Would you believe us if we told you that there was a year when, on the entire North American continent, it was Johnny Rougeau who attracted the biggest crowd to a professional wrestling gala?
No? You are doing well. Because it happened two years in a row.
Given the effect he had on the Quebec public, the first of the Rougeaus has obtained all kinds of recognition over the years, and 41 years after his death, it continues. Last month, the publication Wrestling Observer made him a place in his hall of fame, a pantheon more structured than that of the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) where members enter based on the arbitrary choices of management. The model of theObserver is inspired by the Baseball Hall of Fame, with very specific criteria (see box).
Jean Rougeau, his real name, was included on the ballot for the first time in 2018. He reached a milestone in 2021 when his support exceeded 40%, a threshold which was maintained until his 62, 7% this year.
For the Quebec historian of the struggle Patric Laprade, it was the culmination of a long campaign to consolidate the candidacy of a character who, in his eyes, had his place in the temple for a long time. Whether he was a wrestler or a promoter, Johnny Rougeau established himself among the elite of his community, Laprade had been arguing among his peers for years.
What made him connect so much with the crowd was his charisma, it was his charm, it was his lookhe maintains. A bit like Édouard Carpentier, Johnny had a good physique, a handsome lookwhich made women adore him and men wanted to be like him. He was going to seek sympathy from just about everyone.
To be eligible for the Hall of Fame Wrestling Observera candidate must have at least 15 years of experience or be over 35 years old and have at least 10 years of experience.
Applicants can be entered into six categories: United States and Canada (modern), United States and Canada (historical), Mexico, Japan, foreign and other professionals (managers, promoters, commentators, etc.). They must obtain, in their category, support of at least 60%. Insufficient support, less than 10%, or even less than 50% if the candidate has been on the ballot for 15 years, results in exclusion the following year.
A group of active and retired professionals, journalists and wrestling historians decide every year on each candidate based on four main criteria: their historical importance in the industry, their power of attraction, their skills in the ring and its longevity. A candidate in the other professionals category will be judged overall on their degree of excellence in their specialty.
Launched into the industry by his uncle Eddy Auger in 1951, Johnny Rougeau would be elevated to the rank of rising star in Montreal two years later. The legendary Yvon Robert, at the end of his career, has decided that the young Rougeau will be his successor. He was probably far from imagining that he was then opening the door to one of the biggest families in wrestling.
There will be Johnny’s brother, Jacques, and four of the latter’s children: the wrestlers Raymond, Jacques fils and Armand, as well as the promoter Joanne. Jacques fils’ three children, Jean-Jacques, Cédric and Émile, also dipped their little toes in the industry well after the death of their great-uncle, who died of cancer on May 25, 1983.
Raymond Rougeau, current mayor of Rawdonhelped make his family name known on a global scale with his brother Jacques when the WWEthen called World Wrestling Federation or WWF, has exploded its offer of shows all over the world. The work his uncle accomplished at a time when news traveled much slower than today makes him particularly proud.
My uncle, when he went to France at the end of the 1950s, not many people knew that, says Rougeau. When he returned to Quebec, yes, he publicized it, he let it be known that he had gone to Europe. Otherwise, no one would have known that he had the success he had in France. It was thanks to his media contacts, at that time, that there was coverage in the media in Quebec, which ensured that people knew that he had gone to France. Today, you’re going to France and it’s all over social media across the planet before you even land.
In the summer of 1958, Johnny Rougeau (first row, right) traveled across Quebec with Maurice Richard (second row, third from left), who played wrestling referees, Yvon Robert (to Richard’s right) and Édouard Carpentier (first row, left), in particular. We see them here during a stop in Amos.
Photo: Amos Historical Society
In the same vein, Laprade is delighted to have discovered, while going through old newspapers in recent years, proof of Johnny Rougeau’s power of attraction outside Montreal, at a time when the wrestling scene was fragmented.
It was in Detroit that uncle Eddy Auger fought in the early 1950s. It was there that his nephew Johnny took his first steps in the ring. Its qualities quickly convinced promoters from other territories. Laprade cites the examples of Minneapolis, Tampa, Boston, Miami and Baltimore, where Rougeau has enjoyed great success.
Every time he arrived in a town, he quickly became a babyface [un favori de la foule, dans le jargon de la lutte] that we mentioned in the newspapers, explains Laprade. There weren’t necessarily detailed results of all the matches, but as long as the newspaper bothers to mention something about one or two wrestlers, it speaks to me.
If we took the trouble to mention that Johnny Rougeau had become one of the most popular wrestlers in the territory, either it was the initiative of the journalist, or it was the promoter who arranged for it to be written like that. And that means that with Johnny, things worked well.
