10 British Wrestlers Who Had Profound Impact In America

9. Dave Finlay

A veteran of the UK scene, Dave Finlay€™s career has seen him tour the world. A second generation star, he was a regular competitor on World of Sport, the nationally televised wrestling of the 1980s. He rarely lost, and displayed bags of charisma while getting the crowd to hate him. Finlay was a tough Northern Irishman, renowned for his uncompromising, hard hitting style, and as a man who could outwrestle you or outbrawl you, whatever was necessary. In the 1990s, he was a frequent traveller to Japan, competing in the annual Best of the Super Junior tournaments. In 1996, after a Lord Steven Regal match, Finlay made his WCW debut, appearing out of nowhere to beat the holy hell out of Regal. To British fans, this was just typical old school tough guy British wrestling. To American fans, this was jaw dropping. In WCW, he beat Booker T for the World Television title. A serious injury scuppered his momentum, and when WCW was bought out by the WWF, Finlay was kept on as a trainer for new wrestlers, such was the high regard that he was held in. Finlay worked with the WWE divas, transforming them from being titillation or a toilet break into great, solid wrestlers. Trish Stratus changed from a model with a few wrestling moves into one of the best female wrestlers of her era. The likes of Lita, Mickie James and Victoria all learned under Finlay€™s tutelage and WWE women€™s wrestling was better than it had been in decades. He was also responsible for the continued pro training of Kurt Angle when he arrived from the amateur ranks. At the end of 2005, after nearly five years out of the ring, he made a comeback with the WWE at the age of 48. He was involved in a feud with Bobby Lashley, which was designed for Finlay to pass on his knowledge to the young Lashley, who was being groomed for superstardom. He won the United States Championship the following year, before being moved down the card and being paired with Hornswoggle. He retired from in-ring competition for the WWE in 2010 and continues to work as an agent, putting together matches, to this day.