Frenchy Martin | |
---|---|
Birth name | Jean Gagné |
Born |
Quebec City, Quebec, Canada |
May 25, 1950
Died | October 21, 2016 Quebec City, Quebec, Canada |
(aged 66)
Cause of death | Bladder and bone cancer |
Children | 2 |
Professional wrestling career | |
Ring name(s) | Don Gagné Frenchy Martin Pierre Martel Pierre Martin Pierre Vigneault Mad Dog Martin |
Billed height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) |
Billed weight | 245 lb (111 kg) |
Billed from | Quebec City, Quebec |
Debut | 1971 |
Retired | 1990 |
Jean Gagné (May 25,1950 – October 21, 2016) was a French Canadian professional wrestler and manager, best known under the ring name Frenchy Martin. During his World Wrestling Federation heyday in the 1980s as the manager of Canadian wrestler Dino Bravo, he was known for his trademark sign that read "USA is not OK". Gagné, however, began his career in Canada, primarily in Stampede Wrestling, and Puerto Rico's World Wrestling Council. In 1990, Gagné left the WWF and retired from professional wrestling.
Jean Gagné began his career in 1971 in Quebec and in Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling. In June 1977, Gagné, under the name Frenchy Martin, won the IW North American Heavyweight Championship in Trans-Canada Wrestling. In July, he lost the title to Leo Burke.
In Stampede Wrestling in February 1976, he held the Stampede Wrestling International Tag Team Championship under the name Don Gagné. In October 1977, Gagné, still wrestling under the name Don Gagné, won the Stampede North American Heavyweight Championship in a tournament final after the former champion Dan Kroffat retired and vacated the title. In January, however, he lost the title to old rival Leo Burke. Gagné defeated Burke for the Stampede Championship in November 1979 but lost it to Mr. Sekigawa in December.
Meanwhile, Jean Gagné also wrestled in Puerto Rico's World Wrestling Council under his own name, and in the first half of 1978, he and partner Huracán Castillo traded the WWC World Tag Team Championship with the tag team of Invader I and José Rivera, holding the title once. He also held the WWC Caribbean Heavyweight Championship and the WWC North American Tag Team Championship, the latter he held four times; one of the times was with Michel Martel as part of a tag team called The Mercenaries. While in Puerto Rico, he wrestled Ric Flair in a match to a 60-minute time limit draw. Gagné also wrestled under the name Mad Dog Martin in Australasia and the South Pacific during the mid to-late 1970s. On September 28, 1978, he won the NWA British Empire/Commonwealth Championship from Steve Rickard and defended the title for several months before dropping it to Leo Burke the following year.