WWE Heroes From My Hometown, From "Mad Dog" Vachon To Maryse: A Tribute

In Canada, there is a mystic province called Québec, where people speak french. As you will see, the province of Québec is more than just filled with lumberjacks, farmers and hockey players.

No, we don't eat frogs' legs, unless we go in a French Restaurant. And, by the way, we are not French; we are French Canadians; we are Quebecers.

But I'm getting far from my point so let's put aside my cultural background and move on to the topic of the article.

Not long ago, I realized, in a B/R conversation, that Maryse was from my hometown, Montreal.

One week ago, I have also seen Rick Martel in a slide who is also from my province.

Maurice "Mad Dog" Vachon, who has been inducted to the WWE Hall of Fame this year, also comes from my city.

I then started to think about the great Canadians in WWE: Edge, Trish Stratus, Bret Hart and The Mountie. The latter is from the province of Québec too.

Those things above led me to remember and to list all the great WWE wrestlers coming from my hometown. The list was unexpectedly impressive and here it is for you.  

Pat Patterson

His real name is Pierre Clermont and he was called "Le Rêve Du Québec" which means "The Quebecer's Dream" when he was an active wrestler, from 1958 to 1984.

He started his career in Montreal to continue in various National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and American Wrestling Association (AWA) territories in the U.S.A. He also wrestled in Australia and in Japan before joining the WWF, then known as the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF), in 1979.

He accumulated a total of 35 Championships, including a bizarre reign as the older Hardcore Champion in WWE history, at the age of 59 years old, in 2000.

His most notable achievement is that he became the first ever WWF Intercontinental Champion after he unified his North American Heavyweight Championship with the South American Heavyweight Title.

Throughout all those years spent in the ring, he feuded with many of the greatest wrestlers ever. Among others, he battled Ted DiBiase, Bruno Sammartino, Ken Patera and Bob Backlund.  Patterson, despite his early years girly gimmick, with lipstick and pink tights, had an unsuspected hardcore side. He is known for his bloody and grueling matches. His "Alley Fight" against Sgt Slaughter is a classic and has received the 1981's Best Match Award by Pro Wrestling Illustrated.

After he hooked his wrestling boots in 1984, he continued to work for the WWF and held many positions in the company.

He first was a color commentator and hosted an interview segment. He then became an influent road agent and Vince McMahon's right hand.

He was also an important booker and he is credited to have invented the Royal Rumble match concept. Since he started as a WWF official, he has always put his touch in the booking of the biggest matches and he is still today a part-time consultant.

In addition, "Le Rêve Du Québec" actively participated to create the Attitude Era with his on-screen role as a McMahon's Stooge.

Finally, to crown his storied career, he was inducted to the WWE Hall Of Fame in 1996.

Ivan Koloff

He is not Russian as his Russian Bear gimmick suggests. He is born in Montreal, Canada and his real name is Oreal Perras.

He wrestled in the Toronto and Montreal areas before joining the WWWF in 1970.

He battled some of the greats in the seventies, including Bob Backlund, Pedro Morales, Superstar Billy Graham and Bruno Sammartino. He defeated the latter for the WWWF Title for a short 21 days reign.

The Russian Bear joined the NWA and he let his mark in various territories, winning an amazing total of 41 Championships.  

Gino Brito

The Montreal native, born in 1941, has won the WWWF Tag Team Title with Tony Parisi against Black Jack Mulligan and Black Jack Lanza in 1975.

Brito is also a one-time WWF International Heavyweight Champion and he won five other Titles in the Montreal area territory.

In addition to be a wrestler, he was a popular promoter in Montreal with his International Wrestling Promotion that regularly hosted shows in front of 10,000+ persons crowds in the mid-eighties before declaring bankruptcy due to many wrestlers leaving for the WWF.

In 1987, Pat Patterson brought Brito in the WWF as the promoter for Montreal. The adventure lasted four years, until his services were no longer needed with the company now selling by itself in the area.

After a 12 years hiatus as wrestling promoter, he started a new but minor promotion based about two hours from Montreal, on the Québec-Ontario border.   

Dino Bravo

Bravo was trained by Gino Brito and he teamed with him on many occasions. For many, he was just a big WWF jobber in the eighties but he was an accomplished wrestler who held 16 Championships in various NWA territories.

In 1978, he and Dominic DeNucci defeated Mr. Fuji and Professor Tanaka for the WWWF Tag Team Title. Bravo also got a reign as the WWF Canadian Champion.

