The Rougeau wrestling family is a family of French Canadian professional wrestlers, with the first Rougeau member taking up wrestling in the 1940s. So far four generations of the family have been involved in professional wrestling starting with Eddie Auger, followed into the sport by his nephews Johnny and Jacques Rougeau Sr. in the 1950s. Three of Jacques' sons following him into professional wrestling Jacques Jr., Raymond, and Armand. Jacques ' eldest daughter, Joanne Rougeau, worked as a wrestling promoter for the World Wrestling Federation from 1995 to 2000. Jean-Jacques and Cedric, both sons of Jacques Rougeau Jr., represent the fourth generation.
The Rougeau family first got involved in professional wrestling when Eddie Auger began wrestling around 1946. Auger worked under a number of different names: Ed Auger, Eddie Auger, Henri LaSalle and Pierre LaSalle. Together with Jack O'Brien he held the Georgia version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship and alongside Maurice Vachon he held the NWA Texas Tag Team Championship, both in the 1950s. [1] Auger's nephew through marriage, Jean Rougeau, became a professional wrestler under the ring name "Johnny Rougeau" in 1951. Johnny Rougeau wrestled primarily in Canada. [3] Jean Rougeau was soon joined by his brother Jacques Rougeau who turned pro in 1956. [1] [2] Jacques' three sons followed in his footsteps, Raymond Rougeau in 1971, Jacques Rougeau Jr. in 1977 and Armand Rougeau in 1982. [1] [2] Armand retired in 1987 due to injuries. [1] Jacques Jr. and Raymond competed as a tag team in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) from 1986 until 1990 as the Fabulous Rougeau Brothers. [1] [2] Raymond Rougeau retired in 1990 and became a host for French-produced WWF programming. Ray Rougeau would also be often used as interviewer for the WWF wrestlers through the mid-90s. His sister, Joanne Rougeau, joined him in WWF as a promoter for Eastern Canada mid to end of 90s.
Jacques was planning retiring as well during the mid-1990s, as his partner from The Quebecers tag-team Pierre turned on him at a house show held on the Montreal Forum. During this house show as well, Ray Rougeau would leave the broadcasting team and run to the ring to save his brother. This angle led to Rougeau's first retirement match, which, over the next few months, was heavily promoted on WWF TV shows broadcast in the Montreal area, as well as in the local media. The match, which was held on October 21, 1994, drew a sell-out crowd of 16,843 to the Montreal Forum, and resulted in a victory for Rougeau, when he pinned Ouellet following a seated tombstone piledriver. Rougeau, who was accompanied by Raymond, used Queen's song "We Are the Champions" as his theme music for the night.
Ray Rougeau came out of retirement on August 8, 1996, to face Owen Hart in a boxing match at the Montreal Molson Centre during a WWF house show despite not being active as a competitor for years, but a successful wrestler on the Montreal area.
Jacques' daughter Joanne promoted wrestling shows in Canada and is a bodybuilder. She was once a marketing specialist for the World Wrestling Federation. She was married to wrestler Denis Gauthier, Sr. They have a son, Denis Jr., who plays for the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League. Remarried in 1989 has three more children, a son Shane and twin daughters who became Canadian Blackbelts in TKD in 2005. There is also a second daughter, Diane, who lives in Florida.
In 2018, Jacques Rougeau, Jr. announced that he would retire for a third time, and that he had closed his wrestling school. On August 18, 2018, Rougeau teamed with his sons for the first and only time, mirroring his father's retirement match. As Rougeau's sons have no interest in pursuing professional wrestling, this is likely the final chapter in the history of the Rougeau wrestling family. [5]
| Albina Auger | Armand Rougeau | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Jean "Johnny" Rougeau | Jacques Rougeau Sr. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Raymond Rougeau | Jacques Rougeau | Nancy Ménard | Armand Rougeau | Joanne Rougeau | Denis Gauthier, Sr | Diane Rougeau | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Jean-Jacques Rougeau | Cedric Rougeau | Emile Rougeau | Denis Gauthier Jr. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Quebecers were a professional wrestling tag team in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) from in between 1993 and 1994 and again in 1998 who consisted of Quebecer Jacques and Quebecer Pierre. They also worked as The Amazing French-Canadians in World Championship Wrestling under their given names from 1996 to 1997.
