Monday, February 5, 2007

WCW: Carl Ouellet

Carl Joseph Yvon Ouellet (born December 30, 1967 in Sainte-Catherine, Quebec) is a Canadian professional wrestler. He has worked for the World Wrestling Federation, World Championship Wrestling, Extreme Championship Wrestling and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, four of the largest promotions in the United States.



Carl Ouellet debuted in 1987. He worked on the independent circuit , at one point forming a tag team with "Evil" Eddie Watts known as the Super Bees, until 1993, when he met Jacques Rougeau in Puerto Rico. Jacques brought Ouellet to the World Wrestling Federation to replace his brother Ray Rougeau (who had retired) as his tag team partner.

In the WWF, Ouellet was renamed Pierre Carl Ouellette. He and Jacques formed a tag team known as The Quebecers, and dressed like Mounties, a reference to Jacques's previous gimmick, The Mountie, which the Royal Canadian Mounted Police had banned him from using in Canada, fearing that the heelish character of The Mountie would lead to children mistrusting legitimate law enforcers. The Quebecers sang their own entrance theme, in which they announced that, contrary to appearances, "We're not the Mounties". Later in the year they were joined by their manager, Johnny Polo.

The Quebecers held the WWF World Tag Team Championship on three occasions. On September 13, 1993 they defeated Scott and Rick Steiner for the tag titles when the Steiners were disqualified in a match conducted under "Province of Quebec Rules" (titles change hands on a disqualification): Johnny Polo threw a hockey stick into the ring which was intercepted by Scott Steiner. When the referee saw Scott brandishing the foreign object, the Steiners were disqualified and the Quebecers won the titles. They were defeated by The 1-2-3 Kid and Marty Jannetty on January 10, 1994, but regained the titles a week later. The Quebecers reigned as champions until March 29, when they lost the titles to Men on a Mission during a post-Wrestlemania Tour in England. The Quebecers defeated Men on a Mission in a rematch two days later before losing the belts a third and final time to The Headshrinkers on April 26 Monday Night Raw.

This Quebecers eventually disbanded, and in 1995 Ouellet was repackaged as Jean-Pierre Lafitte, the descendant of a pirate from New Orleans, Louisiana. He engaged in a three month long feud with Bret Hart, and would steal the mirrored sunglasses that Hart handed to fans at ringside. After Ouellet purloined Hart's trademark leather jacket, the enemies faced one another at In Your House 3 on September 24, 1995, where Hart forced Ouellet to submit by using the Sharpshooter. In a House Show in Montreal, Lafitte was in a World Championship Match against Diesel. He was going to win the match because he was from Montreal, but Ouellet not only wanted to win the match but the belt too. Because the management didn't want him to win the belt, he became very angry and he was fired soon after.

In 1996 the Quebecers reunited in World Championship Wrestling, renamed The Amazing French Canadians, but failed to duplicate the success they had found in the WWF. They had the distinction of losing to Arn Anderson and Steve "Mongo" McMichael in Anderson's last match.

The Amazing French Canadians were managed by Col. Robert Parker (who began dressing in a French Foreign Legion uniform), and they began feuding with Harlem Heat as a result of tension between Parker and Harlem Heat's manager, Sister Sherri. After Harlem Heat defeated the Amazing French Canadians at World War III on November 24, 1996, Sherri won the right to fight Parker for three minutes. Parker was beaten down by Sherri, but the rivals later reconciled and fell in love with one another.

Along with Jacques, Ouellet was rehired by the WWF in 1998, but was rarely utilised. Ouellet competed in the Brawl For All tournament, but lost in the first round to "Dr. Death" Steve Williams. The Quebecers took part in the tag team battle royal at WrestleMania XIV, but were disbanded once more soon afterwards. Along with other WWF employees such as Mike Barton and Vader, he worked for All Japan Pro Wrestling as part of a talent loan, and spent time in the WWF's Memphis based developmental territory, Power Pro Wrestling, where he was known as Kris Kannonball. He left the WWF once more when his contract expired in January 2000, unhappy with the way he was being used.

Ouellet began working for Extreme Championship Wrestling in mid-2000, squashing jobbers for several weeks before losing to Justin Credible in a match for Credible's ECW World Heavyweight Championship.

Ouellet and Jacques had a second run in WCW in August 2000, briefly joining Team Canada at the New Blood Rising pay-per-view. Jacques left immediately afterwards, but Ouellet worked two more dates in Canada, and was awarded the WCW Hardcore Championship by Lance Storm on August 14 as Storm held three different titles at the same time. He lost the title that same night to Norman Smiley. Due to working visa issues, Ouellet could not work in the US, and had to be released back to Canada soon after.

Between 2000 and 2003, Ouellet appeared with Jacques' Lutte International 2000 promotion. He headlined an event in the Verdun Auditorium in Montreal on December 29, 2000, facing King Kong Bundy in front of an audience of 4,000. In the summer of 2003 Ouellet decided to begin wrestling outwith the Quebec area once more.

In November 2003, Ouellet debuted in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling as The Masked X, a masked wrestler who competed primarily in the X Division. He left after two months. In February 2005 Ouellet began hosting the French version of TNA iMPACT! from the RDS studios with Marc Blondin, replacing Michel Letourneur. He even had a war of the words against comedian Jean-René Dufort (of Infoman fame), to which Dufort responded by adopting the wrestling gimmick "La Punaise Masquée" (The Masked Cockroach) and "challenging" Ouellet to a match. However, Dufort backed out before the match could take place. His famous catchphrase P.C.O Stylylylylyle appeard on the show for the first time in 2006.

As of December 2005, Ouellet continues to wrestle in Canada, primarily for the Montreal-based International Wrestling Syndicate and the Hull-based CPW International promotion, as Pierre Carl Ouellet.

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