| Carl Ouellet | |
|---|---|
| Ring name(s) |
Carl Ouellette[1] |
| Billed height | 1.85 m (6.1 ft)[2] |
| Billed weight | 111 kg (240 lb) |
| Born | December 30, 1967 [2] Sainte-Catherine, Quebec[2] |
| Resides | Montreal, Quebec |
| Billed from | Montreal, Quebec New Orleans, Louisiana |
| Trained by | Gino Brito |
| Debut | 1987 |
| Retired | 2011 |
Carl Joseph Yvon Ouellet (born December 30, 1967) is a retired Canadian professional wrestler.[2] He has worked for, among other promotions, the World Wrestling Federation, World Championship Wrestling, Extreme Championship Wrestling, and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling.
Carl Ouellet debuted in 1987. He worked on the independent circuit, at one point forming a tag team with "Evil" Eddie Watts known as the "Super Bees".
In 1993, he met Jacques Rougeau in Puerto Rico, who brought him to the World Wrestling Federation as his tag team partner. As one half of The Quebecers, Ouellet adopted the name Pierre[2] and dressed like Mounties. This was a reference to Jacques's previous gimmick, The Mountie, which the Royal Canadian Mounted Police had banned him from using in Canada, fearing that the heelish character of The Mountie would lead to children mistrusting legitimate law enforcers. The Quebecers sang their own entrance theme, in which they announced that, contrary to appearances, "We're not the Mounties". Later in the year they were joined by manager, Johnny Polo.[2]
The Quebecers held the WWF Tag Team Championship on three occasions.[2] On September 13, 1993 they defeated the Steiner Brothers for the tag titles (under "Province of Quebec Rules", which provided for titles change hands on disqualifications). They were defeated by the 1-2-3 Kid and Marty Jannetty on January 10, 1994 and again by Men on a Mission on March 29 (during a tour of England) but each time regained the titles within days. They lost the belts a third and final time to The Headshrinkers on the April 26 episode of Monday Night Raw. The Quebecers eventually disbanded when Jacques Rougeau retired. The partners wrestled one another in Rougeau's retirement match on October 21, 1994 in Montreal, main-eventing a sold-out house show.[3]
As a singles wrestler, Ouellet was repackaged in 1995 as 'Jean-Pierre LaFitte, the descendant of real-life pirate named Jean LaFitte.[2] As a pirate he wore an eyepatch over his right eye, also a reference to his wearing a glass eye.[2]
He engaged in a three month long feud with Bret Hart,[2] and would steal the mirrored sunglasses that Hart handed to fans at ringside. After LaFitte stole Hart's trademark leather jacket,[4] the enemies faced one another at In Your House 3 on September 24, 1995, where Hart forced Ouellet to submit by using the Sharpshooter.
His WWF career came to an end after an alleged legit conflict with The Kliq, a backstage group including main-event superstars Shawn Michaels and Diesel. LaFitte was allegedly booked to win a match against Diesel, then the WWE Champion, in a house show in Montreal, his hometown, but due to backstage manoeuvring by Shawn Michaels the booking was reversed.[3] LaFitte in turn refused to be pinned by Diesel and the match ended in a double-countout.[2] However, due to his refusal to put Diesel over, LaFitte was buried due to the Kliq's influence and released soon after.[4]
In 1996, Ouellet reunited with Jacques Rougeau and moved to World Championship Wrestling (WCW), where the duo was known as The Amazing French Canadians. They wore more traditional wrestling gear, but failed to duplicate the success they had found in the WWF.[2] They had the distinction of losing to Arn Anderson and Steve "Mongo" McMichael in Anderson's last match.
The Amazing French Canadians were managed by Col. Robert Parker (who began dressing in a French Foreign Legion uniform), and they began feuding with Harlem Heat as a result of tension between Parker and Harlem Heat's manager, Sister Sherri. After Harlem Heat defeated the Amazing French Canadians at World War III on November 24, 1996, Sherri won the right to fight Parker for three minutes. Parker was beaten down by Sherri, but the rivals later reconciled and fell in love with one another.
Ouellet won a 'patch match' against the Giant in a house show in Montreal[5] and was fired shortly after.
