Wrestling legend Sweet Daddy Siki remembered across Canada for his greatness

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Natalya Neidhart wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.The first pic is of Sweet Daddy Siki as the North American heavyweight champion working for my grandfather in 1970. The other shots are from more work he did for my grandfather Stu’s promotion, Stampede Wrestling.

Sweet Daddy “broke in” around Toronto in 1961 & wrestled for my… pic.twitter.com/x0T61eMquV— Nattie (@NatbyNature) January 2, 2025A former WWE champion, Neidhart comes from a wrestling family as her grandfather was Stu Hart, the founder of Stampede Wrestling, while her uncle is Bret Hart and father is Jim (the Anvil) Neidhart.“Stu respected him greatly. Rest peacefully, Sweet Daddy.

Thank you for all you gave,” she said.Siki worked the circuits in the west in the winters, and summered in the Maritimes.“So in the summer, a great place to be was out in the Maritimes because it was only a summer territory,” Oliver said.“The rest of the year, maybe he’d be out in Vancouver or he’d be out in Calgary Stampede Wrestling.”Oliver said he would also often work the “Toronto corridor.” which spanned from Montreal to Detroit.“Now those are really where he got really well known,” Oliver said. “He just never really did much in the United States after he was let go by the WWF.”In the late 1970s, Siki started a wrestling school in Hamilton, alongside Johnny Powers.“But at some point, Johnny Power stepped back and they brought in Ron Hutchison as a partner,” Oliver said.The two ran an essay contest in a local newspaper seeking to drum up interest in the wrestling school and the winner ended up being an 18-year-old from Orangeville named Adam Copeland.“He ended up being WWE superstar Edge, currently in AEW (All Elite Wrestling) known as Cope,” Oliver said.