Jacques Rougeau Jr. is a Canadian former professional wrestler best known for his appearances in the 1980s and 1990s with the World Wrestling Federation. He began his career under his real name as half of the tag team The Fabulous Rougeaus with his brother Raymond Rougeau. In 1991, he began a singles career as the Mountie, winning the WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship once. In 1993, he formed three time WWF Tag Team Championship winning tag team The Quebecers with Pierre Ouellet.
Raymond Rougeau is a Canadian politician, former professional wrestler and French language commentator. He most notably worked for the World Wrestling Federation between 1986 and 2002, firstly as one of The Fabulous Rougeaus, and has been the mayor of Rawdon, Quebec, since 2021.
Denis Gauthier, Jr. is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman. A first round selection of the Calgary Flames at the 1995 NHL Entry Draft, Gauthier played for the Flames, Phoenix Coyotes, Philadelphia Flyers and Los Angeles Kings during his ten-season National Hockey League (NHL) career.
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Carl Joseph Yvon Ouellet is a Canadian professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, PCO. He is currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where he is a former member of the Honor No More stable.
The Fabulous Rougeaus was the professional wrestling tag team of real-life brothers Jacques and Raymond Rougeau, best known from their time in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), from 1986 to 1990.
Armand Rougeau is a Canadian former professional wrestler. He is the son of Jacques Rougeau, Sr. and brother of former World Wrestling Federation (WWF) wrestlers Jacques Rougeau, Jr. and Raymond Rougeau. He performed in Canada before he was hired by the WWF. An injury forced him out of the ring for several years. He has wrestled occasional matches and worked as an auto mechanic since retiring from wrestling.
Jean Rougeau was a professional wrestler better known as Johnny Rougeau. Rougeau started wrestling in 1951 as Johnny Rougeau after an amateur wrestling career. In 1956, he was joined by his brother, Jacques Rougeau, Sr. He is also the uncle to former wrestlers Jacques Rougeau and Raymond Rougeau who would go on to great fame in the World Wrestling Federation as the Fabulous Rougeau Brothers as well as Armand Rougeau whose full-time career was cut short by injury. He had feuds with Abdullah the Butcher, The Sheik, Ivan Koloff, Hans Schmidt and Killer Kowalski. He founded All-Star Wrestling in 1967.
Jacques Rougeau Sr. was a Canadian professional wrestler. He was the father of wrestlers Jacques Rougeau, Armand Rougeau and Raymond Rougeau.
Jean Gagné was a French–Canadian professional wrestler and manager, best known under the ring name Frenchy Martin. During his World Wrestling Federation heyday in the 1980s as the manager of Canadian wrestler Dino Bravo, he was known for his trademark sign that read "USA is not OK". Gagné, however, began his career in Canada, primarily in Stampede Wrestling, and in Puerto Rico's World Wrestling Council. In 1990, Gagné left the WWF and retired from professional wrestling.
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Rejean Gagnon is a former French Canadian professional wrestler who is best known for his appearances with the World Wide Wrestling Federation under the ring name Lumberjack Pierre where he was the half of The Yukon Lumberjacks.
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Marc Blondin is a French Canadian professional wrestling commentator, ring announcer and promoter. He started his wrestling career in 1986 for the World Wrestling Federation and worked there until 1991. Blondin was also the main French language announcer for World Championship Wrestling, most notably for WCW Power Hour with Richard Charland, as well as the World Wrestling Federation in Quebec, Canada throughout the 1990s. Since 2004, he has co-hosted the French-language version of TNA Impact! with Pierre Carl Ouellet and Sylvain Grenier at RDS studios. He later became part owner of Top of the World Wrestling (TOW)with Grenier and fellow RDS announcer Jean-François Kelly. He also does English Color Commentary for the DVD releases alongside Ryan Rider who does the Play-by-Play.
The history of Professional wrestling in Canada dates back to the founding of Maple Leaf Wrestling, which opened in 1930 and was the first known professional wrestling company in the country. Many Canadian wrestlers including Bret Hart, Roddy Piper, Edge, Chris Jericho, and Kenny Omega have gone on to achieve worldwide success.
Lutte Internationale was a professional wrestling promotion based in Montreal from 1980 until 1987. The promotion was founded by Frank Valois, André the Giant and Gino Brito as Promotions Varoussac. Lutte Internationale succeeded All-Star Wrestling and Grand Prix Wrestling as Quebec's top wrestling promotion for most of the 1980s.
Richard Charland is a Canadian professional wrestler.
Rougeau is a Canadian surname. Notable people with this surname include:
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