Along with Jacques, Ouellet was rehired by the WWF in 1998, but rarely utilized.[2] Ouellet competed in the Brawl for All tournament, but lost in the first round to "Dr. Death" Steve Williams. The Quebecers took part in the tag team battle royal at WrestleMania XIV,[6] but disbanded once again soon afterward. Along with other WWF employees such as Mike Barton and Vader, he worked for All Japan Pro Wrestling as part of a talent loan, and spent time in the WWF's Memphis based developmental territory, Power Pro Wrestling, where he was known as Kris Kannonball.[5] He left the WWF once more when his contract expired in January 2000, unhappy with the way he was being used.[7]
Ouellet began working for Extreme Championship Wrestling in mid-2000, squashing jobbers for several weeks before losing to Justin Credible in a match for Credible's ECW World Heavyweight Championship.[7]
Ouellet and Rougeau had a second run in WCW in August 2000, briefly joining Team Canada at the New Blood Rising pay-per-view. Jacques left immediately afterwards upset with plans WCW creative had for him, but Ouellet worked two more dates in Canada, and was awarded the WCW Hardcore Championship by Lance Storm on August 14 as Storm held three different titles at the same time. He lost the title that same night to Norman Smiley. Due to working visa issues, Ouellet could not work in the US, and had to be released back to Canada soon after.[7]
Between 2000 and 2003, Ouellet appeared with Jacques' International Wrestling 2000 promotion. He headlined an event in the Verdun Auditorium in Montreal on December 29, 2000, facing King Kong Bundy in front of an audience of 4,000.[7] In the summer of 2003 Ouellet decided to begin wrestling in the Quebec area once more.
Ouellet joined the International Wrestling Association as Jean-Pierre Laffite. He was brought in by Savio Vega to join his stable, the Corporation. Immediately he feuded with then-IWA Intercontinental Champion Ricky Banderas, a feud that lasted around 3 months. He was managed by José Chaparro, another member of Vega's Corporation. At Summer Attitude, after a losing effort to Ricky Banderas. In April 2005 defeated Banderas to win IWA Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship for first time in you career. Lafitte left IWA.
In November 2003, Ouellet debuted in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling as X, a masked[3] wrestler who competed primarily in the X Division as he had a feud with Christopher Daniels and Sonjay Dutt. He left after two months. In February 2005, Ouellet began hosting the French version of TNA Impact! from the RDS studios with Marc Blondin, replacing Michel Letourneur. He even had a war of the words against comedian Jean-René Dufort (of Infoman fame), to which Dufort responded by adopting the wrestling gimmick "La Punaise Masquée" (The Masked Tick) and "challenging" Ouellet to a match. However, Dufort backed out before the match could take place. In October 2007 he quit, citing he was going to Britain to wrestle full time in the hopes of realizing his dream to become WWE Champion. He was replaced by Sylvain Grenier.
Ouellet continues to wrestle in Canada, primarily for the Montreal-based International Wrestling Syndicate and the Hull-based CPW International promotion, under the Pierre Carl Ouellet name once again. In October 2007, Ouellet wrestled a dark match for World Wrestling Entertainment under the name of Carl Ouellet at the ECW / SmackDown! tapings. He was defeated by Tommy Dreamer.[3]
Ouellet also wrestled for All Star promotions in Britain alongside his friends and tag team partners with Rene Dupree. Ouellet has mainly been working a lot of Tag Team matches with Rene Dupree, Robbie Dynamite, Hannibal and Mikey Whiplash. It has been announced that Ouellet will face Robbie Brookside for the ASW British Heavyweight Championship at a future event. He defeated Sylvain Grenier in an RDS battle on June 21, 2008 in Hawkesbury, Ontario Canada with Marc Blondin serving as the special referee.[8]
He then defeated longtime rival Kevin Nash on May 30, 2009 at the International Wrestling Syndicate's 10th Anniversary show by turning the match into a worked-shoot and taking advantage of his legitimately injured arm by making him submit via an armbar.[9]
In an interview with Slam! Sports on August 6, 2008, Ouellet declared that he would like another stint with the WWE.[3]
Ouellet announced his retirement from professional wrestling on Tuesday February 8. 2011 during an interview with the largest radio station in Quebec, CKAC. He had not wrestled since June, in a match against TNA Wrestling star Desmond Wolfe.[10]
Ouellet lost his right eye at the age of twelve when a friend accidentally shot him in the eye with a pellet gun. Since then he has been wearing a glass eye. Frequently, he has also included wearing an eyepatch in the ring.[2] His biceps have a circumference of two feet, inspiring his catchphrase "Deux pieds de bras!" ("Two feet arms!" in French)
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