Marc Blondin
Encyclopedia
Marc Blondin is a French Canadian
professional wrestling
commentator
, ring announcer and promoter
. Blondin was closely associated with the Rougeau wrestling family
and an on-screen personality in the Montreal-based Lutte Internationale during the 1980s.
Blondin was also the main French language
announcer for World Championship Wrestling
, most notably for WCW Power Hour
, as well as the World Wrestling Federation in Quebec, Canada throughout the 1990s. Since 2004, he has co-hosted the French language version of TNA Impact!
with Pierre-Carl Ouellette and former WWE superstar Sylvain Grenier
at RDS studios
. He later became part owner of Top of the World Wrestling (TOW) with Grenier and fellow RDS announcer Jean-François Kelly. He also does English Color Commentary for the DVD releases alongside Ryan Rider
who does the Play-by-Play.
and the Montreal-based Lutte Internationale during the 1980s. He eventually became a familiar and well-known broadcaster in Quebec, interviewing the likes of Édouard Carpentier
and Pat Patterson, and remained with promotion until its close in 1987.
During the early 1990s, Blondin headed the French language announcers team for WCW Power Hour
and other WCW programming in Quebec, Canada with Michel Letourneur and former wrestler Richard Charland. Blondin was also one of many familiar French Canadian
wrestling personalities employed by World Wrestling Federation for its Quebec broadcasts during this time. After the WWF ceased using local French-language television for English cable channels, Blondin worked full time for WCW broadcasts. He and Michel Letourneur were the regular hosts for Monday Night Nitro and, in 2001, they hosted a seven-week long marathon of WCW pay-per-view events from Starrcade 1999 to Bash At The Beach 2000. It was around this time that Vince McMahon
and the WWF purchased the bankrupt WCW and it was announced that the show would be cancelled since they could no longer broadcast shows from either promotion.
Following the close of WCW, Blondin continued to be involved in Canadian wrestling in Quebec and Eastern Canada
. In 2001, Blondin made several appearances for Jacques Rougeau, Jr.'s
Lutte International 2000. During its June 1 show at the Auditorium de Verdun, Blondin addressed the 3,500 crowd with Jacques Rougeau's son Cedric opening for the professional debut 12-year-old Jean Jacques Rougeau, another of Jacques' sons, against midget wrestler Little Broken. The previous month, he had appeared at a press conference with the Jacques Rougeau, Sr.
and the rest of the Rougeau family to promote the event and gave a speech
on the Rougeaus contributions to Canadian professional wrestling.
In 2004, Blondin became the French language announcer for TNA Impact!
with Pierre-Carl Ouellette at the RDS studios
, later joined by Sylvain Grenier
and Jean-François Kelly. On May 14, 2005, Blondin apppeared at Northern Championship Wrestling
's ChallengeMania 13 as the cornerman of Chris Stevens in his match against Captaine Buffet and helped Stevens get the victory.
In the fall of 2007, Ouellette left TNA Impact! and Grenier was brought in to replace him as Blondin's co-host. While Ouellette was wrestling oversees, Blondin and Grenier continually insulted the former color commentator
and referred to him as a "jobber" on air. Grenier eventually began to pick on Blondin as well triggering a 3-way kayfabe
feud. This culminated in a wrestling match between Ouellette and Grenier when the former returned from England
. When Ouellette and Grenier faced each other in Hawkesbury, Ontario
on June 21, 2008, Blondin served as the special guest referee. He and Grenier had posted numerous interviews on Youtube
prior to the event. A month later, he and Grenier started Top of the World Wrestling (TOW) in Montreal. The promotion brought in many former World Wrestling Entertainment
wrestlers to the region during its first year in operation as well as showcasing many younger Quebec wrestlers.
