Indie show thrills Quebec crowd
By ERIC BENNER - SLAM! Wrestling
Live from the Pierre Charbonneau arena, at two-thirty in the afternoon
on St-Valentine's Day, wrestling in Quebec was revived, if only for a
day, to heights it had not witnessed in decades. Jacques Rougeau, with
the aid of Paul Leduc, put together a show which impressed this reporter
from top to bottom.
When you come to an independent show, you expect it to start really
late, and it was a refreshing change to see that things got rolling
within five minutes of the announced time. Eric Nolin, from CKOI FM, was
emceeing. He did a terrific job hyping the crowd before the show, one of
the best I've ever seen.
The first match pitted scene newcomers (speaking relatively, they have
a combined decade of experience) Iceman and Nelson Veilleux. This
opening bout was high-flying, for the most part, as Iceman dominated
well into it. Among the highlights were a springboard plancha, irish
whips and cartwheel splashes, a flawless firebird 450, and a frog
splash. Oh yeah, and a springboard spinning heel kick. Just try to
picture that. I dare you. Unfortunately for the Iceman, Nelson caught
him in a botched maneuver and nailed him with a running powerbomb for
the three count.
Kevin Martel took on Jacques Comtois in the second match. Martel, who
indeed is related to Rick - his nephew, displayed the kind of
athleticism and dangerous high spots that not only rivaled and perhaps
surpassed Iceman's, but made me wonder when I had stopped watching the
show and tuned into the WCW cruiserweight division. Great stuff, but a
lackluster ending as Comtois walked out for a countout. When was the
last time you saw one of those?
The third contest saw Tiger Jackson take on Little Broken in a midget
match. The highlight of the gimmick match which I've never liked
(despite the great athleticism and showmanship of both competitors) saw
the very aptly named Luscious Lucy interfere and give Tiger the victory.
Before the match, Little Broken had imitated Lucy from behind, and he
paid for it afterwards with a running powerbomb.
In the fourth match, Sunny War Cloud and Carl Leduc battled the
Prisoners. The action was fast-paced and these heavyweights did not
disappoint. Though the Prisoners won it with interference, Carl Leduc
stole the match with a combination of high-flying athleticism and
high-impact moves, in a display unrivaled since the WWF's 'Pierre' was a
singles competitor. After the match, Carl and his father, Paul, took out
their aggression on War Cloud, who lost the match for the duo.
King Kong Bundy destroyed Ron "The Doorman" Trottier in the
third-to-last match. The king of the five-count lay in wait until he
landed the big splash, and that was all she wrote. Both competitors
looked to be in fine form.
In the semi-main event, the Rougeau brothers took on Abdullah the
Butcher and Richard Charland, who was replacing a no-showing Greg
Valentine. Seeing Abdullah in action is something that can scarcely be
described, but the bloody hand-marks he left on the table in front of me
say it all. The Rougeaus, who were up to their old heel antics during
the match, still managed to stay fan favourites and come away
victorious. Post-match, Abdullah and Richard had words to share about
the Rougeaus' tag titles, modeled with the image of former great Johnny
Rougeau, and they even tried to steal them. Retribution was fierce and
the chair-shots were numerous. The Rougeaus left the ring with their
belts, their dignity, and all of their former glory intact.
The main event bout was an over-the-top battle royale, with almost all
of the afternoon's talent competing. After about twenty minutes of
non-stop action, the two men left standing were Jacques Rougeau and King
Kong Bundy. Jacques emerged victorious when Bundy charged him and was
pushed clear over the top rope and onto the floor. The fireworks
displayed after his victory dwarfed all others that day.
All in all, the show was terrific, everyone had a good time, and a lot
of Quebec's young talent, as well as some of its older talent, were put
on display to the delight of all. The pyros, the sound-system, the
big-screens with video montages presented throughout the card, and
certainly not least of all, the action, were all top notch and probably
the best effort put on in this city in a long, long time. About
twenty-two hundred fans showed up for the event, and if word of mouth is
any indication (and it is), the full three-thousand seats will be sold
out for their next show on June 20th. Many more young talented athletes
will be there, as well as some more old favourites. Word is that King
Kong Bundy isn't too happy about the way the battle royale turned out -
and he wants blood.
Keep an eye out this Friday for a special edition of The Truth about
Jacques Rougeau. A bit of history and a chunk of hope for the future as
he tries to resurrect wrestling in Quebec.
