Thursday, November 21, 2013

RIP Maurice 'Mad Dog' Vachon

Maurice “Mad Dog” Vachon, one of Quebec’s biggest wrestling icons, died in his sleep Thursday morning in Omaha, Nebraska. He was 84.

Originally from Ville-Émard, Vachon’s professional wrestling career was built on his unorthodox style, his legendary beard and his bad temper.

I was always a huge fan of wrestling as a kid. We had AWA Wrestling in Manitoba. In those days wrestlers moved from one district to another, did their bit and moved on. Winnipeg was a big step on the road to stardom. There was nothing more exciting around our house as when the Mad Dog was brought in to right a wrong or join Andre the Giant in a Battle Royale. His delivery was also so great. Not only did he have the voice but he had the performance chops to keep improvising on the fly. He defined what it meant to be a wrestling performer and he is a model for others to follow.

 


2 comments:

Debra She Who Seeks said...

I was sad today to read that Mad Dog Vachon is gone. Not that I was ever a wrestling fan, but I still liked Mad Dog's unique sense of style. Plus he appeared to be a genuinely nice guy in real life and did lots of stuff for charity, I believe.

Kal said...

You are right there. Watching that clip I remembered Verne Gagne and how he and other wrestlers were always doing things like that at the St. Bonifac hospital where my mom used to work and had contacts still there. I remember one time when Mad Dog was a bad guy and turned good guy and everyone just loved him. All the heroes from my youth are dying everyday.