In March 2009, TOW suffered a financial setback when Blondin was forced to offer refunds for a show in Montreal headlined by American wrestler Samoa Joe
. When the American wrestler cancelled on the day of the show, Blondin brought in Matt Morgan to replace him. On September 25, 2009, Blondin and TOW held a tribute show for Pat Patterson which was attended by Morgan, The Honky Tonk Man
, Simon Dean and La Résistance (Sylvain Grenier & Rob Conway). It was the first time Grenier and Conway had teamed together since leaving WWE in 2007. In front of over a thousand fans at Centre Pierre-Charbonneau, Blondin read a letter in the ring to Patterson celebrating his career and legacy in Canadian wrestling. The letter reportedly made Patterson's "eyes wet" during the presentation.
French Canadian
French Canadian or Francophone Canadian, , generally refers to the descendents of French colonists who arrived in New France in the 17th and 18th centuries...
professional wrestling
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...
commentator
Sports commentator
In sports broadcasting, a commentator gives a running commentary of a game or event in real time, usually during a live broadcast. The comments are normally a voiceover, with the sounds of the action and spectators also heard in the background. In the case of television commentary, the commentator...
, ring announcer and promoter
Promoter (entertainment)
An entertainment promoter i.e. music, wrestling, boxing etc is a person or company in the business of marketing and promoting live events such as concerts/gigs, boxing matches, sports entertainment , festivals, raves, and nightclubs.- Business model :Promoters are typically hired as independent...
. Blondin was closely associated with the Rougeau wrestling family
Rougeau wrestling family
The Rougeau wrestling family is a Canadian professional wrestling family that dates back to the 1940s.-Family history:Eddie Auger was the first of the family wrestlers. He was the uncle of Jacques Rougeau, Sr. and his brother Johnny, who started wrestling in the 1950s in their native Canada.Jacques...
and an on-screen personality in the Montreal-based Lutte Internationale during the 1980s.
Blondin was also the main French language
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
announcer for World Championship Wrestling
World Championship Wrestling
World Championship Wrestling, Inc. was an American professional wrestling promotion which existed from 1988 to 2001. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, it began as a regional promotion affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance , named Jim Crockett Promotions until November 1988, when Ted Turner and...
, most notably for WCW Power Hour
WCW Power Hour
WCW Power Hour was the original Friday night wrestling show for World Championship Wrestling, airing on TBS.Unlike most television shows that started their program either at the top or bottom of the hour, WCW Power Hour aired 10 minutes before the bottom of the hour at 10:20 p.m...
, as well as the World Wrestling Federation in Quebec, Canada throughout the 1990s. Since 2004, he has co-hosted the French language version of TNA Impact!
TNA iMPACT!
Impact Wrestling is a professional wrestling television program for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling that currently airs in the United States and Canada on Spike...
with Pierre-Carl Ouellette and former WWE superstar Sylvain Grenier
Sylvain Grenier
Sylvain Grenier is a Canadian professional wrestler, who is best known for his appearances with World Wrestling Entertainment in the La Résistance tag team. He is currently a French language announcer for TNA Impact! on RDS....
at RDS studios
Réseau des sports
Réseau des sports , is a Canadian French language Category C specialty channel showing sports and sport-related shows. It is available in 2.5 million homes, and is owned by CTV Specialty Television Inc....
. He later became part owner of Top of the World Wrestling (TOW) with Grenier and fellow RDS announcer Jean-François Kelly. He also does English Color Commentary for the DVD releases alongside Ryan Rider
Ryan Rider
Ryan Rider is a Canadian professional wrestling commentator, radio broadcaster, and Marketing Representative for Paramount Pictures. He is best known as the founder, producer, and host of CJLO's The Main Event...
who does the Play-by-Play.
