O CANNNNNAAAAAADAAAAA! There's nothing more I love than a good stable. But this wasn't just any stable, its TEAM CANADA! Led by Scott D'Amore, this crop of young talent was boasted as the future of TNA.
The team was originally created for the 2004 America's X-Cup Tournament with the original team being made up of Team Captain Teddy Hart, Jack Evans (who was actually American....), Johnny Devine and Petey Williams. Team Canada would lose out in this tournament to AAA's Team Mexico led by Juventud Guerrera. After the America's X-Cup, TNA announced the World X-Cup. Petey Williams became the new captain of a revamped Team Canada with Teddy Hart being released by the company and D'Amore kicking Jack Evans out of the group, with Eric Young and Bobby Roode as their replacements.
In Round One, a Gauntlet Match featuring all 16 competitors in the tournament awarded 3 points to the last man standing's team. Team Mexico's Captain Héctor Garza would win this match giving Team Mexico an early advantage. In Round 2, Christopher Daniels and Elix Skipper defeated Bobby Roode and Johnny Devine, awarding Team TNA 2 points. Round 3 ended with Team Canada finally getting on the board (4 Points) by way of Eric Young's victory in a Fatal 4 Way ladder match with Jerry Lynn, Mr. Águila and Taichi Ishikari. However, they would come up short in a winner takes all Ultimate X Match, with Team TNA's Chris Sabin beating out Petey Williams and Héctor Garza. Team Canada placed second in the Tournament.
After the World X-Cup Tournament, D'Amore would keep the team together to great success. Petey Williams defeated Amazing Red for the X-Division Championship. EY and Bobby Roode would then become 2-Time NWA World Tag Team Champions. In early 2005, Johnny Devine tore his MCL and was replaced with A-1. For the remainder of the year, Team Canada would join Jeff Jarrett's Planet Jarrett stable and feud with Team 3D and 3LiveKru. At Lockdown 2005, Team 3D defeated Team Canada in an Anthem match. In 2006, they lost the World X-Cup to Team USA/TNA once again. In June of 2006, they lost an all or nothing 8 man tag team match officially forcing the team to disband.
I liked the makeup of this stable because it showcased the present and in parts, the future. Eric Young and Robert Roode would go on to become staples in the history of TNA and reach the top of the Mountain multiple times. Petey Williams, the former team captain, lived up to the expectations D'Amore had thought of him when he dubbed him the future of the X-Division. With his Canadian Destroyer finisher armed, Petey would become king of the X-Division again. I was never a huge fan of Johnny Devine. Honestly, I believed him to be the weakest link and I thought Team Canada would be better off with A-1.
They were better to an extent with him, but nothing necessarily changed as far as the group's standing within the company. To be fair, I also thought A-1 would be the future of the company and maybe he would have if he could properly execute a dropkick. But alas, it was not meant to be and he was cut in 2007. As a kid, I hated these guys. D'Amore was a coward who hid behind his guys after running his mouth too much, but looking back it made this team a lot of fun to watch because all of these guys (with the exception of Divine and EY) were athletic freaks and were more than capable of backing up D'Amore's bragging. I think they had a pretty good run. It lasted 2 years and they were a very solid midcard act. My only complaint is their break up was random and set up all wrong. Jim Cornette randomly coming out and saying the team is officially broken up then giving them a match later that night to reverse his decision is just terrible booking. I guess we have no one to blame for the fall of Team Canada except Eric Young (who D'Amore blamed for the forced disbandment).
-Ameen
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