches. He has on many occasions brought his cats with him to the ring.{{cite web|url=http://slam.canoe.com/Slam/Wrestling/Microgalleries/HartLegacyJan2013/?&pic=32|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160205150524/http://slam.canoe.com/Slam/Wrestling/Microgalleries/HartLegacyJan2013/?&pic=32|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 5, 2016|title=Ted Hart's cat relaxes on the turnbuckle at the Hart Legacy Wrestling debut show|access-date=January 30, 2016|publisher=Canoa.ca}}{{cite magazine|title=The Rise and Fall of Wrestling's Weed-Dealing, Cat-Breeding Phenom|magazine= Rolling Stone|author=Moaullen, Omar|date=March 23, 2016|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/sports/features/the-rise-and-fall-of-wrestlings-weed-dealing-cat-breeding-phenom-20160323|access-date=April 27, 2016}} On the matter Hart stated:

I'm training cats to come out to the ring with me, and I'm also trying to train animals to get involved in matches. I'm trying to get safety animals, like a dog, to basically pull the referee's leg before the count of three, little things like that. Or my dog will be carrying a weapon for me, and I would get it off his neck. Potentially if I had a female manager, and she has a cat, and the cat is maybe a good way of getting couple kids out of the audience, and I lure the kids out of the audience and the kids cause a disqualification to happen so I don't have to lose the belt, or something like that.{{cite web|url=http://411mania.com/wrestling/teddy-hart-discusses-his-new-vision-of-wrestling-which-includes-trained-cats/|title=Teddy Hart Discusses His New Vision of Wrestling, Which Includes Trained Cats|author=Csonka, Larry |work=WRESTLING / NEWS|publisher=411mania.com|date=September 12, 2011|access-date=February 11, 2017}}

On December 25, 2004, at DDT Pro-Wrestling's Never Mind 2004 event, Shoichi Ichimiya faced a Japanese macaque named Yatchan in a "Man vs. Monkey Mixed Martial Arts Rules Hair vs. Hair match". The match was a single three-minute round and was won by Yatchan by split decision.{{cite web|date=December 25, 2004 |title=NEVER MIND 2004 |url=https://wp.bbm-mobile.com/sp2/result/resultshow.asp?s=006558 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241128163629/https://wp.bbm-mobile.com/sp2/result/resultshow.asp?s=006558 |archive-date=November 28, 2024 |website=Weekly Pro-Wrestling |publisher=Baseball Magazine Sha |language=ja}}{{cite web |date=December 25, 2004 |script-title=ja:DDT 12/25後楽園ホール大会 "Never Mind 2004"その５ |url=http://extremeparty.heteml.net/2004/d041225-5.htm |url-status=live |archive-date=May 16, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210516192349/http://extremeparty.heteml.net/2004/d041225-5.htm |website=Extreme Party |language=ja}}

A "Pig (or Hog) Pen match" is a match that takes place in a pig pen full of pigs, placed near the stage.{{cite web|url=http://www.prowrestlinghistory.com/supercards/usa/wwf/iyh.html#5|title=WWF In Your House Results (5)|access-date=April 16, 2007|author=ProWrestlingHistory.com}}

In 1999 the Big Boss Man wrestled Al Snow for the WWF Hardcore Championship in a Kennel from Hell match at Unforgiven. The match consisted of a standard steel cage with the cell placed atop it, with the object being that the wrestler would escape from both the cage and cell while trying to avoid guard dogs that were placed between the ring and cell door. This specific match has been called one of the worst gimmick matches in history,Bazar, Nick. [http://www.411mania.com/wrestling/columns/228721 Top 10 Worst Gimmick Matches]. 411mania. March 12, 2012. Retrieved June 9, 2012.Oz, Drake. [http://bleacherreport.com/articles/951446-wwes-15-absolute-worst-matches-in-company-history/page/6 WWE's 15 Absolute Worst Matches in Company History]. Bleacher Report. November 23, 2011. Retrieved September 28, 2013. as the dogs showed no hostility toward the competitors and proceeded to urinate, defecate and even mate outside the ring.

• The tag-team The British Bulldogs consisting of Davey Boy Smith and the Dynamite Kid had a bulldog named Matilda as their mascot. When Smith returned to the WWF in 1991, she was replaced with another bulldog named Winston.{{cite book | author= Shoemaker, David | title=The Squared Circle: Life, Death, and Professional Wrestling | page= 231 | publisher= Penguin | year= 2013 | isbn= 978-1592407675}}
• Jake "The Snake" Roberts had a pet python named Damien who was often involved in feuds and sometimes matches.{{cite book|author=Shields, Brian|title=Main Event: WWE in the Raging 80s|publisher=Pocket Books|page=[https://archive.org/details/mainevent00bria/page/187 187]|year=2006|edition=4th|isbn=978-1-4165-3257-6|url=https://archive.org/details/mainevent00bria/page/187}}
• "Birdman" Koko B. Ware came to the ring with a macaw named Frankie.{{cite book |author=Shields, Brian |url=https://archive.org/details/mainevent00bria/page/173 |title=Main Event: WWE in the Raging 80s |publisher=Pocket Books |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-4165-3257-6 |edition=4th |page=[https://archive.org/details/mainevent00bria/page/173 173]}}
• Hillbilly Jim brought pigs ringside on occasion.

{{Globalize|section|date=August 2021}}

As of 2006, bear wrestling is banned in 20 U.S. states.{{cite web|url=http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-03-25-bearwrestling_x.htm|title=Bear wrestler insists critics are off-base|work = USA Today|date=March 26, 2006|access-date=August 28, 2015}}

• Hercules (bear)
• Animals in sports
• Camel wrestling

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{{Animal rights}}

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Category:Animals in entertainment

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