Mad Dog Wrestling honours Quebec WWE legend, raises funds for sick children
His name is legendary in professional wrestling rings across the globe.
World Wrestling Entertainment Hall-of-Famer Maurice "Mad Dog" Vachon is the inspiration for a local wrestling production company that will host events to raise money and create memories for sick children.
Mad Dog Pro Wrestling will host its first gala at John Abbott College on Montreal's West Island Saturday night.
"Mad Dog Pro Wrestling is a way to honour his legacy and to promote wrestling shows, old-school wrestling shows," said founder Andy Ellison.
"I think this a good way to do that and honour someone who really gave his whole life to pro wrestling."
Mad Dog is part of the legendary Quebec Vachon family of wrestlers that includes Paul "Butcher" Vachon, Vivian Vachon, and Luna Vachon.
Maurice's son, Mike Vachon, was the last of the family to enter the ring, and he now lives in Windsor, Ont.
"People might not know this, but my father had over 50 championships that he made, one throughout the United States, Canada, and Australia and a couple of other countries," he told CTV News. "He was quite the athlete. I remember, as a kid, I used to follow him. He used to run almost every day. You know, he ran, like, five miles every day, and he was in such great shape."
Mad Dog last stepped into the ring in Montreal in 1986. He died in 2013.
The company that bears his name will present wrestling events once a month for the next year at John Abbott and raise money for the Starlight Foundation, which supports children with serious illnesses.
Starlight families are given free tickets to the show.
"Starlight families, they're really stuck focusing on the illness," said Starlight Canada's special events manager, Jessie Neiman. "They spend a lot of their time in hospital or or treatments and and they don't get the time to plan activities. So Starlight's really there for them to to help, let them forget for a little what they're going through in their their struggles, and to let them create lasting memories as a family."
Ellison has vivid memories of the first wrestling show he went to as a nine-year-old boy.
"It was at the old CFCF studios on Ogilvy Avenue, 405 Ogilvy Ave., and I remember that day waiting in line for what seemed like hours," said Ellison. "The doors finally opened to the studio and there was this ring and the lights. It wasn't a huge venue, but for a nine-year-old boy it seemed enormous."
Ellison went on to wrestle some of the ones he saw as a boy and wants to pay forward the memories to the next generation.
"Those memories that I had, I want to pass those on," he said. "I know how important they are because it's not really about wrestling in a sense because even though the marquee says wrestling, it's about more than that."
The memories will honour a Quebec family's legacy in the ring.
"To be thought of even 40 years after his last wrestling choke, you know, it says a lot," said Mike Vachon. "It shows that people are still intrigued by that, that name, that man, that legend, if you want to call it."
More information on the shows is available at maddogprowrestling.com.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'It’s a dream come true’: Holt, Liberal cabinet sworn-in to office
Susan Holt, the province’s first female premier, and 18 cabinet ministers took the oath of office in the chamber of the legislative assembly.
Vancouver quietly proclaimed Chip Wilson Day as billionaire installed sign calling B.C. NDP 'communist'
On the same day Chip Wilson erected a controversial sign at his Vancouver mansion, the city was quietly honouring the billionaire and his wife.
Florida's convicted killer clown released from prison for the murder of her husband's then-wife
A woman who pleaded guilty to dressing as a clown and in 1990 murdering the wife of a man she later married was released from prison on Saturday.
Harris and Trump are zeroing in on Sun Belt states as they embark on a final weekend push for votes
Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump embarked on one last weekend quest to sway every undecided voter in the battleground states.
The impact of Trump's lies in Springfield, Ohio
Springfield, Ohio was once a manufacturing hub. Now, people know it for Trump's comments at September's presidential debate, when he famously - and falsely - told an audience of 67 million people that Haitians eat their pets, echoing claims that had circulated on social media.
Danielle Smith facing leadership review Saturday to close out UCP convention
Some 6,000 United Conservative Party members are in Red Deer for the party's annual convention and will cast their votes today on what they think of Premier Danielle Smith's leadership so far.
Here's what you can buy for $729,000 in 8 Ottawa neighbourhoods
CTVNewsOttawa.ca looks at what you can buy for the average Ottawa home price of $729,000 in eight Ottawa neighbourhoods.
India trashes Canada for linking home minister to Sikh activist plot
India officially protested on Saturday the Canadian government's allegation that the country's powerful home minister Amit Shah had ordered the targeting of Sikh activists inside Canada, calling it 'absurd and baseless.'
Local sheriff asks FBI to investigate death of Black man found hanging in Alabama
The FBI is investigating the death of a Black man in Alabama, who was found hanging in an abandoned house, following a request from a local sheriff amid fears among community members who accuse local law enforcement of longstanding, unchecked misconduct.