Career
Marc Blondin got his start in the wrestling business with the Rougeau wrestling familyRougeau wrestling family
The Rougeau wrestling family is a Canadian professional wrestling family that dates back to the 1940s.-Family history:Eddie Auger was the first of the family wrestlers. He was the uncle of Jacques Rougeau, Sr. and his brother Johnny, who started wrestling in the 1950s in their native Canada.Jacques...
and the Montreal-based Lutte Internationale during the 1980s. He eventually became a familiar and well-known broadcaster in Quebec, interviewing the likes of Édouard Carpentier
Édouard Carpentier
Édouard Ignacz Weiczorkiewicz was a Québécois professional wrestler better known by his ring name Édouard Carpentier. In a career that spanned from the 1950s into the 1970s, he garnered several world championships.-Early life:...
and Pat Patterson, and remained with promotion until its close in 1987.
During the early 1990s, Blondin headed the French language announcers team for WCW Power Hour
WCW Power Hour
WCW Power Hour was the original Friday night wrestling show for World Championship Wrestling, airing on TBS.Unlike most television shows that started their program either at the top or bottom of the hour, WCW Power Hour aired 10 minutes before the bottom of the hour at 10:20 p.m...
and other WCW programming in Quebec, Canada with Michel Letourneur and former wrestler Richard Charland. Blondin was also one of many familiar French Canadian
French Canadian
French Canadian or Francophone Canadian, , generally refers to the descendents of French colonists who arrived in New France in the 17th and 18th centuries...
wrestling personalities employed by World Wrestling Federation for its Quebec broadcasts during this time. After the WWF ceased using local French-language television for English cable channels, Blondin worked full time for WCW broadcasts. He and Michel Letourneur were the regular hosts for Monday Night Nitro and, in 2001, they hosted a seven-week long marathon of WCW pay-per-view events from Starrcade 1999 to Bash At The Beach 2000. It was around this time that Vince McMahon
Vince McMahon
Vincent Kennedy "Vince" McMahon is an American professional wrestling promoter, announcer, commentator, film producer, actor and former occasional professional wrestler. McMahon is the current Chairman, CEO and Chairman of the Executive Committee of professional wrestling promotion WWE...
and the WWF purchased the bankrupt WCW and it was announced that the show would be cancelled since they could no longer broadcast shows from either promotion.
Following the close of WCW, Blondin continued to be involved in Canadian wrestling in Quebec and Eastern Canada
Eastern Canada
Eastern Canada is generally considered to be the region of Canada east of Manitoba, consisting of the following provinces:* New Brunswick* Newfoundland and Labrador* Nova Scotia* Ontario* Prince Edward Island* Quebec...
. In 2001, Blondin made several appearances for Jacques Rougeau, Jr.'s
Jacques Rougeau
Jacques Rougeau Jr. is a retired French-Canadian professional wrestler from Saint-Sulpice, Quebec, best known for his appearances in the 1980s and 1990s with the World Wrestling Federation under his own name, and as The Mountie. Rougeau has held fifteen championships during his career...
Lutte International 2000. During its June 1 show at the Auditorium de Verdun, Blondin addressed the 3,500 crowd with Jacques Rougeau's son Cedric opening for the professional debut 12-year-old Jean Jacques Rougeau, another of Jacques' sons, against midget wrestler Little Broken. The previous month, he had appeared at a press conference with the Jacques Rougeau, Sr.
Jacques Rougeau, Sr.
Jacques Rougeau, Sr. is a former professional wrestler. He is the father of wrestlers Jacques Rougeau, Armand Rougeau and Raymond Rougeau.-Career:Jacques Rougeau, Sr. started wrestling in 1956 with his brother, Johnny Rougeau...
and the rest of the Rougeau family to promote the event and gave a speech
Public speaking
Public speaking is the process of speaking to a group of people in a structured, deliberate manner intended to inform, influence, or entertain the listeners...
on the Rougeaus contributions to Canadian professional wrestling.
In 2004, Blondin became the French language announcer for TNA Impact!
TNA iMPACT!
Impact Wrestling is a professional wrestling television program for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling that currently airs in the United States and Canada on Spike...
with Pierre-Carl Ouellette at the RDS studios
Réseau des sports
Réseau des sports , is a Canadian French language Category C specialty channel showing sports and sport-related shows. It is available in 2.5 million homes, and is owned by CTV Specialty Television Inc....
