Rudy Kay
Encyclopedia
Jean-Louis Cormier was a Canadian professional wrestler
best known by his ring name
Rudy Kay. Cormier competed primarily in Canada and often formed a tag team
with his brothers; together, they are known as the Cormier wrestling family
. He also worked behind the scenes, operating both the Eastern Sports Association
(ESA) and its television program, International Wrestling. Kay held seven championships while wrestling for the ESA: five tag team
titles while wrestling alongside his older brother Yvon; the short-lived Taped Fist Championship; as well as the promotion's most prestigious singles title, the North American Heavyweight Championship.
In 1969, Cormier and Al Zinck formed the Eastern Sports Association
(ESA), which promoted a television program named International Wrestling (IW). Several years later, Atlantic Grand Prix Wrestling
, operated by Emile Dupré
, took over the time slot from IW. In the ESA, the four Cormier brothers (Yvon; Leonce, who wrestled as Leo Burke
; Jean-Louis, who used the ring name Rudy Kay; and Romeo, who was inspired by Jean-Louis to create the moniker Bobby Kay
) often aligned with each other in feuds. The opponent would face one brother, and then move on to face the rest in succession. Jean-Louis also wrestled on occasional trips to Australia with his brother The Beast.
Cormier won his first title on July 29, 1969 when he teamed with The Beast to win the ESA International Tag Team Championship
. They defeated The Fabulous Kangaroos
(Al Costello
and Don Kent
) to win the title but soon dropped it to Jos
and Paul LeDuc
. They won the title back later that summer in a rematch and held it until the end of the 1969 ESA season. Two years later, they regained the championship with a victory over Eric Pomeroy and Fred Sweetan
. Their final reign together began on October 28, 1975 with a win over Bob Brown
and The Patriot. Once again, the brothers held the title until the end of the ESA wrestling season.
On November 18 that year, Rudy Kay also won the IW North American Heavyweight Championship
by defeating Bob Brown. He was stripped of the title, however, because the ESA operated only during the summer months and the season ended without notice. He was unable to fulfill his obligation to defend it within 30 days.The ESA, which promoted shows until 1976, operated during the summer because the venues were used for ice hockey during the other months. The following year, he won the vacant ESA Taped Fist Championship with a victory over Mad Dog Martel
. When the ESA closed in 1977, the title became part of Romeo Cormier (Bobby Kay)'s Trans-Canada Wrestling (TCW). TCW closed later the same year, and the Taped Fist Championship was retired. His final championship win came in September 1976; he teamed with The Beast again and defeated The Mercenaries (Mad Dog Martel and Frenchy Martin
) to win the ESA Maritimes Tag Team Championship. Later that month, Martel and Martin regained the title in a rematch. Cormier retired as a professional wrestler in 1982.
, which he held for five years. He also underwent knee surgery to fix problems resulting from his wrestling career. Cormier had a wife, Claudette, and four children: daughters Monique and Michelle, and sons Jamie and Jason. On May 25, 2008, Cormier died of septicemia
in Moncton, New Brunswick
.
Professional wrestling
Professional wrestling is a mode of spectacle, combining athletics and theatrical performance.Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling", Mythologies, 1957 It takes the form of events, held by touring companies, which mimic a title match combat sport...
best known by his ring name
Ring name
A ring name is a stage name used by a professional wrestler, martial artist, or boxer. While some ring names may have a fictitious first name and surname, others may simply be a nickname, such as The Undertaker.-Wrestling:...
Rudy Kay. Cormier competed primarily in Canada and often formed a tag team
Tag team
Tag team professional wrestling is a variation in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. A tag team may comprise two wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of established teams who wrestle regularly as a unit and have a team name...
with his brothers; together, they are known as the Cormier wrestling family
Cormier wrestling family
The Cormier wrestling family is a group of Canadian brothers who competed in professional wrestling. They were born in New Brunswick and wrestled primarily in Canada. They also competed in the United States and had stints in several other countries. On many occasions, the Cormiers wrestled together...
. He also worked behind the scenes, operating both the Eastern Sports Association
Eastern Sports Association
The Eastern Sports Association, often referred to in the business simply as "the Maritimes," was a Canadian professional wrestling promotion based in Halifax, Nova Scotia...
