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
Canada's response to Trump deportation plan a key focus of revived cabinet committee
U.S. president-elect Donald Trump's promise to launch a mass deportation of millions of undocumented people has the Canadian government looking at its own border.
NEW Who should lead the Liberals? 'None of the above,' poll finds
As questions loom over Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s leadership, a new Nanos Research poll commissioned for CTV News says a quarter of Canadians say none of the potential candidates appeal to them.
New technology solves mystery of late First World War soldier's flower sent home to Canada
In 1916, Harold Wrong plucked a flower from the fields of Somme, France and tucked it into a letter he mailed home to Toronto. For decades, the type of flower sent remained a mystery.
U.S. election maps: How did 2024 compare to 2020 and 2016?
Though two states have yet to be officially called, the U.S. election map has mostly been settled. How does it compare with the previous two elections?
Canada rent report: What landlords are asking tenants to pay
Average asking rents declined nationally on a year-over-year basis for the first time in more than three years in October, said a report out Thursday.
N.S. school 'deeply sorry' for asking service members not to wear uniforms at Remembrance Day ceremony
An elementary school in the Halifax area has backed away from a request that service members not wear uniforms to the school's Remembrance Day ceremony.
Remembrance Day: What's open and closed in Canada?
While banks and post offices will be closed nationwide on Remembrance Day, shops and businesses could be open depending on where you live in Canada.
Judicial recount for Surrey-Guildford confirms B.C. NDP's majority
The B.C. New Democrats have a majority government of 47 seats after a judicial recount in the riding of Surrey-Guildford gave the party's candidate 22 more votes than the provincial Conservatives.
48,584 space heaters recalled in Canada after burn injury in U.S.
Health Canada has announced a recall for electric space heaters over potential fire and burn risks, a notice published Thursday reads.