After his run in the tag team division, he went in singles competition with no real success, until 1986 when he was scheduled to face Hogan in Montreal in a WWF Championship match. But the confrontation was cancelled at the last minute because the bookers didn't want the crowd to boo Hogan.

He then left the company in anger because of that to come back one year later, as a member of the New Dream Team with Greg "The Hammer" Valentine. Despite some big wins, they never succeeded in grabbing the Tag Team Gold and they split not long after Survivor Series 1987.

Back in singles competition, Bravo started his strong man gimmick to become the self proclaimed Canada and World's strongest man. From 1988 to 1992, he was an important figure in the mid card division mostly used to put over faces like "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, "Rugged" Ronnie Garvin and Don Muraco.

In his last four years in WWF, he was managed by Frenchie Martin and Jimmy Hart. The latter paired the strong man with Earthquake who had a feud against Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior.

Not long after he retired, on March 11 1993, Bravo was found murdered in his north of Montreal's apartment. He has been shot down with seven bullets and his assassin has never been found. According to rumors, Bravo was associated with the Montreal's mafia in some unclear way.     

Edouard Carpentier

Edouard Carpentier was born in France, in 1928 and he moved to Montreal in 1956 to become a wrestling legend in the province of Québec. Not long after, he became a Canadian citizen and never left his new country.

He has never wrestled in WWE or any previous version of the promotion, but he introduced to the company one of his student, none other than his protégé, Andre The Giant.

From the mid-eighties to 1992, Carpentier also worked for the WWF  as commentator for the french language syndicated TV shows.

The wrestler, also called the "Flying Frenchman" was one of the first to regularly use aerial moves from the top turnbuckle in his matches and he used to mesmerize the crowds with his spectacular arsenal.

He competed in some major promotions, including the NWA, Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling and the American Wrestling Alliance (AWA). Throughout his amazing career, he won an impressive total of 16 championships. He even defeated Lou Thesz to be awarded the NWA World Heavyweight Championship; but the Title change was not officially recognized by some NWA territories because Thesz could not finish the match due to an injury.

In his glorious career that lasted more than 20 years in North America, he faced many other legends such as Killer Kowalski, "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers, Abdullah The Butcher and Verne Gagne.

Earlier this year, his never seen before aerial attacks and his overall legacy opened him the doors of the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame (1).

(1) http://www.pwhf.org/halloffamers/inductees.asp

Sylvain Grenier

He made his debut in 2003 with his tag team partner René Duprée, a French Canadian from the Province of New Brunswick. The team was named La Résistance. They were billed from France and played an anti-american gimmick.

He won the Tag Team Championship once with Duprée and later on three more occasions with Rob Conway, still under of the name La Résistance.

In 2005, Grenier started his singles competition run, but with no real success (he lost against Jimmy Wang Yang twice). Then, in 2007 the two original of La Résistance were back together for a very short stint until both and Conway have been released by the WWE.

Since the end of 2007, Grenier is the TNA's commentator for the french language edition of Impact! and he still wrestle occasionally on the independent circuit.

Now aged of 33, there are rumors about him wanting to get a last run in WWE before the end of his prime.

Jos Leduc

Jos and his kayfabe brother have been trained in the Hart Dungeon and they started to work together for the Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling Promotion as a tag team. They won two NWA Tag Team Championship (Stampede - Calgary and Florida) and two Grand Prix (Montreal) Tag Team Titles.

With his lumberjack gimmick he made his mark in multiple NWA territories and won a impressive total of 34 Championships. During those years, he had notable feuds with Jerry "The King" Lawler and the Killer Kowalski.

He only had a short stint in WWE back in 1988 and he was managed by Frenchie Martin. His prime was already behind him and he was only a low card wrestler. The highlight of his WWF run was an appearance in the movie No Holds Barred starring Hulk Hogan.

As a result of a lung infection, he passed away in 1999, at the age of 54.

Jacques Rougeau

One of the most famous Intercontinental Champions in WWE history, Jacques Rougeau, also known as The Mountie, held the Title for only two days.

Fortunately for him, he had more success in the tag team division. He debuted for the WWE in 1986 with his real life brother, Raymond. As The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers, they received a great push as faces; they defeated The Hart Foundation, The Dream Team (Valentine & Beefcake) and The Moondogs.

The Rougeau Brothers turned heels in 1988 and then became enhancement talents to put over tag teams such as The Rockers, The Killer Bees and the Bushwakers.

For unknown reasons, despite being very popular in their face run and for generating a lot of heat as heels, they never won the Tag Team Gold.

