[3] In the 1950s, Burke wrestled for nine years under the names "Sammy Berg" and "Mr Canada", and sparred with athletes including Primo Carnera, Antonino Rocca, Lou Thesz and Joe Louis.

He worked in Montreal, Ottawa, Ontario, Toronto, NWA St. Louis, California, Ohio, the Pacific Northwest, Calgary, and Hawaii.

Burke next appeared opposite Italian comedian Totò in the 1962 comedy Toto vs. Maciste.

As the sword and sandal craze faded, Burke played Little John in an Italian film called The Triumph of Robin Hood, Polyphemus in a 1968 Italian miniseries of The Odyssey, a villain in a Kommissar X film Kommissar X – Drei grüne Hunde [de] (Death Trip), Harald Reinl's Nibelungenlied films, and appeared alongside Gianni Garko and Klaus Kinski in both a Spaghetti Western, Sartana the Gravedigger, and an Italian war film, Five for Hell (similar in theme to The Dirty Dozen).

This biographical article related to martial arts in Canada is a stub.