Before I continue with more memorabilia, I’d like to pause and talk about one of my favorite female pro wrestlers of the 70s. My dad was a huge pro wrestling fan and in my early years, he would bring me to local pro wrestling events (wrestling was as popular in Canada as in the US in the 60s and early 70s, especially in Quebec). I always enjoyed it and kept following it for decades. I still have some ads promoting the matches and handouts that they gave out at the venues. There weren’t many women’s wrestling matches, but I did see some. Being from the province of Quebec, we had one wrestler in particular who was very popular in the 70s. Those of you who followed pro wrestling in the 70s have certainly heard of her. She even starred in a docu-movie titled “Wrestling Queen”. Her name was Viviane Vachon. She was the sister of Mag Dog Vachon, a tough, mean heel and she had quite a following in Quebec. She was not a hot diva like you see in today’s WWE, but she was charismatic, and I found her very sexy. Like her brother, Viviane was also a heel – she was mean and tough. The reason I mention her is that I found some newspaper clippings that I had kept from the early 70s some that showed her modelling some swim wear, one that talked about her singing debut, and one in particular that I'd like to share with you.
Other than being a huge fan of hers in the 70s, I’d like to point out the newspaper clipping below that I kept, dated July 3, 1972 (third attachment). For you non-francophones, any guess on what she was protesting? I’ll tell you by translating what the sign she’s holding up says: “Women also fight for a living”. Um, ‘scuse me? Hello? Look at the sign guys, not her sexy legs… Now where was I? Oh yeah, now I remember; I will translate the caption that you see below the picture just to put this in perspective:
“Viviane Vachon, professional wrestler and sister of the Vachon brothers who are also wrestlers protested yesterday (July 2, 1972) in front of Montreal’s City Hall. She was protesting against a municipal law that prohibits women from performing wrestling shows in public. Her placard indicates that women also fight for a living."
Well, you gotta give her props for standing up for women’s rights to wrestle in public events… She was certainly an advocate who made a difference in the advancement of female pro wrestling, in Canada anyway... It’s so sad that she died in 1991 in a car accident at the young age of 40 along with her 9-year old daughter when a drunk driver who ran a stop sign hit her car near Montreal.
I'm am amazed at how much stuff I kept. Talk about a pack rat. You should see my Raquel Welch scrap book and posters (remember her fight in "One Million Years, B.C." and her roller derby character in "Kansas City Bomber" - she also has a fight with a rival teammate in that movie. I even bought the DVD a couple of years ago.)
Wrstlvr
