Corsica Joe
| Corsica Joe | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Birth name | Corsica Joe |
| Born |
January 17, 1920 Bonbillett, France |
| Died | March 14, 2010 (aged 90) Nashville, Tennessee, United States |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Corsica Joe Francois Miquet Billy Virag The Blitzer Mephisto #1 Mr. M |
| Billed height | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) |
| Billed weight | 260 lb (120 kg) |
| Billed from | Corsica |
| Debut | 1947 |
| Retired | 1973 |
Francois Miquet (January 17, 1920 – March 14, 2010) was a French-born professional wrestler who worked primarily in the United States of America under the ring name Corsica Joe. As Corsica Joe he teamed up with Jean Louis Roy, who was billed as "Corsica Jean" to form a very successful tag team known as "The Corsicans". The Corsicans held a number of tag team championships, especially in the southern National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) territories of NWA Mid-America, Gulf Coast Championship Wrestling, Championship Wrestling from Florida and Georgia Championship Wrestling. He was the brother of Felix Miquet who was also a wrestler, but worked primarily in the United Kingdom. He was married to female pro wrestler Sarah Lee, some times billed as "Sara Corsica".
Miquet moved to the United States at some point before 1947 and made his professional wrestling debut in 1947, using his real name as his ring name. In 1948 he defeated Bob Lortie to win the Canadian Junior Heavyweight Championship, a championship he was said to have held for two years. Miquet spent most of 1953 wrestling in Germany where he used the name Billy Virag, possibly to avoid confusion with his brother Felix Miquet that was known in the wrestling circuits throughout Europe. In 1954 he worked as the masked ring character "Mr. M" in Germany before returning to the United States in mid-1954, once again billed under his birth name. After competing in the north eastern United States and Canada for several years Miquet began wrestling in the south east around 1957. In Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling he became known as "Corsica Joe", billing his as hailing from the French island of Corsica. A few months later wrestling promoters Nick Gulas and Roy Welch in the NWA Mid-America promotion teamed Miquet up with French-Canadian Jean Louis Roy, billing him as "Corsica Jean" to form a tag team known as "The Corsicans". The team became the first holders of the Mid-America version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship and over the next two of years the Corsicans held the championship on no less than seven occasions as well as the NWA Southern Tag Team Championship on three separate occasions. The Corsicans faced off against virtually every tag team in the NWA Mid-America promotion at the time, including The Fabulous Fargos (Jackie Fargo and Don Fargo), Mike and Doc Gallagher, Yvon Robert and Billy Wicks, Don and Luke Fields and The Heavenly Bodies (Don and Al Greene).
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