Jacques Rougeau

Jacques Rougeau
Jacques Rougeau Jr. in 1983
Birth name	Jacques Rougeau Jr.[1]
Born	(1960-06-13) June 13, 1960 (age 64)[1] Saint-Sulpice, Quebec, Canada[1]
Spouse	Nathalie Thibodeau ​ (m. 1978)​
Children	3
Family	Rougeau
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	Jacques Rougeau[1] Jacques Rougeau Jr. Jerry Roberts[1] The Mountie[1] Quebecer Jacques
Billed height	6 ft 1 in (185 cm)[2]
Billed weight	257 lb (117 kg)[2]
Billed from	Montreal, Quebec Canada (as The Mountie)
Trained by	Jacques Rougeau Sr.
Debut	October 14, 1977[1]
Retired	August 18, 2018

Jacques Rougeau Jr. (born June 13, 1960)

At least three of Jacques' family members were wrestling promoters and/or wrestled themselves: his older brother Ray, his father Jacques Sr., and his uncle Jean "Johnny" Rougeau. Jacques' sister Johanne also promoted wrestling matches in Montreal, and brother Armand wrestled for smaller federations.

Jacques Rougeau began his career in 1977, working in

Jacques debuted in the

Although they lost their match at WrestleMania III in 1987 to Valentine and Beefcake,[11] they briefly upset The Hart Foundation for the WWF Tag Team Championship at the Montreal Forum on August 10 that year.^[12] The decision was reversed to a disqualification and the championship returned, since the challengers initially won after using Jimmy Hart's megaphone as a weapon.^[1]

After two years in the Federation, The Fabulous Rougeaus turned

Ray Rougeau retired in early 1990,[15] ending his tag-team partnership with Jacques. Jacques departed the Federation for a year before redebuting in January 1991, once again alongside Jimmy Hart. The Mountie character was that of a corrupt, cattle prod-wielding member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, who often boasted that he "always gets his man" (a phrase long associated with the RCMP, which insinuated that criminals cannot escape from Canada's federal police force).^[16][17] The cattle prod came into play as part of The Mountie's post-match gimmick, where he would handcuff, berate and then "shock" his defeated and helpless opponents in the stomach.^[18] The story of the character change was that Jacques Rougeau had actually gone through the training to become a Mountie to wield authority. The character was eventually the subject of litigation in Canada, preventing Rougeau from performing as The Mountie in his home country.^[19] Thus, while wrestling in Canada, he was billed using only his real name and did not wear his Mountie-inspired hat and jacket to the ring,^[20] although he did retain other parts of his costume such as red shirt, black pants, and boots.^[1]

The Mountie made his in-ring debut in January 1991. In his pay-per-view debut, he defeated Koko B. Ware at the 1991 Royal Rumble.^[21] He gained another major victory at WrestleMania VII, defeating Tito Santana after using the shock stick.^[22] The Mountie began a feud with the Big Boss Man after declaring that he was the sole legitimate law enforcer in the WWF, and on August 26, 1991, he spent a night in prison (kayfabe) after Bossman defeated him in a Jailhouse Match at SummerSlam.^[23] At the 1991 Survivor Series, Mountie teamed with Ric Flair, Ted DiBiase and The Warlord to defeat Roddy Piper, Bret Hart, Virgil and Davey Boy Smith in a four-on-four Survivor Series elimination match.^[24]

The Mountie's greatest achievement as a singles wrestler came when he won the

For the next several months, The Mountie primarily appeared in the undercard. He was on the losing end of an eight-man tag team match at WrestleMania VIII^[28] and a six-man tag team match at SummerSlam.^[29] He feuded with Sgt. Slaughter after shocking him with an extra large cattle prod on an episode of Superstars, though the subsequent matches all took place on house shows that summer, with no conclusion on television.^[30] After losing to then WWF World Heavyweight Champion Bret Hart in seventy-five seconds on October 26, 1992, Rougeau left the WWF.^[30]

Jacques returned to the WWF in July 1993. Shortly thereafter, Rougeau began tagging with

The Quebecers broke up at a house show in the Montreal Forum on June 25, 1994. After a loss to The Headshrinkers, Pierre and Polo turned on Rougeau.[37] After a few minutes of Jacques being attacked in front of his hometown crowd, Raymond Rougeau (who by this point was an announcer for the WWF's French-language broadcasts) ran to the ring to save his brother. This angle led to Jacques Rougeau's first retirement match, which, over the next few months, was heavily promoted on WWF TV shows broadcast in the Montreal area and in the local media. The match, held on October 21, 1994,^[38] drew a sell-out crowd of 16,843 to the Montreal Forum, and resulted in a victory for Jacques, when he pinned Pierre following a seated tombstone piledriver. Jacques, who was accompanied by Raymond, used Queen's song "We Are the Champions" as his theme music for the night.^[37]

On September 9, 1996, Rougeau came out of retirement reuniting with Ouellet as they debuted as The Amazing French Canadians in

Rougeau and Ouellet briefly reunited in WCW in 2000 in Lance Storm's Team Canada.^[46] After WCW, Rougeau and Ouellet went their separate ways.

Rougeau continued working in his promotion until wrestling his last match on December 27, 2011 with his son Jean-Jacques as they defeated Kurrgan and Frank The Machine in Repentigny, Quebec. After his last match, Rougeau decided to close down Lutte International 2000.

After retiring, Rougeau attempted to join the

In 2018, Rougeau announced that he would retire for a third time,[48] and that he had closed his wrestling school. On August 18, 2018, shortly after his retirement announcement, Rougeau mirrored his father's retirement matching by teaming with his sons for the first and only time.^[48] As Rougeau's sons, all of whom have wrestled,^[3] have expressed no desire to return to wrestling,^{[citation needed]} Jacques' retirement effectively ended the Rougeau family wrestling dynasty after more than six decades.

Rougeau is divorced from Nathalie Thibodeau, whom he married in 1978.^[49] He and Thibodeau had three sons:^[47] Cedric, Emile, and Jean-Jacques.^[48] Former NHL ice hockey defenceman Denis Gauthier is Rougeau's nephew.^[50]

• Central States Wrestling
  • NWA Central States Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Bruce Reed
• Continental Wrestling Association
  • AWA Southern Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
  • NWA Mid-America Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
• Southeastern Championship Wrestling
  • 1 time
    )
  • NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Championship (Northern Division) (1 time)
• Lutte Internationale
  • Canadian International Tag Team Championship (4 times) – with Raymond Rougeau
• Lutte Internationale 2000
  • Johnny Rougeau Tag Team Championship (1 Time) – with Raymond Rougeau^[51]
• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • PWI ranked him #41 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the year in the PWI 500 in 1992^[52]
  • PWI ranked him # 222 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the
    PWI Years
    in 2003.
  • PWI ranked him # 83 of the 100 best tag teams of the PWI Years with
    Pierre Ouellet
    in 2003.
• World Wrestling Federation
  • WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship (1 time)^[53]
  • WWF Tag Team Championship (3 times) – with Pierre Ouellet

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jacques Rougeau.

• Official website
• Jacques Rougeau's profile at Cagematch.net , Internet Wrestling Database
• SLAM! Wrestling profile of the Rougeau Family