Canadian Death Tour

The Canadian Death Tour or Northern Hell Tour, and sometimes just known as the "Death Tour", is a professional wrestling tour of the northern territories of Canada promoted by Tony Condello annually for over 30 years during the winters. The tour takes wrestlers from all over North America and drives them around the Inuit communities which are rarely exposed to wrestling. The tour derives its name from the fact that many wrestlers who participate in it found it to be a near-death experience due to how harsh and difficult it was to complete. To complete a death tour is considered a badge of honour and evidence of a wrestlers toughness, similar to having been trained in "the Dungeon".

History Each tour is three weeks long and is held from January to February. As there are no hotels in the areas which the tour appears in wrestlers are required to bring their own sleeping bags with them on this trips and sleep on gym mats in the school gymnasiums where they had performed hours earlier or find a place to room in on their own. Wrestlers are also required to buy their own food. Many of the younger people who have participated in the tours have elected to change profession after returning home. It is widely regarded as an honor to be offered a spot on the tour, and completing it grants the wrestler a high status for their tenacity. Condello himself has expressed that "this tour is not just a tour; it is an exercise in mind and body". Wrestler and historian Vance Nevada has stated that he had always wanted to do the tour because it was such an important piece of Canadian wrestling lore; with its alumni reading like a "who's who" of the business greats.

Wrestler Tony Kozina has expressed that touring in Canada in general is painful and that the experience of it does not have to come from a Death Tour for you to be tough.

The tours are the main subject of the documentary films The Promoter (2014) and The Death Tour (2024).Pat Mullen, "How The Death Tour Captures the Artistry and Intensity of Wrestling Up North". Point of View, August 2, 2024.

Wrestlers to complete a death tour

Canadians Name Number of tours Birth year Year(s) participated Notes Refs Edge 1 1973 Copeland almost drove a crew van into a football-field sized hole in the ice of a lake. Christian 1 1973 Was one of the seven wrestlers with Copeland in the van. Matt Hart 1 1993 2016 Hart turned 23 during the tour, it was otherwise relatively uneventful and he suffered no other steps closer to death. Tony Condello 30 1942 1988–2018 Condello has been on every single tour. Vance Nevada 4 1975 Eddie Watts 2 1968 Don Callis 3 1963 Got booked to wrestle a murderer. Sarah Stock 1 1979 Rick Patterson 1 1964 Joe Legend 1 1969 Lance Storm 5 1969 Kenny Omega 1 1983 Gurvinder Sihra 2 1984 2006–2007 Harvinder Sihra 2 1987 2006–2007 Jak Lydon 1 Kaitlin Diemond 1 Bob Wayne 1 Aurora 1 2007 Bambi Hall 1 1992 2013 Bobby Sharp 1988 2018 Chris Jericho 2 1970

Foreigners Name Number of tours Birth year Year(s) participated Notes Refs Scott Norton 1 1961 1989 Went into shock when the bus he and the other wrestlers were traveling got stuck in snow. Rhyno 1 1975 Was in a van which almost fell through the ice. Johnny Swinger 1 1975 Baron von Raschke 3 1940

See also Professional wrestling in Canada

References

Canadian Death Tour

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