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As we enter the 20th century, the fate of Québec pro wrestling is quite challenging. With a couple of Indy promotions like the NCW and the ICW in Montéal as well as new-born INTERNATIONAL WRESTLING 2000, seems that our pro wrestling is getting back on the track. But the American Menace stills looms as wrestling fans of today roots for the heroes of WWF or WCW they learned to watch when they grew up... With TV appealing and merchandising aplenty, how can we forget that the American product of pro wrestling has practically killed the show here. Well almosté-It took the brains of one Ludger Proulx, some kids from Joliette and a veteran wrestler screwed up by both major american promotions to revive the flame that was once held by Yvon Robert, Maurice Vachon, Johnny Rougeau, Eddie Creatchman, Dino Bravo, Rick Martel and others...

What the local scene needs, is more exposure from the media. Already, the LUTTE.COM site (and now QuébecLutte, since LUTTE.COM has closed its site...), does a good job of trying to promote the local promotions, sometimes by participating directly in them. But let's not forget that only TV is the sole great promotion organ that can make a pro wrestling promotion works.

Stampede Wrestling, the legendary promotion that was once purchased by the World Wrestling Federation, has just launched a TV weekly show.

Recently, Paul Leduc has talked about evolution in pro wrestling. Obliously, there is something evolving when we're talking about alternative ways to attract fans today: more stunts, more falls, more illegal tactics, more illicit weapons, more hardcore matches. Without forgetting that once pro wrestling was more scientific, this kind of combat would become today less than a bore. People want action, caracters that they would recognize in themselves and then excellent rivalries to keep the storyline moving.

Going into the twenty-first century, wrestling will come back to a way where it used to be before. The young athletes and the veterans would mingle in minor Indy promotions while the top brass would still hold on to the major national wrestling promotions. However, with the power of TV (public, commercial and private...) and the way communications are today, it would be doubtful that mega-leagues like WWF, WCW and the ECW would dissapear one of these days.

What about the fate of Québec in pro wrestling ? Right now, Jacques Rougeau is building slowly a major pro wrestling promotion in the province. The route will be long of course, due to the habits of the fans watching the WWF (and now WCW) for more than a decade, but he knows that talent roams into Québec and others are trying desperately to make it to the big leagues. With big league experience, Rougeau with its INTERNATIONAL WRESTLING 2000, will surely create something stable and worthy for the fans.. Another one, the NCW, now tours Québec with its brand of hardcore and spectacular bouts. And finally, the ICW, staying in Montéal, and having its legion of fans, offering an off-the-wall product similar to the American wrestling shows (and fans are near the action...).

And our wrestlers. For the moment, they're polishing their moves. However, one of them will come out of the pack and one day will become the stuff that legends are made off, like Yvon Robert, Johnny Rougeau, Maurice Vachon, Dino Bravo, Rick Martel, Jacques Rougeau Jr and others. And keep the flame burning so no other major federation would barge in and gobble all the glory that our local pro wrestling scene has accumulated in the past 70 years...

The Duke

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