Raymond retired from active wrestling in 1990 and Jacques took one year off before coming back as The Mountie. With Jimmy Hart as his manager, he was mainly used as a jobber in the mid card singles division.

One of his most notable loss was at Summerslam 1991 against The Bigboss Man. The match itself is forgettable, but the consequence of the defeat is famous even nowadays: The Mountie had to spend the night in an actual prison and it was all taped.

At the end of 1992, after a less than one minute loss against Bret Hart, Rougeau left the WWF again. He was back in the summer of 1993, stronger than ever, with his new tag team partner, Pierre Carl Ouellet. They formed a solid duo, called The Quebecers.

Finally, Jacques Rougeau received his most glorious push in WWF and the tandem won the Tag Team Championships three times. He also took part to the 1993 Survivor Series' main event as a member of the Foreign Fanatics (teaming up with Ludvig Borga, Yokozuna and Crush). It was in a losing effort against the All-Americans (Lex Luger, The Undertaker, Rick and Scott Steiner), but it was none the less a nice farewell gift to headline a major pay-per-view.

After he retired from WWF in 1994, he made three comebacks with Pierre, for two minor runs in WCW and a few months meaningless last run with WWF.

Fortunately, Jacques' career will also be remembered for his NWA and AWA years, in the seventies, when he won 13 Tag Team Titles.

He is also a respected promoter in the Montreal area who runs his own wrestling school and his minor promotion, Lutte 2000 (Wrestling 2000).   

Raymond Rougeau

As you could see, his run with Jacques in WWF was not exactly successful, but he left his mark in the NWA territories.

When he retired in 1992, he replaced Edouard Carpentier as the french language commentator for the WWE syndicated TV shows and the pay-per-view events presented in Québec, in Africa and in France. His association with the company ended in 2002 when the plug has been pulled on the french version of the TV shows.

He then never really left the wrestling world, being a promoter, along with Jacques. 

Pierre Carl Ouellet

His most glorious years as pro wrestler were 1993 and 1994 when he won three WWF Tag Team Championships with Jacques Rougeau. They both dressed like Canadian mounties and were managed by Johnny Polo (aka Raven).

When the team disbanded in 1994, he was put in a feud for Rougeau's retirement match.

In 1995, Ouellet was repackaged as a pirate originating from New Orleans, with the name Jean-Pierre Lafitte. His only notable feud in singles competition was against Bret Hart.

Not long after his last defeat against The Hitman, Lafitte has been released due to real life booking issues with The Kliq. He was meant to defeat Diesel in Montreal, but Shawn Michaels got the result to be reversed. Lafitte refused to put over Diesel and the match ended in a double count-out.

Pierre then left for WCW; he had two runs with them and he became a one time Hardcore Champion. From 2000 to 2007, he wrestled in various independent circuits as well as in ECW and TNA. 

Maurice "Mad Dog" Vachon

The brand new WWE Hall of Famer, inducted this year, only wrestled about one year in the company, at the age of 55 as a face. He was mainly used to fill arenas' seats in the Montreal area and in the Midwest where he was a legend.

Before joining the WWF, Vachon was one of the greatest heels of all time in pro wrestling history. He became famous with his AWA Title wins against Verne Gagne and, for 20 years, they had continuous feuds. The "Mad Dog" accumulated a total of 35 Championships in various NWA territories and in some other major promotions.

He gained his nickname because of his unorthodox style of wrestling. He is a hardcore pioneer and inspired a new generation of sadistic bloodthirsty brawlers such as Abdullah The Butcher, George "The Animal" Steele and Bruiser Brody.

Vachon had a unique move-set including brutal stomping, nasty biting and his finishing move, the piledriver. He was also a submission specialist and he never hesitated to use foreign objects behind referees' back.

If his violence contributed to build his legendary legacy, it also got him banned in some U.S.A. states. He is also remembered for his bloody battles and he was a steel cage specialist.

In the seventies, he formed a stable with some of his family members, including his brother Paul "The Butcher" Vachon with whom he won many Tag Team Titles. Their sister, Vivian was an AWA Women's Champion. The trio brutalized countless wrestlers during their stint in AWA.

The Vachon's Family also features in The Most Powerful Families in Wrestling, a DVD produced by the WWE.

Despite being a ferocious villain for most of his career, he became, in the end, a fan favorite and he was known in Montreal to be a gentleman outside the ring with an outstanding sense of humor.

Finally, if it was not enough, "Mad Dog" was inducted to the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2004 along with his brother Paul in the tag teams' category.    

