Maurice Vachon

Early career (1950–1955)

Vachon debuted as a junior heavyweight for Ontario booker Larry Kasaboski. In his first pro year, he won a tournament in Sudbury to claim the North American Junior Heavyweight Championship. He soon encountered a roadblock when powerful Montreal promoter Eddie Quinn hesitated to use him for fear that he would dethrone Yvon Robert, who was still his top draw.^[4] Consequently, Vachon took to the road and, in April 1955, he teamed with Pierre LaSalle to capture the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) Texas Tag Team Championship.

"Mad Dog" Vachon (1950s)

Despite his exceptional grappling ability, Vachon nonetheless struggled to distinguish himself from the myriad of image-less grapplers during his early years. As a result, he soon took radical measures to differentiate his persona, bulking up to a more plausible 225 pounds while also shaving his head bald and growing a long goatee.^[4] In addition, Vachon would frequently buy local TV time prior to a weekend event, which he then used to boldly proclaim his supremacy while also deprecating his opponent. Such acts of bravado were considered revolutionary at the time, though it was successful in that it attracted attention to Vachon's new character as well as drawing additional fans to the arena. As a result, Vachon subsequently established himself as a major heel while also portraying a wrestling beast inside the ring who would freely stomp, bite, and pound his opponent into submission. According to Vachon, the name "Mad Dog" was given to him in 1962 by Portland promoter Don Owen after a particularly violent match. "During the match I went outside the ring and started to turn everything upside down. A policeman tried to stop me and I hit him too," said Vachon. Afterwards Owen told him, "You just looked like a real mad dog out there."^[4]

Before long, "Mad Dog" Vachon consequently developed a reputation as perhaps the most feared rulebreaker in all of wrestling. Furthermore, Maurice's younger brother Paul - ultimately known as "The Butcher" - soon also made his debut and on February 17, 1959, the Vachon brothers teamed to defeat Chico Garcia and Chet Wallick for the NWA Canadian Tag Team Titles. Vachon's tendency to hurt his opponents with foreign objects, filed fingernails and teeth, and the multiple use of his signature finishing move, the piledriver, to end matches made him notorious in the business and caused him to be banned in three U.S. states. But it also made his popularity soar among the fans.^[7]

He also met his future wife Kathie Joe at a wrestling event, after spitting a shoe string he had used for choking his opponent at her, as she was sitting in the audience.

AWA World Heavyweight Champion (1960s–1973)

In the early 1960s, Mad Dog Vachon was then recruited to the Minnesota-based American Wrestling Association by his old Olympics acquaintance, Verne Gagne, who had replaced Tony Stecher as the region's chief promoter in 1960 and who also served as its centerpiece champion. Upon debuting, Vachon immediately established himself among the promotion's top box-office draws as fans despised his vicious, mauling tactics; and he thus made the perfect opponent for the All-American Gagne, as the two rivals soon commenced an ongoing battle that would persist on for nearly 20 years. On May 2, 1964, Vachon stunned audiences when he upset Gagne for the AWA World Heavyweight Title, and although Gagne regained the belt just two weeks later, Mad Dog again recaptured the title when he defeated Gagne on October 20 in Minneapolis. Between 1964 and 1967, Mad Dog Vachon would ultimately hold five reigns as the AWA World champion while taking on all comers within the promotion's massive territory, including Gagne, Mighty Igor Vodic, as well as the legendary powerhouse duo of Crusher Lisowski and Dick the Bruiser.^[4]

Mad Dog Vachon's final AWA title reign came to an end on February 26, 1967, at the hands of his nemesis Verne Gagne; and he then briefly left the promotion in order to return to his native Montreal territory, where he captured two reigns as the IWA International Heavyweight champion while feuding against Johnny Rougeau and Hans Schmidt. Moreover, Vachon would also leverage his close friendship with Montreal Canadiens legend Jean Beliveau to convince the authorities of the Montreal Forum to grant him a promoting license (despite the protests of Johnny Rougeau and Bob Langevin, who had taken over the region from Eddie Quinn during the mid-1960s). Nevertheless, Vachon would soon return to the AWA, where he resumed his fierce battles with The Crusher and Dick the Bruiser, regarded by some as the greatest tag team of all time, while forming a highly successful and dangerous tandem with his brother Paul "Butcher" Vachon. On August 30, 1969, the Vachons defeated Crusher and Bruiser for the AWA World Tag Team Titles; and the following year, the two battled again in a famous steel cage match at Chicago's Comiskey Park (where the Vachons again emerged victorious), as their violent fights ultimately served as the precursor for a new brand of sadistic and vicious brawling that would spawn future stars like Abdullah the Butcher, Bruiser Brody, Stan Hansen, and others.

On July 14, 1973, Vachon had a match with Killer Kowalski for Grand Prix Wrestling at Montreal's Jarry Park. The match drew a crowd of 29,127, which is the largest wrestling crowd in Quebec history.^[8] Prior to the match, Vachon had vowed to commit suicide if he did not win. Following Vachon's victory, the headline of a Montreal newspaper read "Vachon triumphs in front of 30,000 people and gives up on suicide!"^[4]

AWA, WWF and later career (1970–1986)

The Vachon family became prominent in the AWA with sister Vivian dominating the women's scene, while Maurice and Paul ruled the men's division. In the early 1970s he appeared alongside Vivian in the motion picture Wrestling Queen. After two decades as one of wrestling's most evil characters, the fans began to rally behind the "Mad Dog" in the late 1970s when he formed an unexpected and odd friendship with ex-rival Verne Gagne. The unlikely partners made for an impressive tag team, and on June 6, 1979, they beat Pat Patterson and Ray Stevens to capture the AWA tag titles, which they held for over a year before losing to Jesse Ventura and Adrian Adonis.^[4] When the AWA began looking to younger stars like Rick Martel and Curt Hennig, Vachon jumped to the World Wrestling Federation in 1983. While his age and lack of size did not make for a good mix in the emerging "Hulkamania" era, the now-face Vachon was usually included at WWF house shows in the Midwest and Quebec. He wrestled for the WWF in Canada regularly until 1986, and contributed to its French programming schedule with a weekly interview segment titled Le Brunch a Mad Dog. His deal allowed him to work non-WWF events in Canada.

In 1985, he was cornerman for AWA World Champion Rick Martel during several challenges by Boris Zhukov in Canada, getting involved in one match on September 19 in Winnipeg and fighting off Zhukov and his manager, Chris Markoff, after Markoff interfered and helped Zhukov attack Martel.^[9] In a Winnipeg steel cage rematch on November 14, Markoff was neutralized, handcuffed to Vachon.^[10][11]

Vachon received a retirement show in his native Montreal in September 1986, and he left the sport as one its most beloved babyfaces after spending almost his entire career as a sadistic heel. His innovative portrayal of a snarling, bloodthirsty monster inspired a myriad of future "psychotic" wrestlers. WWE wrote: "In later years, Mad Dog's legacy was carried on by his niece, the memorably twisted Luna Vachon, and notable brawlers who adopted Vachon's wild ring style like Bruiser Brody and George "The Animal" Steele."^[12]