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.
Early career (1977–1985) Jacques Rougeau began his career in 1977, working in
Stu Hart's
Calgary,
Alberta based
Stampede Wrestling promotion. In the 1980s he began wrestling in the United States, achieving success in
Alabama and
Tennessee, and in 1985 he and Ray were signed by the
World Wrestling Federation. Raymond, who was victorious in his debut match against
Moondog Spot the same night, debuted alongside Jacques 6 days later, winning their debut match as the "Fabulous Rougeaus" against
the Moondogs.In their first year in the WWE, the Fabulous Rougeaus claimed tag-team victories against
The Hart Foundation (
Bret Hart and
Jim Neidhart),
The Moondogs, Jimmy Jack and
Dory Funk Jr., and
The Dream Team (
Greg Valentine and
Brutus Beefcake),. Although they lost their match at WrestleMania III in 1987 to Valentine and Beefcake, they briefly upset The Hart Foundation for the WWF Tag Team Championship at the
Montreal Forum on August 10 that year. 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. and debuted an intentionally annoying entrance song, in which they sang (partly in French) about being "All-American Boys" and their
manager,
Jimmy Hart. They were also briefly billed from
Memphis, Hart's home city. They mockingly waved tiny American flags to the chagrin of many American fans. They would humorously attempt to start "USA!" chants, which led to further negative fan "heat". According to Jacques, the widespread antipathy of American fans inspired
Vince McMahon to turn them into heels. They feuded with
The Killer Bees,
The Hart Foundation (who had turned face in between),
The Bushwhackers, and
The Rockers during their heel run.
The Mountie (1991–1992) Ray Rougeau retired in early 1990, 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). 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. The story of the character change was that Jacques Rougeau had actually gone through the training to become a Mountie to wield authority. In his pay-per-view debut, The Mountie defeated
Koko B. Ware at the
1991 Royal Rumble. He gained another major victory at
WrestleMania VII, defeating
Tito Santana after using the shock stick. 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. 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. The Mountie's greatest achievement as a singles wrestler came when he won the
WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship in an upset over
Bret Hart on January 17, 1992. The Mountie lost the title just two days later to
Rowdy Roddy Piper at the
1992 Royal Rumble, in what was one of the shortest Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship reigns. The Mountie received a rematch at the February 8 ''
Saturday Night's Main Event XXX, but when he attempted to use his shock stick, it had no effect as Piper was wearing a rubber vest under his T-shirt. Piper removed his shirt after the match to reveal the vest, which was labeled "Shock Proof". Piper won the match after using the shock stick on The Mountie. and a six-man tag team match at SummerSlam. 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.
The Quebecers (1993–1994) Jacques returned to the WWF in July 1993. Shortly thereafter, Rougeau began tagging with
Pierre Ouellet as
The Quebecers. The team, who feuded with
Steiner Brothers,
Men on a Mission,
The Headshrinkers, and
Marty Jannetty and
The 1–2–3 Kid, were three-time
WWF Tag Team Champions. The Quebecers characters were an extension of the earlier Mountie-theme, albeit with a more casual costume and an emphasis on bullying behavior. The pair (who were managed by
Johnny Polo) emphasized their detachment from the earlier Mountie controversy by using a doctored version of Jacques's second Mountie theme song, titled "We're Not The Mounties", with the lyrics modified to insult the RCMP - for example, "because the Mountie always gets his man" became "unlike the Mounties, we always get our man". Jacques participated in the main event of the
1993 Survivor Series as a member of the "Foreign Fanatics" team. At the
Royal Rumble, The Quebecers defeated Bret Hart and Owen Hart by referee stoppage to retain the WWF Tag Team Championship. At
WrestleMania X, The Quebecers faced
Men on a Mission for the WWF Tag Team Championship and retained after getting counted out. They lost the title to Men on a Mission at a house show on March 29, 1994, in London, England. The Quebecers won the belts back on March 31 at another house show. 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, 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. In 1997, Jacques became one of few wrestlers to cleanly defeat then-
WCW Heavyweight Champion Hollywood Hogan, claiming a singles victory at the
Molson Centre in
Montreal. On the
Right After Wrestling program on
Sirius Satellite Radio Channel 98, Jacques told hosts
Arda Ocal and
Jimmy Korderas that Hogan put him over because of his respect for the Rougeau family name and for keeping a clean wrestling image. On
Colt Cabana's
Art of Wrestling podcast, Rougeau's former student,
Kevin Owens stated that there is a rumor that Hogan lay down for Rougeau for an additional $10,000 payment. Rougeau said that he paid and organized the show, so it was a Jacques Rougeau show, not a WCW show.
Return to WWF (1998) In January 1998, Rougeau returned to the WWF for a final run teaming once again with Pierre Ouellet in an updated version of The Quebecers. This incarnation of the team still used the ring attire from their WCW run as the Amazing French Canadians. The team were also one of the 14 tag teams eliminated in the
tag team battle royal at
WrestleMania XIV, leading to a win for the
Legion of Doom. Rougeau teamed up with his brother, Ray (who at the time was a commentator, announcer and host for the French-produced WWF programming) alongside Ouellet in a dark match for
WWF Shotgun Saturday Night where they defeated the team of
Edge,
Shawn Stasiak, and
Tom Brandi. They failed to achieve the same success they enjoyed during their prior run, with their only notable feud being with
The Godwinns, where the Godwinns went over. Both Rougeau and Ouellet left the WWF in August 1998.
Later career and retirement (1998–2018) After WWF, Rougeau was the promoter for the Montreal-based Lutte International 2000 where he wrestled on occasion. Rougeau and Ouellet briefly reunited in WCW in 2000 in Lance Storm's
Team Canada. 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
Montreal Police Department, but was unable to do so as he had not graduated from
high school. He is now a public speaker, touring schools to speak on drugs, smoking, and bullying. 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. As Rougeau's sons, all of whom have wrestled, have expressed no desire to return to wrestling, Jacques' retirement effectively ended the Rougeau family wrestling dynasty after more than six decades. ==Personal life==