, later joined by Sylvain Grenier
Sylvain Grenier
Sylvain Grenier is a Canadian professional wrestler, who is best known for his appearances with World Wrestling Entertainment in the La Résistance tag team. He is currently a French language announcer for TNA Impact! on RDS....
and Jean-François Kelly. On May 14, 2005, Blondin apppeared at Northern Championship Wrestling
Northern Championship Wrestling
Northern Championship Wrestling is an independent professional wrestling promotion based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.It was founded in 1986 by François Poirier and Phil Bélanger in Joliette, Quebec...
's ChallengeMania 13 as the cornerman of Chris Stevens in his match against Captaine Buffet and helped Stevens get the victory.
In the fall of 2007, Ouellette left TNA Impact! and Grenier was brought in to replace him as Blondin's co-host. While Ouellette was wrestling oversees, Blondin and Grenier continually insulted the former color commentator
Color commentator
A color commentator is a sports commentator who assists the play-by-play announcer, often by filling in any time when play is not in progress. The color analyst and main commentator will often exchange comments freely throughout the broadcast, when the play-by-play announcer is not describing the...
and referred to him as a "jobber" on air. Grenier eventually began to pick on Blondin as well triggering a 3-way kayfabe
Kayfabe
In professional wrestling, kayfabe is the portrayal of events within the industry as "real" or "true". Specifically, the portrayal of professional wrestling, in particular the competition and rivalries between participants, as being genuine or not of a worked nature...
feud. This culminated in a wrestling match between Ouellette and Grenier when the former returned from England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. When Ouellette and Grenier faced each other in Hawkesbury, Ontario
Hawkesbury, Ontario
Hawkesbury is a town in the Eastern portion of Southern Ontario, Canada, on the Ottawa River, near the Quebec-Ontario border.It lies on the south shore of the Ottawa River about halfway between Downtown Ottawa and Downtown Montreal in Prescott and Russell Counties. The Long-Sault Bridge links it...
on June 21, 2008, Blondin served as the special guest referee. He and Grenier had posted numerous interviews on Youtube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
prior to the event. A month later, he and Grenier started Top of the World Wrestling (TOW) in Montreal. The promotion brought in many former World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...
wrestlers to the region during its first year in operation as well as showcasing many younger Quebec wrestlers.
In March 2009, TOW suffered a financial setback when Blondin was forced to offer refunds for a show in Montreal headlined by American wrestler Samoa Joe
Samoa Joe
Nuufolau Joel "Joe" Seanoa is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Samoa Joe. He is currently under contract with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling....
. When the American wrestler cancelled on the day of the show, Blondin brought in Matt Morgan to replace him. On September 25, 2009, Blondin and TOW held a tribute show for Pat Patterson which was attended by Morgan, The Honky Tonk Man
The Honky Tonk Man
Roy Wayne Farris , better known by his ring name The Honky Tonk Man, is an American professional wrestler. A 1975 graduate from University of Memphis with a B.S. degree in Education. Coached high school football 2 seasons at Munford High School in Munford, Tennessee...
, Simon Dean and La Résistance (Sylvain Grenier & Rob Conway). It was the first time Grenier and Conway had teamed together since leaving WWE in 2007. In front of over a thousand fans at Centre Pierre-Charbonneau, Blondin read a letter in the ring to Patterson celebrating his career and legacy in Canadian wrestling. The letter reportedly made Patterson's "eyes wet" during the presentation.
Job titles
- Lutte Internationale ring announcer and interviewer
- World Championship WrestlingWorld Championship WrestlingWorld Championship Wrestling, Inc. was an American professional wrestling promotion which existed from 1988 to 2001. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, it began as a regional promotion affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance , named Jim Crockett Promotions until November 1988, when Ted Turner and...
French language commentator - World Wrestling Federation French language commentator
- Total Non-Stop Action French language commentator