Maurice Vachon

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Maurice Vachon (also known as Mad Dog Vachon) was a professional wrestler. He is the brother of wrestlers Paul and Vivian Vachon, and the uncle of wrestler Luna Vachon.

Contents

[edit] Career

Maurice Vachon is a québécois who grew up as one of thirteen children of Ferdinand Vachon, a Montreal policeman. At the age of thirteen he became interested in wrestling and entered wrestling course advertised at the back of a comic book. He trained hard and even worked in the docks and on the canal to build up his muscle, finally making it into the Canada's national wrestling team. He competed at the 1948 Olympic Games in London and pinned the Indian champion in 58 seconds. He finished in 7th place in the 174-pound class. Two years later, he won a gold medal for Canada at the Empire Games in New Zealand.

Shortly after this, he quit the amateur sphere and entered professional wrestling. He wrestled his career primarily in the American Wrestling Association, where his vicious heel style earned him the moniker "Mad Dog" Vachon. He won the AWA World Heavyweight Championship on five occasions.

After 1957 he often teamed with his brother Paul Vachon, dubbed "Butcher Vachon". Maurice won the AWA World Tag Team Championship, twice with his brother and once teaming with Verne Gagne.

In the early 1970s he appeared alongside his sister Vivian Vachon in the motion picture Wrestling Queen.

Maurice Vachon's tendency to legitely hurt his opponents made him notorious in the business and caused him to be banned in three U.S. states but also made him popular among wrestling fans, among them his future wife Kathie Joe, whom he met after spitting a shoe string he had used for choking his opponent at her, as she was sitting in the audience.

Later in his career, in the late-1970s, Vachon would turn face and team up with former rival Verne Gagne to defeat Pat Patterson and Ray Stevens for the AWA World Tag Team title in 1979. In 1985, he appeared as cornerman for AWA World Champion Rick Martel when Martel was challenged by Boris Zhukov in several title bouts in Canada, getting involved in one match in Winnipeg and fighting off Zhukov and his manager, Chris Markoff, after Markoff interfered and helped Zhukov attack Martel, while in a later rematch between Martel and Zhukov held in a steel cage in the same city, Markoff was neutralized by being handcuffed to Vachon.

Maurice Vachon retired in 1986 and settled at his wife's home town of Omaha, Nebraska.

He lost a leg in 1987 after a car hit him while he was jogging in Iowa.

He also appeared at the WWF pay-per-view In Your House 7, that was held in Omaha. He was sitting in the front row near ringside, when wrestler Diesel ripped Vachon's artificial leg off and it was later used as a weapon in his match by Shawn Michaels.

He also hosted a radio show named "Les Grosses Têtes" on CHIK-FM in the '80's and starred in a French Canadian children's television program, "Le Pirate Mad Dog", along with Piston, a puppet co-star.

As of 2006, Mad Dog Vachon continues to make appearances at legends reunions and independent promotions.

[edit] Profile

Mad Dog currently resides in Omaha, Nebraska.

[edit] Championships/Accomplishments

[edit] American Wrestling Association

[edit] National Wrestling Alliance

[edit] Other titles

  • 1-Time PWA Heavyweight Champioon
  • 2-Time Canadian International Heavyweight Champion
  • 1-Time Canadian International Tag Team Champion (with Edouard Carpentier)
  • 1-Time IWA Heavyweight Champion
  • 1-Time IWA Tag Team Champion (with Ivan Koloff)

[edit] Pro Wrestling Illustrated

  • Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) ranked him # 166 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the "PWI Years" in 2003.

[edit] External links

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