(ESA) and its television program, International Wrestling. Kay held seven championships while wrestling for the ESA: five tag team
Tag team
Tag team professional wrestling is a variation in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. A tag team may comprise two wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of established teams who wrestle regularly as a unit and have a team name...
titles while wrestling alongside his older brother Yvon; the short-lived Taped Fist Championship; as well as the promotion's most prestigious singles title, the North American Heavyweight Championship.
Career
Cormier competed in boxing as a teenager. He was then trained for a professional wrestling career by Yvon, who was known professionally as The Beast, and another wrestler named Dutchie the Spinner. During his early career, Cormier used the ring name Rudy LaBelle while touring Australia with The Beast. Back in North America, he was given the ring name Rudy Kay by a promoter who thought that Cormier looked almost identical to a retired wrestler who had used the name.In 1969, Cormier and Al Zinck formed the Eastern Sports Association
Eastern Sports Association
The Eastern Sports Association, often referred to in the business simply as "the Maritimes," was a Canadian professional wrestling promotion based in Halifax, Nova Scotia...
(ESA), which promoted a television program named International Wrestling (IW). Several years later, Atlantic Grand Prix Wrestling
Grand prix wrestling
Grand Prix Wrestling is a wrestling promotion run and owned by Emile Duprée. Grand Prix Wrestling has currently stopped touring due to heavy traveling costs...
, operated by Emile Dupré
Emile Duprée
Emile Duprée is a former professional wrestler and promoter. He is also the father of former WWE professional wrestler, René Duprée and currently lives in Pointe-du-Chene, New Brunswick.-Professional wrestling career:...
, took over the time slot from IW. In the ESA, the four Cormier brothers (Yvon; Leonce, who wrestled as Leo Burke
Leo Burke
Leonce Cormier is a retired Canadian professional wrestler. He was born in Dorchester, New Brunswick. He competed across Canada, in several American promotions, and wrestled internationally for both Puerto Rico's World Wrestling Council and the National Wrestling Alliance in New Zealand...
; Jean-Louis, who used the ring name Rudy Kay; and Romeo, who was inspired by Jean-Louis to create the moniker Bobby Kay
Bobby Kay
Romeo Cormier is a retired Canadian professional wrestler best known by the ring name Bobby Kay. He is a member of the Cormier wrestling family, a group of four brothers who were all successful professional wrestlers. Romeo Cormier competed in Canada and the United States from 1967 to the...
) often aligned with each other in feuds. The opponent would face one brother, and then move on to face the rest in succession. Jean-Louis also wrestled on occasional trips to Australia with his brother The Beast.
Cormier won his first title on July 29, 1969 when he teamed with The Beast to win the ESA International Tag Team Championship
ESA International Tag Team Championship
Eastern Sports Association's International Tag Team Title was represented by a Trophy, and was defended in the Maritimes from 1969-75.- International Tag Team Champions :...
. They defeated The Fabulous Kangaroos
The Fabulous Kangaroos
The Fabulous Kangaroos is a former professional wrestling tag team that existed in various forms from 1957 until 1983. The first incarnation of The Fabulous Kangaroos was formed when Italian Australian Al Costello teamed with Australia native Roy Heffernan and adopted an "Ultra Australian" gimmick...
(Al Costello
Al Costello
Giacomo Costa was an Italian Australian professional wrestler best known by his ring name, Al Costello. Costello was the first professional wrestler to be nicknamed "The Man of a Thousand Holds" because of his innovative and very technical style.Costello was the creator and original member of the...
and Don Kent
Don Kent (wrestler)
Leo Joseph "Joe" Smith Jr. was an American professional wrestler who wrestled as Don Kent and also as The Black Dragon, Doug Kent, Joe Smith and Super Medico III during his 20 years in professional wrestling.Don Kent is one half of The Fabulous Kangaroos alongside partners Al Costello, Bruno...
) to win the title but soon dropped it to Jos
Jos LeDuc
Michel Pigeon was a Canadian professional wrestler better known by his ring name, Jos LeDuc. Wrestling with a lumberjack gimmick, he debuted in Stampede Wrestling with his kayfabe brother, Paul LeDuc...
and Paul LeDuc
Paul LeDuc (wrestler)
Paul LeDuc is a former Canadian professional wrestler. He is best known for teaming with his kayfabe brother Jos LeDuc.-Career:LeDuc began wrestling professionally in 1957 at age 18. He began his training in Montreal, Quebec and later moved to Mexico for further instruction. He talked a friend,...
