| Raymond Rougeau | |
|---|---|
| Ring name(s) | Ray Rougeau[1] Raymond Rougeau[1] |
| Billed height | 1.80 m (5.9 ft) |
| Billed weight | 104 kg (230 lb) |
| Born | February 18, 1955 Saint-Sulpice, Quebec, Canada[1] |
| Trained by | Jacques Rougeau, Sr. Eddie Auger |
| Debut | 1971 |
| Retired | 1990 |
Raymond "Ray" Rougeau (born February 18, 1955) is a former Canadian professional wrestler and French language television presenter and commentator.
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Raymond Rougeau began training with his father Jacques Rougeau, Sr. and his great-uncle Eddie Auger at the age of fourteen. He debuted in 1971 at the age of sixteen in Joliette for his father's Montreal promotion as a babyface. In 1976, Raymond relocated to Atlanta, Georgia to work for Jim Barnette in the National Wrestling Alliance along with his close friend Pierre Lefebvre.
In August 1985, Raymond and his brother Jacques Rougeau joined the World Wrestling Federation. Wrestling as a tag team, they were initially booked as fan favorites; their highlight of this time was appearing at WrestleMania III competing against Brutus Beefcake and Greg Valentine. In 1988 they turned heel and became The Fabulous Rougeaus, a pair of French Canadians who (insincerely) claimed to love America.
Raymond went into semi-retirement three months after SummerSlam in 1989. His last match was in the WWF was at the Royal Rumble in 1990, which the Rougeau Brothers lost to the Bushwackers. In late 1992, he replaced Edouard Carpentier as the play-by-play announcer for the French syndicated WWF programming distributed to Quebec, Europe and Africa. He could also be seen as an interviewer and a presenter on WWF programming in 1993 and 1994. He came out of retirement in 1996 to face Owen Hart in a Boxing match at the Montreal Molson Centre during a WWF house show. He left the WWF in early 2002 when they stopped producing French editions of their programming.
Rougeau now owns income management properties and has been active in city council politics since 2002; he was initially elected with 72% of the vote and was re-elected unopposed. He occasionally promotes wrestling shows in Montreal along with Jacques.
Rougeau has a son born in 1990.
In September 2011, Rougeau was credited with saving the life of a 77 year-old hunting friend who was lost in the woods of Quebec for two days. Rougeau flew his own plane for the rescue mission after a police search did not lead to the man being found.[2][3]