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| RIP Mad Dog Photo Credit: WWE.com |
Maurice "Mad Dog" Vachon, the legendary Montreal and AWA grappler, passed away this morning at the age 84, as confirmed by his brother Paul. Although no cause of death has been announced yet, according to the SLAM! report, Vachon battled a myriad number of health issues stemming from a hit-and-run accident he suffered 16 years ago. Complications from the accident cost him his leg. He'd also been battling memory loss.
Vachon was an Olympic wrestler for Canada in the 1948 London Games, which is where he met Verne Gagne, for whom he would work later on in his career. Vachon was famous for his dirty tactics in the ring and purchasing television time to promote his appearances, which at the time was innovative. He wrestled for several territories, but none more famous than Gagne's American Wrestling Association, for whom he held the World Championship five times. Despite his dastardly tactics, Vachon was immensely popular anywhere he went.
Vachon spent his retirement from active wrestling as a food critic on Quebec City television. He made sporadic appearances for several promotions, both corporate and independent. His most infamous appearance came at In Your House: Good Friends, Better Enemies. During the main event for the WWF Championship, Diesel accosted Vachon, who was sitting front row, stole his prosthetic leg, and used it as a weapon against Shawn Michaels. Vachon would also make an appearance at Over the Edge in 1998 when he and his longtime rival The Crusher would beat up Jerry Lawler for saying disparaging things about them. Vachon was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2010.
I never had the privilege of watching Vachon wrestle when he was active, but he remains a fascinating figure in wrestling's history to me. He had the perfect look for any wrestling heel or tough guy, and a lot of his innovations molded wrestling into the artform that I love today. In my limited knowledge of pre-national wrestling outside of the WWF and NWA, Vachon felt to me like a true iconic figure, one that I feel the need to go back and research more completely.
Rest in peace, Mad Dog.