Once his fame as a wrestler was established, Johnny Rougeau thought of other projects. He owned the Mocambo club, where the big North American stars of the time took the stage, from 1961 to 1965, his first year as promoter. Close to René Lévesque, he notably worked as a bodyguard for the future prime minister in the 1960s. The Jean-Rougeau trophy, nowadays awarded to the best team of the season QMJHLreflects his work as coach, team owner and league president.
Jean Rougeau coached in the QMJHL for four seasons, like here with the National de Laval in 1978.
Photo : Radio-Canada / Archives
Everything he touched was a success because he was a dedicated man who gave 100%, who did his research – he was very intelligent -, who had a sense of marketing, maintains Raymond Rougeau . We talk about wrestling, promotion, politics… These are completely different spheres. I think that shows his intelligence. He could adapt to environments that were not his own, that were not familiar to him. He was going to learn, understand and, sometimes, he was going to make these areas evolve.
In the Hall of FameObserverwhich has more than 250 members, Johnny Rougeau joins a handful of Quebecers, including names he has worked with like Yvon Robert, Maurice Mad Dog
Vachon and Hans Schmidt (Guy Larose). That a local wrestler, who has been deceased for around forty years, is entering a hall of fame based in the United States fills Raymond Rougeau with pride.
The Quebec wrestling scene is doing quite well. Local organizations regularly sell out, and Raymond Rougeau points out that he himself was a judge and commentator for his brother Jacques’ Lutte Académie competition. The fact remains that for ordinary mortals, the major leagues are American: the WWEwhere the two biggest current Quebec stars, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn, fight, and to a lesser extent the All Elite Wrestling et TNA Wrestling of this world.
Johnny Rougeau’s entry into the pantheon of Wrestling Observer raises the question: is the heritage of Quebec wrestling sufficiently valued in an industry dominated by American giants?
The more time advances, the smaller the world becomes, recalls Raymond Rougeau. Great moments are fleeting. With social media, we are so inundated with big news from all over the world. It happens every day. This is worrying, because there are big things being done on smaller scales that won’t make the headlines on social media. But they are just as important! And in Quebec, we have athletes, people who are part of a community, a culture. But in the global context, Quebec and Canada, we are not much.
I hope that there will be a successor, another Quebecer, or a Quebecer, who can spread Quebec heritage throughout the world.
Patric Laprade is a little torn. Yes, initiatives have been set up to publicize the history of wrestling in Quebec. Documentarians have tackled the subject. The Museum of Civilization is also presenting an exhibition on the struggle until April 2025.
But the Quebec historian believes that we could analyze the fight differently. According to him, the collective discourse on the subject should give more space to statistics.
There is no question here of the number of victories, of course, because, yes, for the millionth time, the outcome of the fights is determined in advance. But when we point out, for example, that Johnny Rougeau attracted a crowd of 20,890 spectators in 1968 and another of 17,000 in 1969, and that no one did better than him in North America in those years, Laprade judges that we focus on the most evocative aspect of the struggle. It is his ability to captivate an audience, to convince them to buy a ticket for the following week’s athletic demonstration, an undeniable reality in the Quebec of half a century ago.
Jean Rougeau in an interview with Radio-Canada in 1982
Photo : Radio-Canada / Archives
Where to one star system our own, completely different from what we see for another province or an American state, maintains Laprade. It’s special, the link between Quebecers and their stars. Having two wrestling shows, in the 1970s, that each made a million in ratings… There is no other territory in North America where that happened.
Look at the WWF: when Vince McMahon wanted to invade the territory, the first answer we gave him was that we were very satisfied with the promotion we had here with Gino Brito and Frank Valois. If you want the Forum, you will have to live with them. The six joint shows that there’s been here, this is the only territory that Vince has conquered where he’s been forced to do this before.
Johnny Rougeau came close to the annual attendance record in North America a third time, in 1972, when 26,137 spectators saw him fight at Jarry Park in Montreal. In total, Patric Laprade has compiled a list of more than 20 gala finals featuring Johnny Rougeau in Quebec with an attendance of more than 10,000 spectators.
For Raymond Rougeau, the reason for these successes is very simple: it was easy to become attached to Johnny, and he didn’t never played a game
.
It was he who instilled in me a little how to behave in public, how to have an image. My uncle was very attached to his image, and I don’t mean that in a negative way, he emphasizes. For him, it was very important, the public image. You have a public image, you influence people. People use you as an example. For him, it was important not to disappoint people and disappoint the image that people had of him. He was noble, dignified, proud.