Luna Vachon

Maurice "Mad Dog" Vachon's niece is mostly known in WWE as a former manager with a scary colorful look and used to scream like an unchained beast.

She worked for the WWF from 1992 to 1994, she was the manager of Bam Bam Bigelow, Bull Nakano and Shawn Michaels.

She later came back in the company and, from 1997 to 2000, she managed Goldust then she became the brain behind the infamous stable called The Oddities. She also wrestled regularly and, at Wrestlemania XIV, she lost a mixed tag team match with Goldust against Marc Mero and Sable.

Before to join the WWF, she wrestled in the Florida Championship Wrestling promotion and had a long lasting feud with Madusa Micelli (aka Alundra Blayze). In the mid-eighties, she joined Kevin Sullivan's legendary Army Of Darkness and she adopted the freaky gimmick she kept until now.

From 1994 to 1997, she worked for ECW and WCW.

Since 2000, she runs in the independent circuits as occasional wrestler and as Gangrel's manager. They got married in 1994 on Halloween day and the WWF even presented on TV a promo about Luna's marriage with a vampire.

Unfortunately, as reported by Chris Mueller, she "has lost everything related to her wrestling career in a fire." (2)

(2) http://bleacherreport.com/articles/434453-wwe-star-luna-vachon-loses-everything-in-a-fire  

Little Beaver

Before Hornswoggle, long time ago, there was Little Beaver and midget wrestling filled countless arenas in North America. There was even a NWA Midget Championship and Beaver won it twice.

Born in 1935 on the north shore of Montreal island, he started his legendary career in 1950 to retire in 1987.

His last match was his only in-ring presence with the WWE and it was at nothing less than Wrestlemania III. He teamed up with Hillbilly Jim and The Haiti Kid to defeat King Kong Bundy, Little Tokyo and Lord Littlebrook.

Little Beaver was also known for his high flying style and, for all his contributions, he was inducted to the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2003. 

"Rugged" Ronnie Garvin

He wrestled for the WWE from 1988 to 1990. He had major feuds with Dino Bravo and with Greg "The Hammer" Valentine.

Garvin also worked as referee, with a unique twist: he used to punch the heel wrestlers when they didn't obey his orders when he was counting for the release of an illegal hold.

He never achieved high success in WWF, but, at the age of 45, his prime was far behind him. He was then an aging legend who won 35 Championships in multiple NWA territories and in some Independent circuits.

He had feuds with many legends, including Randy Savage, Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes, Jake Roberts and Bob Orton.

Randy Orton, with his "Orton Stomp", invented nothing. The "Garvin Stomp" has been invented by Ronnie Garvin more than 30 years ago. 

Rick Martel

Before becoming "The Model" spraying his Arrogance perfume everywhere he went, Rick Martel was a very popular babyface. He was, in the eighties, a three-time WWF Tag Team Champion, once with Tito Santana and twice with Tony Garea.

He is also a one time AWA World Heavyweight Champion, a Title held by some of the greatest wrestlers of all times such as Nick Bockwinkel, Verne Gagne and Kurt Hennig and "Mad Dog" Vachon.

Martel had 19 various championship reigns mainly in the NWA territories.

However, his singles competition's career in WWF was only the shadow of his glorious past. From 1989 to 1997 he was only used to put other talents over. His most famous feud as "The Model" culminated at Wrestlemania VII with a blindfold match he lost against Jake "The Snake" Roberts.

After a salary disagreement with the WWE, he left the company in 1997 to join the rival WCW, but for only few months. He has been forced to retirement after he broke his leg in a match against Booker T. He continued with WCW as an host for the company's french language TV shows. 

Maryse Ouellet

No, don't worry. I didn't forget to get you an other pic of Maryse.

But she is more than just eye candy. She can do some interesting things in a ring and she improved her wrestling skills a lot in the last year.

She is the only one to have reigned twice as the Divas Champion. She is also the Divas with the most combined as the Title holder. 

Conclusion

I don't know if it makes me an egomaniac to present you my local WWE heroes, but it made me proud to build them that tribute.

I am curious to hear about your local wrestling heroes. Which wrestler grown up in your area?

Did you see any of them live in action in an arena near you?

I for one remember Jacques Rougeau's WWE retirement match at the Montreal Forum; I was in the crowd and I have never been in a so exciting atmosphere in my life. The 16,843 fans totally went nuts.

It was on the twenty-first day of October 1994 and I remember that day as it was yesterday. I also saw The Undertaker live for the first time and it was unreal.

Thanks to you for sharing in the comment section.

I hope you enjoyed that trip North to the U.S.A.'s border.