The Vachon family is a French-Canadian family long associated with professional wrestling in Canada and the United States, headed by Maurice "Mad Dog" Vachon, his brother Paul "Butcher" Vachon - both longtime NWA and AWA veterans - and their sister Vivian. [1] At one point the Vachons were joined by a storyline brother named "Stan Vachon" who worked with Maurice and Paul Vachon in tag team matches. [2]
In 1975, the family was the subject of a documentary The Wrestling Queen and, in 2007, was featured in World Wrestling Entertainment's The Most Powerful Families in Wrestling. The Vachons are noted to have lived in France in the 17th century. The Vachons have been noted as tough and rough family but they have a very rich history. In 2004, Maurice and Paul Vachon were inducted as a tag team into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum. Vivian Vachon and Luna Vachon were inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum in the Lady Wrestler category in 2015 and 2020 respectively.
The Vachon family name has also been adopted by wrestlers unrelated to the family, for instances by Pierre "The Beast" Vachon and Damien "Pitbull" Vachon, Canadian independent wrestlers who present themselves as the sons of Paul Vachon and have wrestled as a tag team in CWA Montreal, Great Canadian Wrestling, the Millennium Wrestling Federation, NWA: Extreme Canadian Championship Wrestling, NWA: New England, and Paulie Gilmore's New World Wrestling. [6] [7]
The Vachons are profiled in the 2019 documentary film Mad Dog and the Butcher (Les Derniers vilains). [8]
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Nicholas Warren Francis Bockwinkel was an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with the American Wrestling Association (AWA) in the 1970s and 1980s.
Joseph Maurice Régis Vachon was a Canadian professional wrestler, best known by his ring name Mad Dog Vachon. He was the older brother of wrestlers Paul and Vivian Vachon, and the uncle of wrestler Luna Vachon.
Paul Vachon was a Canadian professional wrestler. He was a member of the Vachon wrestling family. He is perhaps best known by his ring name Butcher Vachon.
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Diane Vachon was a Canadian professional wrestler and singer, best known by her ring name Vivian Vachon. A member of the Vachon family of wrestlers, she was the sister of Maurice and Paul Vachon, and the aunt of Luna Vachon. She is considered one of the best female wrestlers of the 1970s.
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The Vachon Brothers was a professional wrestling tag team composed of Pierre "The Beast" Vachon and Damien "The Pitbull" Vachon. They were one of the leading "heel" teams on the independent circuit during the mid-2000s and, at one point, held the tag team titles of seven different promotions in both eastern Canada and the Northeastern United States, most notably, twice winning the NWA New England Tag Team Championship in 2005 and 2006. Although both men have been reported as the real-life youngest sons of legendary Canadian wrestler Paul "The Butcher" Vachon, neither are near relations of the Vachon wrestling family.