Jacques Rougeau: Bret Hart A "headache" Backstage, Hulk Hogan Jobbed Clean & More

JACQUES ROUGEAU TALKS ABOUT WHY BRET HART WAS A "HEADACHE" BACKSTAGE, WHY HULK HOGAN PUT HIM OVER CLEAN IN CANADA AND MORE

This week’s edition of JG’s Radio Free Insanity is on the air and available for download right now at WorldWrestlingInsanity.com. This week’s guest is former WWF Tag Team and Intercontinental Champion “The Mountie” Jacques Rougeau.

James Guttman begins the show by talking about the recent string of guests involved in wrestling training. JG says that many of them have insight into the business that we might not think about. They know how to make a match from the ground up and can sell in-ring action without pyro or skits.

James then switches subjects to the Voodoo Kin Mafia and their recent “invasion” of a WWE house show. Guttman talks about their gimmick and how it’s going to be a problem for TNA in the long term since they can’t feud with anyone from WWE. JG compares it to wrestlers who “feud” with the company they work for. He says that even though those gimmicks never work, they’re still better than what the VKM is doing. At least in those cases, the promotion can send out wrestlers to defend them against the anarchists. However, TNA isn’t about to unveil a pro-WWE gimmick to fight Road Dog and Billy Gunn, so there’s no natural enemies for them to wrestle. If TNA did create a pro-WWE gimmick, it would be a huge mistake too because it would be a way of getting over the competition. Basically, according to James, TNA has started a gimmick that’s fun for now but will eventually fizzle out big time.

After that, Guttman does the weekly reader-voted Moment of Insanity and then sends us over to part two for the interview with Jacques Rougeau.

Part Two of Radio Free Insanity begins the unmistakable theme song of The Mountie. James mentions that the full, uncut interview with Jacques lasted for an hour and is available right now on ClubWWI.com. JG says that besides what you’ll hear on the show today, The Mountie also talks about turning Sid Justice baby face, the jailhouse match against the Big Bossman, wrestling the first match on the first Summerslam, finding out he would have a one day Intercontinental Title reign, and much more. With that, Guttman cues up the interview.

JG welcomes Jacques Rougeau to the show and asks him to fill fans in on what he’s been up to. Jacques says that he’s not the Mountie anymore, but he’s been doing good things in wrestling. He’s promoting his own company and changing the image of wrestling in Quebec. The shows are geared towards children and families. It’s unlike any wrestling out there right now. He promotes for four year olds and older. Comparing it to Walt Disney, Rougeau says there’s no punches, kicks, swearing, or naked girls. He even says that the arenas are beer-free. His company has also done a lot of charity work with youth hockey and breast cancer. If you go to JacquesRougeau.com, you can see all the events he has coming up. He’s presently working hard on his Christmas shows and does conferences at schools. Jacques says that they always give a dollar a ticket to a charity organization. He has a number of shows already booked for 2007 and he’s already sold 1700 tickets for his 12/30 show.

Jacques says that the media blitz begins today. He’ll be on the biggest radio station in Montreal with a give-away for an SUV. The Montreal newspaper gave him free publicity because of his work with breast cancer. Because of all this exposure, Rougeau expects to sell out Montreal.

Jacques tells James that he’s celebrating his 30th year in the business. He’s now wrestling with his 17 year old son, J.J. Rougeau. A few weeks ago, he had a press conference and couldn’t believe that 30 years went by. He says that you take your career one thing at a time. Before you know it, 30 years have gone by and you have two wrestling dolls and a video game appearance. Jacques is excited about his upcoming Mountie figure from Jakks Pacific. He can’t believe that he has two dolls selling Toys R Us. Leaving the WWF was tough for him, but he didn’t turn to drugs or drinking. He has kept his faith and worked hard. Now he does charity work in Montreal and credits the people who supported him for giving meaning to his life. He’s done nothing else in his life besides wrestling.

Guttman references the positive nature of Jacques’ company and the subtly of his characters. James brings up his favorite wrestling theme song of all time “All American Boys.” Rougeau says that it was all Jimmy Hart and doesn’t want JG to credit him for it. He says that Hart was a great individual that wrote so many songs for the boys. James mentions that Jimmy was on the show a few months ago and was amazed by how smart he was to both the wrestling business and the music business. Jacques credits Hart as the guy who got him close to Hulk Hogan.

Jacques then talks about the famous night in Montreal when Hulk Hogan put him over clean. It was in the Molson Center. People ask Rougeau why it happened all the time. Jacques credits his whole family for it. This particular show was one that The Mountie booked himself and spent his own money on. Hogan turned to him in the dressing room beforehand and asked him what the plan was for their match. Jacques laughed, figuring Hulk would win. But Hogan said, “Tonight’s gonna be your night.” Hulk explained that it was a thank you. He said that there were so many shows that he main evented where Jacques would open the card with the first match. Hogan says that thanks to Rougeau’s performances, the fans were so jacked by the time the main event came around so he got great reactions. His job at the Molson Center was payback for that and a thank you for all those nights that Jacques got the crowd going for him. Rougeau says that Hogan was a complete person and always a class act.

Guttman tells Jacques that before he started doing the Radio Free Insanity, he used to hear tons of bad stories about Hulk Hogan. Then, once the show began and he interviewed people who knew Hulk, he heard only good things. He asks Rougeau if this was due to…and then Jacques jumped in with the word “jealousy.” He says that people were jealous all the time and the names would surprise you. He mentions that people would complain about him, Rick Martel, Dino Bravo, and Raymond speaking French in the locker room. Meanwhile, Tito Santana and Pedro Morales would speak Spanish but no one said a word.

James asks about Bret Hart. He brings up the Mountie’s three second loss the Bret a few years ago. Jacques stops him there and says that he doesn’t remember that and calls Bret a “headache.” He wouldn’t mind taking credit for that, but can’t remember it. Although he liked Bret, he thinks he was a “real headache in the business.” He references the Montreal incident with Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels and says:

“That’s something I always felt sorry for Bret because he never understood. Bret Hart became Bret Hart because of the Fabulous Rougeau Brothers that put him over with Jim The Anvil Neidhart every night and the other teams that put him over to create him. He wasn’t a true champion because he was a great wrestler or winner. He was a true champion because all the other boys helped him get his status. I think that’s one thing in life that he never understood. Maybe that’s why Hulk never wanted to work with him and put him over.”

Jacques then goes into the story of the night that Bret lost the Intercontinental Title to him, but had to have it be because he was “sick” at the time. He says that Hart made Vince announce it. So it took away all the credibility from Rougeau. Bret never understood that. If the three second match happened, then fine. However Jacques doesn’t remember it because he never took things too seriously.

Source: PWInsider