GLOW Dog Names

Professional wrestling has a history of the bizarre. Outside of bringing in little people, giants and just about every object known to humankind, wrestling left no stone unturned when it came to gimmicks, and that included animals. As far back as the 1960s and 1970s, wrestlers were matched up against some significant rivals, from wrestling bears to the ultra-messy Pig Pen match to what is described as one of the worst gimmick matches in the history of wrestling, 1999’s Kennel from Hell, which had guard dogs lined up outside a giant cell and cage combo — the dogs ended up showing no interest in the wrestlers and instead casually relieved themselves outside the ring. 

But those guard dogs weren’t the only semi-famous dogs to be featured in pro wrestling. And although they weren’t directly wrestled (thank goodness), they still played an important role in the story arc of their owners: Matilda and Winston. 

The duo were owned at separate times by one of the most infamous tag teams in wrestling history: The British Bulldogs — Davey Boy Smith and Dynamite Kid. Matilda was the first to be introduced and was, as you may have guessed, an actual Bulldog. Although she wasn’t often inside the ring outside of chasing opponents or their managers, she frequently accompanied them into the arena and ring area and was often used as a gimmick during several important matches and overarching narratives. She was pivotal to their feud with The Islanders and their manager Bobby Heenan, who eventually ended up dognapping her. She was so popular the WWF started a letter writing campaign for fans and released a plush version of her during the stunt — she was eventually rescued. She was even so popular as to be packaged with the duo in toy form, which quickly became a highly sought-after action figure. 

However, after the British Bulldogs failed to regain their belts, they split up and Smith even went on hiatus. When he returned, Matilda was nowhere to be found and he instead was accompanied by Winston, another Bulldog, seemingly a symbol of his new independent status. Winston didn’t last long either, as Smith’s career bounced between leagues, his popularity often on the rocks both in and out of the ring. 

But regardless of their tenure, the two actual Bulldogs had still left their mark on the league, being remembered next to Jake Roberts’ snakes as some of the fan favorite animals to enter the ring.