. They won the title back later that summer in a rematch and held it until the end of the 1969 ESA season. Two years later, they regained the championship with a victory over Eric Pomeroy and Fred Sweetan
Freddie Prosser
Freddie Prosser was a Canadian professional wrestler, known by his ring name Freddie Sweetan. He competed in certain North American regional promotions including the National Wrestling Alliance as well as Grand Prix Wrestling, Maple Leaf Wrestling and Stampede Wrestling during the 1960s and 1970s,...
. Their final reign together began on October 28, 1975 with a win over Bob Brown
Bob Brown (wrestler)
Robert Harold Brown was a Canadian professional wrestler, better known by his ring name "Bulldog" Bob Brown.- Early life :...
and The Patriot. Once again, the brothers held the title until the end of the ESA wrestling season.
On November 18 that year, Rudy Kay also won the IW North American Heavyweight Championship
IW North American Heavyweight Championship
This is a list of people who held the "North American Heavyweight Title" under the banner of International Wrestling from 1969 to 1984. The promotion was owned by the Eastern Sports Association from 1969 until 1976...
by defeating Bob Brown. He was stripped of the title, however, because the ESA operated only during the summer months and the season ended without notice. He was unable to fulfill his obligation to defend it within 30 days.The ESA, which promoted shows until 1976, operated during the summer because the venues were used for ice hockey during the other months. The following year, he won the vacant ESA Taped Fist Championship with a victory over Mad Dog Martel
Michel Vigneault
Michel Vigneault was a Canadian professional wrestler, known by his ring name Michel "Mad Dog" Martel, who competed in North American and international regional promotions including Atlantic Grand Prix Wrestling, Stampede Wrestling, International Wrestling Enterprise and the World Wrestling...
. When the ESA closed in 1977, the title became part of Romeo Cormier (Bobby Kay)'s Trans-Canada Wrestling (TCW). TCW closed later the same year, and the Taped Fist Championship was retired. His final championship win came in September 1976; he teamed with The Beast again and defeated The Mercenaries (Mad Dog Martel and Frenchy Martin
Jean Gagné
Jean Gagné is a Québécois retired 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"...
) to win the ESA Maritimes Tag Team Championship. Later that month, Martel and Martin regained the title in a rematch. Cormier retired as a professional wrestler in 1982.
Retirement
After retiring from wrestling, Cormier took a job with Federal ExpressFedEx
FedEx Corporation , originally known as FDX Corporation, is a logistics services company, based in the United States with headquarters in Memphis, Tennessee...
, which he held for five years. He also underwent knee surgery to fix problems resulting from his wrestling career. Cormier had a wife, Claudette, and four children: daughters Monique and Michelle, and sons Jamie and Jason. On May 25, 2008, Cormier died of septicemia
Sepsis
Sepsis is a potentially deadly medical condition that is characterized by a whole-body inflammatory state and the presence of a known or suspected infection. The body may develop this inflammatory response by the immune system to microbes in the blood, urine, lungs, skin, or other tissues...
in Moncton, New Brunswick
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
.
Championships and accomplishments
- Eastern Sports AssociationEastern Sports AssociationThe Eastern Sports Association, often referred to in the business simply as "the Maritimes," was a Canadian professional wrestling promotion based in Halifax, Nova Scotia...
- ESA International Tag Team ChampionshipESA International Tag Team ChampionshipEastern Sports Association's International Tag Team Title was represented by a Trophy, and was defended in the Maritimes from 1969-75.- International Tag Team Champions :...
(4 times) – with The Beast - ESA Maritimes Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with The Beast
- ESA Taped Fist Championship (1 time)
- IW North American Heavyweight ChampionshipIW North American Heavyweight ChampionshipThis is a list of people who held the "North American Heavyweight Title" under the banner of International Wrestling from 1969 to 1984. The promotion was owned by the Eastern Sports Association from 1969 until 1976...
(1 time)